Green fingers

Gardening seems to be the word of the week - the sun is out and we are experiencing really good weather so Wendy and I have been concentrating again on the out side area's though I have been able to wash and polish the bikes too ;)

We have completed clearing the front garden and borrowed Mark's pride and joy "A sit on mower" which was able to level the garden and now as long as we keep it mowed it will become a nice lawn (with some repair) Wendy's plan is to rotivate a piece for growing vegetables and another for cutting flowers.

The green house is still to be cleared and either renovated, the perspex is very brittle or to be demolished completely. Watch this space for an update.

We have started on the rear land area which is about 6 time the surface of the front and more overgroan! yes i did spell that right lol... But as you can see we are making an impression on it. This area will become a patio recreation / BBQ space along with some lawns and rockery type things - we hope to find a level enough space to erect our pool too, which will no doubt require a gazebo type of arrangement and some decking... loads of work and for the future as we are only concerned about clearing and maintaining it at present.

The jungle was too much for a strimmer alone and I had to resort to tried and tested methods and tools... Bloody hard work but very enjoyable to stand back by the fire and see the dent you have made. This is going to take a long time to clear.

We have decided that a sit-on-mower is a must have so if you read this kids, Billy, Scott, Ray, Sammy, Bobby and Bethany they cost about £1000 so that works out about £167 each for Christmas ;)
Mark and Kay took the easy option to get there grass cut by using French Marks tractor (Unfortunately there is no access to our area (Yet!) ) so he paid for it by way of a BBQ which we all went to and had a thoroughly good time, When Mark and Kay come over for good I think I am going to become a SOT :)

Mark & Kay

John Luc & Nicole; Me; Pete (Marks dad)

Wendy and Natalie

Natalie & Mark

Weekly Up-Date

The front of the house looking up from the front garden Taken today at 12:00
Notice the brilliant blue sky - the temp says 32 in the sun.

The weather here has changed - we now have cold clear nights resulting in a good spread of frost in the mornings but by 10:30 the sun has come up and dried everything out and brought the temperature up to 16+ and in the direct sun in is very warm according to the gage it is in the 20's however the breeze is still cool enough to make you aware it is Autumn. We have switched the central heating on and are happy to have done so, as it keeps the house at a steady temperature considering we are in and out all day.

I have now completed the majority of the barn/bunk-room insulation and putting the batons up ready to take the plasterboard which I will order Tuesday unless they are open on Monday. Monday is seen as a weekend day here in Treignac by most people but that is slowly changing as the local retailers become more competitive with the big towns.

Wendy is battling on with the garden - a never ending task by the looks of it. I have worn out the strimmer and completely destroyed the line assembly spool and line release mechanism. Only to discover that the French do not recognise JCB products and just shake there heads when we enquire about a replacement unit. JCB do have one of those 0870 numbers but I could probably buy a new strimmer for the cost of the call alone. My dad did have a go for me from the UK but we decided best to go and buy a French variant so we could easily maintain it and of course get the spares...

So of to the Carrefour and BricoDepot to get a Strimmer - there was a good selection to choose from but - like you do - I decided to strip a few down and see what the parts were like as far as durability and discovered that they all mainly used a similar type of assembly once you get down to the nuts and bolts, they do have small differences like size of nuts etc. So I decided for 24 euro's I would buy a french line assembly (I also aquired a couple of different bolts just incase). and was able to Jerry rig it to the JCB strimmer with some success and managed to get out and do some more strimming. I am not sure what the H&S implications are but the strimmer is now much improved and I attacked the garden as though playing an X-Box360 war game. - Once we have done the front we also have about 5 times more land to the rear and the side of the house to clean up and that area is even more wild with scrub, gorse, brambles and trees to contend with.

This is me (who else) Top left corner looking from the house
Notice now we have gotten rid of the jungle you can clearly see the Barn which belongs to Mark and Kay.

