Quick update after a good if largely animal free week. (Ok, there’s a cat and a kestrel type bird…)

Firstly the car is fixed on Tuesday and our impression of French garages is as follows – they patiently put up with my attempts at French and charge for how long they took not what they quoted.  I largely failed to explain the Bagheera in the garage was in my Trump Cards when I was a small boy, I start trying to say stuff and have to see it thru…  On Monday our car (aka car) had lost gears twice within a 100 metres much to S’s annoyance as she was driving and toots from passing motorists didn’t help.

Accordingly were more than happy to pay the rather lower amount than discussed.  What’s more it seems that I agree for once with Putin and Kim Il Sun in that there is a place for re-programming in modern society.  I now know it helps with car things but I think the other two approve of that sort of thing more generally.

Fiat Bagheera… COOL!

To test the car we had a run south to Excideuil in the Dordogne – where we had muffins back in early January from a nice chatty English bloke.  This time we spent a bit more time, having a look at the Chateau and wandering into said impressive building/grounds.  We think you’re allowed to in that there no signs indicating you couldn’t and no-one shouted at us.  In fact there was no-one at all.  There we watched a small bird of prey chasing off a couple of crows displaying some fantastic flying.  Funnily enough there was more life in the place than in the first days of January and the market was just finishing.  It isn’t as big as SYlP’s btw.

Anyway we had a wander and after deciding to not go to the same place a second time – not that there is anything wrong with it – we ate at the Hostellerie du Fin Chapon.  It had been shut up when visited the first time but you’d never have guessed.  I menu de joured – grated carrot starter with endive, nice bit of beef with chips and green beans followed by a very, very good bit of apple tart.  S had an omelette and wine!  Excideuil is a friendly place in our experience in that the hostellerie’s cat was trolling about quite the thing pausing by those with interesting smelling main courses.  Of course she was getting nothing from me – I have a developing reputation for being a glutton – however on her second lap of the room she decided to clamber, with a little help from her claws, onto my lap where she settled down happily.  S nursed her coffee that little bit longer as I was clearly not allowed to go yet!  Eventually I rose carefully lifting my new pal but the couple of diners behind us who’d also been meowed at were also going so the poor wee thing had to find another lap for herself.  The car was fine on this 60+ mile round trip which was good news.

I continued my assisting Jan and Keith in their spring gardening efforts.  The task this time was decapitating a Bay tree which despite the complexity of the task we all survived.  Some Bay leaves are drying as you read on the window sill as is some fresh Rosemary.  What better excuse can there be for lamb for tea?

I was dunted on the head with one of the larger branches moving them after we’d finished the difficult bit (don’t tell Jan!).  It’d smacked myself a cracker on the low doorframe the day before however there is no sign of any lasting damage/improvement.  Hopes for the later have been cruelly dashed…

On Friday I got a hair cut at the same place as before.  My barber had a colleague with a brilliant French moustache and I chatted a bit more successfully.  Explaining that I had a lump on my head and making clear it wasn’t the wife skelping me as he hinted.  What a very good judge of character he is.

We remained in SYlP for lunch going for a second time to the Creperie.  They do rotisserie chicken which is a winner for me every time.  Can you get a DVD of revolving chickens?  I know you can get fiery hearths and fish tanks but it’s an idea.  (I’ll have 15%, ok, 10% of any profits if either of you make a fortune out of that idea).

The reason for a second lunch was that very much to my surprise I’d had a cheering e-mail that morning.  There a few English language publications here available for free at various places.  The glossiest is Living Magazine, it’s bi-monthly and they had a writing competition in the Dec/Jan edition.  I had a little think and deciding late against a piece of fiction sent them a bit about the benefits of going to watch local sport as a way of getting into life in France and meeting people.  No surprises there I suppose but I didn’t think that much more about it.

Anyway on Thursday morning I checked my e-mail and there was one about the competition.  Our modem does its best but is often slow so I just saw the preview lines talking about the high quality of entries.  Eventually I managed to open the message at the third log back in and saw that due to the number of entries they’d shortlisted some before choosing the Winner and two Runners Up.  Scrolling down to check if I had sneaked into the short list I was more than flummoxed to see I was a Runner Up!

I still can’t quite believe it and am pretty chuffed to be honest.  I didn’t think that my choice of topic was the best for an all women panel of judges (2 authors, an ex-script writer & the magazine Editor) however they obviously saw something in what I did.  It’ll be on the magazine’s website along with the next edition and I’ll provide the link then.

Having written loads of match reports – the audience for which is pretty captive – this result has been a shock and means I should really try and enter a few more similar competitions.  However, I can only really do worse from now on…

Surprising result!

We saw most of Charlotte Grey the other night – Cate Blanchet playing an SOE (Special Operations Executive) person who is parachuted into WW2 France to help the Resistance.  Having seen it before we couldn’t help feel our perspective has been changed by being near where it was set and after seeing so many roadside and town centre memorials…

The village that part of it was filmed in is not too far away and we may go there at some point.

Despite my efforts to find a nearby match there was no fitba for me this week.  So like many I switched over from the rugger to BBC Alba where the Rovers beat Alloa 2:1 with Vaughan (aka Voghan) scoring the winner.

Next week we have a longer distance trip planned and S and I are going for tea/coffee at Jose’s house (my pal from the fitba).  To be frank I’m more worried about that than I was about the car being at the garage!

This time’s animals are a red squirrel and 2 coypu’s, (maybe)…

Sarlat

Sarlat de Caneda was the destination of our first trip since the last update.  We headed south down the D704 into the Dordogne and ended up by mistake at a place we plan to go to some other time.  Continuing we got to the right place and parked up after paying to do so!  This is rare here and wasn’t expensive.  Sarlat is clearly used to a visitor or two to its formerly walled centre.  There are a few foie gras shops, quite a few in fact but it is lovely stuff!  It was a little overcast and tried to spot with rain but we wandered about having a good look.  We went to a museum in one of the old 14^th Century houses which was rather more interesting than it sounds but that was after lunch at the La Regent.  I had an excellent comfit of duck as S ate an omelette; having passed on a starter we of course had puddings – chocolate fondant for me and chocolate mousse for the Mrs.

