I contacted Pascal Douis, Finn's breeder to ask a couple
of questions. He answered them, then asked if I had realised I had
forgotten to sign the cheque paying for him......We went to see him,
and he both approved of how Finn was looking and accepted our signed
cheque. Whoops..
As you can see he has taken up his rightful place in the family right from the start!
In November I sold poppies for the British Legion again.
Always a good response in a pretty small British community – able
to send in over 140€.
As my friend David Lush had hurt his ankle, I took him
to Toulouse Airport to pick up his wife Rhonda on her return from
Texas. An easy run, and a very nice meal in the restaurant
overlooking the runway and the Airbus factory. Rhonda arrived on time
as well.
We had a few problems with our waste water system, you
really don't need to know the details. The problem was in a long pipe
which descends through our garden, so we were lucky to be able to cut
this out and connect up to the new sewer that has just been laid in
our road. I say “we”, but some nice gentlemen did the work for
us, for a large, but not begrudged, sum of money.
As the year drew to a close the mosquitoes didn't. I
still appear to be rather allergic to their bites, so I'll be trying
different sprays to see if anything puts them off. And no, they don't
bite Judy.
On our way back from lunch in Pompadour we diverted to
look at the birthplace of Pope Innocent VI, who was pope when the
papacy was in Avignon in the 14th century. The site is now
a 19th century house and two huge blocks of stables – it
was connected to the National Stud in Pompadour. I fact I did a plan
of the whole thing several years ago.
I have been carrying on with my photo slideshow project
– showing our part of France in the past and today. I have actually
created a Facebook page :
https://www.facebook.com/slideshowthenandnow.
For Christmas we decided to buy ourselves a new TV. Of
course one of the connections was a different type, so entailing
another trip to Brive to get one. Then I found one on Amazon for a
quarter of the price.....
It really has not been the best of winters. We normally
expect bright and sunny and fairly cold. Well so far we have had a
bit of snow and lots of rain falling from a grey sky. As I write this
we have just had some snow which actually settled for a couple of
days – although it has all gone now.
Interesting trip to the Saturday market in Brive just
before Christmas. It was absolutely packed, and lots of people were
buying their truffles!
We spent Christmas itself very quietly, just the two of
us, and had some friends for lunch on boxing day. We did have a tree though!
Having pretty much retired from the exciting world of
floorplans, I was surprised when a former client asked me to do one
for her as a favour. She project manages and the job was a lovely and
very empty house near the village of St Cyprien in the Dordogne. In
fact the house is pretty nearly in the Dordogne – just 10 metres or
so from the river. As the house is being heavily refurbished, my plan
helps to decide where to put up / knock down walls etc. Judy came too
with the dogs and we had a nice lunch and gave the dogs a couple of
good runs.
As I think we may need a slightly larger car, I have
been hunting for one for months. As soon as I decide on one model I
spot another one – so no great progress yet. Also, because in
France you only pay tax on a used car when you re-register it, the
frugal French keep their cars longer and second-hand prices are
markedley higher than in the UK.
We had a a very enjoyable meal out with friends for
Judy's birthday at the Table d'M in Uzerche. Highly recommended.
To keep up his socialising we try to take Finn into
Brive. While Judy went shopping in the sales (her birthday present –
what a coincidence) Finn made lots of new friends. My comment that he
is only a puppy and just 7 months old are always received with
amazement!
Just in case you are worried he is growing quite nicely:
A quiet few months – I'm sure we'll have a busier time
in the months to come.
