Monday 31st March to Sunday 6th April
Monday 31st March.
Author: Jack
Red letter day to day – we finished the tying down! At the start of the morning we thought it would take us the rest of the day to finish. But with the expertise that Granddad and Janet had gained in the previous few days we managed to polish off the last hectare by 1 p.m. Delighted we returned to take a longer than usual lunch accompanied by a bottle of wine to celebrate. Not a good idea really – drinking at lunchtime only makes me feel tired! However we eventually got ourselves moving and headed off to show Janet Les Bardots, the wreck we bought early last year with the grand idea of restoring it! We are now planning to sell it as we will never be able to afford to do it up. Shame because it could be fantastic; but nothing compared to making our own wine. Then it’s off to collect Beck from school. We arrive at five but she is not happy. Apparently she really enjoys being at the garderie after school as the children all get to play outside; and she especially enjoys playing football. She wants to be collected later!!!
We return home and decide to continue our celebrations, this time with a bottle of champagne. Nelly and Joel turn up. They have come to collect a fridge that was left in the barn. So we invite them to join our celebration – they probably think we are completely barmy as for them it would just be part of the normal routine to have finished the tying down – but not so for us. Anyway we sit chatting happily (in French somehow!) for half an hour or so. Not sure whether we should be using ‘tu’ now instead of ‘vous’. No idea what the etiquette is on this. Nelly and I always kiss each other in greeting but Joel always shakes hands. However he has progressed to kissing Rebecca now.
Beck has had yet another great day at school. Apparently they are learning a new song – an English song- ‘One, two, three four five , once I caught a fish alive…’ And she has had to stand up and sing it to the class. At least that was easy for her!
Tuesday 1st April
Author: Jack
We woke up to fog this morning, which was very odd. We had had a thunderstorm the previous evening. While Granddad and Janet went off to Duras for the morning I occupied myself with paperwork – think I prefer tying down. And then off to Marmande for an appointment at the MSA (Mutualite Sociale Agricole). I haven’t quite worked out what they are exactly but it’s a bit like a social security office for the agricultural community comprising a job centre and healthcare facilities. I spend one and a half hours filling in yet another huge batch of forms, most of which seem to contain exactly the same information. I discover that we will have to pay a number of different ‘cotisation’ (contributions) towards health care and statutory retirement fund amongst others. The amount paid is not based on income but on the number of hectares under vine. We have 9.3 hectares. The cotisation amount is calculated using some contorted factors and we end up paying various different percentages based on 43 hectares. A calculator seems to be the main aid in any meeting I have ever been to and this occasion was no exception. It was tapped furiously over and over again to come up with the amount we have to pay annually! Anyway for all this 70% of all our medical bills will be covered. To cover the other 30% we have to take out a ‘top up’ insurance – more money! Must start trying to make some money..
I really enjoy collecting Beck from school. The atmosphere is so friendly and she just loves being there. Today is no exception. When I arrive I am greeted by three of her classmates, all of whom give me a kiss. And again they tell me how much they like Rebecca and one of them, Nathaniel, insists that Rebecca will be coming to his birthday party. Wonderful.
Wednesday 2nd April
Author: Jack
No school today for Beck as it is Wednesday. She wakes up very excited as her new friend Fleur is coming to play this afternoon. Beck and I spend the morning writing letters and doing her homework. Her reading in French is improving in leaps and bounds although she hasn’t yet reached the point where she understands it all. But she is beginning to be bale to pick out words and phrases.
Fleur is delightful. She is in the same school year as Rebecca, in fact they are the only two girls in the year! Fleur’s mum is really please that there is another girl of Fleur’s age at school. The girls have no problem playing with each other and they spend a very happy afternoon together. When stuck they come and ask me to translate. Good practice for me as Fleur instantly corrects anything I get wrong. After tea I take Fleur home. She lives in a nearby village. Her parents live in a wonderful old house. I am invited in and offered a glass of cider. We sit in their lounge beside the world’s biggest fireplace. It has a very Gothic appearance. Fleur’s Dad is learning English and her mum speaks a little English too so our conversation is a mix of French and English! Good for all of us. Fleur’s father is an artist – his work is very abstract and on very large canvases. Not really my thing but try to be enthusiastic. They invite me to an exhibition they are taking part in later in April. Not sure whether to go or not as I don’t want to offend them – but I don’t think I could have one of those pictures in the house! Anyway might be an interesting experience.
Thursday 3rd April
Author: Jack
No school again today. The teachers are on strike, and apparently so is half of France. The post office is closed because of the strike and most flights are cancelled as the air traffic controllers are also on strike. Good job Iain is arriving tomorrow and not today.
