Eymoutiers – my corner of France. Welcome to my blog. The day to day experiences of house renovation, setting up Chambres D'hotes, my life and life in the area. Bonne lecture……………..
Still looks the same on the outside, but many, many changes on the inside. I feel privileged to be a custodian of this house. It is to be enjoyed and shared with family and friends. I’m hoping that now Covid is behind us, many more of you will visit. I will start winding down the business side of things next year, when I take retirement, so there will be plenty of room for people to stay.
Currently looking forward to another member of the original family visiting in the near future.
Previous post from 4 years ago:
Special times. I have just said ‘au
revoir’ to a family who have stayed here for two nights, not unusual you might
say. But… the 3 brothers were the great grandsons of the original people who
built this house in 1889. It has been almost 60 years since they have been in
the house; they found it quite emotional to be here together.
I have learnt so much more about the
history of the house and family; it was a privilege to have them stay.
A lot of water under the bridge since I last wrote, so here’s a brief summary and then I will move on to current news.
Just before Christmas I found a cat. Poor creature was in a terrible state and I thought he would die overnight. He has the most appalling neck injury – a large ulcerated wound. He survived the night and indeed is still here. Dougal. He’s damaged in many ways but enjoys a limping plod around, likes fuss,loves the sun and eats a lot! Wonderful vet who encouraged his recovery.
December 2021
April2022
I replaced my smashed car. The whole event was tedious, but I now have a smart Peugeot 308. Very comfy and roomy.
Snow a couple of weeks ago was unwelcome, especially as my beautiful Magnolia tree was just beginning to bloom. I envisaged an overnight decimation, as happened last year with the late frost. However, it survived. A little brown around the edges but still as magnificent as ever.
Both Louise and Owen have been to visit. Christmas was once again cancelled because of Covid.
Business is fine, some bookings reflect a return to more ‘normal’ events since Covid: pilgrim walkers (Compostelle St Jaques) and rally driver (Rallye de la Procelain)
On to the main event……
In response to the Ukrainian war, and my need to offer help, I decided to renovate my attic (grenier) and offer it as accommodation.
A big project that I could not do alone, so my thoughts were to do it in the style of DIY SOS (TV programme). I rallied help from friends via Facebook, appealed for donations of paint, furniture, kitchen equipment, bedding etc etc and also set up a Go Fund Me page to raise some money. The response has been overwhelming.
Now, the kitchen has been fitted, (thanks to the work of someone I had lost touch with), the bathroom is in, (thanks to the work of a clever lady), a huge cupboard has been reconstructed (thanks to amazing friends who drove 5/6 hrs from the north of France to do this), walls are repaired and painted, electrics are being installed and much, much more. Unbelievable. I am forever grateful.
Before
After
Work is still ongoing and money is still needed to buy resources.
If anyone would like to make a donation – here’s the link.
The application for a refugee family has been submitted, I think it will be some time before I hear anything.
What if I don’t?? My alternative plan is to offer the accommodation to others in need: respite carers, nurses/teachers who have had the most difficult time whilst working with Covid, Macmillan nurses, families who need urgent housing because of such things as a fire, etc etc.
It was never ever going to be a rented facility, so all I would ask in the case of the latter, is a nominal fee to cover electricity and water.
For some time now, I have been considering winding up my blog pages. It might be the side effect of depressing times but it is taking me longer and longer between posting times.
Christmas fell apart with the reintroduction of Covid travel restrictions. No Louise and Owen to visit. Everything was in place – Eurostar tickets booked, SNCF tickets booked etc. Disappointed wasn’t the word. I had everything planned on the food front, presents bought, get togethers organised. Sadly presents remain unwrapped and the gathering went ahead without Louise and Owen. Fortunately, good friends meant Christmas dinner was lovely and company was good.
Small compensation – I did manage to get back to the UK for my nephew’s wedding blessing. Booking tests and sorting accommodation was a bit complicated but it meant we could have a few days together. The cottage we booked was great; I’m always sceptical about heating in places in the Autumn but we were toasty all the time. The sun shone on the day and it was a lovely day.