Tis one is taken from the bottom of the garden looking up to the house

and this one is looking accross the garden from the direction of Mark and Kay's

Whilst we were out we also came accross a TV table for 94 euros (in a priced to free up the space for a different line of products sale) an absolute bargain we had not seen anything we liked before for under 300 euros so we took it.

We have also managed some time out on the bike taking in some culture and exploring the roads. but you will have to go to the bike site to check out the pictures ;)

Rocamadour

Tidying up outside

We are continuing to tidy up outside as much as we can for the winter - there is loads to do and even after a couple of days we are not even making a dent in it lol... We have trashed most of the tools and had to go out and buy some decent one's - now need a new head for my strimmer to carry on. They are certainly getting some use.

We hope to clear out the front (jungle area) and turn it into a small lawn and a veg/flower garden. Ity is well overgrown and once we made it to the bottom and looked up we realised it was much bigger than we thought at first. There is a green house of sorts which we cannot get into for weeds so another small job hacking through and clearing out.

We will need to buy a very robust lawnmower when the area is cut down enough to cope.

I spent a couple of days pruning the tree outside the front door, we were even able to use the branches for fire wood (once they have dried out a bit) it was a tough job but now it is done it will only need a little maintenance yearly.

Here is a pic of me nearing the end.

36 degree's outside and Wendy has a fire going...

We received the best kind of news today we're GrandParents again or should I say my Son Raymond has rung to proudly announce his son (our Grandson) was born today at 10h46 (UK time) he is a bouncing Boy named Daniel Anthony... hopefully we will be getting some photos emailed/text over soon. Sadly we will not see him until Christmas but then that will make Christmas much mnore to look forward to.

Here is a nice picture of me with Emily and Ryan... (Well I think so anyway)

Wendy's fire is in the garden that is - as she is burning all the rubbish as she tackles the route to the bottom right hand corner of the front Garden... Today is a gloriously hot day as in fact was yesterday and saturday, I think we are going to have a much enjoyable Oct and Nov with some good weather allowing us to continue riding...

Wendy still a tomboy at heart!

Clear blue sky's above our home...
We had a good day Last Friday - the boiler man did indeed turn up as promised and the boiler is burning like new, it works a treat and the pipes and radiators all hold water and get warm so result and only cost 30 euro's and a bag of freshly picked mushrooms from the woods to our rear.

The satelite man turned up unannounced but welcome to errect and tune us into Sky so we also have English TV (still nothing much on LOL) a bit expensive but will be worth the money just to see what is going on in the world. He fitted it just in time for us to be able to watch the France England Rugby match, which we ended up going to the Cafe Commercial to watch with Mark and Kay and John, good result , the French were a little miserable after the match as they were conviced that they were going to take the game away...

Prior to the match Wendy and I managed a good ride down to the Dardogne with some tremendus roads and whilst we were out enjoying ourselves Mark and John removed the unsightly plethora of antenna sprouting from our chimney (unfortunately they were unable to get a picture on their telly maybe next time they are here.

Sunday saw us sat in the sun drinking Pastis with Mark and Natilie Mark and Kay and John a fitting end to the weekend.

Catch up

Well the plumber boiler man has been out and done the typical look under hood shake head strip a few bits down, shake head once more then depart promising to return with the spare part lol. this is what it looks like at the moment -

and we are expecting him to return today at 17h00 he has phoned and said he will be here now at 16h00 so looking good.


Did I mention I had fitted my prized weather vain on the pig sty roof - it is brilliant a present from my work mates on leaving Silversands - I was gobsmacked and lost for words - the weather vain has already become a talking point in Le Theil.

I have updated the bikeing site so http://www.whereistonynow.co.uk/frjun07.htm <--here is the link.

Just Chilling

That's true just chilling and enjoying the peace and quiet.

