Monday 17th March to Sunday 23rd March
Monday 17th March
Author: Jack
Well folks, you are going to have to put up with my style of writing for a while until Iain returns.
Had a really bad night’s sleep, almost certainly as a result of the reality of Iain going home hitting me and suddenly realising that this is it. Here we are, Rebecca and I, on our own. The house is very empty and echoey and once Rebecca is in bed and the TV off there isn’t a sound. There isn’t even any scratching! Very weird. It’s going to be tough for Iain too with no one to come home to. However he did say how comfortable the house seemed in England! No green plastic chairs in the lounge there!
Today saw yet another milestone for us. Had planned to get up early to be fully organised for Beck’s first day at her new school. Having had an awful night I finally awoke at 7.45 to realise the alarm should have gone off an hour earlier! But no problem. We managed to leave by 8.40 and were at school within 10 minutes. This week I’ll take her straight to school in Villeneuve de Duras and collect her. Starting next Monday though she will be going on the school bus from our village. We arrive in plenty of time; have a chat to her teacher and she’s off. No problem at all. Once again I feel the tears welling so quickly leave and get in the car.
Off to Marmande for a further dose of French bureaucracy. En route I stop at Terre de Sud, the farming version of Homebase, to buy a smaller key for tightening the trellising, which later in the day I find to be the answer to my problems of the day before. Then off to the Centre de Gestion et Comptable or in other words the VAT (TVA) office. Having expected this to be yet another problem situation I was both amazed and relieved to find quite the reverse. A very kind gentleman explained everything to me in very simple French, with diagrams added for good measure. We filled in about 8 different forms and hey presto are now registered for VAT. For a fee, much lower than any accountant’s fee I have ever paid in England, they will complete our VAT return every quarter, will complete our annual tax return and provide us with bi-monthly newsletters (not sure about this one as it is unlikely I will ever be able to understand anything in it!). All that remains now is for me to wait for the reams of paper that will land in my letterbox in the next couple of weeks. Still at least it means that the price of the tractor and the ubiquitous white van can be looked upon more favourably. After all for at least a year all we will be doing is reclaiming VAT!
Back home at eleven. Spend a little time catching up with a few phone calls and emails then off out to work! However as keen as I am to start tying down I find that it isn’t as easy as it seems. We have a wonderful new thing-a-me-jig, which automatically dispenses tape and staples it around the vine canes thus securing them to the trellising. That is if you know how to do it. After an hour or so of achieving very little apart from changing the colour of the air around me I return to the house to find the instruction book – yes I know – I should have read it first!!! Having finally worked it out I eagerly return to the task. Have not been out there long when I hear Joel’s tractor. He drives down to see me and asks how I’m doing. Um – not so good it seems. I’m much too slow and the Merlot, which are the first to bud, should be finished this week! However amazingly he is quite impressed with the way I have tied down the few that I have done. Maybe there is hope! And then…he starts tell me about more paperwork. Am completely confused about what is going on. It seems that if I fill in the right papers we might get some sort of rebate for our materials! A man is coming next week from yet another organisation to discuss this with Joel and I. Lets hope that all this red tape is going to do something to improve my French because at the moment it isn’t doing much towards getting the work done! Joel leaves to carry on replacing the missing trellis posts – working on until it’s dark! What would we do without him?
Before I know it its time to collect Rebecca. Now given my previous history re time keeping at school I have decided to turn over a new leaf and be on time! It may come as a bit of a shock to some of you to hear this but I was actually early – so early in fact that I was the first there. This has never happened to me before and may never again! Eventually a few other mums turned up – not many though as there are only 21 children at this school and about half go on the school bus. Lots of kissing going on between the mums – they all seem to know each other – I watch but don’t feel too out of place. Seemed to be far less intimidating than the playground in Ryarsh! And then they were out. Rebecca looked a bit pale and dazed but soon started talking enthusiastically about her day. Seems it was a complete success and the fact that she could not understand anything was nothing more than a minor inconvenience. Thank goodness. And when we get home she spends the majority of the evening practicing her handwriting. She has to learn a complete new style of handwriting, which I must say, is lovely. And the fact that she has to use a fountain pen has just made her day perfect.
Tuesday 18th March
Author: Jack
No school for Beck today. Teachers strike. And tomorrow is her normal day off so this is a three-day week for her. Up early and off to Terre du Sud at 8.30 to discuss fertilisers, herbicides and sprays. Joel accompanies us to ensure that we understand what is required and to ensure that the consultant understands the conditions in the vineyard (more than I do!). We spend an hour with them and leave with another wadge of paperwork including a spray programme and an estimate of the cost (tried not to look too shock as the noughts kept being added to the numbers).
