French Sign Language
Nov 19, 2006
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Continue reading "French Sign Language" »
This cooking lark is getting addictive!
It has been a mega day starting at 6.45 am which has ranged from getting the kids ready and off to school as normal.
Then breakfast and a load of washing before helping a friend sort out his E Bay account in French which we managed to get into English in the end.
Then I levelled 10 tonnes of gravel in the barn. Apart from about an hour tomorrow to build a small retaining wall and level the remaining pile of gravel it is ready for concrete.
Hopefully next week (possibly Wednesday) This will be completed so the internal walls can be built.
Continue reading "The galloping Gormet encore!" »
The recent turn of events have put pay to any ideas I might have had of the bedrooms and bathroom for the kids being ready for this Christmas.
In fact, as the Pigeonnaire is not going to be used (unless we have a late booking) I can see us all eating our Christmas day tucker in there.
Continue reading "Discovering the benefits of French health system" »
Its been a challenging 24 hours or more as Donna fell from her horse yesterday afternoon and broke her pelvis.
Whilst riding in the Menage, Izzy (Izzadore Dahl - previously No Name) caught Donna by surprise and she was thrown to the floor. Landing heavily it quickly became clear that it might be more than bruising and a visit to the Hostpital in Villeneave confirmed the fears that Donna had broken the pelvis.
Strangely enough, after examination and X rays she was allowed to leave and return to re-cuperate in her own bed as it seems there is little else the doctors can do.
An ambulance brought her home and we have confined her to bed for the foreseable future.
Continue reading "Challenging Delia as domestic goddess" »
I bet your wondering why I have not mentioned the barn conversion for a while?
We are proceeding, although at a slow pace. Mr Marcello took his time in finishing the pipework for the radiators and the evacuations for the toilet and bathroom.
We have learnt from the previous work that it will be an advantage to have all of these pipes below the concrete and not set in the screed. At times we were so tight for space that it made tiling difficult.
Tomorrow there will be a delivery of 10 tonnes of gravel to top off the in filled and consolidated stone and this will determine our levels for the concrete.
Continue reading "The progress of the Barn Conversion" »
Buying a house in France is a totally different process than the loosely organised system in the UK. There is a lot to be aware of and I have highlighted a few pointers below.
The list is not exhaustive but you should be aware that a buyer as well as the seller is bound to certain legal requirements and it pays dividends to get good legal advice before proceeding.
Continue reading "Buying a House in France" »
It seems a bit strange that we are enjoying temperatures way above average at the moment and heating hardly seems to matter.
Although today has been overcast and some rain has fallen it looks like we are set to return to high daytime temperatures with a possible 20 degrees on the cards for the middle of the week and even night time temperatures are set to remain good.
Continue reading "Buying heating oil" »
I hope you do not mind but today is not about us here at Perigord Vacance.
To me personally, the first and second world wars, whilst tragic were necessary for the sake of freedom everywhere and I am humbled by the efforts of men and women who struggled against all odds to rid the free world of aggression.
After my recent trip to England and visits to Bramshott Common and the Canadian War Graves in St Mary's churchyard I research troops who passed through Bramshott on their way to France.
One such soldier was Jack Chapman. I find it very surreal that Jack and I may have walked on the same ground but we both went down different paths. Jack's was to play an important part in the World's future so that I an many many others are able to have the freedoms we do today.
I contacted Earl Chapman and it is with his kind permission that I re-produce his tribute and documentary to Jack.
Continue reading "Jack Chapman one of the Bramshott heroes" »
Something quite extraordinary is happening here in our region of France and I highlighted it earlier in the week with my post 'Are we feeling the effects of global warming?'.
I know, from my recent visit that the UK has been dry although I believe from what I had heard and seen there was a lot of flooding previous to our arrival.
In contrast, here we have experienced very little rain all year except, ironically, August which was a very mixed bag with some heavy thunderstorms.
Continue reading "Why is Aquitain experiencing a heatwave?" »
The wild flowers in the meadows continue to flower although not as many as spring. I am trying out the features of the Olympus 600 camera. Maybe I was a bit hasty with my previous thoughts. The detail when the shot is right is stunning.
Continue reading "Wild Flowers and Autumn Berries in abundance" »