Just
occasionally we hear church bells
Now, I must away and
prepare for my next “gig” – photo enclosed and if that doesn’t do it, think
Lady in Red with a gender change!! And,
still not there? Tis the season to be
merry – Ho, Ho, Ho!!!
As many of you will
know, we have just returned from a visit to England, a trip that started off as
about 4 weeks and ended up as nearly six, as my Dad had to go into hospital for
major surgery. It was good we were able
to be there for when he went in and for his return, remarkably just 4 days
after what appears to have been a five hour + operation, returning to the ward
at about 4 o’clock in the afternoon and wanting us to visit that evening. He was well enough to have four visitors for
an hour and a half, whilst we waited for the registrar to confirm that they had
successfully done what they set out to do!!
When he was home and settled we were able to return home, to our sleepy
part of rural Vendée. Regular reports
assure us he is making steady progress, but it will still be several weeks
before he can start to drive again and already my Mum is having withdrawal
symptoms, as she can’t go shopping everyday!!!
Although six weeks is a
long time to be away, and the day after we returned our lovely French
neighbours came over delighted to see us back, and worried that we had decided
to stay in England!!! We had got a
message to them about our delayed return, but they were still pleased to see
lights on in the house again, all the other houses in our little hamlet, of
which only two are regularly inhabited, hide behind us, so they would have felt
cut off again like they had been for the five years the house was empty before
we moved in!! But, looking back, we did
manage to fit an awful lot into our visit this time, the first since our return
after the New Year in January.
We started by driving
from here to Norfolk, via Dieppe and Newhaven, for Linda to drop me off in
Caister-on-Sea for my annual gathering of the ACV (Association of Countryside
Volunteers), before she drove on to York to catch up with her family and meet
the latest addition – Harley who had been born back in August, his Dad, Linda’s
nephew, is a biker! After an enjoyable and successful gathering I got a lift up
to York to join Linda and similarly catch up with everyone there. We then went down to Daniel and Lisa’s in
Stroud, as somewhere in the distant past, I had reputedly offered to help
Daniel block pave his front garden to ease their parking problems!! Arriving as it was getting dark in very heavy
rain (about the only rain we saw all the trip!!) we found Daniel and his friend
having a mud bath as they finished off taking off the turf and soil, which
Daniel was having to carry in large plastic buckets through the house (hall,
living room and kitchen) along a strategically placed path of black bin
bags. Amazingly when the bags were later
removed, you could hardly tell he had muddily slipped and slid through the house
numerous times. The next few days were
thankfully sunny and the quagmire drained quickly, and apart from meeting some
good friends for lunch and our traditional Saturday morning coffee in Mill’s
Cafe in Stroud, meeting whoever happens to be around, we managed to get the job
(several thousand pavers) eighty percent finished in the time we had. We also then spent some time in the annex at
the back of our Stroud house “tidying up” and consolidating things after
Victoria had moved her things out into her new house in Plymouth (more of that
later), hired a van and managed to empty the storage unit we have been renting
for the last 3 ½ years, into the annex.
The annex is now stacked high and we won’t be able to get anything
easily out of it, but we will be over a hundred and eight pounds a month better
off, and there was the possibility that this amount was about to have VAT added
in addition, part of the austerity measures we are hearing so much about!! However, not all good news as we got back to
an unexpected UK tax bill, having been given duff information a year
previously. Having had a bit of a rant
(managing to avoid mentioning Costa coffee et al!) at an incredibly patronising
technical advisor, we’re now introducing our own austerity measures!!!!
That done and with a
car full of things we had collected or found when sorting out the storage, we
headed for my parents and then fairly quickly on to my cousin’s new house just
outside Worcester for a family get together.
I had had the presence of mind to get my Dad to add me to his car
insurance, which meant that we could all go in his car, rather that squash my
Mum and Dad in with the log basket, beer making equipment, bread making
machine, slow cooker etc. As you may
gather, we once again have the time to use those labour saving gadgets that at
the time seemed such a good idea, but we were always too busy to remember. The bread machine has already been put to
good use on those day’s that the bread van (camion boulanger) doesn’t call, as
well as using it successfully for the first time to make pizza dough – may
become a regular for visitors next year!!
Booking has already opened and some slots are already taken!!!!
