La Marseillaise

There doesn't seem to have been quite the same level of interest in the state visit of President Sarkozy here in France as there was in the UK. It did make the newspapers but wasn't the lead story on every front page & the French are not quite as enamoured with their first couple as the British nation were last week. The publicity surrounding the romance between Mr Sarkozy and Ms Bruni was a departure from the French tradition of keeping presidential private lives private and he has certainly been the butt of a number of non complimentary comments. Can you imagine Gordon Brown being the centre of such a glamorous affair, I can't!

I've been continuing to work with Thierry this week & what a mixed bag of weather we've had. The English are well known for their interest in the weather well it's no wonder there are so many of us out here in France. One minute you can be basking in the sun next it'll be raining that hard that it would put Manchester to shame. Both the man we're working for and Thierry reckon that there are now so many British people in France that they've brought their own weather with them because it never used to rain in the South of France. I had hoped that my French would improve & although I've picked up a few useful words it's going to be difficult to drop the French words for chisel, barrow, lump hammer & adhesive into a meaningful conversation. Apart from the friendly banter about the weather Thursday brought several comments about the performance of those superstars of the English football team. They make you proud to be English.

After a busy week, including working Saturday morning (unfortunately not at time and a half), I was looking forward to an afternoon off and getting out of work clothes and putting on my best bib & tucker. I'd just got out of the shower when Etienne rang to say that he'd got us some more wood for the stove & could I meet him in an hours time? So it was back on with the overalls, unload the trailer & head off for another load of wood. We've been keeping an eye on G & S's house since Christmas and had noticed that they had little visitors with pointed noses & long tails. They'd made a meal of some fruit & nuts & hadn't heard that salt is bad for you as they'd demolished a full pack. We'd cleared up as much as we could but when G & S arrived here on Saturday they discovered a small treasure trove of orange peel & nut shells in the bottom of one of their wardrobes. The mice had obviously worked very hard and I think G & S were a little reluctant to move them on but on Monday I'm sure they were hot footing it to e local hardware store for traps, poison or one of the high tech electronic mouse deterers that are popular here.

On Sunday we've got in the habit of calling in at the boulangerie in Najac and having a coffee in the local bar. This week the road into the village was closed and the flags were flying around the war memorial and there was a ceremony in progress commemorating the locals who died fighting in the Algerian War of Independence. Although there was no band present there was still a stirring rendition of La Marseillaise thanks to a cassette player.

Easter snow & wellies

Easter & it's typical British bank holiday weekend weather here in the south of France. Windy, cold & snowing! Last Friday I'd been slaving away in temperatures in the 20's, this week we had to call it a day at lunchtime amidst sleet & hailstones. I'd clocked up a few more days work with Thierry and had picked up a few tips that I'm sure will be very useful. We've been well looked after with regular coffees served, as the French do, in a glass tumblers with no offer of milk but with lots of sugar. It had been quite entertaining trying to explain to the gentleman we're doing the work for that the English refer to rubber boots as Wellingtons and that they are named after The Iron Duke who is not all that popular in France. Fortunately he'd not read the Wikipedia page that goes on to explain that the French company Aigle was the pioneer in manufacturing 'wellies'. Another conversation centred around the difference between a spade & a shovel but I'll save that for another time.

With the continued dip in temperature we'd used a bit more wood on the stove than we'd hoped and if there was no dramatic change soon we were going to run out of fuel. Last weekend I'd rang Etienne who has a small wood supply business and on Monday he called to say he could let us have a stere of mixed wood. We arranged to meet that evening and had great fun picking the wood up from his yard in the pitch dark. It was definitely the right time to go as when I unloaded the trailer in the morning there was considerably more than just one stere and the majority of it was oak. Hopefully we've now got enough to see us through to the warmer weather.

We'd decided over the weekend that it would be a good idea to get another estate agent involved in the sale of the house. There's no reduction in fees for sole agency so working on the principal of the more publicity the better I rang an agent on Tuesday & asked them to co-market the property. They asked me to email across some pictures which I did straight away & as it turned out it's just as well I did as we received a phone call a couple of hours later to say they'd shown a client the photographs and they were very interested & would like to view the house on Wednesday afternoon. So on Wednesday at 2:30, with the sun blazing down, the freshly ground coffee was brewing & Barbara was baking bread. It obviously worked as the couple were most impressed and said that once they'd exchanged contracts on their home back in the UK (hopefully this week) they'd be making an offer. To say we were happy is a bit of an understatement and although it's early days it's great to think that someone actually likes what we've done to the house. Our only problem will be if all goes ahead is where are we going to live! But we'll worry about that if things proceed.

Frere Jacques & Valerie Merz

After 50 years plus as Mairie of Najac M. Bouyssière has finally thrown in the towel. In the first round of local elections held last Sunday he'd poled so few votes that he has withdrawn from the final poll being held today. It'll be interesting to see what changes the new Mairie will make.

One of the ladies who attends Barbara's French/English language group had invited them round for supper last Friday and had said that partners would be more than welcome. Thinking it would be a room full of chattering ladies, I'd originally declined the invitation but as the evening approached I'd picked up on the grapevine that there would be one or two other husbands putting in an appearance, so decided that it was a good excuse to get the best bib & tucker out and I'm really glad I did. We had a great night out (what a fantastic house they had; lovely pool!) & there was a really good mix of French & English all trying to learn each others language. After a long French style supper, we'd arrived at 7:30 and started to eat at around 9:00, it was time for a bi-lingual sing-a-long. Someone had taken their guitar and local jazzsinger, Valerie Merz, (click on the play button to listen to her) was in attendance we and all sang along to Frère Jacques and other well known songs that will not be available on iTunes any time soon.