Gaggle & S

Sarlat is a nice place with lots of pretty old buildings and wee lanes in the centre and some interesting shops.  Again there was a War Memorial with a section detailing those deported but who didn’t return, over a hundred including a disturbing number of women and children…  😦

Sarlat local

Taking advantage of a rather nicer day we went for a wee run to Pierre-Buffiere where we had a wander – no sit down lunch but a wee trip to a Boulangerie for a light lunch of mini-quiche and cake.  Pierre-Buffiere used to be on the coach route between Limoges and Toulouse where they changed horses and stopped for the night.  There used to be two castles of which little now remains.

Pierre-Buffire’s most famous son, Guillaume Dupuytren, was a leading light in the field of anatomy and study of that sort.  He donated a wodge of cash to his home town resulting in a nice park with a fountain and then followed a statue of him.  They statue and the ornate fountain were both removed in 1942 by the Nazi’s no doubt to be melted down for less savoury purposes…  The old pictures of both made me think I preferred their original use – I/we don’t seek out these things but it’s something that I’d never have thought of despite knowing railings were taken in the UK for similar purposes.

Just outside Pierre-Buffiere S saw two animals trudging purposefully across a field – her first guess of moles was quickly discounted (she’s a city girl) but after some research we reckon they were coypu’s tho I didn’t see them.

Pierre-Buffiere

There was a superb sunset the other day; it went from pink to orange – very pretty.  The clear night’s mean you can see the stars clearly all the ones I’d seen before and many, many more.  The old line about evidence of intelligent life elsewhere being confirmed by this planet being ignored these other beings has always seemed reasonable to me…

Pretty sky

We went to see Kingsman in French, half of the four people there on the cheap night!  Was fun and Colin Firth doing fights was a change.  Not a massive plot to follow but we more or less kept up with things.

Practicalities dictated a trip to the bank and another session with Sixteen which sorted out an address change in no time.  It’s been easier and more efficient each trip which must indicate some progress with the lingo.  We lunched in town at the Vice Versa where S was provided with what she said was a very tasty vegetable risotto which wasn’t on the Menu de Jour.  I had no such worries and piled into the salad then  Provencal pork with pasta followed by a light pear and yoghurt pudding.  All rather nice.

Wednesday and Thursday of last week were glorious.  Clear blue skies, sunny, bright and heading for 20 degrees, (a thing in town said 23.5 but it wasn’t that hot).  I did a walk to the re-cycling (on the 12^th) in a short sleeved top the first time since the 30^th of November.  It’s been a bit more overcast the last few days and the clear days have led to a slight frost overnight but it’s all very civilised.  My tan normally doesn’t begin this early.  Jan and Keith have been busy taking down a neighbour’s tree and I’ve been their trainee, junior assistant helping them clear up.  I wandered along the side of La Porcherie I saw a red squirrel scamper towards the pool bar.  Jan had seen one in eleven years here and Keith hasn’t seen one in that time – which made me feel a bit bad.

Is it me or has Lego got bigger?

The famous and tasty Limousin cattle were being judged at the Cattle Mart down the road.  We wandered along the line of bovines which seemed a little confused by rosettes that were plonked between their eyes.  A couple were obviously shy wearing blindfolds made of sacking.  Bullocks I hear you cry and you’d be correct.  Anyway they were all very well turned out, clean and brushed.  Some had been shaved a little along their backs, presumably to show off their physique.  We’ve seen a couple since back in the fields looking a bit overly done up.  All dressed up but nowhere to go poor lads…

Fitba bit

Sunday the 8^th saw me do the short trip to Ladignac le Long for a sunny afternoon some cup or other Quarter Final against Limoges 2.  There were about sixty people at the game and the full complement of, count them, three officials.  It was warm as far as I was concerned but I’ll admit to being the only person there in a short sleeved t-shirt who wasn’t on the pitch.  Limoges 2 unsurprisingly won 4:1 however the game was more even than the result indicated.  Limoges FC is the area’s biggest team by some way and their Second string had young talent aided by a couple of older, wiser players.  The visitors got an early goal and it was never in doubt from then on.  The home side were decent enough and created as many chances but lacked quality at the key moments.

Oddly one of the LlL midfielders looked the spitting image of a guy who goes to the Rovers now and again – it wasn’t him tho.

Last night (Saturday 14^th) saw my 7^th trip along the road to see St Yrieix.  Earlier in the day S and I were in a shop Le Caveau de Bacchus looking for a B’day pressie for no-one in particular (not that he’ll be reading this bit).  Anyway on previous visits I thought the chap looked like one of the SYlP players.  I enquired as there was only him and S to make a fool of myself in front of and sure enough I was right for a change.  He said that they were experimenting for the derby game with a couple of changes and agreed that goalkeeper had been a problem position.  He seemed pleased that some daft Scottish bloke had started going along.  The guy concerned is a decent player with good pace and a first touch that would shame a lot of Scottish Championship players.  Despite the low level I’m watching week in week out the players are often pretty good technically.

So to the match.  The visitors were La Roche L’Abeille 2 who are only a couple of k’s along the road from oor wee hoose.  It’s the ground I put some pics up on this electronic-tome previously.  Sadly I missed the away game just after we arrived not knowing it wasn’t very far away.  The Derby saw a larger crowd than normal of about forty and a reasonable number of away fans.  SYlP started on the front foot and the chap we’d spoken to earlier had the first chance.  My pal Jose wandered in after a couple of minutes and displayed his patience by joining me.

SYlP were the better side and despite numerous corners and half chances it was past the 40^th minute before the deadlock was broken.  Ricardo the ever dangerous home number 9 got a yard on the angle and fired past the stationary keeper.  This prompted me to say the guy was like a rabbit in the headlights which took a while to translate believe me!

