The Wonder of Nature

Being in France one got used to all sorts of creatures running around in the garden (and the house of some occasions) from very large Toads to Lizards and Snakes plus the occasional Wild Boar and Bull (from the next field, who liked grazing in our orchard rather than their own field). I have some wonderful stories about one particular Bull which I named Daisy (I know the name doesnt suit) I'll cover this soon.

Nothing, but nothing beats looking out into our garden here and watching the birds, we have set up quite a few different feeding stations containing fat balls, seed, peanuts, etc and to watch the tiny sparrows and tits leave the hedge and flit onto the nuts, the slightest movement and they disappear back into the privet hedge again, after a few seconds, out pops all these tiny heads, glancing in every direction until they think its safe again to fly out. Its a complete joy to watch them and always brings a smile to my face. Hopefully once we have been here longer they will accept us and not be so cautious. We have noticed our Robins have been not so quick to fly away at the slightest movement.

Of course I haven’t mentioned our Cats and Dog that travelled to France with us and back again, at a total cost for the return trip only of over a thousand pounds, but I shall cover that topic soon – however, I need a very good day to mention such sad events.

As Time Goes By

OK If you read my previous Blog, then you may have guessed what we now do to keep the wolves from the door. Its that four letter word that has become a household name.

Having spent the majority of money that we came back from France with on a very modest house – we had very little money to play with, but we felt a permanent residence was better than renting, at least the money we had would not quietly diminish. We now think we made the right move and are happy in our newly acquired home.

Unfortunately, it is very difficult to be self sufficient in the U.K. almost impossible in a normal house; it is not even practical to grow vegetables in our small garden. French Property Taxes are extremely cheap compared to UK. and considering we had a hectare of land in France, a huge house, an orchard with many fruit trees and a number of outbuildings, etc. it was absolute peanuts tax wise and our bills were very modest. Our expenditure was minimal. Afraid in UK everything has a high price.

So with neither of us finding employment in UK, so difficult at our age, and really hampered by the fact that we hadn’t worked in England for such a long time, we had to do something to try and replenish our funds.

Iains cousin gave us a huge amount of second hand clothing with instructions, sell it for what you can get, and give me half. So our venture began, we had both Ebayed before – but on a much smaller and infrequent scale. So our learning curve began and we Ebayed most of what was given us. Gosh, it was hard work and time consuming, everything got steam cleaned or laundered, ironed etc. and we used our experience, our gained knowledge over the many years of “living” and we also researched everything that was listed so we could give accurate and precise details. Most garments sold really well, and buyers were extremely happy with what they had bought. We had many emails and positive comments.

We also tried a couple of car boot sales, which we found even harder, the loading of the car, the getting up at 4am in the morning, and then the drive and queuing and setting up – both occasions it poured with rain, and we got soaked. We were not amused and spent the following couple of days not only badly aching but fighting of a cold. I find it amusing when people say – just do a car boot or get a market stall. Are they Mad !!!

Alas, the clothes from Iains cousin were a “one off”.

However, we thought Ebay was the way to go....... and I shall explain in my next blog how we managed to make a success of it.

Settled Back In England

My oh my, its been a long time since I had time or inclination to come on here, and update everyone to what has been happening.

Our lives have been so busy but so much happier back at home again. The saying that the grass is greener on the other side, really is not true for us, as we have found out the hard way, although it would be nice to have a holiday home in Spain or Turkey . (Our experiences of both these countries is much more positive and I'll cover those later) Certainly would not under any circumstances include France in that statement.

We have a lovely house, not quite in the same league as we had in France, but who cares, we certainly don't. We have a corner plot and the garden although its not huge, its enough for us now to enjoy. Even our pets have settled back nicely.

Of course the main problem we both encountered was finding work, having been out of the country for such a long time, and being older in life, it was almost impossible to find any company to employ us, and the salary was so low it hardly seemed worth getting out of bed for and then it seemed we had a long way to travel for that meaningless, low paid, degrading job. We both had really good jobs before we left for France, so we both felt we were too old to start at the bottom again and work our way up and actually are both too old to do so.

So we took a gamble, as you have probably guessed we are that kind of people , and it paid off for us. So we both work now for ourselves, and I dare say I shall cover that in great detail as time goes on.

Back To England

Well, I know I haven't been on here for quite a while, the whole ordeal of selling and moving out of France and back to England has been so time consuming and tiring.

What I will say at this stage is that we have been back here in England for a couple of months and are enjoying every minute of it. It is so nice to be greeted with a smile when one enters a shop, its wonderful to know exactly what I am buying and the food here in the supermarkets have over whelmed us. So much choice and hardly any difference in price. One feels at home and welcome and all the problems of translating and having to think about what one says and how one says it have almost disappeared from our minds now. When a bill comes through the door its so easy to understand every word and so easy to pay without any red tape or bureaucracy. When we disagree with something its so easy to explain our problem. In fact.... its so good to be home !

All the family came over at Christmas time, something which never happened in France and we were able to serve a proper Christmas dinner, something else which never happened in France.

It is very strange to say that neither us miss France, but we can say with hand on heart - that is the case. We even have accepted quite easily all the problems which England seems to have, perhaps it is because it is home and will always be so.

The rented house that we moved into, from the moment we entered felt more like home than France ever did.

Anyway, thats all the want to say at this moment, and I will start back dating some stories on how difficult it was to get home and then a nightmare to travel back to France for a couple of days to complete the sale on the house.

Summer has arrived

Having had such beautiful weather this past week or two, we now feel that summer has arrived. The garden is looking lovely with so many beautiful colours and such attractive plants. The Sun always makes one feel so much better.

We have visited quite a few Vide Greniers lately; the English equivalent of a Car Boot Sale. (Although the translation into English means "attic clearance" or "empty loft") It seems most villages will have one during May and June and throughout the summer months. It is always so pleasant and enjoyable perusing these stalls, talking to the French and getting to understand more about their culture and habits. We are often surprised to see some English stall holders as well, often selling English books etc. This does make a pleasant afternoon out especially if it’s in a village that we haven’t looked around, and there are so many little villages scattered amidst the countryside. All have their own identity, charm and uniqueness and are absolutely well worth a visit.

Today we woke with a scattering of rain, which now seems to have died out, and it is bright again. Summer certainly is a time when we can appreciate all the benefits of being in this wonderful region of France.