Swimming and O.F. birthday

(Sunday)
Swimming and O.F. birthday

We were invited to Gazavel today for tea. When we got there we found that they had organised a birthday party for Oncle François, he will be 82 later this week. (Mum had been told, but forgot!)

Therefore:


Numbers 25 & 26!
(Between 10... those with keen eyes will count 12 glasses... The two children present were counted in the "glass laying out" but did not have any. The person filling the glasses just filled them all without counting!)
We had cakes an fruit and stuff with the bubbly.
After that, we went swimming, and I sneaked some Internet time!


A view from the pool!


This is where we used to swim. The "grand bassin" is about shoulder depth, about 30m long, was filled with continuously flowing fresh water at about 17-19'C and was filled with goldfish ... descendants of some fish which my aunts (when girls) once won at a fair, and my grandfather released into the water.
This pond was cleaned every year, and the fish rescued into tin baths!
Sadly, the trees cracked the walls and it has leaked ever since, and has not been used for perhaps 15-20 years!


This is a side view of my uncle's house. I used to spend every August here when my grandparents were still living there.


View from the front... The sun was just setting, so the lighting is not so good.
There used to be about 6 trees in this courtyard, but they gradually died and had to be cut down when my uncle took over... You now get a much better view of the chateau. :-))
We used to sleep on the top floor, under the roof, so you could hear the rain on it... and sometimes feel the rain through it!
There is a railway track about 100m away, and the vibrations were not always good for the tiles! (so they sometimes moved)

Disaster!

Disaster today! (Saturday)

Today there were several disasters! The overall disaster was that there was no bubbly today! :-((
;-)))

Another, was that we had decided to change the way we would get our broadband. I had various conversations with the France telecoms people, ... Actually, they asked me if I would like to speak to an "anglophone" (someone who speaks English) I said yes, but when the chap tried to put me through, he found that that part of the office was closed and they had all gone home. So we muddled through!
My French has deteriorated so I speak with an obvious English manner ... :-((((
With much too-ing and fro-ing, I established what we wanted to do, and confirmed with my sisters.
I thought I had established that I could ring them back until 8pm to change the contract, so rang back at 7pm, but the lady said that they were already closed. It must have been that the phone lines are manned until 8pm but the office was open til 18:00 !!
Still, I managed to sort it out on Monday morning, but we won't get BB until 7th August now, only 6 days before we come back, but just in time for my father's birthday, when we were going to "Skype" him!

But the major disaster was when we heard this almighty bang. I thought it was a door slamming in the wind, but actually it turned out to be the washing machine drum opening and jamming during its spin. Mum had hand-washed a woollen cardigan, and had put it to spin dry. She said that the catch was stiff, and perhaps it was not correctly fastened, so came undone. The spin was really violent, since her cardigan must have been all in one place so ...
We managed to get it out, but the machine is kaputt!


We fished out all these broken bits... The opening of the drum, generally at the top, is right at the back! We also found lots of spare bits underneath when we moved it!

Olympics Opening Ceremony

Olympics Opening Ceremony
(Friday)
Oncle François came for dinner, this time with my aunt; she was back home. (They had also come for lunch!)
We had the obligatory in the evening (#24)!


This time, it was really OF's bottles, I got it mixed up before.
(He brought two, but we only had one!)


We watched the olympics opening ceremony here, with incessant French drivel, sometimes inaccurate! They were talking about the poppies, and explaining that everybody wore them on 1st November, not the 11th. ... 1st November is All Saint's day; an important for the French (Catholics) and a bank holiday!

At least this time they stopped talking over the children singing, which they did not do for the little Chinese girl in 2008!

Otherwise, we loved it, and the Olympic flame was a surprise. We had wondered what they had been carrying, and thought it was some sort of symbolic flower basket or something. !!

However, I think that they cheated, and only the first 7 were actual flames from the original, the rest looked like they were ignited by sparks... I suppose the original flames could have been sucked down, and sent up the other pipes, but that would have been such an explosion risk! (?)

:-))

Yet even more!

(Thursday)
Yet even more!


OK, this is getting ridiculous!
Bottles numbers 22 & 23!
We had the usual nibbles too!
My sister saw someone driving past who did a massive double-take at the sight of 7 people sitting by the side of the road in the middle of nowhere in front of a corn field! She was half expecting him to turn around and drive past again for a better look!