Buy another of the !!!! tying machines as fear that the one I have may lose it’s life in my hands. Just about to pay when our new friend, the English vineyard owner, Jonathon, says hello. He is keen to talk vineyards, Beck is very keen not to. Twenty minutes later we pay and leave.
Back and out in the vineyard to start tying down. After two hours have only completed two rows. Needless to say I blame it all on that !!!!!!!! machine. Break for lunch and decide to treat myself; well it is my birthday, to a glass of wine. May not have been such a good idea as it is very hot and am planning on working outside all afternoon.
Beck is not at all impressed with my plans for the afternoon – what’s she supposed to do? Sulks and stays indoors watching the television. We only have French channels so let’s hope that some of the TV watching pays off and she learns some French. However Friends dubbed in French just isn’t the same. Nor is the French equivalent of ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’ (Qui veut gagner un million) or the French equivalent of The Weakest Liink – yes it’s true – there’s even a French Anne Robinson look–a-like with the same hairstyle and the same morbid dress sense. Oops, back to the plot. Having eventually got Beck joins me and using the brand new tying machine lends a hand. Progress is speeded up. Unfortunately the novelty soon wears off and she sulks off back indoors. The afternoon continues in this vein. At the end of the day I don’t feel as if I have achieved much apart from raising the tying machine to the dizzy heights of Enemy Number One.
Back indoors I try and fit in a few chores – don’t get much done – get as far as putting the washing up into the washing up bowl, taking a shower and ironing a pair of trousers. Beck and I are planning to paint the town red in celebration of my surviving yet another year. The thought of going out cheers her up no end and she’s off getting ready, make up, jewellery, nail polish. She looks very grown up – I look like her grandmother. Once seated in the restaurant I unwind and we spend a very enjoyable evening together. As we leave I thank for a lovely evening and she replies ‘I’ll always be with you on your birthday – even when you’re dead. I’ll come to your grave and sing Happy Birthday’. Something to look forward to then!
Wednesday 19th March
Author: Jack
No school again today for Beck. Have arranged for her to have her friend Tanya over for the morning. We met Tanya and her mum when we bought the house in Puysserampion. Her mum was the agent that sold us the house and we have stayed friends since then. Pick Tanya up early so I can get on with the tying down. When we get back we find Joel and Nelly collecting some of their firewood. Discuss the Terre du Sud order with him. Then get a visit from EDF (Electricité de France), just to inform me that they are going to be cutting the electricity for a while. Would be today as not only is the washing machine going but so is the bread maker – so - no bread for lunch! Finally get out to work at ten – much too late. Having discussed my lack of progress with Joel and Nelly I take their advice and try a different method for tying down, quicker but maybe not so effective in the long run. Anyway time will tell. Make better progress although still not brilliant – machine beginning to realise who is master.
Grab a quick lunch and back out but not for long. Joanne arrives to collect Tanya. Beck has really enjoyed having her round. They spent a lot of their time playing outside which was wonderful. The tractor seems to be the best toy followed by making daisy chains – we have an unbelievable number of daisies and dandelions! Must cut the grass sometime – must buy a mower therefore. As soon as Tanya leaves Beck reverts to the ‘I’m bored – it’s not fair – I want you to come inside’ routine. Even worse for her at four we head back to Terre de Sud to place our order. This consists of, amongst other things –
• 10 tons of Recalat (fertiliser)! .
• 4.8 tons of 05-10-15 (another fertiliser)
• 120 litres of herbicides
• over 450 kg of various chemicals used for spraying against various
diseases including mildew and botrytis
• a further 90 litres of chemicals for use in the war against
disease in the vineyard
Whilst the order is being discussed and placed Rebecca grows increasingly more restless and decides to try and go on a shopping spree. Bit difficult for her in Terre de Sud, nothing purple or pink here – she proves me wrong finding various pots of paint and trying to persuade me to buy them for her bedroom. Finding me less than enthusiastic on this front the then tries to sell me a variety of rubber shoes! All this whilst I am trying to appear as if I have some idea of what I am ordering. The man behind the desk smiles sympathetically at us and carries on filling in the order and tapping on his calculator. I’m surprised he had enough digits on his calculator. I leave unsure that we can ever sell our wine for a price that will cover the cost of this lot – let alone anything else.
Try to work on a few more rows when we get back but eventually have to pack up under pressure from a seven year old that is about to go insane!
Thursday 20th March
Author: Jack
Intention – to be up and dressed by 6.30 ready to do an hour or so outside before needing to get organised for school run.
Reason - Becks is growing increasingly fed up with me being out there
meaning
that she is either indoors on her own or has to be outside with me.
She’s
not one for her own company.
Reality - Fail miserably – turn alarm off and wake up late!
