GET HARRY!

“Get Harry”. Hmm …. Could be a film title; ‘Get Harry’. Or has it been done? Or something like it? Ah, yes – ‘Get Wilkins’.

CARTER!

Right, yes – I knew it was one or the other. And that’s how to mix cinema references with children’s literature from the fifties! Does anyone recognise the character? Mr. Wilkins was saying Doh! long before the creator of Homer Simpson had sharpened his first pencil !

Last Thursday I bought a new computer. On Friday we got up early and left Sunejo before 9.30 to try to get to Poitiers before M. Antoine closed at 6pm. 330 miles ….

You see? They do it again! They drive me all day at French motorway speed; they try to wear me out!

No, we don’t! We had two good stops and you know you enjoyed it really.

Yes, it was fun. A very nice drive in pleasant weather and lovely autumn colours all around.

The last bit alongside the Vienne River was really nice – you should have taken some photographs of that.

Sorry!

We couldn’t have taken photos of that section along the Vienne – it was getting dark.

Ah, oui, cest vrai – I had forgotten …. but this is a bit boring, you know, without pictures. But then we found Harry!

Hello, Big Van!

Hello, Little Car!

It’s been a long time.

Ja!

We would have come a month ago, you know, but you weren’t ready. Ce n’était pas de notre faute, tu sais.

Ja, I know. It’s OK – it’s not been bad.

Anyway, you’re looking good – I don’t mind following your ‘new’ back end now!

The front’s been done, too:

Do you remember – HE went gutter-bashing in Prades two years ago? From what HE wrote on the blog at the time, * HE seemed to think it was funny – well, HE stopped laughing when got M. Antoine’s bill!

[*’Travels With Harry’, Post 23:Due to the delay in arriving on Wednesday, it was getting dark as we uncoupled and parked up. I didn’t realise that there is water available with the electricity just beside the pitch, and I thought we had to go to the service point beside the the toilet block. I misjudged it, or really just didn’t realise how low the roof of the building is. CRUNCH!

So who got the best / worst of that bout, then? It was obvious I wasn’t the first, and when I ‘confessed’ next morning, that nice warden was very good humoured about it.]

– It was a lot of money for a little scuff, which you can hardly see on the photograph – I’m sure the gutter cost a lot less! So obviously my assessment as to “who got the best of that bout” two years ago was a bit adrift. We all make mistakes.

N’importe – it does not matter now. We spent Friday night at the ‘Futuriste’ caravan park as usual, and, as usual, M’sieur et M’dame were unable to be ready to travel before 11.30am!

Well, you have to enjoy Futuriste’s croissants for breakfast!

Oui, entendu, of course; but all the Dutch people left in convoy about 3 hours earlier!

And when THEY did leave, all they did was drive down to the lay-by by the river and have pain-au-chocolat.

No wonder they are both putting on weight!

I’m not, actually. – Are you two ganging up on us?

Aber nein!

Absolument pas! Of course not!

Hmm … Just decide who’s going to write the diary and get on with it!

Harry can – he hasn’t done any for two months.

Daß ist aber nett! How kind!

(They ARE up to something! …. being nice to each other ….)

So – finally THEY decided to travel and got onto that long, straight road towards Limoges. (See first photo)The weather wasn’t very nice, grey and drizzly, so in spite of autumn colours, no photos, until we stopped in probably the best off-road lay-by on that section, where THEY had lunch.

The grass bank between the road and the lay-by:

H & S parked up in the lay-by:

We had a shopping stop at the big Carrefour just off the (free) motorway south of Limoges and when we moved on from there, there was quite a good sunset, but difficult to photograph on the move:

It was too early to stop for the night while still on the toll-free section, so THEY decided – after some debate! – to pay to stay on the motorway so as to have access to service areas and lay-bys.

That was a GOOD decision as we ended up at Aire-Jardin des Causses du Lot, an absolutely superb service area. We’ve been in before for a quick stop, but not to spend the night. We woke up to this view:

and although we weren’t inclined to breakfast al fresco there was a profusion of picnic tables, at one point appearing to cascade down the hillside to the valley bottom:

There was a nice shop and a good restaurant, had we wanted it, and clean, sweet-smelling toilets.The whole area is as litter-free as anyone could expect, bearing in mind that there are always some idiots who would rather bung a bottle into a bush than a bin. (“I wish I loved the human race ….” – a strange little rhyme for a Christian minister to quote, but me father often did!)

We enjoyed croissants from the shop with our coffee –

Nochmals!

Encore!

Again, yes, why not? Then since we weren’t in a hurry to get under way –

HE’s getting at US now!

Oui, il nous provoque!

– we decided to walk off the calories

Oooo!

by exploring the site:

Remember, this is a motorway service area!

Down by the lake, we had the distinct impression that a certain British MP had got there before us!