In the second half the home captain sent a looping header up and over from a corner into the back of the net sealing the win 2:0.  Jose was a little surprised when I pointed out our colleague from the stand was now the SYlP guardien de but.  He however dealt with all he needed to without incident.

As I write this I don’t know what the other scores are but the league is likely to remain tight at the top.  SYlP’s win will do their efforts no harm. Ominously the SYlP captain was wearing strapping on his left thigh and the coach was playing – neither were very mobile to say the least.  Anyway it’s better for my wee team to be in the running for some silverware late in the season even if the Rovers aren’t.                                                                                                                                                                               End of fitba bit.

Car news!

The car has been being a bit odd gearswise.  Which has been a bit of a concern.  Jean-Mark one of our neighbours was unable to assist not having the kit to check it out as he works at a VW garage.  So we went to the local Ford place and sorted a rendezvous for it (it’s never had a name).  This sort of discussion is a bit different from the normal ones we have out and about but the initial assessment wasn’t too bad and further work – a not much cost – will hopefully sort out the issue.

The car!

To see what happens next see the next update – he said feebly trying to generate suspense and intrigue, etc…

Our latest news is that we don’t have flu, fitba has proven somewhat elusive and election fever has not quite broken out here.  This update is brought to you by a zebra, several llama’s and a tame looking peacock.

Of late S and I went to the Cinema to see The Joker – a Jason Statham film – in French.  The choice was in part as, no disrespect to him as an actor, his films tend not to be too complex plot wise.  It was an experiment and went ok in that we enjoyed the film tho probably wouldn’t pass any quizzes about the exact details.  Options for another trip will NOT include Cinquante Nuances de Grey or Bob l’eponge…

The language is proving a bit difficult to pick up without a formal informal scenario if you see what I mean.  We are getting dab hands at transactional stuff, getting food for a veggie and trips to banks, vets and such.  However opportunities for a proper blether in French seem more difficult to find but the quest continues – they can’t have all been warned off me already can they?  We’ll however keep you posted on this.

The weather has been decent here, rumours of snow last weekend came to nothing – the impact of this is in the fitba bit…  Limousin has the flu, or rather it has 50% more cases per 100,000 than the second most snotty, achy and coughy bit of France.  Which strikes me as unusual especially as this bit of France has a low and spread out population, but I’ll stop before start speculating and get all geographical.  This situation is not a proud boast for our adopted home and Keith has been struck down poor bloke.  Pleasingly he’s now on the mend.

Our excursion since my last missive took us to Bourganeuf, north east of Limoges.  We took a less direct route than we could have but were able to stop and have a look at Ambazac which was nice but a bit lacking in the Chateau department!

We pootled onto Bourganeuf just in time for lunch.  We dined on pizza after the door to the place (La Strada) had tried to fire S in and up the stairs.  I of course forgot its curious operation and departed the place with a loud bang.  We’ve not been barred as far as we know…

Bourganeuf is one of the places I had surveyed via Google Streetview on a break or while talking on the phone to a boring mental person or paedophile when I was working for the Council.  This helped guide our visit, the town was one of the first to have electric streetlights but the museum detailing this is only open in July and August foiling our seeking of further knowledge and a handy comfort break before the drive home.

Old Bit

As is not uncommon there is a Medieval core to the town and it’s a nice place, we liked it – shut museums and rapidly opening doors aside.

More time and effort than there perhaps should have been has been spent scouring chocolate aisles in Supermarkets trying to find dark chocolate with Pear.  This glorious culinary delight was discovered by accident in Lion-sur-Mer in Normandy (AKA Sword beach) a couple of years ago.  We found some in Bourganeuf at its Carrefour Market – if you can try some sometime we’d recommend it.  However yer no getin any o’oors!

Great building

On the way back we paused for the below photograph – Tim you are (nearly) immortalised here!

For Tim

He’s a lovely bloke and frankly deserves it.  It seems the kids there are a bit lively…  We got out ok, it must be my Community Safety background.

Otherwise we’ve continued to potter along happily.  On Friday past Gideon Osbourne bought us lunch.  Ok, not really but much to her initial concern and the bafflement of her employers HR team S has been getting money each payday.  It’s been identified as partial tax refunds and we decided to celebrate the latest with lunch in SYlP.  We went on Friday past which was the day of the fortnightly market – regular readers will remember this but fret not there is no quiz.

As we approached we were handed a leaflet by a bloke from Debout La France for the coming elections here in March.  There were also some Terre de Gauche folk with leaflets who I had to ask for one from rather to their embarrassment and some people we took to be UMP who were similarly less than pro active in giving out their propaganda.  Having myself tried to avoid spending time gossiping with colleagues when meant to be connecting with the non-committed it was nice to see it’s just the same here.

S stocked up on fruit and veg and I got some smoked duck wrapped around fois gras which is superb and well worth the 50e per kilo price, (I only got a small bit).

After the market with its barely visible political undertones we went for lunch.  S was catered for at the La Bonne Cave as she was last time –  there is still nothing for her on the menu!  I Menu de Joured as always which started with Tete Pate which was good if perhaps best not thought about too deeply.  A large lump of Salmon with a very fine sauce followed then the meal finished strongly with a light fluffy pudding that had fabulous cherries lurking in it.  Cheers ya Tory git!  S has asked that I point out we haven’t put on weight, which pleasingly is true.  J

Fitba

On Saturday the 21^st I managed to get to fitba.  SYlP equalised with a last minute re-taken penalty against Solignac making it 1:1.  The League table is shaping up for an intersting second half of the season with SYlP in the mix.  Champnetery – who’s ground we happened across the other day – seem rooted to the bottom of the table having lost 17:0 recently!  That could bring some consolation to any passing Cowdenbeath fans.