It's a good job Friday evening turned out to be entertaining as during the day I'd been busy helping Thierry lay the concrete foundations of a patio and was pretty knackered and I don't think it would have done much for Anglo French relations if I'd nodded off during the evening. We'd started work at 8:00, had the obligatory 2 hour lunch & finally clocked off at just after 6:40. Philip & I worked hard mixing & barrowing the concrete and apart from comments about the béton mix being too dry and was water expensive in the UK and were we saving the eau for our Pernod the day went well & meant that I can call on Thierry's help in the future. Back at Lagarrigue things hadn't stood still & I'd had a stroke of good luck. I needed to dig yet another trench for a drain to take the rain water away at the back of the house. After the second spade full of earth I came across a concrete channel that ran the full length of the house that was obviously a gutter. All I now had to do was lay a field drain pipe in it, cover it in gravel & dig a soak away at the end of the gulley. I just wish everything was that simple.

For Sale - A house in the Averyon, France

I suppose it only serves me right for gloating about the beautiful weather last week. It's been bitterly cold, wet & on Tuesday we had snow! So the biking training schedule has gone completely out of the window as I've become a bit of a fair weather biker of late. It hasn't stopped us getting on with work though. I had hoped to be able to hire a small digger this week to dig the trench for the new water & electric supply but unfortunately for me the owner was using it so I had no alternative but to get the pick & shovel out. My original plan was to dig a trench along the side of the road but after just a couple of swings of the pick it was obvious the hard core had spread a little & it would make sense to find another route, straight through Barbara's garden. The top soil came up easily & with Barbara's help, who swings a mean pick, it wasn't long before we hit clay. At that point she decided there were far better things she could be doing with her time and left me to dig the trench down to a depth of 75 centimetres. Turned out it was fairly rock & stone free so on Friday afternoon it was a quick dash to the builders merchant for a length of red plastic pipe to house the electric cable, water pipe and a trailer full of gravel, something to keep me occupied over the weekend. With the trench dug all that was left was to get into the cellar which, when you consider the walls are 65 centimetres thick, was probably going to take a little hammering but by Sunday afternoon the pipes were in place, the trench backfilled, the hole in the cellar filled with stone & the area for EDF's meter prepared, and that was with Saturday spent in Albi on a very enjoyable if a little wet day off.

On Wednesday we'd had the local estate agent out to take photographs and measurements in preparation for marketing the house. We signed the paperwork, you think estate agents fees are high in the UK, and the house was on the internet by 6:00 that night. We're also having a go at marketing the house ourselves & you can have a look by clicking HERE. Please feel free to forward the link on and there's a bottle or two of wine (not Aldi's €0.99/bottle vintage) for anyone who generates some interest for us.

Le Tour de France & M. Bouyssière

If I could see the laptop screen in the bright sunshine I'd be sat on the terrace writing this blog. We've had a glorious day & I've been able to get out on the bike again & clock up a few more kilometres which is just as well as I've been challenged to a ride over Easter. A & J who own a house in the hamlet have been over for a few days liaising with their builder & we'd asked them over for a meal on Friday night. During the evening the subject of mountain biking came up, as it does, & it turns out A is a keen MTB'r and has completed a couple of the local routes. They're back over Easter and we have arranged to check out a couple of the more technical routes, there's always safety in numbers, so I think it's time to get back in the saddle & do a little training. While on the subject of bikes it looks like we're going to get a close up view of this years Tour de France. On 12th July the route takes the race from Figeac to Toulouse via VDR so anyone interested in a room at competitive rates should get in touch now!

In last weeks blog I'd made reference to the concerns being aired in the UK over excessive drinking. Last Sunday I was invited out for a meal & had to drive to get there as unfortunately my chauffeur was still back in sunny Blackpool. I had a great night but what a struggle I had to avoid the demon drink. It was Thierry's 50th, a very popular age, and to say the alcohol flowed was an understatement. Trying to make one small glass of wine last 5 hours was not easy & despite me keep repeating that I had to drive home my hosts wouldn't take no for an answer, 'There'll be no gendarmes out at this time of night'. When I told them about being breathalysed a couple of weeks ago they were most surprised but it didn't stop them trying to top my glass up. We've been invited back to attend his 'official' birthday celebrations in July & I've already booked a taxi.

It's not just the USA who are currently going through the election process. Here in France it's time to elect the Maire, a very important person in the local community and the campaigning in Najac, although not getting the same coverage on the BBC as Hillary, Barack & John, is just as entertaining (not sure if that's the right word for the US elections). M. Bouyssière is the oldest & longest serving Maire in France & several of the locals have decided that at 88 years old it's time he called it a day. He doesn't agree and is campaigning for a further term saying that there is so much left for him to do but things are getting personal and the split in the community would make a great plot for a Sunday night TV programme. The local website is running several non too complimentary videos, here's one of them.

Hubert Bouyssiere presente...
I'm sure M. Bouyssière is running a similar campaign but I haven't managed to find it as yet. Click here and you can see some more of the very professional videos.


On Thursday it was off to Carcasonne to collect Barbara & although she's only been away a couple of weeks the washing machine & I have really missed her. Never being ones to miss an opportunity & despite Babs having left her mum's in Blackpool at 3:30 AM we had time to call into Ikea in Toulouse & collect 2 wardrobes, 2 bedside cabinets, 2 small tables & various light fittings. Needless to say the Yaris was full to bursting and with Barbara having to sit in the back during the journey there was very little conversation as she dozed all the way back home. Back in Lagarrigue I think she was happy with the progress I'd made in her absence and was looking forward t getting the wardrobes built and our clothes out of suitcases at long last. Later this week the estate agent is calling to take pictures and get the house on the market so it's going to be a busy few days 'dressing' the house.