I have an aversion to anything electrical that is made in France.........................since we have arrived here BH has worked his way through 3 lawnmowers, 1 chainsaw, 4 strimmers, 2 hoovers, 4 toasters, 3 kettles, 2 liveboxes for Orange internet, 2 BBQ's and just this weekend our microwave blew up (our 3rd one). Admittedly he is heavy handed, (well large handed) but bar 1 kettle and 1 hoover the above list of items were all made and bought in France. It can't just be BH, can it? Our French neighbour is mystified as she has only just replaced her Fridge having had the last French made one for 15 years (and only because the light inside stopped working). We are forever buying new electrical items - or it seems we are. When we visit our local Dechetterie (Tip) the place is piled high with white goods - predominantly fridges, microwaves and TV's - the disposables of life. Our TV is a huge coffin-like contraption which we have had for 7 years. It still works..............just. Recently its taken to switching itself off but it does still work - this was bought in the UK. But buying a new TV is a minefield for me and BH.
HD, LCD, Flat Screen, Sky Digibox with internet and telephone, ipod etc etc - all I want is a TV that works!
Monday 31 January 2011
Saturday 29 January 2011
What a week!
Wednesday 26 January 2011
Barley Boy is sick
Poor Barley, our energetic but adorable Labrador who is still a puppy at 9 months old is not well. We took him to the vet this morning as he had been sick and not keeping anything down for the last 2 days. It wasn't until last night that I discovered all of the buttons on my winter coat were missing and I found half of one in our lounge. I can hazard a guess who had eaten them.................our errant puppy who ate a packet of strepsils when he was 6 months old but didn't seem to effect him (he just slept for the afternoon)! We are waiting for the call now as the vet is filling him up with special liquid to find out where the blockage is - the X-ray showed nothing as the buttons are plastic and don't always come up on X-ray. Fingers crossed he doesn't need an operation...............poor boy.
Tuesday 18 January 2011
Help when you need it
A flat tyre - my biggest dread. I can deal with most things that our old 4x4 has thrown at us over the past couple of years but a flat tyre (without BH in the car) is not one of them. Having taken BH to work (he doesn't drive - don't ask) our car decided to have a blow out tyre. Luckily it happened as we were just driving into our village and not on an auto-route. I managed to pull over, limp it to the side of the road, grabbed the girls and we started walking.......................We got home, rang our French neighbour who came out with his English friend and fixed it with the spare in 20 minutes. Always help here in our village when you need it..........................................even for a flat tyre.
Saturday 15 January 2011
Things I love about France and why we moved here
1. The untouched countryside - safe and tranquil following the seasons which don't appear to all blend into one and just end up as either dark, cold and damp (a British Winter) or vaguely hot (a British Summer). Here the Seasons are very definite.
2. How safe it is here for children, they can wander at leisure and you just know that there are some nosy French shutters twitching and keeping an eye on "les anglais enfants"!
3. The Brocantes - especially from March through to September - a choice of several at the weekends, loaded with treats and other peoples "tout" that is just too irresistable to not buy.
4. The people - Our village consists of a tiny public school and a boulangerie (alas our bar closed several years ago now). Our neighbours are enthusiastic, quirky, old, fanatical, knowledgeable, great with their veg, kind, funny, generous and last but by no means least - very FRENCH! Once you (and them) get over the shock of no-one understanding a word that you say we have all seemed to have jogged alongside one another over the last 5 years just fine. I have found that a bottle of Whiskey or Pastis has always helped the language barrier - funny how more fluent you get, the more that you drink!
5. Our House - despite it being a freezing and expensive Monster to heat in the Winter - this house is our "forever" house or until the girls grow up and move on. It is a fantastic family house with a garden and field that wraps around it with a great view across the Vienne valley. Perfect for parties and BBQ's. Something that would have cost over £1 million for a similar size in the area we lived in before in the UK but only cost us the price of a garage in Mayfair, London. It will never get finished, I know that now unless we have a Lottery win. Its like painting the Forth Bridge, you get to the end and have to start all over again. As for me getting a non fitted but totally rustic French kitchen, I will just have to dream on until our fortunes shine again. It's hashed together and kinda of works but I dream of a large (but expensive) French Dresser that reaches the ceiling and can then be crammed full with the china I have collected over the years, an Aga that will fit just right into the large and original fireplace, plus a fridge that is so big you can't reach the back of . One day......
6. Our local bar - full of friendly and eccentric characters that are so odd they actually seem to fit just right! I get kissed every morning but at least 5 strange men - but I wouldn't have it any other way!
7. The weather - even when it snows here it is always beautiful.
8. The slower pace of life - apart from queuing in La Poste (my pet hate), leisurely strolling through the local supermarket and not doing a trolley dash as I used to do in the UK at the weekends. Taking time to discuss potatoes with someone you have bumped into and that you know would have been unheard of in the UK, here I am quite happy to queue whilst the old lady in front of me at the check out discusses her menu for that evening. I've picked up quite a few tips along the way!
