Adrian's Poetry Corner

Adrian has gone all deep and meaningful on me and started writing poetry. Honestly, you think you know someone and then they go and pull a stunt like this - still, if this is his mid-life crisis it could be worse...

Here's one for starters:

Life

My illness gave us the money to spend
No cash left, bad health to the end
The gites were great but just don't pay
So perhaps we'll have to go back one day

We love this place and all around
We sit outside, but not a sound
No people walking past our house
Here in the country, maybe a mouse
I hate the large built up towns now
Noisey, bustling, holy cow

I never thought I'd be like this
To sit by the river and watch the fish
Go gliding by, not a care it seems
Could lack of money end all our dreams

The kids made friends
They love it so
Do we really, Really have to go
I found a Euro in the street
Hooray we now have bread to eat

We do so hope the summer brings
Vacation people and all those things
They brought the playstation, The cube, The Wii
For us those things are not to be
They cost so much, but its nice to look
Our money may stretch to just a book

Now the cars gone bang I've had enough
I never knew it would be this tough
Now no cash to splash
Perhaps go back as white trash
I don't wanna go this was our dream
But it was the coffee, not the cream

Well the thorn is out, so much for it being absorbed by the body, it was rock hard when it appeared, nearly two weeks after it went in, couldn't even make a dent in it with my nail, I will spare you the gory details of it's exit.

Finally finished painting the garden benches, or so I thought, went up to the top of our 'private' bit of garden the other day and found another one. It's in a really sorry state though, so I'll have a go at that one in the summer, it's not urgent. Am currently trying to dig up the roots of several old yukka plants that I chopped down, still got loads of other painting jobs to do and our first reservation is in three weeks time, so there's The Cottage to spring clean, it's in a bit of a state as Dad is currently using it as a workshop.

Had to trek down to Nantes the other day, about an hour and a half drive away, to take Adrian to the hospital. His neurologist at our local hospital has gone on maternity leave and there's no replacement for her. Normally, Adrian only sees her once a year, and after 6 months I call her secretary to get a repeat precription for his injections which duly arrives in the post a few days later. Our doctor, who Adrian has to see every three motnhs for his tabs, called the neurologist in Nantes to ask for a repeat prescription for the jabs, they know each other and our doctor had just done the usual exam on Adrian, but the neurologist refused to issue it, said he wanted to see Adrian first, together with all his MRI's, old paperwork etc, which we had to take over. Managed to get a quick appointment but is was at 6pm. Set off at 4pm, waited until 7pm to see the neurologist, who was running late and didn't even bother looking at most of the paperwork and none of the MRI's, gave Adrian a quick check over, ignored everything I said about how bad his feet are, wrote a letter to the neuroligist at our local hospital who is not there to read it, basically giving a history of Adrian's illness, which she already knows, finally wrote out the prescription and then charged us €55,00 for the pleasure. Plus they charge for car parking now as well. Set off back home via KFC (first one in years, didn't taste like I remember them), got back at 9pm. Had to get my parents to babysit, which included my dad taking Isabella to her dance class after school, which just happened to be temporarily re-housed that week, so could only give him vague directions as to where it was (the mayor provided a 'tent' in the village). All in all, glad to be home.

In the garden 1

Am labeling this post so that if you're really not interested in my day to day gardening drivel then you can avoid it easily.

Anyway, did some planting today, got in the mangetout and the first batch of onions and carrots. Already done the garlic and the raspberries are starting to sprout which is good to see. Covered the carrots and mongetout with fleece so hoping that that portects them from any frosts and bugs and the like.

Will do some more onions and carrots in a couple of weeks and the potatoes will go in tubs again, it worked very well last year. Got some melon seeds of a friend to go in and maybe some more strawbs, we shall see.

Adrian and I keep discussing getting some chooks, meat ones though, we don't think layers would be worth it as we don't eat many eggs (only in cakes and the like, the girls and I don't like them). I also have a little dream of rearing pigs, maybe one day... Or maybe ducks - we shall see.