The weather has picked up again and we are enjoying warm days with a mixture of overcast and sunny spells. We have started to light the log fire of a night more out of novelty than really needing it to keep warm, it is surprising how cosy it makes the place and makes watching the box all the more homely. Although we are still waiting for the man in the shop to get his act together after a week and a half to come round and fit us a satellite dish to receive Sky we are still able to watch a plethora of films and pre-recorded series which some good friends a work were able to provide before we departed, thank you guy's you know who you are...

Mark Kay's place on the left ours on the right

Mark & Kay our nearest neighbours are over for a working visit renovating their barn so we have been out to the local restaurant for Sunday lunch and even took in lunch and a few beers whilst watching England gain a deserved (my oppinion) win over Austrailia on Saturday. Mark & Kay are from the UK (Kent) and own the barn and land to the left and front of us.

We also finally bit the bullet and subscribed to Dial-up internet only 20 euros a month unlimited access which is just as well as it took almost 15 hours to update both the laptop with Microsoft security fixes and anti virus definitions. So we are now in communicado and can be found on MSN from time to time.

I have cracked half the barn now with battons in preperation for Action Mike returnng and us crackng on with the work to turn the Barn into 3 shower/toilet rooms and a communial space for 8 to 10 guest motorcyclists.

Wendy has been cracking on with the double rooms and has stripped down one and is busy making good before wallpapering the room and painting it. We are still undecided on what floor covering to use but I am sure we will decide before long...

I am fully moved into the study now which reduced the number of boxes laying around the rooms since most contained stuff for the study.

The view from the study window

Well challenges ahead are more about getting on with things as we are tempted to stay chilling longer and getting the bikes out is still tempting - we hope also to have had the boiler services the plumber we are using knows the house and the boiler and seems to believe the problem is only a minor one, so we shall see...

Wendy's fav spot

Another Day in France

27 September and the weather has taken a dastardly turn and has gone from a sunny 20+ to a 9 and raining quite cold in contrast. We now have a more urgent (not emergency) need to get the central heating boiler serviced and working if only for peace of mind that when it gets freezing (and it will) we can at least rely on the central heating. We have already repaired a burst pipe from last year and need to know which pipes (there are a few) in the attic need insulating and which are redundant. The French have a knack of leaving things in place even if they are of no use or serve no purpose other than to confuse of course...

Mike left us with a shopping list of bits to get in for the renovation of the barn namely to get three bathrooms up and running and put a ceiling and internal walls up to accommodate the bathrooms and of course to create a sleeping area in the barn - to be know as the "Bunk Room".
The Brico Depot is some 2 hours drive from here and I have discovered do not deliver so now to plan "B" many trips to get stuff as we need it... JIT. I have already got the insulation for the roof and have started to put it up on my own, a difficult balancing job some 15 feet up with a malfunctioning staple gun but I now only have the fiddly bits left to do. Once it is all up I then need the batons to screw in place so we can attach the plasterboard (a two man job).

Before

After

Wendy is pressing on with decorating the rooms in the house starting with the Study, surprising how light and airy the room looks with a lick of Magnolia. We have decided to do a quick job on our bedroom by leaving the paper as is whilst it is in relatively good order it isn't quite the colour we would have chosen we have then layed a new carpet and put together our new King Size bed and a couple of wall lights so that we can put the wardrobe together and get unpacked to reduce the boxes of stuff we have which we are moving from room to room when we decorate.

We also now have two real beds so any guests can now sleep in a proper bed as opposed to the quality air beds we have been using up to now. I am sure Geoff and Ann will be pleased to here that…

News on the R111 front is not so good and the DRIRE (DIRE as I have renamed it) phoned to say there was a problem and they were returning my documents – I now have to go to Triumph France to get the Bike a formal Identity so I can Register it… That means I have to go to a local Triumph Dealer (Limoges – Move Moto) and get them to certify that I have changed the lights to driving on the Right, that the Speedo is in KMH and that is meets the French Standard for this bike so restricted to 100cv (less than 100BHP sob!! So I have to put the bike back to standard exhausts and maybe put the Cat-Converter back in place (so they can de tune it) Once I have the cert and it is registered I will replace the bits for the ones I had before and re tune it to max power… I have the technology just need to be able to convey it in French now. But as the weather has turned this is less of a priority than the House renovations.