My aunt (Henriette) has now joined us, effectively replacing Hugh. She is staying until the 3rd August, I think. ... she was only going to stay a couple of days at first, but then asked to stay longer. She caught my mother off guard with that one! But, they only see each-other once a year...

We were busy all afternoon and did not get a chance to go swimming today, so my sisters an I decided to go for a midnight swim! At 11pm!
The water was delicious! Quite easy to get in, and still about 28'C (I couldn't see the thermometer since it was dark) and the air temperature must have been only about 20-25'C, so it was difficult to get out again!

Leaving and sunbathing!

Leaving and sunbathing!


Bottle numbers 20 & 21 are for Hugh's departure tomorrow morning. Drunk in the usual place, with the usual "nibbles" watching the sunset.


Quite dark (to me on this iPhone) but on a big screen, it may be better :-))
Quite often, the sunset is much more colourful, I'll try to get a better picture.
:-)


Digit-Al decided to take in the sun on the inflatable sun lounger in the 34'C heat, but decided he couldn't be bothered to have a swim since the water was only at 28'C. Besides, the pool has a leak, and the water was dirty, so needed a clean!
;-)))

In the background, you can just see the main part of the house. Not the pink house, but the house covered in virgin vine.

We have just been to Oncle François's house to use the Internet to download and print some email attachments. And book some train tickets... Success on the first count, but failure on the second. :-(
We will have to try again when we drop off Hugh.

Oh dear! Not another one?

(Tuesday)
Oh dear! Not another one?


This one (#19) is the second bottle supplied by Oncle François, he was not up to having it last night, and opted to have it today.

We had a nice swim in the pool in the afternoon and postulated a midnight swim. As it turned out, we did not have time, and everyone went to bed early.

After dinner, Hugh and I went to Gazavel with Oncle François to access his broadband, and I was able to upload a weeks worth of blogs!
Tee hee!

Friends, Bears, Mascots!

Friends, Bears, Mascots!


This year I brought Digit-Al to France, seen here with two little bears. The last few years, Teddy, my favourite, hasn't made it to France: no room, and she is feeling a bit too old to travel! Especially being stuffed into a bag; most uncomfortable, and undignified for a bear of her age!


Two years ago I brought a few more! Dodo, Louise Little Bear, and two small bears, one of which you may recognise from my black "man-bag"! Seen here with new acquisitions! Two bears and a crocodile!


In 2006, there was a visit by Peeklebub, to help with a difficult Sudoku puzzle! Teddy, Astra and the Dodo could not work it out on their own!


2005, I had a new (exotic dancer) zebra and Peeklebub, with Teddy in the middle!


2004, just Teddy and a small zebra friend!

No pictures of before ... No digital camera!

All Work and no Play! (Not!)

All Work and no Play! (Not!)


Okay, so this is a lunchtime bubbly (#17) for the departure of my brother-in-law, James.
He got his train to Paris alright, but there was a power problem with the underground and he did not get across in time to catch his Eurostar. He had to pay €200 for a new ticket since they would not honour his existing one!



This "Monday evening bubbly" (#18) is to "lift the spirits" of my uncle who has just had his first session of radiation treatment. We all hope and pray that it is going to work.
:-|



James and I installed this gate in 2004. This year it is a bit "saggy" so I took it off to straighten it up a bit... But, it has too many rotten bits, so when I tried, it crumbled!


Last year, Matthew and I rebuilt three pairs of shutters for some downstairs windows. There was lots of wood left over, so this year we are going to build a new gate with it! That should keep us out of mischief for a few days!
We also have to do a last couple of coats of paint to the third pair of shutters, since we ran out of time and paint last year... Only to find a large pot hidden away, but it was too late. Bah!!

Sunday, a day of rest! (Not)

Sunday, a day of rest! (Not)


This is outside the church. Last week there were three times as many milling around (all the way across the road) when I was trying to fetch my mother. (By the time I took this picture, most people had already gone.)


This church is in Mirmande, a village quite close to us, on a hillside.


Some views, not the best, I would have had to go to the top of the hill for those.

Our car has some sort of rust on the roof, no one knows how come.


I sanded the patches, and put anti rust paint on them.


Then I managed to find some white paint, which seemed to be for metal. It does not look too bad from far away, but close up you can see it very well! But it is better than it was!
:-)))

More fixing, this time it is Matthew's bed: The leg broke off!
=:-O
Or, at least, the bit of wood that held the leg came away from the frame.