I have now had my booster vaccination; in the end I went to St Leonard de Noblat hospital centre to have it. Having been added to the list at the local pharmacie and heard nothing I decided to go elsewhere. When I went to tell them, it seems I had been crossed off the list. What a muddle up. Glad I took the bull by the horns and organised it at the centre. Small side effects, nothing compared to the first one. (1&2 = AZ, 3 was Moderna). I was upset to hear of the death of Carlos Marin from the group Il Divo – one of my favourite and much listened to quartets. What a loss of such a fabulous voice and talent. A tragic loss to this dreadful virus. Sadly, not the only unexpected death in recent weeks, it’s very hard to take in the news of the loss of a friend. RIP Sara.
A few days ago, I picked up a sick and injured old cat from the roadside. Poor creature had a terrible wound on his neck, he must have suffered so much pain. I don’t know how he had survived the recent freezing cold nights and temperatures of minus 10. Another trip to the vet. It was decided to give him a chance with antibiotics and other medicines. He has recovered considerably, but he has neuro damage (I watch too many vet medical programmes). He’s very sweet but I’m not sure what his future is. He’ll be going back to the vet in the next few days.
He loves the fire xx
My foster kittens (The Poopies as they were affectionately known) were all re-homed; I was very happy to know they were going to people who were going to give them the time they deserved. Lovely creatures, I wish I could have kept them all.
On a cat/vet theme, I am pleased to say Sid has started a course of treatment to help his FIV. It’s a program of injections – he’s had 2 rounds so far, the next is in January. Time will tell if it’s helping him. I have my fingers optimistically crossed.
It seems some things really do go bump in the night. Especially someone who drove into my car and wrote it off at 5am in the morning. Not good at the best of times – let alone trying to understand the procedure with gendarmes and in French. Nightmare. Nothing really went smoothly: poor communication from the insurance company, a rather rude member of staff for the courtesy car (which was more like a minibus). The positive was the garage from which I eventually bought a new car. Excellent service and care.
Old Juke
New Peugeot
Hang on! I need to tell you about the curtains. (Pun intended). After at least 2 years of searching for fabric, I now have curtains in the lounge. What a marathon. Delivery/pick up from the UK was October time. I sourced some French antique curtain rings on Etsy, slightly different to the originals but you wouldn’t know. I asked a couple of friends to help me with hanging them. I knew it would be difficult because of the ceiling height and I had an idea the poles would be hard to manoeuvre as I’d had a sample try when I was decorating. I wasn’t wrong. It took three of us all day to get the curtains up. On the plus side – no more curtains to hang on the ground floor. Really pleased with the result, the room is snug, cosy and much warmer in the evenings.
I was interested to see some activity down on the old tram line in town a few days ago. There was a tram in the station and a crowd of people there too. It seems they are looking for sponsors to get the line running again as a tourist attraction.
Looking ahead to next year, I spent an hour or so revising my booking page on a well known booking site. Just updated T&C’s, minimum nights, notifications etc. I wonder what the season will be like in 2022?
As you may have gathered – no blog for some time. I really had lost the will to sit down and write.
Hence there will be a missing couple of months since the last entry, as I can’t possibly remember what happened!
So I’ll pick up from recent weeks and do my best with this update.
First, and most importantly, Louise has been to stay for two weeks. First opportunity we’ve been able to spend time together for a year and it’s been lovely. The weather has been relatively kind and we managed to do a few things, even though she had to work from home for most of the days.
……. got to a couple of sales, went to a party, met up with her Irish friend, coffee and patisserie.
Time passed too quickly but my forthcoming trip to the UK when I’ll see her and Owen together helped the return pain.
The Cream teas afternoon raised 175€ for the Hope Charity association. I was a bit disappointed; my goal was 300€. Must do better next time.
Currently I have 5 kittens and their mummy living in my attic. I volunteered to be a foster mum for a rescue charity and this is the result!! I don’t think mummy cat is feral – she’s far too tame and loves cuddles. The babies were very wary of me to begin with but are now happy to come running when the treat pot is rattled. They are far too busy to want to spend much time being cuddled – so you have to make do with a minute here and there!
I wanted to get into fostering to fulfil my love of cats, especially after losing Colin, I couldn’t face the anxiety and emotional upset of this again. The not knowing what happened is still a mental barrier. Many people will say I’m stupid, but that’s how it is.