My normal pal wasn’t at the match, the cold (for here) reduced the crowd to about 9 and I’m pretty sure one of them was the Referee’s Dad!  One of my normal compatriots in the wee stand wasn’t there and I realised he was actually in goals for SYlP.  He played well having no chance with the goal conceded and doing very well to carry on after the visitor’s number 9 tried to kill him with a horrendous challenge.  Thankfully you’ll be pleased to hear he’s been playing for a smaller village side and that it wasn’t just his ‘turn’ to go in goals.  If that was the case my turn would no doubt make Champnetery guffaw wildly at a 20+ goal defeat for SYlP…

On Sunday past, the 1^st, I whizzed up the road to see SYlP in a top four clash v Moyette in Limoges.  Confused by the sudden disappearance of match details that morning I persevered and found the right place but no match.  It turned out the Haute Vienne had cancelled all the games in the region on the Friday fearful of the non-appearing bad weather!  Annoyingly I wasn’t aware of this but did get an unhealthy lunch and have a look at Limoges FC’s ground plotting a future visit to see them.  It was thus a bit less of a wasted trip.

I was last night welcomed to the Limoges FC fans group on the Facebookness and sure enough details of the whole scale postponements were on that…  Hindsight is a sod sometimes.  I got a message from the Admin chap and replied briefly which meant I got a mention on the main page as did the mighty Raith Rovers.

I have my eye on Limoges next home game on the 28^th – they are bottom of the League they were promoted to last year – and it will be interesting to go to a higher level game.  I bet you all can’t wait to hear about that…                                                                                     End of fitba

I know that you both will be wondering at the Dr Doolittle like reference at the top of this times blethers.  Well the circus was in town the other week and we happened to go past when a zebra and some llama’s were getting their tea.  Circuses are common here with animals, tigers, perhaps lions and even bears.  Oh my, I hear you.

The cat is living somewhat grudgingly on hypo-allergenic food the collection of which involved me helping a woman get her massive dog out her people/dog carrier and into the vet’s office.  The beast wasn’t very keen to say the least but inside the monster was weighed and it was 46 kilograms which is rather more than 7 stone in old money!

On various trips we’ve seem other llama’s who obviously didn’t make the showbiz grade (Peru’s Got Talent?) and a peacock that seemed to be more than at home on someone’s patio.  It’s not a problem when a cat or dog is the living room between you and the TV but a peacock would be much more of a problem.  Perhaps they could be trained to block out Ant and Dec or guff like the Scottish Premier League and River City…

Mairie

The Mairie (Town Hall) above is the newest we’ve seen, it dates from around 1951.  The village it serves was re-built after WWII.

Why I hear you both ask?  Well on the 9^th of June 1944 the place was fine.  On the 10^th of June part of the SS “Das Reich” Division encircled the village and got everyone together in the square.  They separated the women and children who were taken to the church.  The men were split up and taken to barns and garages where they were machine gunned then set on fire – six got away from one of the garages but only five got away alive.

The women and children were shut in the church, then it set on fire as the troops fired machine guns and threw grenades into the burning building.  Three got out, two were shot and just one got away wounded.

Garage

In total 642 of the 648 people who were there when the SS arrived were killed.  Around twenty had managed to get away as the troops approached.

Amung the dead were not just locals but refugees who had ended up living there having been displaced by the war.  Two people killed were German and six just who happened to be cycling through the village that day were also killed…

Main Street

After they finished the SS looted the homes and businesses then set fire to every building in an effort to destroy some of the evidence of what they had done…  The village has been left as it was after the bodies were removed as a memorial to those killed and others who died in similar circumstances.

We visited yesterday, a laugh it was not.

So quiet…

It was quiet and only a couple dozen other people were wandering around when we were there.  It also lacks the Spring birdsong that is everywhere here at the moment which made it very odd.

The ruined church still has some bullet holes but otherwise doesn’t show any scars of what happened there the elements having cleansed the stone but no-one can imagine how it was as nearly two hundred women and children died in fire and blast.  The SS used phosphorous to further fuel the fire…

Church

The memorial listing the 642 names showed many, many of the same surnames and one had no recorded first name as he/she was only 8 days old…  He/she would have been 71 this year.

The only woman who got away by hiding wounded in a garden overnight lost five members of her immediate family.

The details of the atrocity are spelt out at a visitor centre – they are put in context and by no means lay it on thick or try to increase the horror of what happened there.

If you can go, go.  If you can’t use this as a reminder of what men can do when they get excited about flags…

Untouched

 Souviens-toi – Remember

So what’s happened since the last update I hear you cry?  Only a few things have as we continue to potter along.  One thing that happened was winter – or what seems to be the worst of it anyway.  We’ve been told by various locals that winter here is in January and February.  As it’s now mid-Feb the worst appears to be over.  I said last time it’s not been as bad as we’re used to.  The last few days have been very pleasant and on Thursday I sat by the front door being gently warmed by the sun.

Otherwise we have sorted out our third hoose for our stay – which like the second is also not a huge distance away.  Again we visited and had a blether with our potential hosts and despite meeting me they seem happy to house us!  Our calendar has filled up a little with visitors, mostly at the next place but the Tour de France trip with Chris H is falling nicely into place for July as well.

Things we wanted to do have been sorted out (I have new trousers) and S has seen some improvement with her back/legs issues.  We’ve again begun doing trips and the camera has been utilised.  We’re enjoying being the only tourists during these visits and it’ll be a bit odd when others are doing the same thing and getting in the way of our photos…

Rochechouart

Anyhoo we went to Rochechouart which regular readers will remember was at the second attempt having taken a wrong turn the first time.  As seems to be the norm there is an impressive Chateau and I, rather to my surprise, was “discovered”.  It’s a nice town near one of the next house options and despite having sorted out somewhere else we went there for a look around anyway.  We wandered around the narrow streets of old town centre around the twisted spired church before trying to go for lunch a little too early.  To kill time we went into a shop next door where S bought a top she was very happy with in the sale.  As she tried it on at the insistence of madam patron, a couple of English women were debating their purchases.  I was asked to model a jacket more as I was a similar shape to one of their spouses rather than because of any as yet undiscovered cat walk credentials…  C’est la vie!  Anyway the pair continued to shop loudly as they tried, it appeared to uneducated me, to buy all of the Sale stock.  One loudly imploring her pal to remind her to “Not forget her tights!” which appeared to be a regular cry of hers…  My mind was boggling while S was able to chortle away behind the curtain in the changing cubicle.  Money spent and time used we lunched very successfully in the Hotel de France’s busy restaurant where I had a gorgeous beef dish.

