Not what we came for… 1 comment

We moved to western France, not the Pennines.

Enough with the rain already…where’s the #@&3′ing sun???

A welcome return No comments yet

Ah home, sweet home!

We finally made it back to Foussais on Saturday night after 14 hours and 1100km travelling. We had had a strange week back in England – it was lovely to see our family and friends again, and especially for the kids, but it all seemed very strange. Like we now have 2 lives and they very rarely meet. Back in the UK we were part of a circle of friends families that all knew each other and now we have that life, but also another over here. We have some great fiends and a while different way of living, but it hasn’t replaced what we have in England, but the 2 lives co-exist. When we returned to Grimsby we just picked up where we left off 5 months ago and I’m sure we will again, although quite when that will be I don’t know.

The journey back home was pretty easy and uneventful. After driving up to England in 2 cars, it was nice to all be together for the return trip (having left the Picasso in the hands of my folks – it’s being picked up any day now) and it meant that we could share the driving. So I had the job of getting us from Grimsby to Dover, then from Dunkerque to Rouen and Lisa got us home from there. On the subject of Dunkerque I have to speak up in praise of Norfolk Line ferries. The return journey cost us just £38 which we were amazed by. The ferries are fairly modern and well stocked, although the port at Dunkerque felt a bit like we were going to be lifted onto a container ship rather than a car ferry – very out of the way in the middle of an industrial estate! The 2-hour journey was just long enough to have a meal and stretch those cramped legs before embarking on the 2nd leg of the journey. Altogether a grand experience.

Upon returning to our house we were excited to see how the builders had got on with finishing Rosie’s bedroom. What a great job they have done. We are all hugely impressed with the work. Having never really done any renovation before, it’s hard to believe that our cold, dusty loft, with holes in the floor and roof, has now been transformed into a large, cosy bedroom. It really is quite a stunning transformation and makes such a difference to the upstairs of the house. If anyone is in the area and looking for good builders, I would certainly recommend them. We will have lots more building work coming up – I need a study, the kids need a play room and Lisa wants her new kitchen! – and they will certainly be top of the list to do the work. The only downside was that they cleaned us out of tea, coffee and milk! On our departure I had said “Help yourself” and they did…emptying the box of milk from the fridge AND the 2 from the store. Not a huge problem – a quick trip to St Hilaire des Loges on Sunday morning did the trick – but would have been nice to have breakfast in the morning without having to go for a drive first. But hey, they were a great team and I can’t grumble.

Our other surprise was not quite so exciting – we had had visitors while we were away…Ants! The kitchen was awash with the little blighters. I set upon them with the kitchen spray to stem the tide and managed to clear most of them away, only to find them back again in the morning. All part of the fun of living in the countryside I guess… A kettle full of boiling water over their entry point on the outside wall seems to have slowed them down for now until I can get out to buy some proper stuff… Anyone got any tips for shifting Adam and his mates?

Of course, having been away for about 10 days, the grass, of which we have plenty, had grown rather substantially, so I tackled that little job next. The grass by the back-door was first – rather quickly done due to the multitude of buzzing insects round there. I fear we may be providing bed and board for the local populations of bees and wasps in our un-renovated rooms. That’ll be more fun to come. Although I did spot a rather interesting looking red beetle tightrope walking along the washing line, who didn’t buzz and stoood nice and still for a photo…

Anyway, the grass got half-way cut when suddenly with a loud TWANG the mower stopped. Somehow the drive belt had snapped!

So much for our nice short grass – I hadn’t even got round to the front yet, which was the bit that really needed doing. And of course, it being Sunday, there was nowhere open to get a new one, so the now-useless machine went away and we sat in the sun and drank wine and beer with Peter and Judith instead…a much better prospect. I do love Sundays over here…

What news from Blighty? 3 comments

Well we’re here and it feels like we have never been away, which is scary.

5 months ago we left Grimsby on a wet and windy December day, but our hearts were happy as we were starting our journey to our new life in France. So much has happened since then and it feels very strange to be back in Grimsby again, knowing that it isn’t home.

We came back for several reasons. Firstly to sell our English car, the Picasso. It’s done us proud, never really going wrong, never failing to start, and only once allegedly getting us into trouble. But sadly, although she is a French girl at heart, she has an English slant, being a right-hand drive which makes her a bit of a cripple when it comes to driving on the french roads. So we brought two cars up to England (leaving Chippie to have a well-earned break), me driving the Picasso and Lisa in the Zafira. The Picasso is 6 years old, but she did a cracking job on the drive up. Not a murmur from her for about 1100 kilometres. Then as we sped along the Lincoln bypass, with journey’s end in sight, my poor Picasso developed a very throaty noise. Yes, we had negotiated the hills and valleys of northern France, done battle with the M25, conquered the A1, but the A46 was just too much for it and the exhaust fell apart. Our triumphant return was not quite as spectacular as we had hoped, limping in sounding like something from world war 1. And now I have to try to sell the bloody thing! I had hoped that I would easily shift it, as it is in generally very good condition and everything else works, but a dodgy exhaust really gets you off on a bad footing with a dealer when he can hear you approaching from a mile away. Ah well, we’ll see how we get on and I’ll let you know.

Another reason for us coming back to the UK was for us all to see our family, and, perhaps more importantly, for the kids to see their friends. This was a difficult decision for us as we were unsure how much it would unsettle them. Although they are very happy in France and they all have really good friends from school, it is still a lot harder for them a they are still elarning the language and so cannot just chat with their mates, like they could in England. We all know that will come, but it must get very frustrating for them. So a return to England was very welcome for them so that they could have a few days of being able to hang out and natter with friends like they used to do. The danger is, will this then make them realise how hard it is back home in France and send them off the rails in terms of their settling down? I don’t know – It’s really tough to know what to do for the best. We will just have to cross that bridge when we come to it I think.

One thing is for certain. Upon reading the papers, watching the television, driving around and seeing the people here, we are all glad we made the move. It has been great to see our family and freinds while we are here and we wouldn’t have missed the opportunity to see them, but we know we could never move back here. France is our home and that’s where we will stay.