The charity will rehome them and I will be happy to think I have given them a safe start in life.
PinguMummy Poppet
Talking of rehoming…… I was asked by a friend if I knew anyone who might take a cockerel to save him from the pot. YES! My neighbour took him. Coco the cockerel now lives nearby with his 4 hen friends. I hear him cock-a-doodle-doing all day. What a lucky chap he is.
Business has been full on over Summer. I haven’t had any problems with Pass Sanitaire – all guests have been able to show their vaccination certificates. I scan them with the verification app. My main problem has been remembering to ask for it! Sometimes better late than never.
Ever thought you have ESP? Can’t beat the morning when I said to Louise that I’d read a post on Facebook that suggested a UK friend was travelling nearby and the phone rang at the same time to say they were calling in! Really spooky!
Long time, no blog. Lack of motivation. Sorry readers.
I’m sure there’s lots happened over the last few weeks but my brain is a bit stagnant – must be the heat. The weather has been erratic to say the least but seems to have settled recently. Rain and warmth mean the ‘grass’ (if you can call it that) has grown at a rate of knots. I can only manage to cut it a section at a time but as long as it looks tidy-ish then I can live with it. The path is finally complete. I was keen to get it done before the return of guests. I’ve discovered that an added bonus is its use as an early warning system. I can hear footsteps crunching through the gravel when people are arriving! Funny thing – cats aren’t too happy walking on gravel and Asterix often chooses to walk on the edging stones instead.
I’ve also added a PIR solar light by the gate to avoid having to leave outdoor lighting on all night when guests are coming back in the early hours after wedding parties etc. At this point I should also add that it works well when you are out in your nightie looking for your missing cat at 3.30 am. Good job no-one can see me.
My visitor feral cat Rudi appeared with a very bad limp the other day. He’s tame enough to stroke and I managed to lure him with food, snaffle him up and zipped straight to the vets. He was actually a good boy in the car, much better than I expected. It wasn’t possible to give him a thorough examination but the conclusion was he’d been fighting. Anti-inflammatory jab administered and I was given follow up meds too. However, this has proved difficult to maintain as he’s not been back for food on a regular basis and when he did, I didn’t think he was much better. Poor little soul. Thankfully last night he was limping less and stretch out his poorly leg for washing. The plan is to get him neutered. I spoke to the vet about this and when he has recovered I’ll try and get him back to the practice. I think there is a special rate for feral cats and so far the consultation and medicines has been very reasonable.
Still on the animal theme………….. night visitor! Owen bought me a night-viz camera for Christmas and it’s taken me a long time to get it up and running. After many failed attempts to catch something on camera – I did!! I was quite shocked at what it was. I’m not 100% even now; there’s seems to be a divided opinion between a pine marten and polecat. He or she has not been often (maybe 3 times), is always on their own and flits through the garden in a few seconds. I am slightly worried about my tortoises, but they are away from his routeway. Then, to top it all, I actually saw it in daylight as it ran down the tree. It was far bigger than I imagined (maybe 70 – 80 cm) and the most beautiful dark red/brown colour. But again, gone in a flash.
So I am open again for B&B. Not many guests, but I’m sure they will come. Some returning guest and some travelled from the other side of the country. As 90% of my guests are French, the travel restrictions won’t really affect me. I hope!
Plans are a-foot!! I’m involved on the periphery with a local charity shop. It’s the Hope charity for animals. I’ve baked and volunteered at a couple of events and have been thinking that it could be advantageous to use the central location of my house to hold an event here. Just to keep it simple (ha ha) I’ve suggested a traditional Cream Teas afternoon. Lots of scones, vintage tea services, bunting and bistro tables with waitress service (maybe). Having now floated this idea with other volunteers, plans are moving up a gear. I mentioned this to my French neighbour last night and he looked disappointingly down his nose and said ‘Only for one day?’ Well, yes, just as a first foray into the unknown!!
