8 weeks ago today we signed on the dotted line and bought our French house. When we started looking for it, we put everything in a box file, and on the side of the box file it said "Our French Adventure". 8 weeks later does it still feel like an adventure?
Well, yes I think it does. Some days we could be in any country. Those are the days when we stay at home just the two of us and spend the day in the garden or doing stuff around the house.Other days we go out and mix with a group of ex pat Brits and we could still be in the UK. But at other times it's really clear that we now live in another country. Today was one of those days.
Today we went to a local French market for the first time. Parking was difficult. No different to the UK there then! The food section of the market was in one area and the clothing was in a different area. The food stalls were fascinating to us, and leant towards artisan type food, such speciality French cheeses, and very fresh meat, fish and veg, with the highlight on freshness. The salad stuff looked as if it had only just been picked out the garden. The mussels and clams were still live.
I have to say that the clothing part of the market was quite disappointing, much like any market in the UK, but it was very quiet with not many shoppers. Only one stand appeared busy and that was the one that sold a multitude of different aprons. Aprons are still very much de rigeur here in France!
And all around us, all we could hear was French people chatting, shouting, talking and sharing. All the ladies carried baskets and everyone had at least one stick of French bread.
So today felt quite French. Hubby doesn't speak hardly any French at all which means that dealing with any thing involving someone French falls on me. Mostly it's okay and one way or another I get there, but the one thing I would say is that communicating in a language that you are far from fluent in is exhausting and frustrating in equal measures.
So my advice for today is....
Practice the language as much as you can before you move, and buy a shopping basket and an apron!
Oh, and did I buy anything? Yes, I bought a sage plant for 2.50 euros!
Tuesday, 14 June 2016
Friday, 10 June 2016
Birds and wildlife..
It's been a week for wild life again. Our greater spotted woodpecker is still visiting to eat the grubs out of the lawn, and the black redstart was sitting on the ground only about feet from the window. But we have had two far more interesting sightings this week....
This is a griffon vulture..
And this is a little owl...
One is quite large and one is quite tiny, and we have seen them both this week. The vulture was flying in a crowd of about 14 or 15 vultures, we assume heading to Spain as they appeared to be travelling North to South, and appeared to be loving the hot weather thermals. And yes, they were definitely griffon vultures. Hubby's binoculars came in very handy to identify them. The owl was just sitting on the roof of the semi derelict building next door and then hopped onto our fence before flying off.
Now I have never seen either of these birds in the wild before, only in bird sanctuary type places so was really excited on both occasions. It just goes to show how easy it would be to miss exciting things like this if you don't look up and out from being wrapped up in our day to day existence.
Moving to France has given us the opportunity to take a step back from working to live or living to work, and a chance to start to appreciate the things around us far more than we have ever done before. Today we stood and watched a frog enjoying the heavy down pour of rain, and laughing when it jumped into the drain that runs along the front of our house and got washed away in the torrent - it was quite safe and unharmed I hasten to add, just a little surprised at the force of the water.
Today's thought for the day
Stop wasting time waiting to arrive somewhere and take the time to enjoy the journey along the way. If you don't you will miss a million things that you may never get chance to see again..
This is a griffon vulture..
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| Picture courtesy http://www.rondatoday.com/griffon-vulture-of-the-serrania/ |
And this is a little owl...
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| Picture courtesy http://www.markhancoxbirdphotography.co.uk/pages/galleries/owls.php?gall_id=29 |
Now I have never seen either of these birds in the wild before, only in bird sanctuary type places so was really excited on both occasions. It just goes to show how easy it would be to miss exciting things like this if you don't look up and out from being wrapped up in our day to day existence.
Moving to France has given us the opportunity to take a step back from working to live or living to work, and a chance to start to appreciate the things around us far more than we have ever done before. Today we stood and watched a frog enjoying the heavy down pour of rain, and laughing when it jumped into the drain that runs along the front of our house and got washed away in the torrent - it was quite safe and unharmed I hasten to add, just a little surprised at the force of the water.
Today's thought for the day
Stop wasting time waiting to arrive somewhere and take the time to enjoy the journey along the way. If you don't you will miss a million things that you may never get chance to see again..
We're no longer virgins!
IKEA virgins that is!
This week we drove to Nantes, almost 2 hours away, to the nearest IKEA to buy some furniture items to make life easier in the house until such time, in the next 10 years or so, that we complete our house renovation.
Why did we drive that far? Because the delivery cost was 179 euros(approx £143 at current exchange rates), which we felt was absolutely extortionate. After we had visited IKEA, we decided that the delivery charge is so high in order to encourage people to go into the shop to buy lots more things that you didn't know you needed. We weren't persuaded by their marketing ploy and came back with exactly what we went for and no more. On the plus side though, we were both impressed with the idea of having a whole floor where you just went and collected your flat pack boxes after you had done the rounds of the shop floor to decide what you wanted. And the prices, if you are careful, are very good for reasonable quality, and the flat pack item go together much better than the old MFI stuff used to!
