A New Parking Area.

I always sleep very heavily on my return to France. I suppose that I am maybe a little on edge in a different bed while I am away, and of course, in my line of work now, I am on call 24 hours a day, so have an ear open for any unexpected noises etc. However, one of the things we have always said about our house here, and its surroundings, is that it is so quiet at night. We lived in a cul-de-sac in the UK, but even so, there were cars at all times of the night and day, and you could hear the traffic in the distance too. Here though, there is nothing, and when we used to visit here for short periods of time, it was one of the things we used to comment on. Even the house didn't make any movement noises - until we started work on it of course !

While I am away working, despite the fact that Craig speaks very little French, he manages to communicate with the locals, and even arranges for help if he needs it. He in fact arranged with a local farmer to collect stone from the quarry, and deliver it here - I think there is a lot of sign language involved, and pictures drawn - but even so, his ingenuity always surprises me !

He planned on clearing an area opposite the house, which is slightly under cover, and then stoning it, so we could park the van and the car off the road and out of the way. We do have several options available to us regarding the parking, but the vehicles are often in the way of work that we want to do. Having a dedicated 'parking' area, means that I won't in theory have to keep moving them !!

We even had some stone left over, which allowed Craig to make a bed at the front of the building opposite the kitchen window, and gave us a slightly nicer view.

The work I do, and the time I am spending away is not ideal, and I was given the opportunity to do similar work here in France. There must be a huge demand for this, and I actually went to meet with a family locally. However, the cost of the insurance etc, the taxes to pay, and the certificates that are needed to work in a professional and legal manner made the proposition less viable at this time sadly.

We bought a new laptop to enable us to communicate with each other more easily. We have a tablet, and a desk top computer, which we were using - me taking the tablet with me, but it did mean that Craig had to sit in the study each night to talk, and in the winter, it is a little chilly in there, and the warmer rooms were being wasted, so we made a small investment. A laptop also gives me greater flexibilty to play DVD's etc while I am away, and Craig can now speak to me using the tablet in the warm. He can even go to bed and chat from there, if I am unable to talk earlier to him !

We made the decision to sell the tractor. It was the second tractor that we had bought, each time with the intention that Craig would use it as a project, and we could make use of it on the land. BUT Craig just doesn't have the time ! Each evening, he is too tired to do much more than prepare for the following day ! The work is very physical here, and mechanics is not something that Craig is particularly comfortable with, so it kept being passed over, for other more important jobs. It was quite sad really, but more sensible than letting it deteriorate into an unsellable condition.

A lovely couple, newly arrived in France bought it from us, and I hope that it gets the attention that it deserves now !

It is a motto that we have tried to adhere to while we have been here, to avoid accumulating unnecessary things - how many of us have attics full of those things that we MAY need one day, or can't bring ourselves to throw away for sentimental reasons. We are all guilty of this aren't we ? For this reason, we try on a regular basis to sell off, throw or give away ...it's not always easy.