Just reading back on my last blog, I mentioned about the tortoises being up and plodding round the garden. I can now add to that and tell you one escaped. Generally, I mentally clock when and where I see them in the garden; they have their favourite spots and hideaways and in some ways are creatures of habit. However, a few days ago, when we had a very cold snap, I realised I hadn’t seen Harry-gold, (formerly known as Marigold – we discovered it’s a male), for a2 or 3 days. Going round and round the garden searching proved fruitless. The difficult gate could have been left open but I usually know when that happens and watch it constantly. To my knowledge it had been shut. In fact, I had recently posted a note on the letterbox for the post lady requesting it was shut as she had been the person who had left it open in the past. The result was she slammed it shut so tightly, it took 10 minutes to open again! (Update: fixing gate is work in progress). So I could only conclude that he had escaped during the 10 minutes it was open for the delivery of a new cellar staircase’ which I oversaw and closed the gate after. I enlisted help to search and after a walk up and down the street I asked a neighbour if she had seen him. Whilst we were talking, another neioghbour told me the person alongside the Chemin had got him. He’d told her there was a tortoise walking down the road as he got in his van and she went and picked him up. VERY RELUCTANTLY she gave him back. To be honest, fi I hadn’t gone on a search, I don’t think she would have made the effort to find where he’d come from! Anyway, he’s home and under very close observation. Houdini.
Following on from this – the aforementioned cellar stairs are now in place. After mentioning to a friend that I was on the lookout for a set of stairs that might have come out of an old demolition or renovation, she said they had a possible in their barn! All was measured and checked and given the go-ahead. For some time now, I have been concerned over the strength of the old steps: they looked very fragile and broken and were dangerous. Owen had nagged me to get them done well over a year ago. Anyway it took John and Paul two and a half days of extremely hard work to get them in. The new case was solid oak and weighed a ton, how they did it, I don’t know. The old case was rotten and will be good for firewood. I have amazing friends.
Continuing the animal theme – I realised the other day that the cat flap had broken. It wasn’t operating the microchip lock. My cats could still use it, but so could any other that wanted to come in. And they did. At 5 o’clock in the morning I was chasing Rudi round the house whilst Sid and Asterix were too. Fur was flying. New flap replacement.
My poor magnolia tree got hammered by the frost. It’s the first time since I’ve been here that it has happened. Disaster. It looks so sad. Every flower has gone. It usually has a small second bloom in July, so hopefully it will look better then. I’ve been trying to motivate myself into gardening – I certainly didn’t inherit the genes. A few plants now in, we really need the weather to pick up. On reflection, this garden didn’t really have flowers in it, it was just a neglected veg plot and a few old, woody shrubs. I’m aiming to get some flowers in it now. The weeds are bad and it’s difficult to keep on top of them.
My beautiful magnolia tree.Frost damage 😦
A few Easter treats arrived in the post. And, yes, I still have some left. Trying to eeak them out, but it’s hard work!
Wooo – hadn’t realised it’d been so long since I wrote on here.
In so many ways, it’s been quiet and slow and in others fairly busy. The bedrooms have been refreshed, there were a few scuff marks on the paint, so I’ve been over them and spruced the woodwork up. I’ve also repainted the walls in the main bedroom. They really always needed a second coat when I first did them, but I ran out of Laura Ashley paint and that has been impossible to buy now. So I found the closest match and am actually pleased with the result. To finish the room, I need to get the ceiling painted; hopefully I can get that arranged soon – I won’t be doing it! The new shower doors are in; the stain on the old one proved impossible to remove.
Plans are a-foot to tidy up the attic. One of the huge cupboards in the front attic bedroom has been taken out to allow access to the back wall for repair. At some time in the past, water had leaked from the chimney flashing (now repaired) and the plasterwork had disintegrated. This is now fixed and I’m looking into applying for the Government insulation scheme whereby you pay 1€ for the work. It’s not a scam; the Government set up the scheme in response to failing to meet a climate target. I need to do a couple of other small odds before I can check out the possibilities. Watch this space with crossed fingers.
I’ve also forwarded a proposal to the Tourist board. They have received a small pot of money and are asking if anyone has projects. I’ve often thought I’d like to set up a webcam from the top floor, overlooking the town square. So I cobbled together a costing and sent it off. Not sure I’m going to get it – they suggested it’s not a sustainable project which they might be looking for.