We had to peel away the lining/covering material to expose the staples etc in order to fix the screws to hold the block of wood for the leg!
A few screws later, and you would never know it had been broken at all!
:-)))

Saturday, jam making, nephew fetching and more!

Saturday, jam making, nephew fetching and more!


This morning, we made apricot jam. About 5kg of fruit, and 4.25kg of sugar. Left to stand for a couple of hours so that the juices are drawn out before cooking for an hour or so. Then into pots!
:-)
This time there were 19 pots. A couple of days ago for the same amount of fruit there were only 17 pots. However, they seem to have set quite hard, today's seem to be a lot more runny!
Later in the week we will be making peach jam, and perhaps later, some fig jam (from our own trees), if they are ripe enough. However, it is generally friends and family who do so, since the figs only ripen properly after we have come back to England.

My second nephew, Matthew, arrived from England today, and on the way to collect him, we bought an "orange livebox" - the ADSL WiFi router for our Internet. The salesman said that if we had subscribed to the Internet with them, then we would have saved 30€ on the price! My sister was upset about that, since she thinks it is costing a fortune to set up. (which it is).


But when I tried to connect it all together, I read the small print which said that we only get that if we sign up for 12 months, for a TV + phone + Internet package, so she has no regrets about that. :-))
So, we can now connect to the router, the signal gets to most of the house... not too good downstairs, but is very good in my room! :-)))
However, no Internet yet. That will be on the 1st (or 4th) of August.


OK, since there was another "arrival" we had another couple of bottles! (#15 & #16) (Between 8 of us!)
Outside, with the setting sun before supper!


The sun through the glass. My mother noticed the effect, my sister took a picture, and I think I managed to capture it too!
:-)))

Phone, Gas and more!

Phone, Gas and more!

This afternoon (Friday) we rang up the phone company to organise a second line for our Internet access!
We can't have ADSL on our primary line because of other issues, so we need a second line. We are proposing to use an existing phone line which was used by the people who used to live here all year round, but has not been used for about 15 years. They are sending an engineer over to check it out on the 1st August, so we may have broadband then! :-)))) But only for just under two weeks before we come home. :-(
It's going to cost a fortune to set up! and we may have to pay for it all year round. :-(( However, we may be able to disconnect the ADSL service and line, until we come back next year and reinstate them. Fingers crossed!

Also, this afternoon, the gas ran out while I was having a shower! It usually happens when it is my sister, but she was lucky this time!


These are the gas bottles we use for our hot water and cooking. They work in pairs, and we can switch between them when they are empty, so we can buy full ones, and then swap them over. The mains gas supply does not come as far as the house yet, so this is the only way.


The trouble is, that when the gas runs out, there are a few safety trips which come into play... So each time we swap over, we have to muck about with resetting the boiler controls, powering down, fiddling with valves and so on. We had worked out a foolproof method, but it did not work this time for this fool! Eventually, after about 5 minutes, I got it going again, so it is OK for the next two weeks, until the new bottles run out, and we have to start all over again!


Do you recognise this scene?
Another two bottles (#13 & #14) (between 8 of us) of pink Cava from Sainsbury's, this time for my uncle François and aunt Henriette who were staying for dinner this evening.
I've now lost count, so I will have to check the log on my previous blogs! ... I did say there would be rather a lot! Probably another two tomorrow night since my other nephew in arriving!
There should be a "lul" by the middle of next week, but you never know!
;-))

Today we had even more!

Today, Thursday, we had even more!


Some just before lunch when Uncle Jo came... (#10)


And more in the evening just before dinner. Two bottles (#11 & #12); quite different tastes, as it happens.
This was to celebrate a significant event, so was deemed to be worth two! ... And we are all alcoholics anyway! ;-))

Yesterday, we had a visit from my cousin, his wife and two kiddies.
The boy, Ivan, who is only three, was loving the pool. He leaps in, arms and legs spread out, belly flop! swims to the ladder to climb out and do it all over again!
Often, he forgot to stop grinning, and got a mouthful of water, but carried on regardless!
He was wearing water wings so was OK.
His sister, Sixtine, about 9 I think, asked me if it was OK to play catch with the ball. I said yes, of course, but did not realise that she wanted to play with me, and not her brother! Oops! I had not intended to stay in the pool and sun that long, so had not put lotion on! =:-o
It was good fun, both of us out of our depth, so hard work!
By the way, the French for "I'm out of my depth" is "I haven't got foot"! How we laugh! ... You have to be there! ;-)
My head felt a bit hot at some points, but I managed to survive unscathed! :-))
The swimming should be helping my back, but my bed certainly isn't!

