It was cold yesterday. Cold and windy and miserable.

And what does any self-respecting English family do on a cold, windy, miserable day? We go for a picnic.

It was all part of our visit to see Nana. She is at the Agen Hospital, quite a distance away. So we packed some eggy sandwiches, a flask of hot chocolate and some Agen prunes.

After the visit, we made our way to the canal that runs through that part of the city, found a bench, pulled up our hoods and started our picnic. We did get some funny looks from the passing joggers and cars, which we found highly amusing. We could imagine them saying….’Bet they’re English!’. And we didn’t disappoint. We finished just as the errant pigeons arrived to polish off the crumbs and set off for Aiguillon.

Aiguillon is at the confluence of the Garonne and the Lot. Stunning it is too. As you cross the bridge over the Lot, there is a spectacular view of the weir and two derelict mills. With the rain swelling the river recently, the level is high and the river wide and fast. Quite breathtaking.

 And it’s possible to get quite close!

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Wearing their treasured sporty outfits, a Spurs football strip and a Pippa Funnel outfit, Diddy and The Boy, took part today in the Carnaval in Duras. The local schools all participated, with the theme being the Olympic Games. I can only assume it was to kick-start the Easter Week….no-one seemed to know when asked.

But a bright, colourful, slightly chaotic time was had by all. And to make matters even more hectic, it was market day. Undeterred, they whistled, chanted and clacked their way through the streets, tripping over each others flambeaux and flags.

There was a group of Maternelle children masquerading as Asterix the Gaul. My understanding is that he’s in the new Olympic sport of secret potion mixing, along with Marcel Wave and Le Pew pussy cat. But don’t take my word for it….

Easter Monday is the Fete d’Agneau, which involves a trip to church, a brocante and a loto in the evening, with a top prize of a side of beef and various other cuts of meat.

Last time we went to a loto, Mum won a couple of chickens. And very noisy they were too on the way home…..wonder if our luck’s in this time?

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I’m not sure what the official line is here in Lot et Garonne for the Herald of Spring. Cuckoos, migrating geese, the first blossom on the apricot tree, farmers harrowing their fields?

At Beauregard it is the first cut of the season…we’re talking grass of course. And today, we heralded spring with a short back and sides with the mower and tondeuse. The first of what will become a regular and not always welcome chore…

It smelt beautiful though, I must admit!

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The moon, as it rose tonight,  was stunning.

I dragged the family away from their various activities with a, ‘wow, you must see this’ and was  thoroughly disappointed with their lack of awe and wonderment. Unperturbed, I got out my super new camera and took some photos.

I now realise the importance of a tripod but quite frankly was too lazy to rummage around for it, my excuse being that it’s in a box somewhere. Plus, the moon would have lost its lovely orange glow by the time I’d found it.

So here is my favourite arty-farty moon photo. Ok, it’s less a picture of the moon and more the essence of me, trying very hard not to move or breathe for 20 seconds…I think it looks as if I have been to art college, for a foundation course at least…well, I like it!

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I can imagine that now your thoughts are turned to Christmas. That you are enveloped in the pre-Christmas panic of planning, buying and organising.

Here at Beauregard, our thoughts and conversations have turned to heating, in all its forms and manifestations.

Heating takes on a life of its own here, it is a tangible, raw element of life. No longer do we arrive home to a thermastatically heated house, a warm bathroom and a cosy bedroom.Heating here is done on a room by room, as needed basis. It is hard work.

We have a woodburning stove and various moveable heaters, such as gas bottle fires or electric heaters. Either way, the days of a constant, low-key, low maintanance heat are gone. We have got used to walking to the bathroom through a cold room, to waking up in a cold bedroom and waiting for the heat to start working in the morning. It’s all very old fashioned!

And how it dominates our conversations! It seems quite normal now to spend all night discussing what form of heating you have….’Oh, you have oil-fired/a Villager stove…how does that  do?’ ‘Do you find it uses a lot of wood? We seem to be burning tons’, ‘How much did you spend on your wood?, ‘How do I deal with the draughts, there seem to be so many’, ‘Will we ever be really warm?’…..and on and on. Suddenly heating is no longer the invisible, taken for granted friend but a life-force of its own!

So, enjoy your Festive soaked December and spare a thought for us, with our sooty faces and blue noses!

Off to put another log on the fire……

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……wellie boots.

 Yep,this seasons’ choice of footwear is a pair of Wellingtons!

