Our search for Computer desks

Both of us being PC fanatics, and having a computer each, it was difficult for us to find the space and a suitable place in our home where we could both work comfortably. We searched many a store for a couple of reasonably priced (if not, cheap) computer desks, which would fit in to our lounge area, this being the only place we had available to put them, but to no avail – everything we looked at didn’t seem to look right or fit in or was expensive.

We waited until Wednesday and travelled to our local Emmaus, a registered worldwide charity which has a large warehouse of second hand furniture, bric a brac – well it has everything one could imagine there. It is only open Saturday and Wednesday afternoon, but it is always well worth a couple of visits if one is looking for something French.

We saw this very old French table, solid Oak and very heavy, we could hardly lift it, and with the help of the French gentleman in the store, helped us put it into our trailer, at a cost of 40 Euros – it was a steal!

Arrived home and had to dismantle most of it outside to allow us to lift it into the house, and Iain got busy. Most French tables are extremely long and have extensions in the middle, so it was relatively easy to separate into two parts, having said that there was so much metal work underneath, such workmanship went into making this table. Iain got his saw out and several hours later was ready for me to just run a cloth of woodstain over them and a quick coat of varnish on our two new PC desks. We think they look amazing, and they fit wonderful under the huge area under our stairs in the Lounge, with plenty of sitting room and out of the way.

Also bought a good quality computer chair for 3 euros….. Bargain

An intense smell

We were busy working on the renovations in the house when we heard a huge commotion outside, now being down a very quiet country lane with only a French retired farming couple living opposite we wondered what was happening.

We opened the front door, nearly getting knocked over by the smell of manure, a nice healthy smell that we get twice a year when the farmers transport this up and down the lane to place on all the fields around us.

The farmers “muck spreader” had been going past our door, and the drive shaft had dropped and ploughed into the road leaving behind him a huge gouge out of the middle of the lane. Another farmer came and helped and after quite a time they had transferred all the manure into another unit. Now they had to lift the drive shaft and remove the vehicle out of the way, then tackle repairing the road the best they could.

Triangular road works signs were placed either side and within two weeks the maintenance crew had been and permanently repaired it.

It looks none the worse now.

Gravelling around the property

It took from Spring onwards last year to get the garden in some sort of shape and after spending the end of the Summer having 26 tons of gravel delivered, many an hour transferring this to the drive, parking areas and paths we felt that the garden was just about finished. (So were we).

When we went to the local gravel pits, we were presented with dozens of little plastic containers showing us all the different sizes and colours of gravel, and we were surprised at the quantity that we needed to do the job. We were even more surprised when this huge dumper (camion) arrived and tipped it out, we nearly fell over once the mountain of gravel that completely blocked the entrance to our drive.

It has been a long, cold, wet and windy Winter, but it feels now that Spring is on its way. It’s brighter and the garden is drying out from all the rain we have had. We felt it was time to mow the lawn and orchard and start to get rid of the weeds.

Of course, being in France, it is not permitted to use any form of mechanical equipment outside during the hours of 12 and 2pm and all day on Sunday, although some tend to ignore this, we being English feel we should follow the rules. So Sunday came and went without us getting out the mower etc. and it was such a beautiful day.

Monday came and it was all hands to the deck, grass 3ft high and our sit on mower struggling to cope. It took all of Monday and Tuesday to get a quick cut all round. We just started on Wednesday to tidy up and the heavens opened. One thing about living here is that we do seem to get more than our fair share of rain, locals say this is climate change in the region, and they have never know such rainy conditions.

At least the garden now is on the way to looking good.

Pet Passport

All our animals had all the relevant vaccinations and were chipped etc before we came here, but it seems to take them back we need to go through the process again. Our Vet here in France even thought the English were over doing it by asking us to get them blood tested for Rabies and waiting for six months. They were already vaccinated against it, but we had to get them done again, wait one month and then get them checked to make sure that the vaccine had taken, if so, then wait six months before we can take them back to England. Doesn’t that seem like backward thinking – they were ok in England – vaccination worked so how could they catch Rabies here ! Well, that’s the way it is folks, so one dog and four cats took a whole morning in the Vets and an arm and an leg later, was sent away to wait for a month. Then back again for the blood test, then wait 10 days, then wait 6 months. “Déjà vu.” Then they just have to return to the Vets 24 hours before travelling to be wormed and de fleed.

Getting out and about

After being so busy for so long, it seems strange now having no renovation works to do. We thought we could try and get out and about a little more than we had been used to.

On our way to Mayenne the other day we had seen so many posters for a Brocante and Antiques Fair advertised and although it was over an hours drive away we thought we would have the day out. It said Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so feeling that Friday would be the quietest day we left in the morning for a steady drive.

In England when they are repairing the road it becomes “cone” city, here they either just get on with the road works and one drives carefully round, or for major works they just close of the whole road and put up diversion signs. You can actually drive a detour of 20 miles – which is fairly common and no prior warning.

Ok so we chose the day when they sealed of the road, and we had to detour – a three quarter circle around where we wanted to go, so our journey took much longer and we arrived at the Brocante at 1pm. Now here in this region of France, everything closes between 12 and 2pm – no exceptions really apart from large Supermarkets, Street Markets and Brocantes. In this case – the Brocante we discovered on the first day of opening didn’t start until 2pm..of course, not stating this on their posters and not having been previously, like a few other people, we arrived and looked silly. So we wandered off for an hour (luckily the supermarket in this large town was open).

We arrived back just gone 2pm to find there was a 5 Euro charge each for admission, we have not heard of this before but paid our money and went in, thinking we were in for a real treat ! In France there are normally sellers of hot sausages and food (they usually have a large barbeque where they cook in front of you) and places where one can get drinks and coffee etc. Well, after walking into this hall and discovering there were about 20 stalls, all of which had items on which seemed to be tripled in price to anywhere else, no where to get food or drink, we were quite taken back. Covered every stall I believe three times and found nothing really of any interest and certainly not at a price that we would have purchased anything. Finally, we left and returned home, cutting across country to miss the long detour.

On route, we spotted another Brocante at the side of the road, a small house with a separate section and feeling that we had not had a day out, we decided to stop and peruse his wares. It was a large unit, absolutely brimming full of objects and furniture; it was three storeys high into the roof. We spotted one glass vase for 30 Euros (which in the other Brocante we had seen a similar one for 70 Euros.) There were some lovely items and we enjoyed our visit in his shop, which took over an hour. We love old French furniture it is normally solid Oak and carved and very heavy, and so cheap in comparison to the modern made furniture.


Life in France!