The garden is also up for work (as always!!). After batting around a few ideas with friends, I hope to gravel the footpath/entrance. To be honest, I’m not sure it’s what I envisaged, but I don’t know what to envisage!! If it’s not right, at least it can be changed. I just don’t know. Anyway the weather is rubbish at the moment, so there won’t be anything happening in a hurry. The fallen tree has now been removed and has opened up the garden quite a lot. I will be buying some fruit trees soon and creating a little orchard. There’s already a damson and cherry. I’ve been promised a Bramley apple and a fig, so I might buy an apple and peach. I’ve started pulling the loose and crumbling render off the front wall. The stone work underneath is lovely and hopefully I can expose most of it, but it’s going to take a while to do.
I managed to celebrate my birthday! A handful of friends came for lunch (pizza and cheesecake). We have to do lunch as the 6 o’clock curfew won’t allow for dinner. Lovely presents and flowers too. Prosecco went down well!!
The tortoises are out of hibernation and plodding around the garden. However, the forecast looks very cold in the next few days, so I may have to locate them and bring them in.
It’s the time of year when EDF recalculate your payment schedule, based on the yearly consumption. Here, they don’t carry credit forward or add any deficit onto the next payments – they just adjust the money in or out of your bank account. Something to remember of you end up owing at the end of the year – can be a shock! I was delighted to find out that I was over 450€ in credit!! Followed by a new proposed schedule whereby they increased my monthly payment by 80€!!!!! What?!! A 73% increase?? I don’t think so!! So I complained and said I’m sure there was an error. And guess what?? They offered to halve my monthly payment. In the end we agreed to stick to the current rate – I don’t want any surprises next year. Just shows though, it would have been easy to accept it without question.
It’s been a few weeks of friends. Updating phone numbers and renewing contacts. Good news, bad news and mixed news. I’ve been very upset over the murder of that young girl in London; a situation that young women are so vulnerable in. She was so similar to Louise – age, blonde hair, job, life-style, it just makes me worry. Poor girl, I feel for her parents and family.
Last but NOT least – I’ve had my first AZ Covid vaccination! Not really sure how it all happened – it came out of the blue. I had been pursuing enquiries as to the plans for vaccinations (as there was, and still is, a lack of information). I received a phone call from my doctor late one afternoon to say she had a spare due to a cancellation – did I want it? Yes – I’ll be there in 10 minutes! The side effects made me poorly for about 4 days, headache, fever, nausea, tiredness, loss of appetite. Anyway, all done and I’m relieved. Second dose in May.
A belated Happy New Year. May 2021 be kinder to us all.
Following on from my last post, can show a few pictures of my lockdown project results: some cushions and some pillow cases. Each item took a lot longer than I thought. By the time I’d laundered the fabric and worked out which parts were usable, cut them to size and the sewn the appliqué and seams – bloomin’ ages! Anyway, each recipient will have a unique item. Somehow in the wrapping and labelling I managed to mix up a couple of items. A cat went to a dog person and I’m not sure where the other went! I have quite a lot of sheeting left; in fact it is the thickest and heaviest of the lot. I need a bit more motivation to create a few more.
One small project for me: recovered a folding chair. Just need some nice weather sit out in the garden on it!!
Talking of recovering – plans are afoot to have one of the guest beds done. There’s a few factors to be resolved first though. I’ve asked Charlotte (who did the antique sofa for me) to do the bed, but fabrics, workshops availability, house visits etc etc are all considerations at the moment.
Too early in my celebrations for obtaining my Carte de Sejour. Seems that now I have it, it has to be updated to show EU withdrawal agreement. This is another form to fill in – online and then I’m sure another trip to Limoges will be needed. So much time and effort, all in all four visits to the Prefecture. Fed up with the whole damn thing.
I’m still not taking guests. In fact I’m tempted not to re-open until I’ve had the Covid vaccine, but I’ve no idea when that will be. France seems to be dragging its feet with the roll out. I’ll be meeting up with a nurse soon to have the second part of the anti-pneumonia jab, so I’ll hopefully get an update then. Covid infection numbers seemed to have plateaued around the 20K/day mark, but there’s been no significant decrease since before Christmas. I’ve no doubt the seasonal adjustments are still appearing in the counting system.