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Today the children started school….La Rentrée. I must admit, it was all a bit of a shock. For some reason we had assumed that 29th August was a Thursday, they don’t go to school on Wednesdays and without checking we naturally thought that the start day was Thursday. (It’s easy to forget what day of the week it is here, let alone the date!)

By sheer fluke, I asked the fella in the village shop if Diddy’s school started on Thursday (we had been told that often the older children return a bit later) and he said, ‘no, they all go back tommorrow’. After some ‘are you positively, absolutely sure?’-type questions we went to the school itself, to find the teachers busy preparing for the following day. Phew! It doesn’t do to be a day late on your very first day.

So, the rest of the evening was spent in fevered activity; outfit choosing, form filling, phot-copying of essential documents, bathing.

After the initial shock of getting up at 7am and amid much excitement, I took Diddy and Plum took The Boy. On arriving at school the excitement was quickly replaced by nervousness and fear, and that was just me! I left Diddy looking utterly bewildered, confused and petrified, although at that point her friend Daisy turned up and the situation improved.

The Boy had apparantly just tripped in without a care in the world!

I busied myself for the rest of the day, took Debs to the airport and tried not to think about them both languishing in confusion and tears.

I needn’t have bothered! Reports so far are that they both had a lovely time. They didn’t understand much but it didn’t seem to worry them. The Boy was a bit put out that football was off after someone kicked the ball over the fence during first play and Diddy didn’t like the haricots verts…..not bad for a first day!

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Hello once again.

We arrived safely and haven’t stopped since! Our furniture has been held up but is due tommorrow. I am now using a computer without Broadband and with a French keyboard…both annoying but I am getting used to it.

Unfortunately, my initial buzz on arriving was tainted by the rumour and subsequent confirmation that there are outline plans  afoot to construct a huge golf course and 800 habitations in our commune. On checking the plans at the Mairie, it would appear, that if all was approved, we at Beauregard would have housing on three sides. So, I have arrived to find that I am now a NIMBY! Not sure what the French is for that yet. But, it is early days and we are hopeful that it will come to nothing.

Mum and Dad are pleased and relieved that we are finally here. It is strange to be part of a big family again but we haven’t had any niggles or arguments yet. The kids are settling in well, swimming, climbing trees, helping Grandan with all of the jobs, cooking with Nana and generally letting off steam. School is another month away so we are still enjoying our holiday.

Time to wrap-up. It’s taken hours to download just two pictures…..

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I had a bit of a panic on a few weeks ago. It involves the lovely view that you can see above and plans for a golf course.

Mum bumped into friends, who live in the commune, in Shopi and was asked if she had heard the news. ‘What news?’, she asked, ‘The plans to build a huge golf course at Beauregard’, came the reply.

Well, we hadn’t heard the news, as it happened! Could this be the best or the worst thing to happen to us?!

We knew that the farm opposite was for sale and of course, my imagination went into overdrive. I had images of electric golf carts, a hotel and country club on our doorstep, with car-parks left, right and center, flying golf balls and a 12 foot fence. This is after 4 years of  landscaping and general mayhem.

Not exactly the rural idyll that we are so fond of.

I know there are worse things that can be plonked on your doorstep, like a pig farm or abattoir, for instance, but I must admit to being a bit, well, concerned, to say the least.

However, after a quick chat in the local village bar with Mums friend, it would appear that there are plans for a golf course, only it’s closer to the leisure lake and the village and won’t impinge on our hill-top solitude.

Phew!

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I’ve been back a week now from France and I realise that I have not posted on how it went, apart from a little bit on Bergerac Airport. It would appear that the improvements there overshadowed the rest of my stay!

So what did we do?

It was fairly warm but very wet….I think there were a few hours when the drizzle and rain stopped. At this point, the kids put on their boots and leapt outside to play happily with Poppy.

Dads car had got stuck in the mud and there were concerns that we might not make it to the airport on the Thursday. But with a little bit of sand and a lot of brute force, we managed to shift the car. We nearly took the front of the house with us at one point….the joys of country living! (Mental note:…..surface the front drive, one of first jobs!)

Myself and Dad did a bit of walking around, looking at work that we intend to do; basic landscaping, ideas for improvement, new staircases, shower rooms and bedrooms, to name but a few. We are going to be very busy!

They are getting very excited about our imminent arrival. Having said that, I think we will have to wait and leave once the house here in London has been sold. We were hoping to make the move during the Easter holidays, come what may, but I don’t think this is practical.

Never mind, I’m confident that the house will sell very quickly and we will be settled by the Summer Hols!

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