Spent the better part of the afternoon in casualty today. I was finally finishing painting the front gate on Saturday and whilst doing so I knelt on a thorny branch. It was a bit painful, but I didn't think too much of it. It wasn't until the next day that I noticed that I had a thorn embedded in my knee, pointing downwards and inwards. Naturally I prodded and poked it in an effort to get it out, but to no avail. Adrian also had a go, unsuccesfully. Had another go on Monday morning, but it was fast disappearing into the depths of my knee. Left it alone thinking it would make its own way out, but today I finally admitted defeat. Didn't go to the doctors as wouldn't get an appointment now until friday (he doesn't work Wednesdays - see previous post) and I knew that by that time my knee would be all gangreenous and about to drop off and anyway I thought he probably wouldn't have the tools for the job like a drill or something, it was in very deep.

So I went off to casualty. Having been there before I went armed with bottle of water, book, Nintendo, flask of coffee, substantial snacks, sleeping bag, hot water bottle etc etc. This is because last time I went I was pregnant and had been in a near miss situation in the car, Adrian had to do an emergancy stop and the seat belt pulled on my stomach, so naturally I was stressed out about the state of the baby and what have you. This involved a two hour wait and there's no drink/snack machine or anything there. I knew therefore, that as a non-pregnant person with no real or imageined life threatening issues that I would be waiting for sometime.

As it was, it was only an hour and three-quarters when I was then shown into the only available examining room, which was a kiddies examining room (several toys, lots of bright, fun pictures and small bed). Thankfully they've had a re-fit since my last visit and examining rooms are proper rooms now with four walls and a door. Last time they were three walls and a supposedly frosted glass front facing the corridor where the patients waiting for transfers were waiting. Asked to strip off (only normal, being in France) I noticed that I could see out through the frosted glass, so no doubt they could see in. 'Leg's up Mrs Bryant, please, the Doctor will examine you now'. Oh, the memories of having a baby in France.

Anyway, first question was 'don't you have a GP you can see?', which just made me feel totally guilty for wasting doctors time, spending public money and what have you; even though in reality, I was the one wasting time and I paid for it ultimately. Anyway, apparantely it's fine, my lower leg is not going to drop off and my body will absorb it naturally (the thorn, not my leg) and of course, being in the kiddies room I got a lollipop to suck on afterwards for being a good girl.

By the time I got home, the fire had gone out but at least the girls were pleased to see me as they had had a good long break from me for a change. Talking of which, I was thinking whilst I was in the waiting room, how I often think it would be lovely to have an hour or so of no responsibilities, no being hassled by the kids or anyone else, no phones etc, just to read a book or just have some peace and quiet. And there I was, getting all this and not really enjoying it. It was boring and uncomfortable and I couldn't relax in case they called me and I missed it because I wasn't paying attention didn't have my French radar on (just like the submarines... My french is quite good, but I can still switch off and not pay attention to what is being said if it suits me - like if the french radio is on).





This is the castle I made for the girls. Well Dad had already made the box the their cooker arrived in into a shop/cafe, but I decided it was time for a change, so we bought an end roll of wallpaper for about £2.00 and used it to cover the box, made some new windows, a lacy roof, the girls painted some turrety things (I've got all the technical language, me) and made some flags and there you have it princess castle!

















Sorry, this is a bit sad, but I'm proud, I've done two and a half of these things so far, only one and a half to go...





Before...












And after!

Washing machine broke down a few days ago, less than a week after the sales ended. Adrian kept saying we should get a new one whilst the sales are on as I knew the one in our house wasn't going to see the year out and we also have another in the gites that might need replacing if we can't repair it. Anyway, I in my infinite wisdom said 'no'. We don't have the money at the mo, and I thought it would at least last until we start getting some bookings and therefore some money in order to pay for it. Anyway, seems the machine itself overuled and chose to do so whilst it was part way through a wash, full of washing and water. Probably sensed that the kitchen floor needed a wash.