The other thing that I believe is a must in IKEA is a visit to the restaurant for meatballs. Well we did do the restaurant but passed on the meatballs. The coffee was good and the prices were very reasonable.
So here's the new kitchen - complete with dogs!
It's been nearly a week since I've posted, but that's because so much has been happening!
Tomorrow an update on the garden, the birdlife we have seen, and other exciting developments.
This week we drove to Nantes, almost 2 hours away, to the nearest IKEA to buy some furniture items to make life easier in the house until such time, in the next 10 years or so, that we complete our house renovation.
Why did we drive that far? Because the delivery cost was 179 euros(approx £143 at current exchange rates), which we felt was absolutely extortionate. After we had visited IKEA, we decided that the delivery charge is so high in order to encourage people to go into the shop to buy lots more things that you didn't know you needed. We weren't persuaded by their marketing ploy and came back with exactly what we went for and no more. On the plus side though, we were both impressed with the idea of having a whole floor where you just went and collected your flat pack boxes after you had done the rounds of the shop floor to decide what you wanted. And the prices, if you are careful, are very good for reasonable quality, and the flat pack item go together much better than the old MFI stuff used to!
The other thing that I believe is a must in IKEA is a visit to the restaurant for meatballs. Well we did do the restaurant but passed on the meatballs. The coffee was good and the prices were very reasonable.
So here's the new kitchen - complete with dogs!
It's been nearly a week since I've posted, but that's because so much has been happening!
Tomorrow an update on the garden, the birdlife we have seen, and other exciting developments.
Friday, 3 June 2016
There's no going back now!
Today we finally received confirmation that the completion on the sale on our UK house had been finalised. So we are no longer UK home owners, and that also means that in a few days we won't have a mortgage either here or in the UK.
And that should be, and is, reason to celebrate. But both of us had a little wobble when the phone call came through. I don't really know why and neither does hubby as we are both very happy with our new home and the decisions we have made that has brought us to where we are, but maybe it was just because it was the end of an era and the end of living in a house that has some very happy memories.
So here's to our future, and a very healthy and happy one it's going to be too!
Today's advice is to take every opportunity that comes your way as the only things you will regret are the things you didn't do when you get to looking back on life
Wednesday, 1 June 2016
How much??!!
Just a short post tonight..
We need a gate and gate posts to finish securing the garden to stop the dogs escaping. We took advice where was a good place to go to buy them. Off we went to a local merchant called V&M and asked how much would two gates of 2m each in wood cost? We were really looking for something simple like a 5 barred field gate to be honest, but apparently the French don't do them. The lady said that she would get a price for us and email us, but the pillars to go either side - they don't do wooden gate posts either apparently - would be 450 euros. At the current exchange rate that's about £350. We thought that was expensive, but when we got the quote for the gate we were..... absolutely gobsmacked!
They didn't do them in 2m, only 1.5m and the cost.....
We need a gate and gate posts to finish securing the garden to stop the dogs escaping. We took advice where was a good place to go to buy them. Off we went to a local merchant called V&M and asked how much would two gates of 2m each in wood cost? We were really looking for something simple like a 5 barred field gate to be honest, but apparently the French don't do them. The lady said that she would get a price for us and email us, but the pillars to go either side - they don't do wooden gate posts either apparently - would be 450 euros. At the current exchange rate that's about £350. We thought that was expensive, but when we got the quote for the gate we were..... absolutely gobsmacked!
They didn't do them in 2m, only 1.5m and the cost.....
1540 euros/approximately £1200!
And it doesn't include the handles, hinges or bolts either.
So to put in a simple wooden gate and a pair of stone gate posts would cost us well over £1500!!!
Guess what, we didn't buy them. We're now looking at shipping something over from the UK! I'll keep you posted!
Moles and more...
It's been a busy couple of days and my French vocabulary has been stretched to the limit. I've talked alarm systems with a really nice man who came and fitted our house alarm, moles and coypu with the mole man and post boxes with the post lady!
We have had to have an alarm fitted on the house due to the square meterage of the property in order for us to get insurance for the house. The insurance for the house is a legal requirement in France, it's a Must Have, not a choice, and the notaire won't sign the sale papers unless you have insurance in place. The bank wouldn't give us insurance without us agreeing to an alarm system, which the bank sold us, and we pay 29 euros a month for. So the bank are in a win win situation. We pay them for the insurance and we pay them for the alarm system. That's just the way it is over here and if things like that are an issue then France may not be the right place, but we have just accepted that this is how it is. As my French improves we may be in a better position to "discuss" these things with the bank or look for alternatives but right now we have an alarm system and house insurance.
As an aside apparently our region is having major problems with vermin, moles, rats and coypus, so the commune pays part of the costs if anyone calls them out, hence the reasonable price. The epidemic of vermin (not sure that's the right word) is probably due to the much damper start to the year but who's to say.
Today's advice... ask the local's for advice and keep cash in the house!
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