A few days followed at
my parents trying to make an inroad into the list of jobs my father had ready
for us, as well as several others that then became obvious or at least came to
mind! As they say “no rest for the
wicked” although not sure how that panned out with our luck in avoiding the
rains in the Vendée and present devastating storms in the UK (“it never rains
on the righteous!!”) as we returned to Stroud to do some more on the
drive. We were nearly able to get it
finished before heading off to Plymouth, via Thatcham to pick up Tyler, to
spend a few days with Victoria and Dermot. Here we would see their new house, meet
some more of Dermot’s family and thoroughly warm up the house, very necessary
as the weekend was the first cold snap of the year, which at the time had
precious little heating, but it’s surprising what a good party and a few drinks
can do. Thankfully, the heating has now
been installed and next stop a shower!!
The house that Victoria
and Dermot have bought and already worked incredibly hard on, was a fantastic
bargain, dint of being badly converted into two flats and generally, although
sound and with new windows, neglected over a long period of time – where have I
heard that before, a bit the case of “like father like daughter, we’ve both had
extensive renovation projects recently, both likely to continue for some months
to come! The house is huge, with lovely
big high rooms (kitchen, games room, lounge, dining room, three bedrooms,
study, a bathroom and another on the way and a reasonably sound two storey lean
to with plenty of potential) lots of potential as well as lots of stairs,
currently a round trip from the kitchen in the basement, to the toilet on the
top (3rd) floor is over 70 steps!!
That and a plentiful supply of DIY and the gym won’t be necessary for a
while!! Already it is looking great and their plans for the future are
admirable.
Back then to the Forest
of Dean and D-day regarding my Dad’s op, with a round trip to the hospital of
over fifty miles, we spent quite a lot of time in the car and by the hospital
bed and back to where we started at the top of the page.
On our return, always a
long journey and as the ferry was rather cold we didn’t get as much sleep as
normal but fortunately we had been warned of the bloodshed in the kitchen. Indeed, it had been cleared up before we got
back by some kind friends down the road, who we had asked to pop in and get a
letter that needed posting that we had left strategically, obviously thinking
we might have been delayed. Coming to
get the letter they were quite literally greeted by blood all over the kitchen
floor, liberally “watered” down with beetroot and blackberry juice. The recent unprecedented rainfall, that we
missed being in England but that seems to have now arrived in England since our
return to France, I guess we must just be lucky, had cause a leak in the
downstairs bedroom, which caused the electricity to trip and the freezers to no
longer freeze!!
Since our return, we have been slowly getting
back into the routine of DIY and gardening, with a pause as Beaujolais nouveau
arrivée and karaoke beckoned, my rendition of Tom Jones’ Delilah being in
danger of quite literally bringing the house down although there were a couple
of bravos as we beat a hasty retreat
shortly afterwards!! There have however
been some difficulties getting out of bed in the morning, it’s the shutters and
the dark mornings in France, you just don’t realise its morning, as some of our
normally early rising visitors will attest to!! We are also being very careful as the
females in the three local English couples we have the most to do with have had
a shattering time; broken wrist, seven broken ribs and a broken humerus, in
that order. But, as people keep telling
us, at least that’s three, although ‘er with the ribs might disagree!!!
After all the hustle
and bustle of the last few weeks, it was great to be back even though for a few
days it was so dark and so quiet that it was difficult to sleep, something I
used to find at my parents house, particularly before the village had street
lights and the Severn Bridge (the first one!) was built, yes I’m old enough to
remember both, and I hear you asking what’s the significance of the bridge; the
rush hour starts earlier now the village is within commuting distance of
Bristol and Bath! It’s even been quiet
during the day as it’s a relatively quiet period in the farming calendar and
the other day, with the light breeze being in the right direction, I could even
hear the church bells from the next village, some three kilometres over the
hill, if the wind is too strong you can’t hear the bells for the trees!!! That’s until the peace and quiet was
shattered by our neighbours starting to re-roof their barn (is it a case of
keeping up with the Joneses or simply a reflection of the recent storms,
reputedly over 160 cm of rain fell in only a few days!) and our other neighbour
who is both fairly deaf and heavy footed starting her car, I think her driving
instructor told her to listen for the revs!!
