Monday 25th August to Sunday 31st August
Author: Jack
Harvest time is rapidly approaching. This will be one of the earliest harvests ever. The Sauvignon Blanc grapes are most definitely ready. We have to wait for the vendage to be ‘declared’, that is for permission to be given by the AOC to start picking, and of course for Joel to have the time to come and pick.
Today is another warm and sunny day, around 32 degrees. Being a Monday and as we have guests it has to be market day. We spend the morning browsing as usual; sitting watching the passers-by from the café and buying assorted goodies including a fantastic selection of olives. And of course the mandatory piece of Blonde Aquitaine, which is soon on the barbeque!
Once again it’s off to the airport. Iain has been here one day longer than usual but it doesn’t seem like it. Meantime Cathal has been charged with taking Beck to our neighbour, Françoise, for her French lesson. It transpired later that Françoise thought Cathal was Becks dad! (Iain: I’m now getting slightly worried, when Cathal was last in Offham our next door neighbours thought he was Jack’s husband too!!) Actually the fact that Iain isn’t actually here yet hadn’t cropped up in my conversations with her. When it eventually did she and her husband seemed most concerned for my being on my own and were very insistent that I call them if I ever have a problem. Hopefully I won’t need to but it’s good to know they are there.
Unfortunately for Caroline and Cathal Tuesday started off both misty
and damp with a distinct autumnal feel in the air. All through the summer
the weather has been fantastic. Mind you it was still around 29 degrees
or more by the end of the day which brought on complaints from several
of the children! Today is Becks last day of her school holidays. She
has been off for nearly two months now and I am sure she needs to be
back at school. So we decide to have a day out. First stop is the insurance
agents in Eymet for me to obtain the necessary documentation for my
insurance claim for a broken windscreen. Yes, after only 500 kilometres
on the clock a stone hit the windscreen. The chip has now turned into
a rather large crack! So I need to get a new windscreen. Fortunately
I find I am covered, fully, with no excess to pay. Just as well as the
new screen cost over £700!
We stay in Eymet for lunch at the Italian restaurant before heading
off to Bergerac and a trip on the river Dordogne. This does not go down
too well with the children, who, rather than enjoying the ride, decide
to huddle together and play cards! Their interest is only aroused when
they are offered a chance to go and stand by the captain and watch how
he navigated the boat. We then tried to wander round the town but the
children found it too hot, too tiring and too boring! So instead we
decided to go to Leclerc where Caroline and I would do the shopping
whilst Cathal played guardian to all the children in Leclerc’s
café in the hope that that would be less boring for them and
it was. When we finally got home the children couldn’t wait to
get in the pool and even Cathal was tempted, and even practised his
diving again.
Wednesday was very hot again, up to 37 degrees by late afternoon. Despite having her friends here Beck went off to school fairly happy. That may have been helped by the fact that I promised to ask her teacher if the children could spend sometime at school with her. This seemed to be no problem apart from the fact that they needed proof of medical insurance, in the form of an E111, which Caroline was able to produce. After school I went off to Marmande to drop the pick up off for its windscreen repair and for a tow bar to be fitted. When I got back Caroline and family went off to St Foy to the launderette, bless them, with loads of my washing and some of theirs. Caroline seems to have a bit of a fetish for washing and ironing. Whilst initially when she first discovered we did not have a washing machine she was delighted, it soon became evident that she was suffering withdrawal symptoms. So eventually she decided a trip to the launderette was essential, which was pretty lucky for me. They also took a trip around the Chateau in Duras. I was left at home to sort out loads of boring stuff, but also to await the architect. Today was the day to sign up for his services to manage the whole of our building project, and to write out a couple of cheques!!! It took an hour and a half to go through all the documentation, and to initial, as per usual, every single page, and copies thereof, of the contract. But…that’s it! All that remains is to find the money for it all!
The children were all very hot and tired by the end of the day to tired to do much so we decided to let them watch a DVD, The Life of Brian in fact. Not sure whether this was a good idea or not but they were all riveted for the entire film.
Orla went to school with Beck on Thursday for the whole day whilst Caroline and I along with Eliza and Jack had a day out in St. Emilion, leaving Cathal at home for a peaceful day alone. On Friday Eliza went to school with Rebecca, stayed for lunch and then swapped with Jack for the afternoon. I’m not sure how much they enjoyed their visits to her school but hopefully they at least got a glimpse of school life here and will remember it. The rest of us went to Monsegur market, followed by lunch at home. Caroline and Cathal then went off on their own for the afternoon whilst I looked after Eliza and Orla. Orla happily occupied herself collecting peaches. We have two peach trees and one nectarine tree, all of which have had loads of fruit. I’ve found it very difficult to use it all. However this afternoon I decided to make some peach jam, peach compote and some peach chutney. All the recipes sounded so easy – but it took me ages! I am not really sure it’s worth all the effort. Mind you the peach compote was absolutely gorgeous. We had decided to go to a mediaeval fayre in a local village that evening. By the time we arrived it was nearly over and in the main pretty uninteresting. Far from spending all evening there it was hard to pass half an hour there. So we decided to go to Monsegur for a drink and just sit around the square and relax. Pretty hard to do given that Rebecca was not in a very good mood (a minor understatement!). We stuck it out as long as we could but eventually we had to concede that there was no way this was going to be relaxing so we gave in and came back home.
We woke Saturday to find the weather had changed completely. After rain overnight the temperature had dropped to just 19 degrees. Hardly swimming pool weather. I went off to Marmande to collect the pick up with its new windscreen and tow bar, and then to Leclerc to buy a variety of items Beck needed for school. We have to supply various items of stationery and pens, al of which are carefully listed. This includes biros in green, blue, red and black for various uses apparently. I know the green one is used for corrections but am not sure about the others. We also buy various folders and pads of writing paper as well as scissors and a fountain pen. After lunch whilst Caroline and Cathal head off to St Foy, I decided to try bottling some peaches in brandy (oh why did I bother), whilst the children were happily playing ‘Lord of the rings’ out in the garden.
As today was their last day with us we had decided to eat out and of course it had to be Allemans, where, on a Saturday night, the buffet includes loads of seafood. In the middle of our meal, in a most casual and unassuming manner, Orla turned to her dad and said ‘Dad, what are sperm?’. Well, unfortunately I came out with completely the wrong reaction for I just fell about laughing. The question was such a surprise that I was taken completely off guard. At the same time Rebecca started singing ‘Every sperm is sacred’! We really shouldn’t have let them watch The Life of Brian. It must have taken us half an hour to calm everyone down, to stop Beck singing, and to pass off the original question! Thank goodness French people surrounded us and the English that were there were out of earshot! None of us really wanted to explain all this at that precise moment. Luckily Beck has forgotten all about the song and Orla hasn’t repeated her question – yet!
They had originally planned to leave on Sunday morning but when Caroline discovered that I had a changeover at La Vitaille to do she just couldn’t resist the temptation of housework and insisted on coming along to help me. Having her help me was great, and along with the normal helpers, we finished in record time. After a late lunch we had, sadly, to say goodbye to them. Beck was especially upset. However I had the solution to that. A trip to the launderette! With all the bedding from La Vitaille in the car we spent the next few hours in St Foy getting it all washed ready once again for the washing line and …more ironing! I hope we sell the house before next summer for more than one reason!