So lessons this time are remember you are only as sharp as your knife. So use the right tools for the job and don’t scrimp on the quality of your tools. And communication is key to everything so learn to speak French!

Still no Internet at home so need to sort something soon.
Oh yes we have also been out for a few rides on the bikes here is one ride where Wendy rode pillion so we could get some photo's of our closest road the D16 going South to Eggelston it is a road of turn after turn after turn real magic ;)

What still no Internet - Groan - lol

Wendy in Treignac

Well time has flown since we arrived at our new home, now refered to as "RidersRest".
We now have a phone line after some initial teething problems +33 (0)555 731433 - the line was down somewhere up the road which had to be relaid, thanks to the Immobiliare and Catherine who sorted it out for us. We are still no further down the line regarding Internet Connection at home so will need to set up some sort of dial up to at least get email and do some painfully slow surfing. We are looking into a Satelite provider but as yet have not contacted anyone in the know...

A visiter

We arrived on the 4th mid afternoon and from the 5th to the 10th we cleaned and got everything set up and started to manage the grounds around the house and cut it all back to a reasonable height, it is surprising how quickly everything has become overgrown again.
We also managed a couple of rideouts together after insuring the FJR which was a challenge. To be fair the weather has been great and we have ridden every day so far.

The insurance for the FJR started at 990 euros for all risk and any rider, down to 170 euros 3rd Party just me riding. so it is about 500 euros for fully comp (equiv) discounted to 350euros if I have my house insurance with the same agency (you can sign a promse to change to them on your renewal date to get the discount immediately which I did). I took the 3rd Part policy gotta think of the pocket.

We spend some time trying to get the Rocket registered at Tulle but came accross a brick wall and was thrust a mega cmplex form which we had to fill in and take to the DRIRE in Brive and for a small fee they would provide all relevant details to the Profectur in Tulle so they can issue a Cart Grise so with a bit of luck I should have it all sorted by the end of the month ( the forms are with the DRIRE but everything takes 10 days ).

The 11th was an eventful day as we had our first proper guests. I met John, Dave and Lisa on the ferry over on the 4th and gave them a card inviting them to stay if they found theselves close, they stayed overnigh on the 11/12th. We used this experience as a dry run to what it was going to be like when we were open for business properly. We consumed some wine and beer and made us realise how good the social life was ging to be and also how easy it was oing to be to drink the profits...

The same day 11th Mike (ActionMike) arrived for a weeks riding holiday intermingled with a look arround and measure up for the building work he is going to be doing for/with us, namely getting the place together so we can provide sleeping and ablutions facilities for the group accommodation. by the end of the week he didn' want to leave but even though it was raining we rode with him to the A20 to see him on his way. He will be back and left a monster shopping list of materials and fixtures for us to get. Again Mike came on his Rocket so we proudly rode around some of the local twisties and out as far as Toulouse in search of a Brico-Depot for a catelogue so Mike could complile the said shopping list. Along with the shopping list there is a list (VShort) of things I can be gettng on with - The one thing that Mike did do when he was here was reasure us that what we were trying to do with the available space was possible and we were able to measure up and divide the space into actual rooms so we could get a feel for sizes - cheers Mike.

We took in some of the culture in Treignac wandering round the Medievil town and even though we were impressed with the bits we had seen up til now we were impressed at how beautiful the town was and how well maintained everything is, a great place to wonder around some of the building are dated 1500 and still being used.

I think Mike was sad to go since Wendy cooked some outstanding meals for us even managing to cook a fresh cake for our morning brew.

We have arrived...