Dinner at Gazavel, chez Oncle François

Dinner at Gazavel, chez Oncle François


This is where the count gets confusing: There were two bottles already there on the table. We arrived a bit late, so nearly everyone was there and had started, my sister said that they had finished some bottles already, and they had gone, but I'm not sure...
Two more came out, and were opened, but neither were finished!!! OMG What a waste!
Since I had a bit out of two different bottles, I'm going to declare those as #8 & #9!!
(They were put away, and were finished off the next day! Phew! But I was not present. :-( ... )

Anyway, my aunt and uncle had invited us to dinner. Posh frocks, shirts, ties and jackets... and that was just for the women!! ;-))
There were 21 adults/adolescents and 3 children (under 10). All the place settings were marked with our names, and set with the starter:


Bother, I missed the monogram on the napkin in the picture! :-(
We were split into two groups; 16 "old" people, and 8 "young" people.
Of the 24, only 5 were not "family".
Hugh went with the young'uns, and probably had more fun! They certainly finished their meal earlier and ended up going for a late night swim! (I have subsequently learned that it was quite boring, and Hugh would have been better off with us, poor thing!)


The "adult" table!

The "adult/children" split reminded me of when there were too many of us staying with my grandparents during the summer, and we could not all fit on the main dining room table. (- about 18 people) The "split" was done on "age" ... The following year the age threshold increased, which was terribly unfair, but we did not realise properly that it was to do with numbers rather than individuals!
But being the third youngest of the cousins at the time, I was always in the children's dining-room anyway. I think the "age split" was always between my sisters!
The meal was delicious, as were the surroundings.
We had herbal teas or coffee afterwards, but I sneaked away with my laptop to grab some WiFi time, for downloading some emails!
:-D
Actually, it's working out that I get Internet access nearly every day anyway!
However, tomorrow, we are going to try to sort out our own access. I hope it will be ready before we go back to England!
=:-o

Actually, I spoke (wrote) too soon, I have not got access again, and it is nearly a week later!

Lunch at Perrougier, chez Lois

Lunch at Perrougier, chez Lois


This is Lois's house, he bought this land with a building on it. It was just the tower bit of the house, without roof or windows. We are not quite sure what it was, but think it was a herders house, for living in and storing feed. He spent months cleaning it and filling holes and stuff, with the help of a polish friend.
Eventually, he had the rest built onto it, over several years, when he could get planning permission!


The first thing he did was to build the pool. We all thought he was mad, but in the end it was the right decision.
We came for lunch and a chat and coffee. Having a wonderful time. :-))
And free WiFi too ;-)))

Sisters and brother-in-law arrival...

Sisters and brother-in-law arrival...
Guess what!


Couldn't get the lighting right on this one! Well, it is nearly midnight!
My sister and brother-in-law drove down from England today, and picked up other sister who came down by Eurostar, much the same as we did, only she travelled 1st class! :-))
This makes #8!!
All very tired and ready for bed.

Zzz :-)))

Visit to St. Vincent Cathedral in Viviers

Visit to St. Vincent Cathedral in Viviers


Probably not the best view - side on - of this 11th century cathedral.
My uncle helps to look after the place, and showed us round. Very Interesting, he even took us round the back, inside, which is not open to the public.


One of our uncles, not ancestors, since we are Catholic, was the bishop here, until he died in 1621.
The family crest is in one of the stained glass windows.


You can't see it, it's too bright, and too far away!


The 17th century Gobelins tapestries, representing scenes from the bible, are very valuable, large and rare. Three of them were stolen a while ago, and two were recovered in Italy, the third is still at large, but a place is still kept for it.


The 18th century high altar is white marble inlaid with coloured marble designs.


This is a side chapel, which is where "the people" came to worship; the main cathedral was reserved for the canons.


I caught the sun shining through the stained glass; beautiful! :-))

This cathedral is the smallest one in France.

Here endeth the tour!
;-))

Uncle Jo's House

Uncle Jo's House


Just a small house in the wilds of southern France!
We came here to my uncle and aunt's house for lunch, which was delicious!

Oh! And it was preceded by... guess what!!


Bottle #7!!!

They are also looking after my cousin's little dog called Choupie:


She posed for me so beautifully
:-)))