So school run over I go out to another full day of tying down. Am still extremely concerned about how on earth I am ever going to tie down all the vines before the start coming in to leaf. However like a miracle my guardian angel, in the form of Nelly, appears, tying down machine in hand. Can’t believe it. She says she has come to help me as it will be too much for me to do on my own and we need to finish the Merlot by the end of the week. We work along the rows together occasionally chatting. In general I can understand most of what she says but often find it difficult to express myself. However somehow we manage to communicate, or at least we both think we have understood what the other has said. But when it comes to discussing the Iraq war I give up – my knowledge of French words in this area is non-existent. But as the only thing on French TV seems to be coverage of the war I am sure that my vocabulary in this area will soon be improved. Nelly is a marvel. She works incredibly fast. Apparently as a child she was paid per vine for tying down, so the faster she worked the more she got paid. There’s no way I can keep up. But at some point I hope to be nearly as fast as she is as it will save me so much time.
After a short lunch break I return to the task at hand and have only be out there a short when does not only Nelly appear but also her daughter Camille, both armed with tying machines. Yet another miracle! Progress is rapid and by the end of the day we have between the three of us covered about one and a half hectares.
I leave them to finish off and go to collect Beck. School finishes at 4.30 but they don’t seem to come out until 4.45. The attitude is very relaxed and the teacher always comes out and talks to everyone. She has had yet another really good day at school. Beck and I whiz over to La Vitaille (20 minutes away) to collect mattress so that Ben and Danielle have something to sleep on at the weekend. The mattress seems to be alive and clearly doesn’t want to be parted from it’s bed. I wrestle it down the stairs and out of the house with more than a few words of frustration.
Friday 21st March
Author: Jack
Ashamed of my laziness yesterday I did get up early intending to go straight out into the vineyard. However once I opened the shutters I realised that it wasn’t as light as I thought. Unsurprisingly I wasn’t that upset. So instead I decided to attack the two baskets of ironing whilst failing miserably to decipher the French news reports on the Iraq war.
After the school run I did go straight out to work – the dread tying down machine in my hand. As if by magic Nelly appears and we work together till for the rest of the morning. Joel appears in his white van (I must see about buying one. I don’t think I’ll feel as if I belong until I do). He is preparing to start spraying the herbicide. However he discovers that we don’t possess a hosepipe, in fact we don’t really possess anything; the hanger is still completely empty. So off he goes to Terre du Sud, of course, to buy a hose pipe and associated attachments. Back with these he attaches the hosepipe ready to fill up the sprayer, turns on the tap and discovers two leaks in the pipe work in the hanger. Despite the fact that he no longer lives here he sets to to mend the pipe work! He doesn’t have quite all he needs with him (and we certainly don’t have anything at all) so he and Nelly set off for their lunch and to fetch the necessary spare parts (from Terre du Sud!).
They return after lunch. Joel fixes the burst pipes and begins the spraying. Nelly and I drive round the vineyard collecting the old trellis posts. Amazing.
Time to collect Beck. She has had yet another good day at school. Her teacher has let her choose a French reading book. It’s for six year olds, which would be very simple if she could understand it. But in French!!! And she also has another book that the teacher is reading to the class or her to study at home, plus more handwriting practice. Also it seems that a peripatetic teacher will be visiting Rebecca at school on Monday and we have yet another form to complete for him. This teacher is going to help Rebecca integrate into the school and in particular to help her understand the language. She will be having a test on Monday (in English!) to establish her competence level. This teacher will then set her special assignments and help her with any problems and return periodically to check her progress help her with any problems. Fantastic. We couldn’t ask for more. It is such a lovely friendly school. And as we are leaving the children come running over to wave Rebecca goodbye. They are very chatty and one of them tells me, with some pride, that Rebecca has started speaking to her in French. They are all very enthusiastic for Rebecca and clearly want her to be their friend. How lucky we are.
We leave the school at five and don’t get home till gone eight, exhausted. We have been to organise a repair to the satellite dish so that we can receive Sky (I’ve given in already!). Rebecca likes the shop we went to for this, Vincenzi’s, because they give her sweets and make a fuss over her. Then we go to the lawn mower shop to buy Iain’s first new toy – a sit on mower! If he’s lucky we’ll keep it unused until he is back in two weeks time. Mind you the lawn looks more like a forest now – still – it’ll be more of a challenge for him! Then on to Rebecca’s favourite supermarket, Geant, for much needed supplies followed by a smash and grab raid at La Vitaille. Ben and Danielle are visiting this weekend – our first visitors – so we needed a few more chairs, a bed for them, etc! Didn’t want them to think we didn’t care! Home, tired and hungry. Finally unpack shopping at about eleven and just manage to make it to bed before midnight.
