A friend in need....

That was some wind !

one, two , three...

With all the cold wet weather we have had lately came a couple of days of high winds. Friends returned from a visit to family in England to find part of their pool enclosure sitting upside down in the pool. Too heavy and cumbersome to fix on their own, they called in reinforcements.

gently now...

this will all go back together, no problem..

The crew gathered after their usual Saturday market coffees at the local bar. We all know about committees and how they work. Imagine five men, none under 50, all with vast life experience at solving problems and therefore their own ideas on how to approach this.

This thing was heavy and awkward and holding quite a lot of water. After a couple of attempts to lift it out ( too heavy, especially with the water), slide it ( could damage the pool cover) they recognised that it would be most helpful to try to drain the water out first.

the committee assesses the damage...

After much shuffling and lifting and helpful comments, the slowly dismantling structure was off the pool and resting safely beside. Once upright and on it’s rollers it was a small matter to put it back in it’s place with the other panels.

back were it belongs

and the river flows on past oblivious to all the action

Another successful operation… now let’s retire to the bar….

leafless for the winter

This tree in our garden needed to be trimmed before the new leaves appear in spring. Just getting up a ladder with a saw isn’t enough so Graham borrowed the appropriate tools and has been working on this for weeks, between rainy days, freezing cold days and “something better to do “ days. At last, it was finished this week. Just as well as we appear to have an early spring after a mild winter. Now if the sun would just come out for more than a couple of hours.

It's more difficult to trim this than it looks

A sure sign that spring is on it's way....

bonne semaine mes amis

IT'S BEEN A WET FEBRUARY

Pompiers at work

Woke to lots of rain and cold on Valentine’s Day. Tried to sleep in but Lily was having none of that so on with the day, as usual, until…

Anything to brighten up another dull winter's day !

view from our upstairs window

just before lunch a bit of drama struck in our street. Lots of noise and the sight of ‘sparking’ from a house a few doors up. Next the fire engines arrived (les pompiers) and up goes the ladder. The road is closed from each end , a problem as there are traffic lights at one end and the main road off to the next big town.

Lots of flashing lights and fire hoses quickly set up along the street. Turned out to be an electrical fire so we all waited for the tech vans from the local electricity supply company. Friends closer to the fire were evacuated from their houses so  we offered coffee and a warmer place to wait it out. Unfortunately the power was  then turned off to our end of the street and we all sat around for a couple of hours while an assessment was made of the threat. Meanwhile, the central heating is off, no lights, tv, internet, and the house is cooling down ( about 8 degrees outside), and the rain is still falling.  Our lives  are so dependent on these little things working all the time for us, aren’t they?

Some of you have seen photos of the river level with all the rain we have had in the past few weeks. I took these yesterday while waiting for the power to be returned to us.

the boatramp in February

the same area in spring

the picnic area on the river bank in February

the picnic area in spring

we'll all be travelling by boat soon

the chateau in February - wet feet soon if the river keeps rising

the chateau in summer

our neighbour across the street - the boatramp has disappeared 

the red fence marks the footpath along the river side

the same footpath in summer - see how high it is above the river

the riverbed exposed in July when the water level
 was so low we were all concerned

and daffodils have started appearing  at the markets - spring can't be far away

à plus tard mes amis

AUSTRALIA DAY PARTY !

It looks like becoming an annual event at our house.  The gathering together of friends from UK, France, USA, Thailand, China, Canada, Poland, anywhere.

Welcome all 

Despite the cold wet weather, we tried to evoke an australian feel to the party with flags everywhere and  a playlist of australian bands in the background ( and the heating turned up).

Lots of prawns, chicken sates, thai fish cakes, salmon rolls, and to finish, anzac cookies, lamingtons and a pavlova. 

C'est quoi ce "pavlova" ?

We even had vegemite on fresh baguette slices for those brave enough to try something truly australian. The verdict by the english – better than Marmite. Don’t know if that is a positive or not. The french were too polite to comment.

some were not so brave about trying vegemite

"Cheers" to you too !

Lots of deep conversation, before the singing broke out

Couldn’t find any decent australian wine available here so had to settle for french, c’est la vie.

We were asked by many why the 26^th January was the chosen date for this special day, so we explained it commemorated the arrival of the first English colonists (prisoners and marines) at what was to become Sydney Harbour – our first boat people. When we mentioned that La Perouse had arrived just a few days after the First Fleet, and that we could easily have therefore been french instead, there were cheers from our french friends who broke into a stirring rendition of La Marseillaise.

The party deteriorated from here until finally, the playlist reached “A Pub with no Beer”, the words to which a few of the english actually knew!  Time to go home, I think.

Thank you to all those friends who made it to the party. Some couldn’t due to illness, or being  out of the country and we missed you. It’s the wonderful guests who make a party a success.

Bonne semaine à tous

PS… for our friends back in Australia, it is the custom here to bring a gift when going to a friend’s house for a meal or a party.  Our very generous friends brought  wine, chocolates, including some from the very good chocolatiere/patissiere in our town square, and some lovely pot plants. The most unusual was from our french neighbours – a pot of soup and a boudin noir (black pudding) all made by his mother to local recipes. We look forward to a great lunch today.

And Lily had a wonderful time at her first party .