9. French kissing - I now expect it and like the French would be mortified if I wasn't greeted by a kiss if it is the second time I have met someone. Its always great to be acknowledged in some small way!
10. The Food - now completely obsessed with the daily buying of a baguette, I sometimes wonder how I managed before we lived here. The famous baguette is not just used for a nice crusty roll as it is in the UK, here is just placed on a table to be used throughout a meal. Used for wiping your plate clean, with cheese, with salad dressing the list is endless. And the cakes......................................... I could wax lyrical all day long about the cakes..........................
2. How safe it is here for children, they can wander at leisure and you just know that there are some nosy French shutters twitching and keeping an eye on "les anglais enfants"!
3. The Brocantes - especially from March through to September - a choice of several at the weekends, loaded with treats and other peoples "tout" that is just too irresistable to not buy.
4. The people - Our village consists of a tiny public school and a boulangerie (alas our bar closed several years ago now). Our neighbours are enthusiastic, quirky, old, fanatical, knowledgeable, great with their veg, kind, funny, generous and last but by no means least - very FRENCH! Once you (and them) get over the shock of no-one understanding a word that you say we have all seemed to have jogged alongside one another over the last 5 years just fine. I have found that a bottle of Whiskey or Pastis has always helped the language barrier - funny how more fluent you get, the more that you drink!
5. Our House - despite it being a freezing and expensive Monster to heat in the Winter - this house is our "forever" house or until the girls grow up and move on. It is a fantastic family house with a garden and field that wraps around it with a great view across the Vienne valley. Perfect for parties and BBQ's. Something that would have cost over £1 million for a similar size in the area we lived in before in the UK but only cost us the price of a garage in Mayfair, London. It will never get finished, I know that now unless we have a Lottery win. Its like painting the Forth Bridge, you get to the end and have to start all over again. As for me getting a non fitted but totally rustic French kitchen, I will just have to dream on until our fortunes shine again. It's hashed together and kinda of works but I dream of a large (but expensive) French Dresser that reaches the ceiling and can then be crammed full with the china I have collected over the years, an Aga that will fit just right into the large and original fireplace, plus a fridge that is so big you can't reach the back of . One day......
6. Our local bar - full of friendly and eccentric characters that are so odd they actually seem to fit just right! I get kissed every morning but at least 5 strange men - but I wouldn't have it any other way!
7. The weather - even when it snows here it is always beautiful.
8. The slower pace of life - apart from queuing in La Poste (my pet hate), leisurely strolling through the local supermarket and not doing a trolley dash as I used to do in the UK at the weekends. Taking time to discuss potatoes with someone you have bumped into and that you know would have been unheard of in the UK, here I am quite happy to queue whilst the old lady in front of me at the check out discusses her menu for that evening. I've picked up quite a few tips along the way!
9. French kissing - I now expect it and like the French would be mortified if I wasn't greeted by a kiss if it is the second time I have met someone. Its always great to be acknowledged in some small way!
10. The Food - now completely obsessed with the daily buying of a baguette, I sometimes wonder how I managed before we lived here. The famous baguette is not just used for a nice crusty roll as it is in the UK, here is just placed on a table to be used throughout a meal. Used for wiping your plate clean, with cheese, with salad dressing the list is endless. And the cakes......................................... I could wax lyrical all day long about the cakes..........................
Friday 14 January 2011
Things that annoy me about living in France
Despite the things I love and would never change about France here is a list of the things that just frustrate me beyond comprehension!
1. Always take a flask of coffee and a foldaway chair when you visit La Poste. Sometimes the wait is intolerable - if you get a couple of pensioners in front of the queue be prepared for a long "sit in". They discuss weather, grandchildren, Sarkozy (a big subject at the moment), their recent ailments and predominantly food - in any shape or form.
2. The Paperwork - arghhhhhhhh! There are more bits of paper to fill in here than I have ever filled in, in my entire life. Paper gets passed from one Department to another, from one building to another without so much as lifting the telephone or sending an email. At least we are keeping a minimum of 12 people in a job by changing our insurance company - I hate to think what our local Rainforest looks like though.
3. Internet connection - it took us 18 months, a mild threat and BH (British Husband) cutting a wire in the box stuck to a telegraph pole down the Lane outside our house before we finally got a connection. Two men arrived "tout suite" well, two days after the wires had been cut to find out "what the problem was" - BH was waiting in anticipation for their arrival, grabbed one man (it was 10 minutes to 12 midday so he had to be quick), pushed him into the room where our computer is and...................quietly closed the door behind him. "Please look at this now, we have been waiting 18 months, what is the problem"? BH is a big rugby type bloke, he took a step towards the man who bent down, fiddled with a wire and our computer jumped into action..............................all this after 18 months of phone calls and letter writing.
4. Lack of committment - "Don't worry, I will be in the office at 10am this Thursday", "I will pay you next Friday", "we are open every Sunday". Do not believe a word a French person tells you - its just not true! I hate to be so cynical but having lived here for as long as we have I have discovered that they will just lie about anything and everything. I know, I know you shouldn't tar everyone with the same brush, but hey in general they would lie to anyone to get themselves out of a sticky hole!