The next journey was a scouting trip when we found one of two potential properties for our final stay.  During sun and snow we had coffee at Chez Marie in Sarrazac saying that sleet and sun was not unusual to us Scots.  Thereabouts we had seen a rather odd local wandering about his garden very smartly dressed but carrying a trowel.  We’d criss-crossed the area in our failed attempts to find the potential rental.

The other option near St Solve and Vigeois was much easier to find and looked good however said villages were quiet and lacking in amenities.  Which underlines again how fortunate our current choice of location in the Pay de Saint Yrieix is.

Uzerche

Another excursion took us to Uzerche which has a tunnel which takes the main road thru a large hill the village has expanded over and around.  The old heart of the village is a perched high above a kink in the river Vezere.  Much of the old walls and buildings remain and we had a good wander around the cobbled streets and looking out across the valley.  We found an open eaterie where I had veal and vegetarian S was as always catered for.  She’d survived the walking about despite having forgotten her coat and having to make do with a kagoul – see I told you it’s not been too cold.

Back here at La Porcherie S continues to paint and all is similar.  The main news is that the four chickens have moved on, they were enjoying their free range life having been freed from the confines of their enclosure.  However they were doing a lot of damage to the gardens around the property.  As the business is the two Gites Jan and Keith decided that they should be re-housed rather than eaten.  It’s a bit odd not seeing the four of them wander past a window and checking for them as we arrive – the fear of knocking one down had been a worry!  We’ve been into SYlP regularly and had a lovely wander around in the sunshine the other lunchtime.  I also got my hair cut again but there was much less chatting as it was busy.   S took the opportunity to buy a handbag – tho I had to bully her a little – she’s only two with her so it seemed fair and it was half price.

We went to Limoges but decided it wasn’t “the trip” of the week.  Visiting a new to us shopping centre for more Winter Sales we singularly failed to buy anything despite going to C&A which they still have here.  We lunched (of course) in a place on Place de la Republic where the Xmas market had been.  At Cafe de la Republic S had veggie Soup and veg while I tucked into a poached egg salad with lardons and a herb covered piece of chicken with excellent potato gratin.  We got pudding on the way home…

For a day or so we had no TV!!!  This ‘crisis’ was survived easily and Keith fixed the problem the next day despite the shock of him seeing me half dressed after S had happily invited him in despite me being just out the shower…  Thus we have been able to keep up with the details of the Dominic Strauss Kahn trial here in France.  Putting aside certain references to his sexual preferences that are now in the public domain the highlight for me was a Belgian Pimp who also faces charges protesting that his good name was being besmirched by being linked with DSK!

As I popped out to get wood one night there was a screeching/screaming and I saw two Barn Owls having a real go at each other, (no doubt boy ones…).  I’d only seen a Barn Owl in the wild once before 30+ years ago and these two were pandering to the striking bird’s usual image of serenity and calm.  Another oddity in Ribiere du Nord was a massive lorry delivering huge chunks of wood to the neighbour who sidelines in firewood, (see the previous woodpile pic).  The road is wiggly and narrow the lorry was long and very skilfully driven without incident despite our fears and that of the others watching.

Collonges-la-Rouge

Our latest trip took us South beyond Brive to Collonges-la-Rouge and on the way back via Turenne both of which are striking.  The former is built of red stone and was deserted as we wandered around trying to see if anything wasn’t good looking enough to be photographed.  We lunched as it was lunchtime, my pizza had smoked duck and fois gras on it which worked better than it sounds.

All red…

Having spotted Turenne on the way down we headed that way and stopped, further testing the camera’s memory capacity.  If you saw it in Hobbity film or a fantasy computer game you’d think it was all fancy Computer Generated dunno what the I stands for (maybe Images?).  Stood in the sunshine we found it difficult to comprehend just how remarkable it looked, properly spectacular and impressive, just beautiful.  The pictures don’t really capture it I’m afraid.

Turenne

Football watching in person has been foiled by a SYlP postponement and bad weather last night (Sunday) delayed my plans to go see Limoges FC.  Instead I had to make do with a Rovers win over Falkirk on BBC Alba then an amusing and thoroughly merited win over Rangers in the Scottish Cup on the BBC.  Beating Rangers at the moment is easy, it’s like kicking a man when he’s down but that would match the play of Lee McCulloch Rangers’ increasingly discredited, mediocre and frankly embarrassing Captain.

Mitzy is recovering from an allergy issue thanks to a friendly Vet.  She is enjoying going out more and brought in a shrew the other day that from its loud squeaking was clearly not happy at her attention.  Our furry wee bundle of fun then woke us up the other night chasing a mouse about under the bed!  This lead to us both being wide awake, if sweary, in double quick time.  It’s the first time it’s happened despite us being in a converted barn.  The little scamp did it again two nights later.  Rural life is a joy for her if not in this respect for us!

Till next time, be careful out there…

I must apologise for not updating you all (both) more recently since the New Year.  You’ve not missed much but I’ll fill in the gaps for you now.  We’ve been a bit dull of late in the short days and with S struggling a bit with her back/legs issues.

There are two specific periods of Sales in France one of which began on the 7^th of January.  How DFS and various other well known sofa retailers would survive on this side of La Manche goodness only knows…  The opportunity for a bargain may have prompted more activity from S but I wouldn’t dare link these two events…  Firstly we kept things local going to Saint Yrieix la Perche where we pottered around the shops.  We are adjusting nicely to the two hour lunch break and in that you can’t beat them we join them for lunch.  This time we went to Chez Bernedettes where S realised she was the only female customer in the busy restaurant.  There were five courses on the Menu de Jour for carnivores like me, they did a good salad for S.  I passed on the soup not having been working all morning like most of the other patrons.  The main course was a Boudin which is a blood sausage – not unlike black pudding but smoother in texture.  It was complimented by some stewed apples which worked really well.  I just managed chocolate mousse for pudding underlining the wisdom of not having the soup.  As I said most of the other customers were workers who were presented with a pot of soup/plate of Boudin’s and helped themselves.