There’s been a big issue with one of the showers in the guest rooms. For some bizarre reason the doors (4 sections) all turned brown. It looked like nicotine stains dripping down the panels. The identical shower in the other room was fine. On reflection, and with a suggestion from an online reader, I think I may have sprayed a disinfectant on and not washed it off, there’s not much else that makes any sense. Even more bizarrely, 3 of the panels cleaned up, the fourth one didn’t. Despite using every cleaner under the sun, nothing touched the stain. The only option was to buy a new shower cubicle; which I have now done. With luck, the doors will be the same size and just need swapping over and not require the whole sliding rail to be changed. That would be another nightmare.
I now have a shiny new kitchen bin! Or maybe I should say two bins. The old bin was manky and past its sell-by date and not fit for purpose. What I needed was a 2 in 1 unit so I can recycle packaging etc. We have a new set of re-cycle bins just down the road from La Belle Maison, which makes life a touch easier. The region is really up to date with what can be re-cycled, so I am pleased to fill up their bins with my rubbish!!
Much of this post has a theme of re-cycling/re-using/old for new. One ‘old’ voice that never loses its power: that of Tom Jones. I’ve been watching The Voice recently and his voice is so superior to any of the current pop stars that present alongside him. he only has to sing a note for the quality and depth of experience to show. No wonder he is the one who performs spontaneously; none of the others can!
Apathetic is the best word to describe my effort at writing at the moment.
Onset of Winter – dark nights and cold make this a really miserable time of year for me. Coupled with these difficult times, I’m already looking forward to Spring 2021. On the plus side, I’m warm and well in the house. Not many projects going on at the moment, although I have been busy sewing during lockdown. I had an idea for Christmas presents. It involves re-cycling some of the thick linen sheets that I found in the house when I moved in. They were of the old Victorian heavy cotton/linen style, some of which are beautifully monogrammed (which I can’t really make use of). However, some have drawn thread work, which I’m trying to incorporate into my project. I can’t post pictures just yet, as it would be a bit of a spoiler.
Only taken 6 years to solve my baking problem. On y va!
This always comes up in the run up to Christmas – PASTRY. I’m not the best pastry baker, but my offerings haven’t been good. I find using pure butter makes the pastry a bit hard. I prefer a more crumbly texture – in the UK I use white vegetable fat (Trex), but this is not available here in France and any other similar product doesn’t do the job. I discovered the possibility of ordering a suitable substitute online and thought I’d give it a go. Et……. VOILA!! Bingo! Great results. The product is called Crisco, arrived within 3 days and has a shelf life of a year. I’m a happy bunny. Just need to be able to share a few mince pies with friends soon I hope!
My poor Sid has been very unwell. A few days ago, just as I was going to bed, I heard a bump. On investigation, I could see him laid out on the hall floor at the bottom of the stairs. I honestly thought he was dead. He came round quite quickly but but was confused and upset. To make matters worse, he escaped through the cat flap the next morning and disappeared for the day. I was beside myself with worry, because I envisioned him having another episode somewhere and not being found. Thankfully he came in early evening. He had another collapse the next day. I already had an appointment at the vet for Asterix the following morning, so I took him too. I didn’t see my regular vet, and I was prepared for the worst when a rather rough vet appeared and gave him the once over. But we’ve made it through, big dose of antibiotics, lots of TLC and me keeping a constant eye on him seems to have bought him some time. He doesn’t venture far (who would in this weather) but is eating quite well and definitely still having mega cuddles on the bed at night.
Such a gentle giant xx
On a medical note – I had an interesting conversation with the local nurse last week. Here, you get your flu prescription form the Dr/pharmacy and make an appointment with the nurse, who then comes to your house to administer it. I am due to update my anti-pneumonia and, of course, flu jab. However, like the UK, there’s a shortage of flu vaccine. The nurse told me not to worry too much about the flu one, as the flu cases are way down because people have been wearing masks and not transmitting the virus. Similarly gastro cases were down too – I suppose because of better hand sanitation. Just made me think how much money could be saved by the NHS if wearing a mask became the norm in Winter months. A simple but very cost effective measure. I know some countries have had this for years, maybe we should follow suit.