Saturday 22nd March
Author: Jack
Am up and thinking about showering and getting ready to go to Bordeaux to collect Ben and Danielle when I notice someone wandering around outside, piece of paper in hand, looking lost. As I am not wearing my best pyjamas am not sure what to do. But decide I had better go and see what is going on. Just as well as he is about to knock at the door. Seems he has a space ship for me :
And he is the alien delivering it! This is from the planet Terre du Sud and contains all you need to make your grapes grow. A mere 10 tonne of fertiliser. Parked in the front garden!
Recovering from the shock, and delighted that there was only one alien aboard, we get ourselves ready and set off for Bordeaux airport. The plane is slightly delayed which is fortunate as, true to myself, I am running a little late. Ben and Danielle are our first visitors. Good job they are family as they were about to arrive at somewhere that is more like a transit camp than a home.
I had emailed Ben on Friday telling him to make sure they brought some shorts, as the weather has been so good. But for the first time in a fortnight it was cloudy. However by the time we had had lunch the cloud was but a haze and it was fairly warm despite a fairly strong breeze.
I had also warned them that they would have to do some work in the vineyard. This was mainly because I had reached a point where I could no longer do any tying down. No not because of the wretched tying down machine but because my hands had decided they had had enough and gone into inflammation and mega pain mode. From time to time I have suffered with varying degrees of pain from Carpel Tunnel Syndrome, but never as badly as this. My hands need a rest and happily this could be achieved with the arrival of Ben and Danielle. So Ben and I spent Saturday afternoon working together on the last patch of Merlot, with Ben in charge of the!!!! machine to give my hands a rest. Rebecca was in cloud cuckoo land with Danielle who entertained her brilliantly for the whole afternoon.
And then it was off to the restaurant Beck and I had been to on my birthday. I hadn’t realised that their Saturday menu was different. During the week there is a 10€ menu which consists of four couses including as much as you can eat from the buffet table and as much house wine as you can drink! On Saturday the cheapest meal is 17€, which is five course; still pretty reasonable. For this you still get the ‘all you can eat’ buffet but it includes a fantastic selection of seafood. Wine is extra. But for around £15 including all our drinks it’s a bargain.
After an afternoon of outdoor work, a very early start for Ben and Danielle and a very filling and enjoyable meal it was bedtime as soon as we were home.
Sunday 23rd March
Author: Jack
Comparatively, a late start for me. Not that I slept well. My hands
have been playing me up and keep me awake far more than any crying baby
ever has! Am becoming increasingly tired and grumpy (OK not the grumpy
bit then!). Anyway Ben has said he’ll make my bed frame up for
me today. This will actually help my hands as there is some relief to
be gained from hanging my hands out of the bed. Sounds odd I know –
anyway no more of this nonsense.
I don’t give Ben and Danielle much of a chance. Once they are up it’s off outside to do some more tying down. Beck and I pop out occasionally to see how they are doing. And they are doing a great job between them and as a bonus they are getting a suntan. Meantime Beck and I attempt some of her homework. She has brought a reading book home - it‘s about a cat family who have a baby they cannot keep because of the war so they make a box out of bamboo and send the baby out to sea in it! I am beginning to wonder what exactly the French do smoke! Translating this lot has been very bizarre but I am now sure that I have translated it correctly. Must get some cigarettes so that I can fully appreciate the meaning of it all!
Time for a lunch break for the workers, and then out to finish their patch. Between them they have managed to tie down about half a hectare, which is brilliant. That’s about a twentieth of the vineyard. Not only that but it means that the Merlot are finished which was my biggest worry. Of course now the rest is!
Having finished it’s in for a quick drink then, for Ben, it’s on to making up my bed. Must say it will be good not to have to sleep on a mattress on the floor. When we moved to Offham we were sleeping on a mattress on the floor for over six months! And again here so can’t wait.
Having finished all the jobs Ben and Danielle are finally allowed to relax. Well that is to say they can now play with Beck. I sit contentedly on the veranda listening to the happy sounds of the children playing in the garden (Beck Ben and Danielle!) - bliss.
We have decided to have a BBQ. This is a first here. There is a built-in BBQ on the veranda complete with its own chimney. Having organised all the utensils and cleaned the BBQ we light it and leave it to warm up. Normally BBQ’s take ages to get going. But before we know it we have a roaring furnace and enough heat to cook for an army. This must be the most efficient BBQ in the world. In fact it’s so hot it’s difficult to get the food on and off it without cooking your arm as well. BBQ is a great success.
Sadly we have to leave for the airport. It was such a joy to see them arrive but the saying goodbye is once again very hard. I guess we will get used to this in time and everyone is only a phone call away – but somehow it’s not the same. The distance we have put between us and our family and friends is the selfish price we are paying for our chance of a lifetime.