Friday 4th April to Sunday 6th April
Author: Iain
Well, after three incredibly long weeks, my first weekend visit to the vineyard arrives. Sitting on the train on Thursday evening I get that weekend feeling. This swiftly dissipates once I get home and realise that not only have I got to sort out dinner for the evening (after the usual pain-in-the-neck clearing out of the dishwasher – which has pretty much become my crockery cupboard), I then have to pack, including a long list of things that J wants me to take out – all of which seem reasonable but not life-threateningly necessary to me at 9pm in the evening. I then realise that to catch my plane I need to set the alarm for 5am – that’s more than half an hour earlier than a work day. Hmmm.
I manage to wake up and get to Gatwick on time. I’ve managed to cram the stuff Jack wanted into my hand luggage and having no suitcases was a real bonus. Bypassed the queues and check-in pretty quickly. I get stopped at the place where they x-ray your bags. I hadn’t thought that taking a corkscrew would be a problem – well, after an in-depth lecture on airport security from someone’s supervisor I decide that I should stop complaining and just hand it over. The full extent of the situation about to unfold hit me. How on earth was I going to explain the presence of a Polly Pocket suitcase, a packet of bourbon creams, ten coat hangars and assorted books on insects and flowers alongside my weekend clothes? The guy checking it all just gave me a knowing look and proceeded to swab my bag for explosives – I felt sure that I was about to find out that by some bizarre co-incidence a pack of C5 has found its way inside, making the alarms go off with the SAS swooping to arrest me. Fortunately not and I proceed to get a breakfast from Burger King and board my plane without further incident.
Arrive at Bordeaux on-time. I’m greeted (well leaped on) by an excited Jack who looks nicely tanned. I idly wonder whether the long hours toiling in the vineyard included just a little bit of feet-up-with-magazines-activity but this is well and truly dispelled when she debriefs me on the way back about the various vineyard operations that have been necessary since I left. Arriving back at La Legue we find Dad and Janet walking around the field checking out and repairing the tying-down. Apparently all the canes that had ‘popped back up’ were ones that Jack had done, with theirs being more robust and hardly daring to work their way free.
We repair some trellising in the afternoon using an ingenious device that attaches ‘gripples’ to the wire to allow it to be tightened. Ingenious it may be – absolutely impossible to use if you have wires of differing diameters, which we did. After much debate we jury-rig the wires with a combination of gripples and knots – don’t expect that will last very long. Impressed with D & J who manage to tie down a whole row of vines while J & I reconnect two wires.
Collect Beck from school at 4.30 and show D & J Beck’s classroom (interrupting two sheepish 6 year olds who seem to have been a bit lippy during the day and are now ‘writing down what they need to do for homework’). Dad likes it, I think the inkwells on the desks take him back to his schooldays. Back to the vineyard and I can resist no longer the chance to try out the new sit-on mower. Great fun but disappointingly little fuel available. We drive it round a lot and cut very little grass.
Smart evening meal for us at the ‘Ducs’ in Duras with Becks getting to meet her new babysitter, Camille. Camille is Joel and Nelly’s daughter – we obviously do not want to fall out with this family at the moment.
Saturday we take D & J to Marmande to catch the train to Bordeaux for their afternoon flight. We pay a quick visit to Terres du Sud for some essentials and then stop off at a motorcycle shop where there are a couple of quad-bikes on show. We absolutely have to have one. I begin to justify this by pointing out that you can pull a trailer with them and there are racks to put equipment on – surely essential for a vineyard of any size, particularly if said vineyard hasn’t got a tractor. No one is particularly impressed. BUT, I catch a glint in Jacks eye, she can definitely see herself riding one…..maybe a chance then.
We finish cutting the grass in the afternoon and then have a barbecue in the evening – finish the evening eating and drinking on the patio followed by a chat with Anthony and Jane who turn up for a chat as we finish eating.
Sunday we decide to ‘get something done’ so armed with the chainsaw we cut up all the old posts that we replaced when I was last in France. Something very therapeutic about this and, in spite of J’s hands, we work as a team to get them all done before lunch. Our wood pile looks significantly healthier and we retire to another well-earned barbecue lunch.
All too soon we have to return to Bordeaux for my return flight. Met
Tom at the airport. He’d arrived on the same plane that I was
about to depart upon. Odd. Anyway, it’s Sunday evening and I’m
back in England now – feels very different here. Must make sure
that I’m careful about what I agree to take out next time……
