Nous sommes ici! (We are here!)
We arrived here in Bellac on Saturday, March 16 after an overnight flight from Toronto, and before that we had a flight from Vancouver to Toronto. This connection wouldn't have been so bad, but since we had some changes in our plans, Steve couldn't get on my flight to Toronto without paying a large sum of money, so he took a flight 3 hours earlier. This meant I had an extra 3 hours in Vancouver and he had an extra 3 hours in Toronto. Thanks to our credit card, it was spent in the lounge at our respective airports. I got to eat sausages while Steve drank wine . It's a silly law that says you can't get free drinks before 11:00 am but while I passed a bar on the way to my gate people were paying for beer at 10:15 am.....
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| Montmorillion |
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| Donna under the train viaduct |
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| Steve in the sunshine |
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| Vern and Donna |
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| Steve by the Lantern de Mort |
The flights were all on time, as well as Donna's who flew on Air Canada from Toronto, while we flew Air France. After our arrival, we trudged through CDG from the farthest gate in Terminal 2 E to Terminal 2 A to meet her arrival. Then off to the rental car. Why do you always feel you need a cigarette and the morning after pill after dealing with any car rental agency?
The drive down from the airport was very good this time as we had preloaded Google maps and didn't make any mistakes or wrong turns, no busy Saturday traffic or work zones. We did see the "Yellow Vests" at a traffic circle after the express way, but they had finished any protests and were into their socializing stage, but we did hear of more violence and damage in Paris on Saturday.
We are always a little apprehensive as we arrive back after the house has been empty for five months, but all seemed well on our return with the exception of the lack of wifi and that we forgot to over ride the electrics to turn on the water heater. It is set only to warm up over night when the rates for electricity are lower, but you can force it. We had to wait till morning to get a hot shower. The wifi became a bigger problem. It involved taking our "Livebox" to St. Junien to the Orange store only to find out that the problem was not with the box. So we had to make a call to the English speaking help line. The only problem was the box wasn't working and we had no phone as well as wifi. We had planned to purchase a French sim card for our mobile phones, which we had done only to find out the the i-phone takes a nano and we bought the wrong sim. Back to the kiosk to buy another sim card, which then we were able to call Orange and arrange a service call on Wednesday morning between 8 and 11. Somethings are the same no matter where you go. We do have to admit that it is very good customer service for Orange to have an English help line, and the clerk in the Orange store was very patient with my French, and her very little English. So with any luck we will be back in touch with the world by Wednesday afternoon. It is a blessing that Orange does have hot spots all over France including our neighbourhood where we can log into the internet. So it could be worse.
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| Vern |
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| Vern in Rancon |
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| Train Viaduct in Bellac |
Monday morning we stopped by some new friends and completed the purchase of a velo, a bicycle for me. The deal was made back in October, but we collected it this trip. John was able to top up the tires, and I rode home. It is like riding a bike and you never forget. The down hills are steep and the brakes on the bike work well, but my legs don't work as well on the steep up hills, but with some work they will soon, maybe. I have begun to complete the outfit by buying a helmet and a lock so when I stop into the boulangerie, pâtisserie or le bar the bike will still be there when I leave. The bike shorts are next, but like my French bathing suit, it may take some getting used to....
Today, Tuesday, was the first full day without rain, so work has begun in the garden, and we did a walk up to town to our favourite shops in the afternoon. There are a few new shops, while some have moved, and a few have closed. It is a common problem with small towns everywhere. We did pop into the new Action store, an upper scale dollar store which took over from a grocery store that moved into a new location. On our return it was about 4:00 pm (16:00) and it was time for our foursies. A few beers and some snacks in the sunshine at the bottom of the garden. We had to continue inside as a few clouds cooled us down...
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| Montmorillion |
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| Lanterne Des Morts |
Well skip now to Saturday morning, and I realized I haven't got back to the blog. One big reason (or excuse) was our internet was down, but that all changed on Wednesday afternoon. Even though they said they would be here between 8 - 1, a phone call later, and our technician arrived mid afternoon and a dirty plug seemed to be the problem but all is working just fine now.
Friday, we met two new friends, Elaine and Phillip. Steve made an online purchase from them of a ceramic stove back in September. Since he didn't have a car, they agreed to store it for us until now. It was a two and a half our drive down to the Bordeaux region to claim our stove. With the address details, Elaine said she would provide us a small lunch before our drive home. Well 3 hours later we warmed up the GPS again to get us home. We spend a wonderful afternoon in their garden and their dinning room enjoying a fantastic meal and incredible company. We look forward to keeping in touch and have already made tentative plans to meet up with them again this summer. Truly a grand day out.
Today after posting this blog finally, we are off to the Saturday market, the grocery store and the plant store. It will be a garden day for me as the weather is warm and sunny.
