Autumn came and went rather rapidly – we have just had our first snow of the winter, but it has almost all melted and it hasn’t caused us any problems. I am sure there is more to come…


I have “double-glazed” the house, that is I have fixed bubble wrap over all the windows – will have to do until we can afford new windows. With all the insulation in the attic it seems to be having some effect – maybe its wishful thinking but the level in the oil tank seems to be dropping more slowly than last year.

We have also survived the general strikes – in fact the only effect we seem to see is that the rubbish isn’t collected. As there is a recycling point in the village we only have one small bag a week of actual rubbish, so that hasn’t been too much of a problem.

Mostly we have stayed in and endured the joys of day time TV (English). However we have had a few enjoyable days out. We drove to Argentat, a lovely town on the Dordogne and had lunch in a café right by the river – late October but we were able to sit outside. A few days later we had lunch with a friend in Brive.

While Judy was at church one Sunday (the church is in the Dordogne) I had a drive around and found a couple of old chateaux still ripe for restoration – particularly this one…

After picking Judy up we met another friend for lunch.

On 11th November we attended the Remembrance Day service in the village – very moving. A couple of days later we did some shopping in the centre of Brive, and saw the new theatre area which will be opening soon. The city are really making an effort, and have rebuilt the façade of the old theatre with modern facilities behind, and a lovely square in the front.

Because our house is built into the old village walls it is floodlit in winter – paid for by the Commune. It looks pretty good too.

Looking over our valley there is something interesting in one of the trees – we think it’s a wasp’s nest, but have decided not to investigate more closely!

Last Friday Judy had her normal French lesson in Pompadour. I went for a coffee to a little café, where I had been told one of the staff was English. She is actually ex RAF, and her late husband was also a regular. They served at many of the stations we did, and her daughter was born in the hospital in Kings Lynn where Judy worked – although I don’t think we ever overlapped.

To give you an idea of what you can still get here we also had lunch there – the Menu du Jour. A tureen of excellent home-made soup with croutons, a visit to the hors d'oeuvre buffet (meats, pate, salads – good choice), main course of turkey fillet with mushroom and cream sauce and a huge bowl of chips, choice of 5 cheeses and chocolate éclair. €12, or about £10. We do like it here !