HOORAY!!!!!!!!! I finally collected my Carte de Sejour (France residency permit) Third time lucky. I was quite impressed that the lady who dealt with my application actually remembered who I was and that there had been a mistake on their part last time. She must have seen hundreds of people – even more impressed because most of them would have been wearing a mask!
No more guests until 2021 now. I have had a couple of inquiries but I won’t be opening. Like everyone, I am hoping Covid infection numbers will reduce significantly, but they seem to be struggling. The new curfew rule won’t bother me – I’m hardly likely to be out in the dark!
On a visit to the new recycle bins just 100m up the road, I notice the little fishing lake is being drained. What a muddy job for the council. I wonder what they do with the fish?
I made it to my Dad’s funeral. It just so happened that Ryanair flew to East Midlands on a Tuesday and Thursday. The flight to the UK was very late on the Tuesday night, I had a taxi to the hotel in Grantham, stayed there until the funeral time on the afternoon, returned to the hotel immediately after and flew back Thursday lunchtime. It so happened that this was the penultimate week of flights to the UK from Limoges airport, they are now all cancelled for the foreseeable future. The funeral service was emotional, with 30 people attending (as limited); some unexpected but very lovely, people there from his life.
Not to help matters, my back went the day before I travelled. I was in absolute agony. I could barely walk, dress myself or even go to the loo. How I managed to lug a case up airport and hotel stairs, I will never know. Plus the fact that no escalators were working and the one lift that was wouldn’t open the doors on the ground floor (panic was setting in at this point, but it did go back up a floor and I got out quickly. Then had to take the stairs); all contributed to a week/ ten days of recovery when I got home.
If only I could have stayed a another 48 hours – because my nephew got married two days later. What a week of emotions. After so many change of plans, they decided to go ahead with a very small ceremony and meal after. I was touched to think they used some of the white roses (of Yorkshire), from my Dad’s wreath in their wedding flowers. I am looking forward to a big celebration when the time comes, hopefully next year. Amazingly the weather was bright and sunny.
Le deuxième confinement: second lockdown began last week. Can’t say I’m sorry. The statistics for infection are horrendous. I have had a couple of rooms booked out, but the weekend wedding ones were cancelled. I’m basically closing now until the next year. I may have limited opening in December (one room) for a couple of weeks, depending on the virus levels. I’m going to need to plan another project to keep me busy. The weather is good for a few days; I may get some garden work done. I’m not very motivated to do gardening, so this would be a change!
The start of lockdown was ominous – I broke a piece off a tooth, nearly amputated my finger in the gate and the TV gave up the ghost. The TV had been on its way out for some time I think, the picture had some strange shadows on but eventually other things went ka-put. I ordered a new one online, which arrived quite quickly. However, I couldn’t set it up. In fact I could barely get past base – the sat dish has 2 input wires and the TV had one! Anyway, I did manage to mink up the wi-fi (not that I’m into Netflix etc) but I couldn’t connect the Humax box. This is now resolved with the help of someone who has the know-how; thanks Paul! My finger is almost healed, the flap of skin has knitted back in place butis still a bit sore when I bend it. Unfortunately, the tooth will have to wait; at least it’s not painful or uncomfortable.
Just before lockdown, I had a visit from my long lost goddaughter. Not having seen her for 30 years, she’d changed quite a lot. Now with her partner and own family – making me feel old. Time flies. Amazing to catch up and know what they are all doing now.
Sid did his usual disappearing trick when he had a vets appointment last week. This time it was for his annual vaccinations, not treatment. I am going to copy a post I made on FaceBook here, just to update his current state:
“A few months ago, Sid was diagnosed with FiV{cat version of HIV} his main problem was his inability to eat. Gum inflammation gave him so much pain he was scared to eat. I seriously thought I would lose him. After weeks of trial and error with medication, we have reached pain management equilibrium. And, I’m pleased to say, he’s eating. Lots and lots and lots (plus any of Asterix’s food he can sneak when he thinks I’m not looking.”
Last but not least the gardening guy has been with his heavy machinery to cut the hedge and chop down a tree. It’s so satisfying to have the hedge done – always looks impressive. And you can see so much more going on in town!
myfrenchhaven 