Having refuelled successfully we continued to potter about with two aims S trying to avoid adding to her scarf collection and me looking at options for a hat.  Taking advantage of the opportunity we – with only limited difficulty – established with the help of a shop assistant that I have a size 63 head.  This is why most hats perch daftly on top of my large if empty noggin.  We established that even some of the XXL’s were too neat for me and the only one that fitted perfectly was not very nice.  This quest will continue!

Next we went to Limoges or rather a retail park type place en route observing the minutes silence which the local radio station introduced by saying simply Je suis Charlie.  We were not alone in having gone along and pottered about without managing to spend too much cash.  We went to Flunch for lunch.  Flunch is a chain which is a sort of self service buffet style set up, you help yourself to whatever which somehow included a 2e50 bottle of Cote de Provence which S claimed was medicinal!  On the way home I chose not to take the main road or the large road and meandered about the countryside more or less in the direction we wanted.  S’s map reading is really coming on tested as it is by my at times random routes.  On the less than direct route home I slowed to take a blind bend at an appropriate speed and like the F1 drivers we watch kept close to the apex.  An on-coming driver took none of those steps and flashed past us as I swung away from the pillock who was more on our side of the road than theirs!  S was of course on the side that got a rather closer view of the other car than anyone would want.  The rest of the trip home was rather less exciting discussing how much more of a fright the other guy must have got than we did.

S had tasked herself with finding somewhere to live after La Porcherie.  Our time here ends in early April though Jan and Keith had kindly made clear that there could be some flexibility if need be.  Anyhoo after checking out a few options we set off on a scouting trip westward towards Mount Gargan and a place up that way.  There was low cloud and as we climbed it stayed in place to meet us as we found and assessed the option.  We’ve promised our nervous wee cat as nice a place for her as we can find.  We went on to the nearby village of Chamberet which was doing a very good impression of being deserted.  This trip re-enforced our early thoughts about not going too far from SYlP.

We paid 26e for a visit to a GP (we’re insured)  who has a surgery at her house and after seeing the parking stowed out one day returned the next.  S is now armed with stronger tablets which means she can exercise more and hopefully make more progress towards getting better.  We have been doing some gentle walks hereabouts to help with that.

We visited another option for April onwards, saw the wee place and met the hosts.  Despite having a lengthy blether with us they seem happy to have us live ‘with’ them for three months.  It turns out that S had met out next host when she went to the ballet but neither of them had realised!  The next place is cat and dog free so Mitzy should be happier there too without having to watch out for unwanted amorous approaches as she does here. The new abode isn’t actually very far away from where we are now and was easy to find after the traditional U-turn at a farm with a very enthusiastic Alsatian dog.

Another road trip took us up to Limoges to Family Village for more Sales shopping.  The place is a very well laid out retail park that was much smarter and better presented than any we’ve been to before and despite France’s economic problems it had no empty units.  Another quest of mine continued but more on that when it has been completed…  On the way back we got some stuff for the cat but didn’t spend 499e on an eight foot high cat bed/scratchpost/climbing frame thing which she’d have loved but would have been, erm, difficult to bring home in/on the Fiesta!

Arnac Pompidour

On Thursday we took advantage of the sunshine and went to Arnac Pompadour a nearby large village.  It’s famous for equestrian events having a race course and centre for the dressage and all that Harvey Smith fancy-dan stuff…  It also has a rather impressive Chateau.  Most places do have some sort of chateau to be honest.  We had lunch in a place where it became clear the chap spoke good English despite coming from Sheffield!  They’d been busy the day before but it was quiet when we arrived – my reputation must be preceding me even here – so we were able to have a good blether with the chap.  Ex-pats seem interested in others who are here and the impression we get is that trying it for a while as we are is seen by them as a very good idea.

Generally the weather has been rather better than up north were you lot remain.  We had about four minutes of snow the other day which S noticed.  There have been some frosty mornings but it’s generally been chilly rather than really cold.  One difference has been that the skies are clear a lot more than we are used too, instead of grumpy grey cloud plonked over you all day there are often days of huge blue skies with a gentle and pleasing warmth in the sun.  When the sun sets it gets colder.  Our wee hoose is not bad at keeping warm so we’re fine tho the cat is finding my lap more alluring than it would be if we had central heating!  One other thing of interest (well to me anyway) is that there are already lambs and a few baby donkey’s in the fields.  Lambing is a March activity in Jockoland so that was a surprise to me tho I’m no expert.

The local fitba re-starts this weekend with an away game which may not see me attend as it’s trying to snow as I type.  Oddly the Rovers have won three in a row, mainly against teams they should be beating but that’s been a pleasant surprise all the same…

Also Spiral is back on BBC4 – it’s a brilliant French Cop drama.  It’s now on series 5 but we’d recommend it to anyone via one of those demand box set things they advertise so you can start at the beginning.  It has subtitles but we recognise bits and bobs more this time than any of the previous series’ which isn’t a great shock.

Bye for noo!

Snails, aka escargot, are readily available here.  Frozen, chilled, canned, homeless in glass jars or just the shells awaiting re-occupation they are on the shelves and in the cabinets of most food shops.  They are even form part of the Value range at Casino!  Frogs legs are however not readily available.

If you were wondering why I’m saying it’s only so long I could go before trying them…  I’ve not taken the option in various eateries I’ll admit fearful of the impact me not liking them would have on any fellow diners nearby or between me and the toilets!

We toyed with getting some at Xmas but were fearful how our visitors would react…

Escargot

Anyway some with garlic butter were bought rather than the foie gras version.  They looked ok and smelt great.

So with Susan sitting excitedly watching no doubt relishing the thought of me making a run for the sink I skewered my first and at her insistence posed for a picture.