Well we are here, and enjoying the good life, loads to do for sure just where to start... W have had a phone connected but sadly it doesn`t work so we wait patiently for it to be repaired - of course this is France so that could be some time... Also we discovered we cannot get ADSL in Le Theil so we are going to have to make do with dial up - I think that will drive us mad lol... Since we were hoping to use MSN and other web products such as skype to communicate.

We have been out on the bikes every day so far so at least that is a real bonus and the reason why we moved here in the first place...

I am updating the blog from the internet cafe in Treignac so at least we are not totaly excluded from the net, though the keyboard is taking some getting used to.

As you can see the weather is great and the rides to the lake are well worth the time and the views are reall good - plus the roads are tremendus and sooooo twisty Wendy`s riding is improving by the minute.

So we will try and keep this blog up to date and with some useful info - this is a little rushed in a busy noisey cafe, so until next time.

On the home stretch now...

on the 25th we transported all the furniture down to Le Theil and to be honest it all went smoothly and nothing was lost or broken. I have to thank Billy (my eldest) for helping me load the Luton Van between us we did a great job and I couldn't have done it without his enthusiasm and strength. Bobby (Wendy's youngest) turned up once the van was loaded, he slept in, Thank you also to Scott (Wendy's eldest) who drove Bobby over from Barnstaple - Cheers Scott.

The crossing was uneventfully boring as usual - we arrived first and was loaded last. I slept like a baby as usual (No conscience). We drove off in the same order. Wendy in the Berlingo trailering her CB500S with Bethany as the passenger and me driving the Luton van with Billy and Bobby (both bored, tired) they didn't get any sleep on the ferry.

We arrived at Le Theil at a reasonable time and were able to unload the van - this time Bethany and Bobby helped and the van was unloaded in a coupe of hours.

We managed a couple of trips away from the house but most of the time was spent cutting back the growth of greenery which had sprung up since the last time we were there.

I must admit though I did get majorly stressed during this week in France, and in turn stressed Wendy out too - I have no idea why really as it all came together pretty much as planned - I can only guess it was because it had been so meticulously planned that I had only considered getting the furniture over there and having some help to load and unload that I didn't give much thought to what we were all going to do once we were there.

I was expecting everyone to be as absorbed as I was and content to have just accomplished the move. But I guess whilst I was content the Kids were quickly bored and not as interested in pottering around the house and garden (overgrown) doing odd jobs but rather wanted to be entertained.

We still managed a BBQ and in the main the weather was superb. We met all of the neighbours and consumed an unhealthy amount of cold ones and a few boxes of Red...

Next step... Ferry booked for the 3rd September one way ticket.

The date to move the furniture is rapidly approaching (13 days), and is a major milestone in our plan to escape the rat race. I have booked a U-Drive Luton Van/Truck and essentially what we don’t get in it will be dumped. Wendy is slowly (because we have the time) getting rid of the no longer required possessions, and buying new things that we are going to need but might not be able to source in France, Including a mountain of bedding and towels which we will surely need to stock a B&B.

I am ferrying boxes when I find them home to be filled – reminds us both of our childhood since being children of service fathers we often packed moved and unpacked so we are pretty good of ditching possessions knowing we are not really going to miss them at the end of the day.

We will also be trailering Wendy’s CB500S this time around so I have it booked for a major service and to de-restrict the bike from 33Bhp to the stock 58Bhp so Wendy will notice a performance increase. In the UK she would have had to ride for another year with it restricted but in France we would be unlikely to find someone who could remove the F1 restriction units and tune it up properly hence the reason for doing it slightly early.

I hope to register the R111 when we are over in July and hope I am as successful as I was with the FJR – I will have all the same paperwork but I am a little worried about the power which considerable exceeds the max permitted in France, but so to did the FJR, so I will keep my fingers crossed and get on with it. It will be a different story with the CB500S as this is pre EU conformance so I will have to go through an inspection process but as yet I am unsure of the process…

Learning French

Learning French is key to a successful transition to living in France - and of course integrating (even a little bit) with the locals is largely dependant on making your self understood and understanding them... Of course you can take the stance that you will only speak English and they can bloody well learn English - but the French are as stubborn as we English and language is really important to their feeling of Nationality so best we learn bloody quick.

