Treizième Octobre 2011

Ok - well finally got some things happening around here so it's about time for a fresh blog.  I actually spent pretty much the whole of today breaking a local French law - but thats a story for a bit later on!  We have been enjoying some beautiful Autumn weather for the last week or so - very chilly in the mornings and at night but the days fine up to be clear and warm with no wind.  Am enjoying it as pretty sure the forecast is for very chilly days in only a week or two's time.  Here is some pics of all three boys enjoying the late afternoon sunshine.  You will see from the shot of the cats that the forest behind us is starting to go brown and dropping leaves.  Paul is excited about being able to see all the interesting things in the forest that you currently can't see for the trees.  Not sure I am so thrilled ha.

Paul has been busy finishing off his attic flooring,  putting in the plumbing and electrics in the attic as well as doing some of the plumbing in the downstairs kitchen.  When digging into some of the older foundations he found this old hand blown glass - not sure if it was put there on purpose - very strange.  Would love to know what era it comes from - the glass is very thick at the base.

Since I last blogged we also had our interviews for immigration at Toulouse.  After much stressing and reading of expat sites information etc it turned out extremely routine and not scary at all.  There was no language test - just a chest xray to make sure we weren't bringing in TB with us - some very general health questions - a bit of waiting around and voila - good to go.  So we are currently legal until March next year when we have to go through the process of getting a visa extension which can take up to three months hence the early start on it, since our actual visa wont expire until June.  Anyway we spent most of the day in Toulouse and then after the interviews we headed out to Ikea for some kitchen stuff for the attic - after about 10 minutes I had a major dummy spit about Paul not measuring what I wanted him to (why oh why can he not read my mind!!) so we pretty much just left.  I have decided it is very hard to storm out of Ikea with any style at all since I got lost a couple of times trying to find the 'quick' exit out.  No such thing - and yes we still had to do the tour of the kiddies section!!  Was a very quiet trip on the way home - but we got over it after a day or two ha.  The joys of spending 24/7 together - it's just not natural I think!  Other events of note this week included spending Saturday night at our closest neighbors house (or garage to be more precise) for a commune 'fete'.  It was good to meet a few more of our French neighbors from a little further across the way and it is a good example of the community spirit that you find here.  The food was, I hope, not really traditional French unless you call chucking some lumps of meat and whole vegies into a stewing pot for a day and then serving it up, French cuisine - hmmm probably not the best meal we have had in France but it's the thought that counts.  And the entertainment was mildly amusing albeit very confusing -  it consisted of our neighbor Michel putting on a blonde wig and doing a spiel in French - it was all too fast for me to have any clue as to what it meant but apparently it had something to do with Celine Dion...Another of our French neighbors is also obsessed with Kangaroos and eating them everytime he sees me - which never gets old - even after the 500th time.  I am going to bring back a Kangaroo steak with me from Aus when I go in January for him if I can get it in!
Yesterday was another big day as the van finally passed it's inspection.  Paul had spent hours trying to get it ready to go so it was a big relief to hear the inspector say ' c'est bon' - even Paul understood that!!   And today was the day Paul and our new expat Aussie friend Bernard starting doing the plastering in the attic.  Here are some shots.  Lots of setup work to be done prior to the plaster going on, including the very thick insulation going in.

Metal railings to connect the plasterboard to.

Getting the ok from the local site inspector/foreman/engineer/architect and general quality controller!

Whilst the guys were in the attic I spent the day planting out our new hedge.  This sounds easy enough but it took me all day to plant just 12 bushes.  The ground is literally all rock hard clay and so for each hole I would use the crowbar then fill it with water - let it sit for a while - dig out what was soft (er) then start process again until the hole was big enough for the plant to go in.  But it looks good and will hopefully block out some of the more aesthetically challenging parts of a house across from the barn and provide some privacy for us.  We have a very strong and active 'neighborhood watch' in our little area.  The day after we got back from the US the English neighbors had been very accurately informed by several other neighbors that we had arrived home at exactly 9.30! 

Check out the water in the holes - it can stay like that for ages!

 Anyway whilst I was doing my hedge today the post lady drove up the driveway as I had done some shopping on Amazon and she had a parcel for me. Well she then started talking about me planting the hedge of  "Laurel"  - which at first I thought was just small talk as she only speaks French but I soon realised she was telling me that the planting of the hedge was 'Interdit' = ie illegal!  Apparently the local government has  banned it due to the recent 'drought'.  They must use too much water.  Anyway after saying I didn't know anything about it she left and I carried on ha - well we have bought 30 plants already so now we will just have to wait and see if the Posty is a spy and the Laurel police turn up to make us remove the hedge!!

The illegal hedge...

Well thats about it for now.  Just thought I would apologise to my friend Carol who would like us to hurry up and get to the after shots of the house a la episode of 'Grand Designs' ha ha.  Trust me Carol - I would like nothing more to get the magic wand out - but hey wheres the fun in that hey?

Autumn view out what we one day be our bedroom window..