Here goes!

I liked it!  It was like a mussel but smaller.  I happily poked about in the other dozen shells for the rest of them.  But horror of horrors one of them was empty.  An eviction must have taken place, no doubt for rent arrears as no-one/nothing gets evicted for any other reason nowadays…

Yummy!

A short time later the eleven were escargone and the remnants of garlic butter happily mopped up with a bit of lovely fresh bread.

I rather enjoyed them but fear that Neil may be inspired to source some his lunch as an alternative to mussels in the ‘canteen’ at NELO.  Goodness knows what Ads, Rach, Tracy, Simone, Morena, Euan, Lesley and the rest of the gang would say if he did…  One thing would be certain, I’d no doubt get the blame!

Braw!

It’s three months today since we arrived.  We ain’t going home yet!

Since the last update we hosted Susan’s sister Debra and her husband Gordon.  There were a couple of highlights which were specifically barred from mentioning on here – which is a pity but I’ll do as I’m told.  (Debra you owe me at least 5 euros!)

They arrived on the 23^rd slightly delayed and we found the airport in plenty of time.  Limoges airport isn’t the biggest but you can wave to passengers as they climb down the steps off the plane.  Returning via Limoges’ Xmas market which had ice-skating, sledging, folk on stilts and fish and chips!  Then on to a Bibliotech style restaurant, which S and I had been to in March, where we all ate well.  My duck was particularly lovely.

On the 24^th we took them into SYlP in the mist and I got another haircut from my chatty barber.  Again I managed to bumble thru the conversation which was good.  Then we started prepping for the excesses of the Festive’s and had drinks with Jan and Keith which was lovely.  As is typical of the period I had a song going around my head, many will have been afflicted by a seasonal ditty, I however had a timeless number rattling about my empty noggin which was prompted by comments made by John Mackie on the scourge that is Facebook.  The following picture should be seen a nice one of some of our near neighbours and not IN ANY WAY a reference to floppy haired penalty box diver Gerry Britton…

Horse’s erm behind/Some of the neeiigghhbours!

Xmas day went well, S and Debra beavered away in the kitchen while I wrestled with prawns.  Gordon managed the process from in front of the fire and often from behind closed eyelids – we christened him the snooze chef – he did however wash up after so that was braw.  S was very pleased with the dinner as were we all, Beef Bourguignon for the carnivores.  For some reason my Rovers diddy Cup DVD was not the top of everyone’s viewing list.  We went for a walk and D & G were impressed by the size of one of our neighbour’s wood pile…

Wood Pile envy…

Boxing Day we pottered around nearby seeing a chap and his saddled donkey walking thru SYlP, which prompted more questions than we could answer.  We went on to visit Segur le Chateau and Payzac then lunched in Lanouaille at an Auberge which was properly French and worried our visitors a little.  We all left more than happy, my duck which was a different from the previous nosh was just as good.  Oddly Monsieur le patron looked a lot like my former NELO colleague Kenneth but the French version was a lot more active in his work…  😉

The next day we got to Limoges airport in plenty of time for D and G’s flight to discover the airport wasn’t opening until 10.00.  There were only two flights in and out so it made sense, we waited, then went in and saw them off.   On the way home we found the large art shop Jan had mentioned to us which will ably be able to keep S supplied.  Also a shopping area which we will re-visit when everyone else is back at work.

We had an unusual SYlP experience struggling to find a parking space outside a supermarket that was busy!  Much of the local population were stocking up on drink and sea food for the Bells.  We got 10e off a shop due to one of our loyalty cards – which must make us pretty local.  10e is a lot to a habitually low paid person like me!

Massive Chateau!

Otherwise we’ve done a couple of little road trips, heading down the D704 which is something we’ve not done much, into the Dordogne.  The first trip saw us going as far as Hautfort where the Chateau is a tad impressive.  We’ll visit again when it opens in March before the tourists make it less pleasant.  On the way back we had a light lunch in a lovely wee cafe in Excideuil.  It was just us and a nice British chap who was working there so we were able to have a blether, in English.

Thiviers Chateau

Our second trip (yesterday/Friday) was actually meant to see us heading northwest.  After making the mistake of buying petrol when the Intermarche had been shut the day before, the poor lad in the kiosk was selling petrol and gas canisters and it appears that the locals were not just burning the midnight oil at New Year so it took nigh on 30 minutes to fill the tank and pay.  Anyway we set off and about ten minutes later I realised we were going the wrong way, our direction being more south western – it was all embarrassingly my fault.  As we’d been so delayed and our planned trip was rather longer it wasn’t an issue, that trip can wait as we are time rich.

So once my beamer had subsided we continued on the road we were on and went instead to Thiviers which seems a cool town.  It’s yet another of the ones with a well presented Medieval centre.  Our visit was at lunchtime so we had lunch.  La Cuisine was well named and tho there was nothing veggie on the menu for S they did a good omelette for her.  I had a very nice lamb dish, yes duck was available but I’m trying to be unpredictable!  I fear the below property is not in the best shape, perhaps Ernesto from our French classes could cast his professional eye over it.  I think it looks rather old…

This house looks a bit wonky…

On the way home we discovered that the Casino supermarket had had a delivery of Irn Bru.  On arrival here in October we were surprised to see about 7 or 8 cans in the wee GB section of shelves.  They now have about a dozen new cans available after some gleakit numpty had been buying an average of about a can a fortnight to try and fortify himself during Raith Rovers games…

Generally it’s been a bit colder lately – with a few frosty mornings and the wood burner has been doing its job nicely.  However the days are getting longer and it’s been drier than in Jockoland tho not today which has been dreich.

Hope you all (both) enjoyed your celebrations, got what you wanted, spent less than you feared and managed to eat more than you thought possible!

We’ve been a little boring of late with days being short so we’ve not done any big trips.  The weather has been decent unlike on the other side of La Manche.

Lights on!