To be honest we have found most people very helpful when we have approached them French Dictionary in hand, they have tried as much as they are able to speak English as we have made an effort to try our hand (badly) at French.

Neither Wendy nor I did French at School but we can both speak conversational German (not much use in France I hear you say - and you are right)

Well we have a plethora of books and Dictionaries and CD French lessons but getting the discipline to knuckle down and actually do them is a different story. We were invited for Aperitifs with our closest French neighbour neither of us being able to speak the others language, but we had an interesting 2 hours (*Whiskey soaked) using picture books and such like and we were able to exchange loads of information about them and us and the house and area, even managed to get wood for the burner from his cousin at the local preferred rate ;).

so in order to assist us even further we have bought a new toy: A Franklin -BFQ-450 electronic French dicshunary which has a voice facility to speak the words/sentences, Which basically will interpret any sentence you type in to French and at a key press will even speak it for you absolutely brilliant. . This should help us interpered documents/forms/ etc and also help us pick up sentences which we are likely to use, it is also useful when we are out and about trying to make ourselves understood.

I am getting Excited now!

well we have just returned from Le Theil after a very productive week. I now feel like it is all coming together and the whole thing is not a figment of my imagination, oh shit what have we done... No really it is working out real good.

So we took the Berlingo and trailered the FJR1300 down to the house no worries, even managed to take the Wood Burner in the back of the car so another worry over.

So we managed to:

• get the FJR registered
• get the Berlingo Registered and Insured (all risk and Assistance)
• connect the hob to a gas source
• get the wood burner into the house
• entertain our first visitors (Bikes)
• have aperitifs with the french neighbours
• get some riding in
• visit new friends in Abusson
• view and instigate Wendy's mum and Tony's purchase of a house in St Dizier (Bourganeuf)

So all the stress over whether I would get the FJR registered without having to go through some restriction in BHP was unfounded - I simply turned up at the Import Tax office with the V5 and proof that we have a house in France (An EDF Electric Bill) and of course a passport, the lady filled all the forms in for us and we received an import Tax exemption Certificate.

We took this to the prefecture up the road and with the right forms pre-completed (Basic inf0 on the bike and proof of identity) we approached the teller and were surprised at how easy it was. We simply handed the forms in (signed them) we gave the V5 in (retaining the export part) gave the Certificate of Conformance, and proof of living in France (EDF Bill again) - we were told to sit and wait and within 20 Min's we were in receipt of our Carte Grise (French V5) for 182 euros for the JR and 151 euros for the Berlingo. Number plates cost a total of 49 euros for the car bike and trailer. SORTED...

The insurance worked out at slightly cheaper for the Berlingo than that of Nowrich Union Direct but it now included full riskes for any driver and came with full european breakdown assistance.

We had some friends drop in on us (Coops, Steve, Alistair, Glyn) who stayed the night - it was a good night and exceptional social, drunk all the wine but we were ale to get a feel for entertaining and hosting the guy's and securing their bikes. All said they would definately be back.

So we are moving forward at a rapid rate of knotts we take the furniture over in July when I hope to Register the Triumph Rocket 111. Then in Sept we are over again for the duration...

Still counting down

Well serving out 6 months notice is a drag - whilst I am still committed to work (strangely) I would equally cut and run.

We sold the MX-5 reasonably quickly and for a fair price. Wendy was sad to see it go and would have just as happily kept it and took it over with us to France. But that would be just one more thing we needed to sort out and at the end of the day we really didn't need it nor the expense of its upkeep.