So off we totted around the shops to gasp in horror at the prices of machines. Especially as I need a large capacity machine to cope with all the washing in the summer (bedding and towels for 22 people). Eventually ordered one off the net at a good price. Delivery time up to 30 working days. Which would normally work out at 6 weeks, however half the french don't seem to work Wednesdays (no school, so teachers and parents don't work) and the other half don't seem to work Mondays (shops and banks shut) so it could be some time before we see it. Fortunately we have another machine in the laundry (for the guests who don't have one in the gite), although it does mean putting my coat and shoes on to get to it, so its not very convenient, but better than nothing! Also, we charge 3 euros for powder and usage, so its going to cost me a bit...

On a lighter note, Isabella is on school hols at the mo so we went off out for the day yesterday, my parents as well. We went over to the coast, had a wander round the shops and harbour, had a lovely lunch and then spent the afternoon on the beach! It was lovely and sunny and we had a great time, the girls especially, rockpooling and collecting shells and things.
















Back to reality today, painting the front gate and other items in my on-going list of stuff to do. Adrian has been fixing a fence after the bad winds we had last week (weather-wise). The trampoline was blown over the top of the fence and landed stuck in the trellis fence over the back infront of two of our gites. A couple of poles on the tramp were also bent, but it could have been worse and its a chance to give the tramp a good clean (yet another job to do).

Wow, not even a whole month since I last wrote, obviously I'm not occupied enough. Am feeling quite proud of myself of late actually, have managed to drastically reduce our weekly shopping bill. Bit of a challenge at times, but getting used to a few adjustments and not going out for more food during the week, if we run out of something, then that's it until the next shop, we have to find something else to eat instead. Half the contents of my larder have now disappeared as I raid the back of the cupboard to use up stuff heading for its use by date (and even after it...) and create some interesting meals. Although Adrian and I ended up with a curry to rival the heat of a volcano recently (a friend gave it to me, I was expecting mild but tasty, ended up with hot and a numb tongue, so don't know if it was tasty or not).

Also, I've started doing up a few things around the place, and trying to do so with other things we have - ie not spending any money. Current projects on the go include four garden benches, the metal and wood kind, already here when we moved in, but quite tatty, so I'm sanding them back and then using either paint or stain that we have (both in that nice 'french blue' colour as I call it) left over. Unfortunately, I did a bit more work on a couple of them today, in the freezing cold. The paint was too thick to work so I had to give up on that. The stain was fine, but I checked it this evening and its kind of gone all milky looking. Its ok, but not like one I did before when it wasn't so cold. Also on the go is an indoor table that I'm hoping will become an outdoor table, (we need a new one and can't afford it and we have a couple of indoor tables in the garage gathering dust). I'm using up some outdoor paint to try to weatherproof it, then I'm going to mosaic the top with some tiles we've got about the place. Hoping to cadge some grout off my dad for this! There's lots more painting jobs about the place for me, and lots of paint hanging around (most of it shades of blue, so hopefully the garden won't be too technicolour), but I think I'll have to wait until the weather warms up a bit. I wouldn't mind so much if we had a bit of snow, but none whatsoever this year! And the UK is covered in the stuff. Isabella and I are most upset!

Oh yes, I also recovered some old chair cushions this week, mum lent them to us, but they're a bit old (probably as old as my mum we think) so I covered them, with some material we already had of course, and they look a bit smarter now, mainly because the kids haven't sat on them much yet. A week of meals and no doubt they'll be as mucky as the cushions inside. Just looking for a few more things to do now, it gives me a great sense of satisfaction to make something without spending and money on it. Must have been living in the country a bit too long.

Adrian and Dad have been busy installing the satellite for the gites. Both dishes are up, they're sorting out the wiring and stuff now, in between the really cold snaps. The gites are also freezing on account of no heating in four of them. Next they'll be getting on with the pool, hopefully there'll be some major improvements there.