The weather deteriorated from then on, so no pictures were taken during the journey home and both twelvsies and lunch were taken in uninspiring surroundings. Five minutes from home THEY uncoupled us on the car park in Camon, for ease of manoeuvring, and we pulled into Sunejo just as it got dark.

To match the ‘Cumbrian’ weather* we treated ourselves to a ham and egg supper after a minimum of unpacking. There’s no place like home …

Hey, Harry!

Yes, Sally?

Good to have you back, Big Van.

Thanks, Little Car. – How was the trip to England and Wales?

Comment? Tu n’as pas lu mon journal? You did not read my blog? Ca alors! Well, first we stayed at Potters Bar, where M’dame had a haircut and M’sieur had a tooth mended …..

*Sorry! We’ve been hearing that the weather in the UK has been anything but funny, We hope no readers of this journal have been badly affected, and offer long-distance sympathy if you have. Even here, we are now into our third day of cloud and rain …..

NO MEN, A TRIP INTO THE MOUNTAINS – AND COWS!

We’ve had a week free of MEN! However, a week ago on Friday (9^th) Martyn fixed up a water butt for us at the SE corner of the house:

By Sunday morning it was FULL and overflowing! It does rain here sometimes, and when it does ……

But on sunny days we have lunch out on the terrace and the temperature, in the sun, can still be over 40°C.

We’ve had another battle with THAT BANK, Santander; I set up a standing order to have most of our money transferred each month to the currency brokers. A few days later I found our account was blocked. It took two 20 minute phone calls, much of the time on hold listening to S-der’s ghastly music to discover that the account was blocked because of that standing order. They restored access to the account online but DIDN’T tell me the standing order had not been actioned. I found that out by checking the account again later the same day …. Another phone call …..

French red tape is irritating, but we knew that before we came. We’re trying to organise healthcare. The internet said we could go to the Mairie in Chalabre on a Monday afternoon and register the S1 forms which we now have from the DWP in England. A phone call to confirm this said no, we had to go to Limoux. Well, we go there about once a week anyway and the drive over there in beautiful weather and autumn colours was a pleasure, but at the office of CPAM (never mind) we were told that we would have to make an appointment to register the S1s. We’d also need the ‘usual’ sheaf of supporting documentation. So we made the appointment and we didn’t seem to mind too much because we then enjoyed a lunch in bright sunshine on the square surrounded, we guess, by Limoux’s office and shop workers taking their 1½ hour lunch break.

Next day, Friday 16^th, we closed the doors on Sunejo with all the decorating and unpacking still to do and set off towards the mountains. Just before we left, we phoned M. Antoine in Poitiers and were pleased to learn that he has the part for Harry’s repair and was ‘on the job’. (I sense an intervention in pink approaching ….)

Harry est en train d’être réparé ? Harry is being repaired ? When do we go and find him?

We don’t know – soon, we hope; tell us about the trip to Andorra if you like.

Ah, oui. Avec plaisir! C’était magnifique ! It was wonderful! First, there were those autumn colours all around,then we stopped so that M’sieur et M’dame could have their pique-nique – oui! Le 17 novembre ils pique-niquaient en pleine air! Not only in open air, but in full shade – the sun was shining on the other side of the valley ;

and they were sitting on a stone bench! OK, OK, they did put a rug on it, but still. …

Then on up to the snow (nearly);

a long climb with many ‘squiggles’ (bends, hairpins).

At the first town in Andorra we stopped and they went and booked into the hotel where they had a meal last time we came. They were able to keep an eye on me from their room:

But they soon came out and drove a bit further up the hill. The snow was not really close by, and it looked as if people had tried to make a ski run (a piste) with some artificial snow, or moved some from somewhere, but no-one was skiing and none of the chair lifts was in use.

Back down in the town they started SHOPPING! Stuff in bottles, mainly. Then they were lucky to get a parking place right outside the hotel, almost under their own window.

Dinner was ‘à volonté’ – as much as you want for just 10 euros ; buy an apéritif and get a small glass of bubbles free with dessert! Then a ‘digestif’ with coffee. This is why we didn’t want the 2 hour drive home after the meal. The night would have been good but for some late-arriving young men in the room above ours who appeared to be re-arranging the furniture at 3am!

Next morning, after a bright start,

the weather was not quite so good, but we drove on to the town of Andorra La Vella

and nearly bought a new computer. But fortunately the assistant told us that ‘Office’ on the computer was in Spanish! No sale – but we bought a camera instead.

And then I had to bring them all the way back up the mountain

and down the other side,

then along the valley of the Ariège, through Ax Les Thermes and Foix. At Pamiers we stopped to visit Isabelle – the partner of the man who played the guitar with M’sieur at Puivert. Unfortunately Assan was not there but it was nice to see Isabelle again and meet her little girls. Then we came home.

We did. Now we have new neighbours!

The cows have been grazing on the hillside till now and we just hear the bells that some of them wear as they come in in the evening, or go out in the morning, but on Monday they were let into the field opposite the house.

