Saturday 23rd Sept We have not been to the market in Apt since June which seems both incredible and terrible really. It is one of the top 100 markets in France and the one of the largest in Provence.However it is packed from June onwards with tourists! thank goodness - they even have a free park and ride - but we prefer the farmers market in Coustellet on a Sunday during high season. So this weekend we ventured in, it was really nice, although we were amazed at how busy it still was - plenty of tourists and we could only just get a seat in our favourite bar where we sit with a beer and 'try' and read the paper looking like locals!




In the afternoon, Eric, our Portuguese ' tree lopper' arrived so I ended up working with him for 4 hours cutting down the neglected conifers!

As one of our last meals in this kitchen Karen served a wonderful supper of Figs with Gorgonzola with a honey sauce - pictured , Salmon with Green Beans with a white wine and creme fraische sauce with Cheese and chocolate Tarts after- fit for a King!

THURSDAY Started work at 8 am , varnished the entire chalet, insulated the roof, finished at 8 pm knackered - this retirement lark ain't all its made out to be!

I think there must be something in the Provincal water that speeds up time! Where has this week gone? Monday started with my French lesson afterwhich I met with my first clients, a Scotish couple who have been renting here for 4 months and now wish to buy. They have retained my services to find them a house. In the afternoon I meet with the local agent to commence the search.

Tuesday Back to school from 9 am to mid day.Fellow students include a South African couple in the mid 70's, a Finish gentleman, Robert who is a Brit and has been going to the class for a couple of years, Francesca who we know and came from Guildford, and a German couple so it makes good entertainment! I usually spend the first half hour wondering what the heck I alm doing there and whether I will ever understand the Grammar!

In the afternoon we arranged with Christine, the lady who runs the Boulangerie to talk French in exchange for which we would teach her English. All went well especially the tour of the premises and the cakes served! not good for the waistline.


Wednesday I have been suffering with a bad arm/elbow so conceded in going to the Doctor.I have Tennis Elbow - just what I could do with out with so much work to do and we are about to assemble our new kitchen.The French take more drugs than any other European country and when you seen the length of my prescription you can see why! We also have to take the 'Ginger' cat to the vet as she has been pulling her fir out. I warned her that if it were more than 40€ she would have to go! ( just joking Karen). As you can see by the photo she has been accepted in to the pack!

Sunday 17th September We head off to Marseille, 66 Miles from here to the centre. It is a vibrant City, busy with tourists, with fabulous archtecture the hub of which is the vieux Port




which is overlooked by the Basilique de Notre Dame de le Garde.




In the afternoon we go to the ballet at the Opera house afterwhich we people watch in one of the buzzing quay side bars



before setting off home stopping off in Bonnieux for a Pizza at one of our favourite casual restaurants which has a stunning view to the West.

Saturday 16th September After a late night we had a slightly late start to the day! we still treat weekends as weekends ie an even slower pace! We had some friends round to supper who are travelling thru Europe although have been renting here for 4 months. They have decided to buy and I have my first proper client retaining me to find them a house.

Thursday 14th September : In preparation for Winter our logs were delivered, 3 stairs worth, something I never had to worry about in Weybridge! Dropped off in the driveway at 7.45 am Karen and I had them all stacked away with in an hour ( or so!). After French we under took some housekeeping duties as it was raining outside. In the afternoon I had a meeting with Home - Hunts who I shall start working for in a week or two's time.






Friday 15th September We set off to Avignon for the purchase of Radiators, sinks and various other delights for the house. It was raining heavily. In the evening we went to dinner at friends in Saignon, a village near here. We drove home in the early hours in the pouring rain, and surprise surprise the car roof was leaking!

Over the last fortnight the weather has been hot allowing al fresco dining. The forecasts here are usually very accurate and low pressure is bringing in high winds, torrential rain, thunder and lightening over the next 3 days. We receieved a call from some friends we have made, who own a large Vineyard nearby asking for assistance to pick grapes before the rain.



Traditionally, Syrah grapes, are left on the vines to ripen in the sun, but must not go soggy so they must be picked before prolonged rain fall.






We joined the other volunteers and picked under the treatening cloud laden sky.




With in an hour or so the heavens opened and we were all drenched causing a retreat to the Domaine for Tea, yes hot Tea!



There we sat and chatted with the other pickers, me in my under pants, Karen with a borrowed towel! it was quite a picture, we were all seriously wet with no other clothes to wear to drive home! Thank goodness there were no roadside checks! Anyway we shall be returning next week to pick again, a different more rain resistant grape! for now the Syrah ones are in a large Vat.

Maktoub!

This is the Hebrew word for ' written' suggesting things in life happen for a reason, our paths are set etc.