I have managed to get Certificates of Conformaty for the FJR1300 and The Rocket 111, thankfully. The FJR one was really simple and a phone call to Customer services at Yamaha UK secured one by return post. Triumph were a little more difficult really it was down to who you spoke to or emailed... I emailed a Viv.Porteous@triumph.co.uk who according to Triumph's switchboard was the right person and the person who delt with Certificates of conformace for all Triumph Bikes. I emailed her many times and received read receipts but she ignored my emails (so Viv if you read this I think you are ignorant!) so I then emailed Youels of Blackburn the delership I bought the bike from and they obtained me a copy of the EU Certificate of Conformance within a week - Thank you Anna of Youels.

I had a technical problem with the Rocket this week so was a ble to get have a go with the Berlingo and trailer combination and was pleasantly surprised at how much happier I was with the Berlingo than with the PT Cruiser as a toeing vehicle. I was also surprised at how easy it was to get the Rocket on and off the trailer.

Just waiting

Well we are in the "wait" be patient stage and time is dragging in our minds but in reality it is rushing by.

We had a problem finding a wood burner which met our needs whilst in France (I guess we just didn't really know where to look or how to explain ourselves sufficiently) so we bought one in the UK and had it delivered to our house in the UK. which was fine until I realised how much these things weigh (300lbs) so now I have to work out how we get it over there and then how we get it out of the car/Luton and into the hearth, lol... it was a good price though and fits our idea of what we needed.

Things we need to do before we go but not too soon.

• Inform the Tax Man we are moving
• Inform my Pension we are moving and that I want the pension paying to a french account in euro's
• sort out the medical side - inform our Dr's etc, sus out what we do about repeat prescriptions when in France
• cancel all the utility bills, Gas, Elec, Phone, Broadband, Sky, TV License, Poll Tax, RAC cover, Key security.
• register the Berlingo and the 3 bikes in France. I am worried about the bikes car should be fine.

Once there we need to prioritise all the work so that we can do some sort of B&B from Spring next year (08).

• central heating system check and repair
• fit wood burner
• buy/store wood for burning
• internal decoration of double bedrooms. Carpets.
• satellite dish and cabling for UK television (Sky(?))
• decorate kitchen and make good units - source suitable table and chairs
• sort out furnishings, beds, linen etc.
• guttering and down pipes
• finish off roofing around the bunk area
• electrics and plumbing for bunk room
• hot water supply bunk room and our bathroom
• new bathrooms for bunk room
• floor and walls for bunk room
• rendering of outside
• paint outside
• convert store room into a drying room for bike kit
• Gardening, and Patio area...
• board up and convert atic to living space
• new kitchen (low priority but needs to be done)
• repair/replace garage doors
• gardens, BBQ area
• and much much more no doubt...

Driving on the wrong side of the road

Well We sold the PT Cruiser Friday 30th quick sale for £7,750 and picked up the Berlingo on Sunday 1st £7,999 so almost a swap. I guess the timing was right and the PT Cruiser was automatic and petrol so a hard car to sell when the diesel is more powerfull and economic so I was happy to take the price just to be free of the trouble of selling it on before we left for France.

Well it was like learning to drive all over again - I have been driving a RHD Auto for the last 6 months and to sudenly get into what is practically a van LHD and manual was a bit of a laugh... Had Wendy worried for a short time.

We rode up to collect it 86 miles on the FJR Wendy then drove home.

The Luton Van is hired for July Billy (eldest son) has booked time off and we are set to move our belongings out to the house July 25th - 1 Aug. Ferry booked - the plan is for Wendy to drive the Berlingo with her Honda on the trailer accross hopefully Bobby will be able to get the time off and accompany her. I will Drive the Luton over same time with Billy (If bobby cannot get the time off then Billy will go with Wendy in the Berlingo...

Web Site

Spent some time over the weekend developing a website to market the B&B what do you think www.ridersrest.net ?

Long Weekend

Not much happening - we had a good long weekend over in Theil 13 - 18 March the weather was brilliant, We spent the time just checking out the local facilities and venturing to Limoges and Brive to check out the major stores, drank some wine and fitted an oven and part fitted a Gas Hob - still need to sort out the conection to a gas bottle though.