Also on Monday we heard that Harry is ready for collection …..

En route, alors?! What are we waiting for? ….

DANGER! MEN AT WORK.

Tony, the Boss, and his two Martins, or rather, Martyn and Martin, first came up here the day we got back; just as well, because if they hadn’t opened up for us and left the keys accessible, we’d not have been able to get in – our keys being in Harry, you know ….

The idea was to get the ‘messy stuff’ done before we were in residence. Well, in view of how much dust we’ve lived with since, thank goodness we weren’t here that day! The ‘messy stuff’ involved removing the wall round the bedroom to the right of the living room as you look in to the house from the garden and terraces ( the one under the tiled awning – more of that later!):

and also the fitted wardrobes in both bedrooms on that side of the house. This was to make a bigger, L-shaped lounge and room for an en-suite to the main guest room as well as a cloakroom for general use. That was done and that’s how we found it on our return from the UK on Wednesday 24th October after Sally’s super 2-day run south from Baldock.

Apart from the weekends and Friday 2nd November the MEN have been here everyday since.This is a view which will not be seen again:

looking through the former bedroom to the window of the guest room – to be known as ‘Patience’ because parents need it …. the other room will be ‘Pirates’ for young people; yes, there is a G & S theme there ….. What shall we call our room?

Tony places the ‘furniture’ in the cloakroom in the most practical way ….

Some digging was needed outside to find the outflow pipe from the bathroom, so as to link into it from the new ensuite and cloakroom. With a minimum of information to go on, an almost direct hit was achieved!:

Carol takes a break with the MEN.

November 1st: We’ve been trying to attract birds into the garden since before we left for England (and Wales), and were surprised on return to find that the nuts and fat block we had hung up had remained unvisited. But today there was a robin fluttering around the terrace, and a great tit tried out the feeder. Robins are winter visitors here, we learn, not all-year-rounders. Since the first of the month there’s been no feeding frenzy, but we have seen more tits, sparrows and the robin or robins. No photos yet.

You can see in the picture looking out across the terrace that the grass needed cutting. We thought at first the mower wouldn’t start (it’s called a ‘tracteur’ in French, though it doesn’t pull anything), but on careful reading of the manual left by the previous owners, I realised that I had to be sitting on it first! Turning the key standing beside it doesn’t work! So the grass got its first cut under new management:

Well, at least I flattened it!

Friday 2nd November: Responding to advice, we went to open a local bank account. (So far our French account has been with a branch of Crédit Agricole called Britline, English-speakingand specialising in accounts for Brits and they have been BRILLIANT, but they are based in Normandy, and Crédit Agricole Normandie is not the same bank as Crédit Agricole Languedoc!) We do know a bit about French red-tape, but we still have a lot to learn; opening the account took over an hour and we came away with FORTY-FOUR sheets of A4 in a folder (a ‘chemise’!) many of them initialled, or signed with the words ‘lu et approuvé’ (read and approved), which, of course, they weren’t!

Sunday 4th November: After an English-style Sunday dinner of roast pork etc. we went for a walk up the lane beyond the field behind the house. This photo shows the back door, kitchen window (no shutters) and the two back bedrooms – ‘ours’ and ‘Pirates’.

and this one, taken from within Sunejo’s fence, shows the bit of road from where the first one was taken:

Colours are autumnal, and the field has just had a second ploughing and fertilising. We wait to see whether next year’s crop will be maize or sunflowers. Snow has fallen on the Pyrenees and we have distant views of it on our shopping trips. Photos should follow, but so far we’ve not had a camera with us on suitable occasions!

Look carefully at the first photo of this entry …. there’s a vertical post in the centre of the tiled awning, apparently holding it up! This was not present when we visited the house. Tony’s assessment of the awning was that it was unsafe; it would need 4 hours’ work to secure it, or two hours to dismantle it. Moreover, now that the window it covers is part of the lounge, not a bedroom, it seriously restricted the view …. we’ve had it removed:

and in case anyone is wondering what we are going to do on hot days, we intend to get a large parasol and sun loungers, and place them as needed.

Another problem was the wiring …. the hunt for the feed to the cooker hood, which had failed, involved a lot of dismantling and grovelling, till it was traced to a light switch near the back door!:

However, today, Friday 9th November, we’ve been able to sit down beside our new fireplace,

have a drink from the bar without too much battling with dust and clutter:

and the living space is looking almost civilised:

The bathrooms aren’t quite finished, the ceiling lights still need fitting – you have to get new ones, you can’t just put lampshades on what’s there – you buy integrated units – and there’s decorating to do, and a carpet to choose and have laid in front of the fire, not to mention curtains to hang everywhere, but it’s possible that the worst of the disruption is over and the MEN will pay their last visit on Monday. We’ll see …

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Monthly Archives: November 2012

GET HARRY!

NO MEN, A TRIP INTO THE MOUNTAINS – AND COWS!

DANGER! MEN AT WORK.