I feel it's been that kind of week.

On Monday I had my first 'solo' French lesson, we are now doing an hour each on a one to one basis. Plus of course we go to 'school' on Tuesdays. After, we worked on the garden where we have a large Chalet, 6m x 4m. I thought it was in good condition but like everything here it has been neglected and the roofing felt is torn so that is my next task. We also had Patrick, the electrician round who kindly condemned our electrics! Looks like the budget is wrong aagin!
Several queries have been raised on our planning applications, these include requiring attestations on the drainage and access, suggesting the main house is bigger than the allowed 250 Sq Metres and that the pool houses must be connected to the house! Politics! so we have a meeting with the architect to agree who will do what!

The roof on our Mercedes has continued to leak so the car is booked in Wednesday for 2 days. We set off at 8am - early for us, to Avignon. After collecting a courtesy car, we head off to meet Bernard, who we met whilst stranded in a restaurant during a storm in Vaison.



He is a fascinating, larger than life character (speaking 7 languages and a suberb artist!), born in Tunisia from where he and his family fled in the early 60's when he moved to Paris. He has lived in New York, Brazil and of course London, where he had a business making Jingles for Radio etc.

He and his wife have bought and refurbished a farm house, which is set in about 30 Acres where he has planted 1200 Olive Trees. Before lunch he took us on his tractor around the Olive Grove. After we had lunch, most of which had either been pulled out the ground that morning (lettuce, juicy, tasty tomatoes and peppers), or picked from a tree (figs), we chatted about so many different things, it was a very relaxing and enjoyable day. We left clutching grapes and home made Tapenade, stopping at a Vineyard on route home for a tasting and small purchase to keep the cellar topped up!

On Thursday whilst Karen had her French lesson I had a meeting with a Pool company to look at some work on our current pool and get quotes for the new ones. After we had to go to the bank where 'cheery chops' insisted on us waiting to see him just to transfer money from one account to another! Banking.......

In the afternoon we headed back to Avignon to the joys of the DIY shops to order Bathroom tiles, radiators etc. Mercedes called to say the car would not be ready! Thankfully we had to come to Avignon anyway, we were going to the opening of a new exhibition at an Art Gallary, afterwhich we headed back towards home stopping at ' La terrace' in Bonnieux where we had one of the best Pizza's ever!

We were up at 6.30 Friday, something of a record! and off to Marseille where I had a meeting with Home Hunts, who I am about to start working with. It is a City we have not explored. It is the largest City in France after Paris.




The traffic was busy, like driving in to London. I left Karen to go and look round. When we met up an hour or two later she had been exploring the contrasting streets that this lively City offers on one side with the likes of Prada & louis vitton and on the other, poor immigrants selling their possessions on the streets.




The markets were incredible with a vast Algerian quarter where women almost fought to buy their produce.

We took lunch at the Cafe du Banque, a superb Bistro with an effecient crew of waiters serving the regular customers enjoying the warm Autumn sunshine. We left mid afternoon richer for just dipping into Marseille with its incredible buildings and wonderfull setting by the Medditeranean.

On route home we collected our car from Avignon in between another brief visit to ' Leroy Merlin' arriving home just in time for Karen to prepare supper for friends who were coming to dinner. We had a lovely evening, outside, the Moon lighting the Luberon, which was in the Autumn Mist. They left shortly before 2am! Quite a full day!

Foolishly I had arranged a rendez-vous for 9am with someone to quote for our driveway and to put the road in on our plot. As it turned out he was the font of all knowledge and knows the neighbours to our land so can help with discussions on the drainage. His son-in-law is English and lives nearby, we were introduced through mutual friends. I think he will prove to be very useful for lots of our work. After we went to 'Mr Bricolage' where as luck would have it, we bumped in to one of the other neighbours who we needed to see. By the time we had chatted it was closing for lunch but we had a productive discussion! A fortunate meeting concluding a succesful morning.



Oh yes, we fished this visitor out of the pool!

Perfect Day in the words of Lou Reed!

Sundays are always special, none more so than today. We a woke to a blue sky whilst mist hung over Apt and the Luberon.



After breakfast , Karen sharpened up her Boule skills under the scrutiny of the boys



before we took a stroll to the village. As always on a Sunday morning it was busy with people buying bread and pastries in the boulangerie, meat in the Charcuterie and the cafes buzzing with people reading the ' Provence' whilst drinking a Pastis or Coffee.



We walked through the village reminding ourselves of the lifestyle that attracted us to this village and some of the lovely houses and buildings.


