How it finally stopped drizzlin’ and how we like what we see around here.

Sunday 7th November: To be honest, we were getting a bit FED UP of the incessant drizzle! So it was nice to wake up this morning to a hint of sunshine thru the clouds, which developed into a largely sunny day. When we left Poitiers the tent had been too wet to pack away, so we stuffed it into Sally’s boot and it’s been there ever since! We’ve lived with the clutter of ‘travel mode’, unable to clear the van of ‘stuff’ and set up camp the way we would like. But this morning I actually felt able to get a few things out of the garage ant set up a washing-up station outside the van! Our three nights here are over, but we have so much still to see, that we are certainly staying another three if not four or more. We live in perfect peace, apart from the owls and the occasional oak apple falling on the van – and the rain hammering on the roof, of course, so perhaps ‘perfect’ isn’t the word.

The ground is carpeted with oak leaves, with some beech mixed in, and today, having taking the warden’s advice when we arrived about where to park, our spot has had sun  on it all day. So before we went out we got the tent out of the car and spread it out and by the time we came back it was dry enough to pack away.

   Another ‘event’ this morning was that, inspired by the location and the change in the weather, I got my trainers out (Yes! I brought running shoes!) and ran round the site before breakfast! It wasn’t much, but it did happen, honest! We’ve had no commitments today – estate agents don’t work Sundays – so we’ve taken the opportunity to drive round the lake (very low, like at home, and created by damming the Vendee river just below its confluence with La Mere and a minor tributary). Even at this time of year there’s a thriving activity centre, but curiously, to our way of seeing things, it’s closed on Sundays.

Now, about the house hunting. Unlike the chap in Mansle, who didn’t show us anything we were really interested in, and who seemed to lose interest in us completely once he realised we weren’t ‘money in the bank, ready to buy’ clients, the agents here have been very understanding of why we’re here and what we want, and we’ve seen some really nice places at appropriate prices. I don’t think whoever’s reading this wants a house-by-house account, but the ‘front runner’ at the moment is a bungalow on the edge of a village called St. Hilaire  la Palud, on the Marais Poitevin, with totally open views over fields, all-day sunshine (when it shines!), and a very thoughtful senior-citizen friendly design. Not only that, but there’s space for a swimming-pool, and money enough to have one put in if we wanted! Moreover, it’s not available till next September! (This one would involve selling Garth View and NOT buying a place in Cumbria as well.)

      But let’s not be hasty! We have appointments for viewings tomorrow and Tuesday, and another agent should be calling us first thing in the morning to talk about half a dozen properties we’ve seen on the net in which we might be interested. Then there’s Languedoc ….

I haven’t blogged much about food so far! I mentioned ‘Harry’s Omelette’ last time, and the brunch on the barbecue, but apart from that it hasn’t all been McChicken @ McDonalds! There’ve been a few ‘3-tin Meals’, but some creative in-house cuisine, too. We’ve had duck steak, the inevitable ‘Specialite de la Maison’, Lapin au Van, and last night we sampled quail, available in the supermarkets at very low price, and I used a recipe in one of the books I brought from home for ‘Pigeon and Parsnips’. Really good, we thought. This evening was liver in red wine – ‘Foie au Van’ as it may become to be known because we enjoyed it and will do it again. I would have put on all the warm clothing necessary, including scarf and woolly hat, and sat out under the stars (it’s still not drizzlin’!), but Carol doesn’t see the fun in that!

Footnote: Funny French: Getting used to French radio (one of the last things your ear can adjust to – harder than television) I heard a discussion about digital readers, ‘lecteurs numeriques’, in the course of which I heard the French (?) verb ‘podcaster’. Can’t help wondering what the ‘Academie’ thinks of that!