There is no
going back, we are here to stay, and we are French to the core, never to go
back to the UK. This week we gave up the white van with net curtains for a
smart Renault espace and that means we are French, French, French… and, on top of all that, we actually bought it
through le bon coin and got a good deal…..no car salesmen to take us to the
cleaners this time. Mike has been very
frustrated these past few months because I am now totally deaf on my left side
and unable to hear him talking to me in our bumpy jangling, rattling van and as
we do all our best talking on the road it was starting to have an impact on our
decision making. I have been able to turn a deaf ear to Mike’s ranting’s about
the quality of roadmanship on our roads here but not hearing road rage in its
most colourful sense is no compromise to not being able to pick up a
conversation, so the van had to go. Much of the decision making for what to get
next was down to HOSS and how he would manage getting in and out and the espace
has a very low back door so we are all happy, HOSS can get in the back, I can
hear what’s going on and Mike has a new toy to play with …….life is great
I was in
the poly tunnel pottering when I heard a very weird sound that I could not
identify and now that I have impaired hearing I was forced to go out into the
garden to investigate only to find Mike with camera in hand investigating the
same noise and we found our wood full of starlings having a party up in the
tree tops, and then they were gone in a flurry off to the next venue but Mike
did manage to catch them before they moved on and then all was quiet again
Mike and I
try to get out every day and when the weather holds we like to take HOSS for a
walk somewhere. His favourite place is the beach and last week we pulled in to
say hello to our good friends in St Marie Du Mont on the way back from Utah Beach make
our outing even more special, but we also walk the old rail way lines that have
been given over to walkers, bike riders and dogs. We have a good choice of walks and I find I
am able to get a bit of a wiggle on and get the heart pacing and Mike can walk
without watching out for ankle turning obstacles, which has always impaired his
walking outings ever since I have known him
We set off
on the railway walk at a joining point away from town so it is less crowded and
although we have past this house many times I just felt a need to show you this
little railway holt that would have housed the family who watched the road and
closed the gate when the train chuffed past.
I would buy this house and live in it if I ever had the chance, it is in
the country but is only a 5 minute bike ride away from Carentan. We talked about
how it would be to live on an old rail way line with all the history and
ghostly middle of the night chuffing and hooting as the midnight mail train
trundled past on its way to Lessey in our dreams. We imagined finding the
platform and putting up signals and opening a little cream tea café for the
people passing by , then we got real, noticed there was no one as far as
the eye could see and got on with the walk
for the fresh air and exercise it was intended for.
And finally
an update on the windows project or did I mean protest. This is not an easy job
and these here were the worst of them all. Mike renewed the putty whilst they were still
hanging a couple of weeks ago and that has made the prep and paint process a
lot easier and less stressful. We need
to get two coats of top coat on in the next two days and they can go back up.
Mike is puttying in advance and I am cleaning so that when they get to the
table it’s just sand, paint and sand and paint, and then, job done. We bought a Karcher window cleaner and the
house has more light and shiny reflections now as a gadget goes a long way to
helping you perform the simplest of jobs which actually if you put your mind to
it was just as easy before the gadget,
but that is progress for you…….
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