Wildlife, Land Rovers & Manchester

We've had a lot of wildlife around this week, some welcome some not. I'm sure my regular readers have picked up on my aversion to serpants and this week my phobia was not helped when I nearly stood on one of them. I'd been clearing out an area of garden so the builder could point the wall and must have disturbed it. Fortunately I had my armour plated wellies on and I was able to take evasive action as it slithered off in to the cellar. I had planned to clear that cellar out this week but think I'll now wait until October when it will have hibernated. For those interested in the local wildlife it was the same snake I'd seen before and was non venomous, phew! We also had this lovely looking creature in the wood store. Needless to say Barbara was keen to see it removed to the far end of the field. Two other visitors were a bit more welcome. M. Guilbert's son-in-law called in to see if we'd like a couple of vache to keep the grass down. Sounded like a great idea so he said he'd set up an electric fence to keep them in and they'd be delivered in a couple of days. He left us a brochure detailing the high quality of meat the animals were used to produce and you can find more details of 'Averyon & Ségala Veal' HERE. We've been invited round to his farm to have a look round so it could be a while before calves liver or veal make it on to the menu at Chez Hill again.

The pointing was finished on Thursday just as we left to fly back to the UK. It really does look great and we're both delighted with the work that's been done. Once the roof is on, and it still looks like work will start the first week in August, the externals of the house will be complete. It's been really interesting working with the builder and we've got on very well. He says his English has improved dramatically, I just wish I could say the same about my French. We'll get an opportunity to put what little we know in to practice this coming Saturday when we attend the builder's daughter's baccalaureate celebration party. We should be OK as his next door neighbour is English & he has a couple of friends who also speak pretty good English. One of them regularly calls at the house next door and on his last visit when it was throwing down said that there were now so many English in the area that we'd brought our own weather with us. Cheeky bugger!

We met up with the owner of the Land Rover Lightweight this week. He's a local Gendarme and with Thierry's help we were able to glean lots of information from him. It only has 12,000 kms on the clock and everything on it is original. A real collectors item that I'm not sure I can do justice to but it would make a great tow car. I had hoped that we could do a bit of wheeling & dealing but I didn't think talking to a Gendarme about a cash deal was the right thing to do. We've arranged a test drive next week so we'll see how it handles and make a decision then. While on the subject of cars we had the Toyota serviced this week and what a bargain it was. €132.00 for a full service and although they didn't clean & valet it we felt it was a real result considering it was carried out by a Toyota authorised dealer.

We were back in the UK this weekend for a wedding and what a great time we had and although the weather was a little wet, it was Manchester after all, the wedding went really well with the sun shining at all the right times. It was great opportunity to catch up with friends and family and we really made the most of the weekend with a trip to the dentist, a visit to the Trafford Centre where we bumped in to Nita, good job we told her we were back in the UK, and a day in Blackpool visiting Barbara's mum & sisters. We called in to Cafe Nero whilst we were at the Trafford Centre and discovered where Peter Kay gets his material. in front of us in the cue were two senior citizens who had obviously not visited a coffee shop before. Barbara had picked up a packet of crisps to go with her sandwich and one of the ladies nearly passed out when she saw the price. 'You want to get yourself down Asda love, you'd get a packet of 12 for that price' and it got even funnier when they ordered the cheapest coffee on the menu, an espresso. 'What do you call this we wanted proper drinks not a thimble full!' The staff were really helpful and topped their drinks up with hot water and sent them on their way chuntering about Americanas!!!

Thanks to Ian & Joyce for a really good weekend and making us feel very welcome & relaxed. Ta!