5. Closing the supermarket at lunchtimes - I have kinda got used to this now but it can still be frustrating when like me you can wander about in a daydream in the morning and then get home and realise you have forgotten to buy toilet paper - an essential item when you have none and have eaten baked beans the night before.
6. The fact that Entrenpeneur is a French word but it just doesn't exist in France.
7. Huge Brocantes that take place in the Summer months (200 stallholders+), that are advertised online (alongwith a map), are always the hardest to find. You will never find a signpost - or you might but it would be the size of a small puppy and hidden in a bush on a piece of cardboard and you would pass it 8 times before you spot it, hence wasting precious shopping time.
8. The tiniest mispronounciation of a word can have a totally different meaning. My BH has never forgotten the time he called our 80 year old neighbour "hot" when in fact he meant he was hot - he was sitting right by her wood burner at the time. How she has lived off that joke for the past 5 years.
These are the only things I can feel frustrated with at the moment, the list is open to change! Tommorow the loves of living in France........................
1. Always take a flask of coffee and a foldaway chair when you visit La Poste. Sometimes the wait is intolerable - if you get a couple of pensioners in front of the queue be prepared for a long "sit in". They discuss weather, grandchildren, Sarkozy (a big subject at the moment), their recent ailments and predominantly food - in any shape or form.
2. The Paperwork - arghhhhhhhh! There are more bits of paper to fill in here than I have ever filled in, in my entire life. Paper gets passed from one Department to another, from one building to another without so much as lifting the telephone or sending an email. At least we are keeping a minimum of 12 people in a job by changing our insurance company - I hate to think what our local Rainforest looks like though.
3. Internet connection - it took us 18 months, a mild threat and BH (British Husband) cutting a wire in the box stuck to a telegraph pole down the Lane outside our house before we finally got a connection. Two men arrived "tout suite" well, two days after the wires had been cut to find out "what the problem was" - BH was waiting in anticipation for their arrival, grabbed one man (it was 10 minutes to 12 midday so he had to be quick), pushed him into the room where our computer is and...................quietly closed the door behind him. "Please look at this now, we have been waiting 18 months, what is the problem"? BH is a big rugby type bloke, he took a step towards the man who bent down, fiddled with a wire and our computer jumped into action..............................all this after 18 months of phone calls and letter writing.
4. Lack of committment - "Don't worry, I will be in the office at 10am this Thursday", "I will pay you next Friday", "we are open every Sunday". Do not believe a word a French person tells you - its just not true! I hate to be so cynical but having lived here for as long as we have I have discovered that they will just lie about anything and everything. I know, I know you shouldn't tar everyone with the same brush, but hey in general they would lie to anyone to get themselves out of a sticky hole!
5. Closing the supermarket at lunchtimes - I have kinda got used to this now but it can still be frustrating when like me you can wander about in a daydream in the morning and then get home and realise you have forgotten to buy toilet paper - an essential item when you have none and have eaten baked beans the night before.
6. The fact that Entrenpeneur is a French word but it just doesn't exist in France.
7. Huge Brocantes that take place in the Summer months (200 stallholders+), that are advertised online (alongwith a map), are always the hardest to find. You will never find a signpost - or you might but it would be the size of a small puppy and hidden in a bush on a piece of cardboard and you would pass it 8 times before you spot it, hence wasting precious shopping time.
8. The tiniest mispronounciation of a word can have a totally different meaning. My BH has never forgotten the time he called our 80 year old neighbour "hot" when in fact he meant he was hot - he was sitting right by her wood burner at the time. How she has lived off that joke for the past 5 years.
These are the only things I can feel frustrated with at the moment, the list is open to change! Tommorow the loves of living in France........................
Thursday 13 January 2011
First time doing this!
I am so useless with computers - believe me I have just typed an entire paragraph that I quickly lost as I didn't see the "Save Now" button! I want this blog to be a realistic view of "Living the Dream" or "Starting a New Life" in another country. Originally from the UK we moved to our small corner of SW France just over 5 years ago, life is good but not always easy! In a past life I had a job that involved chatting on the telephone all day long and paid quite well - I miss it to a certain extent - talking to a labrador puppy and two jack russells until I leave to get my husband from work and pick my girls up from school........................well lets just say there are too many hours inbetween to fill without having a chat! I am now a "Housewife" - there, I have written it down, not so bad then - but seriously though despite not having a bean to my name I love it! Cooking a meal from scratch, bottling all our veg and fruit, gardening and brocanting (flea market shopping) are the things I now have time for ..........note I missed out cleaning and ironing (my two "hates")! I have dipped in and out of other blogs over the past couple of months, but never leaving comments, just enjoying a moment in other people's lives to pass the day whilst thinking of how to make a creative meal out of mince that we haven't eaten yet this week...........................it's not easy by time you have reached Thursday morning! Well that's it the first post, I'll be back......................................
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