By the time we walked home it was time for lunch, the mist had now been burnt off by the hot Autumn sunshine. We spent the afternoon working in the garden in between dipping in the pool. I never thought I would own a house with a pool. It feels very indulgent. At 7pm we sat on the terrace taking in the view over a glass of wine after which my wife served me a fine dinner of Duck followed by the customary cheese course - now that's what I call a perfect day.

Monday always starts with our French lesson at 10am. We meet with Marlyse, and have been now for about 9 months, twice a week for an hour.We chat about what we have been up to and read , 'Martine' for 8 year olds! Sometimes I wonder just how much our French will advance - it is so difficult, having said that there is no doubt we have come along way since last year.

The week has been taken up with gardening, something that we both really enjoy. It is so nice having worked in an office enviroment, dressed in a suit for 25 years to get out in the fresh air and do some manual work.

We have a new addition to the family - Ginger,




on trial to see if she settles as her 'parents' are emigrating.She went out last night for the first time and promptly went missing. I got up about 4am and called her and could hear a faint cry. I traced this to one of the large trees ! there she was about 10 metres up! well other than get Karen to come and see what could we do but leave her - she got up - and will come back down! ( and has).

Work has begun on the roof with our team of builders looking kike the league of Nations - Johann is Austrian



( roof, bathrooms and floor tiling), Thijs is Dutch ( driveway, french dors ) and Simon is English ( plastering, rendering and pool terrace).We will bring one or two French in to keep the balance right. So the budget is set, negotiations have taken place - let work commence.

Thankfully after a rather unsettled August, or should I say windy one, summer has returned with temperatures back in the 30's so the pool will be getting plenty of use.

Some House keeping!

Our New address:

Chemin de Romanet
St Saturnin Lès Apt
84490
France
0033 490 71 04 13
0033 687 88 83 95(Portable)
davidtaylor88@wanadoo.fr

Another busy week has passed, life really does seem to be flying by! So much so that we have given ourselves a good talking to and are determined to get up earlier and fit more in to our day! One of the ongoing problems is that we usually get to places 11ish and by 12 they are closing. So we must either go earlier or later in the day.

We returned the water butt! Much to the amusement of the staff and customers in Bricolage. They made us stand with it in the entrance, causing great interest!

Tourist continue to keep the village busy.



Tuesday is market day and I had to queue at the Boulangerie for my daily bread!

I have mentioned French banks before. Let me re-iterate - never complain about your British bank again! Credit Agricole, one of France's largest banks is regionalised, so when we pay a cheque in here it is rejected as our account is in Calvados. We managed to get the cheque traced and cleared for which I had to pay 3.90€. So we opened a new account here. They want 34€ for each debit card, and 9€ for what they call 'opening the door' in other words allowing direct debits to your account, and that is for each one you set up! Day light robbery is an understatement.

It was Karen's birthday Thursday, the 24th, we went to Aix en Provence for lunch then to the Cezanne exhibition (He was born, lived and died in Aix). Karen has always wanted a Fiat 500 and she got rather excited when we exited the restaurant - this picture was when I told her I had not bought it for her!




We had friends to supper Friday evening, a nice way to start the weekend. My Saturday went downhill early in the morning when our Dutch builder arrived with his estimate to do all the work on the Villa. I had to explain we wanted to refurbish it not rebuild it! Back to the drawing board!

Well, today is Sunday, time for some more work on the garden. Later some friends who we have made, who are shortly leaving for Australia are coming round for a BBQ so better go get some beers in the fridge.



Do you like our Sufing Stick insect - we caught him riding the noodle in the pool!

Question

What is this?

Answer

its the inside of a water Butt! Or a nice Butt depending on your view and taste! Only we could buy a water butt with a f___ing leak - flaming leak that is! It holds 500 litres, trying to be kind to the planet instead we will have to terrorise the young lady at Mr Bricolarge and try changing it! Nightmare!

By the way, click on the picture, it will enlarge, note the shoes - I bought these in Bloomingdales, New York when I was employed - how times and budgets have changed! but I love them!

Other than this today was good, we visited a new house with the builder we have in mind to use and after 9 months since we first saw the land we deposited our planning application at the Maire's office. Now we have to wait!

Weather

Over the last 10 days it has been not very Provençale - windy, cloudy and some rain although still warm. Last night as we sat out eating this summed it up, a clear sky over us and a rainbow over the Luberon. Today, Sunday, summer is back, 30 degrees and clear skies.

Some of our new pets!

Another Tree disappears!

Thursday 17th August

Our fith wedding anniversary, going out for dinner. Had a very nice evening!

The first offending tree is felled, chopped up and ready to provide us with heat in Winter 2007! The view is revealed!