New Year

Thought it was about time I put something down on here, it's been a few months, so much for communicating better with everybody....

It's absolutely freezing here at the moment, the fire's on every day, shame it doesn't heat the whole house, but it's lovely in the kitchen. Christmas was great, our best ever. Adrian and I and the girls were on our own, my folks having gone back to the uk to be with my brother, and no-one else visiting. We were so chilled out and did everything that we wanted to do, not what other people wanted. We even had something other than turkey for lunch - 'biche' which translates in the dictionary as 'doe'. We chose to consider this as venison, though whether that's right or not have no idea, but anyway it was lovely. Best not to always think about what you're eating over here in France...

Had a tough year last year as many of you know and we are not expecting this year to be any better, hopefully from 2010 things will pick up, though I'm not sure why I think that, trying to be positive, probably. It's not so much our low income, we can deal with that (living frugally I mean), it's more the social charges and local taxes that we have to pay - they are absolutely crippling, plus our massive electric, water and gas bills! Hence we don't have the heating on all the time, we use candles instead of electric lights and collect water from puddles which we do boil for 5 mins before using. (On the fire, not the hob of course). In case you're wondering, this computer is currently been generated by my kids taking turns to ride on my exercise bike which is hooked up to the wires to generate electricity. No tv anymore, we go and watch the sheep in the neighbouring field for entertainment. There's even some action when the males have been allowed in and it's educational too.

We're putting satellite tv in the gites this year, which hopefully will get started next week. A couple of the gites should be fairly straightforward, but the other three will be harder, we have to get behind the gites and clear all the brambles first which will be fun! Adrian and Dad are also working on the pool bit by bit, they've taken up much of the terrace and will be re-laying the slabs, we were going to put in heating this year, but we can't afford it! Maybe next year.... There's a few other jobs inside the gites that will be done, but mostly we are going to try and concentrate on the garden this year, though we always make lots of big plans and then run out of time to do it all.

So in our quest to save money, we have begun our veggie plot in earnest. With all the land we have you'd have thought we could find a good spot but having one that's near a water supply and not susseptable to theft from our guests (yes really) and fairly convenient too has proved a bit of a problem. We also have a problem with moles here, they are forever digging up the lawn - we go and collect the soil and this year we ended up with loads of bins full of good soil cluttering up the place. So we decided the best option was raised beds in front of the house. We've already had other fruit and veg in pots and troughs outside the house, so it's just an extension of that really. There's an outside tap nearby, plus we have a well nearby (although we still don't have a pump for it yet - all that free water and not using it - I am thoroughly ashamed) and we will get a water butt too. We have built one huge bed so far, thought we'd have plently of soil that we collected from the moles over the year, but didn't fill half of it! Still, collecting the soil is an ongoing project, so there'll always be a supply (until the garden collapses from lack of structure under the lawn to support it, due to miles of mole holes!). Looking forward to getting some plants/seeds in. We have almost finished the potatoes we grew this year, so we'll do them again, plus more onions and garlic and new for this year - carrots, peppers and broccoli and then take it from there. We tried sweetcorn and got three decent cobs, but we'll try again this year, we have sussed how we can make it better. Although I think we were lucky to get three cobs, lots of sweetcorn crops have failed around here, there's great big fields of dead corn dotted around the place, awful for the farmers, the loss must be huge for them. Our blackcurrants and raspberries were great, so we'll keep them going and I managed to salvage some apples too (Am currently trying to make blackcurrant liquer - its coming on, slowly, looking forward to trying it eventually!).

Am also collecting stuff to sell - car boots and a local second hand clothes party thing that goes on. Hoping that we can make a bit of cash from that. Have somewhere on the internet where people who have holiday homes can swap weeks with each other, so hopefully we'll get a holiday on the cheap this year.

Anyway, enough drivel I think. Happy New Year to you all.