Friday night we went into SYlP for the turning on of the Xmas lights.  The Place de la Nation has sheds along the centre with stalls selling various artisan type things plus duck, snails, foie gras, vin chaud etc..  Pere Noel was wandering about giving sweets to the kids and the Mayor was there.  There was a countdown in French which was more than a little difficult for us to think thru.  Once the lights went on free drinks and nibbles appeared and the atmosphere was really good.  It appears Pere Noel arrived in an MG which was cool, S had some warm wine just to be polite.

Saturday we were doing some Xmas shopping in town when we happened across a Run which featured almost all the runners wearing normal running garb which was a little disappointing, not a as much of a Santa run as I hoped.  The Rovers lost again – it’s the French fitba winter break so I have nothing to distract me fitba wise from the under performance of the Rovers…

Chateau Cervix

On Sunday we went to Chateau Cervix – which isn’t pronounced as its spelt thank goodness.  It’s a nice wee village and we had a little potter around.  The Chateau itself is not that accessible apart from walking around to it from where you can park and the underfoot conditions were not perfect so we took some photo’s.  It may be another painting if it takes S’s fancy.  We went back via an intentional but long route, pausing in St Priest Ligoure as S was looking for pics to base a picture on we stopped finding one of the thing she wanted then discovered there were dozens about fifty yards down the road.  She’s been very productive doing paintings over here now we are time rich.

In St Priest Ligoure there was a rather cool looking Chateau which seemed to be up a road marked Lavergne which a certain Martin from the fitba may be jealous of.

Lavergne

On Tuesday S went to the Ballet.  Or rather she went to the Cinema with Jan one of our hosts.  They were doing a live stream of Alice in Wonderland from London.  Darcey Bussell was presenting and despite it being nearly three hours S enjoyed it.  SYlP was one of 1300 cinema’s streaming or similcasting (if that’s a word).

On Wednesday we had a rather pleasant lunch in SYlP – largely funded by June, TA!  We then went to the Village de Porcelain which was not made of porcelain which was a disappointment for me as it was raining and I though the noise of the drops on the roof would have sounded brilliant.  We did the Museum where I delayed the beginning of the Tour going to the loo which was a little embarrassing.  The Tour Guide was rather an old chap and spoke away in French about the displays not that we were able to understand him.  The shop was much more understandable and stocked with thousands of examples of the crockery.  Fortunately there was more space there so I didn’t nearly break anything unlike in the more confined shop in town.

On Thursday and Friday we separately did some shopping for the festives.  We had a largely quiet weekend stocking up for the visit of S’s sister and hubby for a few days.  On Saturday we went to the Xmas Market at the Chateau in Coussac Boneval which was rather cool.  There were Carols in the Chateau which meant we crossed the draw bridge and got into the castle courtyard tho pictures are not allowed.

Mitzy has taken advantage of one of the parcels that arrived of late…

Cat in a box!

S has been taking it easy due to her back and leg playing up.  So we’ve spent a little time in front of the wood burner watching silly films.  S had wanted to watch a Xmas movie for a few years and now is catching up or so she claims.  I however have no excuse!  L  As a public service to you all we’ve watched a few now see out thoughts below, so you guys can make informed choices – doing the hard work so you don’t have too!

Comfort and Joy – Not the Scottish one, the Xmas one silly.  Rom-com with a Xmas background, a good story, well done by no-one we recognised.  Favourite so far by some margin.                                                                                                                           A cracking Secret Santa gift.

Uncover Xmas – You can guess the basics, crooks streetwise gal under protection of FBI guy over the holidays.  Throw in Tyne Daley (from Cagney & Lacey), a surprisingly good script and pleasing performances equals a decent film, well done.

          That Aunt you never see has done good this year.

 It’s a Wonderful Life – A few issues with this one TBH.  The Higher Being/God delusion stands by while Mr Potter is bad, really bad, really, really  evil in fact and rather than address him and his nastiness with a simple lightning bolt or ‘accidental’ death he continues unhindered.  Instead the Big Man in the Sky suddenly decides to help out George Bailey (James Stewart) in a time of crisis – caused by Mr P.  He/They must have been busy helping people find their keys/parking spaces the rest of the time…  Apart from in my view a tidy wife, (Donna Reed), we were both disappointed by this apparent Classic.                                                                                                     Fashionable but not up to much.

A Song for Christmas – Austerity Christmas Romance Family Reconciliation type story, aren’t they all?  Wrapped up nicely in time for Xmas – who’d have thunk it!  A few known faces and adequate story, it started snowing bang on time too…                                   Good for dozing too…

Meet the Santa’s – Santa/Steve Guttenberg has to marry before the 25th as without a Mrs Claus there can be no Xmas.  A middling effort at best and Guttenberg’s Ho Ho Ho’ing wears thin after about 4 minutes, heart warming if you really try but not worth the effort…  Steve must have hit hard times to do this.                                                                                                                               Leave under the Xmas tree unless bored!

I’ll be Home for Christmas – WWII back drop and a small town American family prepare for the celebrations.  Predictable but lots of recognisable faces including a very young and apparently pregnant Courtney Cox.                                             The pressie you forget & never use

A Christmas Wish – Dougie Howser MD/Neil Patrick Harris does averagely trying to find out his deceased Grandfather’s Xmas secret for his Grandmother (Debbie Reynolds!).  My guess of cross dressing/a secret boyfriend was wrong!  Also appearance of the ugliest kid so far…                                                                                                                                                                                                   Garage shop panic purchase!

A Christmas Romance – Olivia Newton John doesn’t sing except for a moment, poor story, plot holes, nothing to the performances.  Dreadful.

 Return unopened, before the January sales.

The Christmas Gift – John Denver stars and sings (once).  Either the editing room floor was knee deep or they forgot to write some scenes as the plot such that it was jumped along quicker than credible.  A few faces we recognised but utter, utter guff.                      Pressie from £ shop!

This service to both our readers has been more testing than we anticipated so you’d better benefit cos we didn’t!

PS – There was a frost this morning – Monday – and it was very pretty and novel in these Southern climes.  The warm sun quickly got rid of most of it.