Sunday 13th August

Friday 11th August
We collected a hired Van in Apt at 8.30am and drove to Ikea in Marseille, to buy our new Kitchen. When we were in there just two days earlier they said it was all in stock - not now of course - some would have to be sent on. We were then sent on a thankless task of finding 14 door handles too only to find they only had 6 in store! I treated Karen to lunch in Ikea to relieve the stress - a first time experience for us both!I know how to treat a lady!



After, we took full advantage of our days van hire buying beds, roof tiles and various other large household items - we returned the van minutes before 8pm tired, poorer but satisfied!

Saturday 12th August

The garden here is fabulous although tons of work! 9 Olive tress, a large over grown cherry, We are about to remove the large tree near the pool, a huge conifer by the house and some dead conifers between us and the neighbours. Eric,who moved here 8 years ago from Portugal and speaks French with Portuguese accent is going to take on the task. Here is the part of the garden..............

Thursday 10th August
At last some progress on the land. This is the second plot we are buying. For when we submit our planning we have to have soil investigations for the drainage. The JCB arrived at 9am and by lunch time had cleared much of the site - its now looking like a plot! sorry plant lovers!







10th August

Friday 4th & Saturday 5th August

One of the things we have learnt about living in Provence is that there is a season for everything. You can buy copious amounts of fruit and veg,when its in season! You can buy car windscreen sun shields,when its summer!You can buy heaters just before winter and garden furniture as soon as spring breaks, obvious I know, but Summer also brings unlimited out door festivals covering dance, music, drama, art, wine and cheese etc, there is a festival for everything! In our village as well as the Vide Grenier on Bastille day they also have a Fete over this weekend. The road where we normally park is closed off, a large stage is set and stalls are built to cater for the crowds! Friday night is disco night 10 pm till 2 am!, Saturday is a live band, same time and Sunday is again a Disco. What is incredible is the crowds that come, the French love to dance and the level of noise! As it happens we went to an out door classical Piano concert on the Saturday night but stopped off on the way home at just after midnight when I took these pictures.

2nd August 2006
Martin headed home on the early morning flight. Richard arrived, unfortunately with out baggage! BA left it on the tarmac at Gatwick! He had requested wine, women and a place by the pool! Thank fully we were able to satisfy 2 of his demands!

31st July 2006
Not only having been off line for a fortnight I have since had connection problems ( very uncomfortable too!) so I am having to back date this - not quite the point of a blog I know but what the heck! Anyway Matisse has settled in well to the tasteful bbq!

About 2 weeks before we moved we visited France Telecom to transfer our telephone and internet on the 26th. I also took the opportunity to upgrade my internet connection from 1 meg to 8. Well I write this almost 3 weeks later as we have only just been re connected! Initially they refused to put our line on until the old owner allocated his number to his new address, which was when he got round to it and then due to storms we had to wait 15 days to be put on line - one of the joys of France!
Our move on the Wednesday went well, the cats were highly inquisitive but delighted with the garden, the removal guys were great and with the exception of 1 item all of our belongings came out of 10 months storage unscathed!
On the Thursday we collected Martin, familiar to many of you and a welcome visitor ( and friend) to us. We whisked him from the arrival lounge at Marseille to Ikea and various other retail stores before arriving home in the late afternoon to enjoy the pool and garden. It was a hot balmy evening.




On Friday we set about unpacking boxes, lunch was served on the terrace where we have a view of the Luberon. It was cloudy , hot & humid. In the distance we observed the dark skies and listened to the sound of rumbling thunder. Lighting lit the increasingly dark sky. Gradually the storm approached , and within minutes the rain began to fall. For 3 hours we were engulfed by the most torrential and unrelenting rain.

The Thunder was terrifying as was the lightening. We soon realised our new house was struggling to cope with the deluge. The Garage took in water ( where many of our belongings were still in boxes), the side area was like a river leading thru the workshop and store and as the rain fell it swept much of the garden rubbish that had built up over the last 2 years to the pool!




About 5 pm the storm eased and I had to go to Apt, about 4 miles away. The roads were like Rivers with torrents of water coming off the Vineyards with the ground simply unable to cope with the deluge. When I returned though an hour later the road was dry with steam rising leaving a rather eerie atmosphere.
We quickly realised our drainage was insufficient to cope with the rain that can fall here although many locals are saying it was the worst storm in 20 years. Great timing!

Thankfully Martin was here not only to help with the clear up but to put a calm reassuring perspective on the whole picture - for us it was a low point - what had we done, But next day despite the pool looking like a bath of Cadburys chocolate it was to work on the garden and under the guidance of several good friends we eventually after 5 days managed to restore the pool to its former glory.