Daughter is back from India and we are now off to France, so she can see the house we've purchased and so that we can have a few talks about her plans to return to academic pursuits. So with the car loaded down with stuff as usual, we depart later afternoon for Portsmouth. Dinner at Jamie's Italian and ready for a good night's sleep on the boat.
Monday
Daughter didn't sleep well on the ferry and so slept most of the way down this morning. There is quite a lot of fog about on the way down. We reach St Jean d'Angely about lunchtime and visit the creperie where they serve a dessert crepe of chocolate fondant and meringue. A quick trip to Leclerc and then down to the house.
And the verdict is positive from Daughter. She thinks it is all very nice, even though hardly any of the winter work has been started yet. We lit the fire as soonas we got in and bumped up the radiators and the house is soon warmed up. Daughter is staying in the asian themed room and I am in what Wife and I like to consider the master bedroom.
Grant, our property manager, has been hard at work already and the front area of the house has been transformed. We have decided to really try and open up the garden space and so all the straggly bushes have been removed, together with a tree that seemed to be damaging the edge of the pool.
Daughter is on something of a health kick after her Indian trip and despite the sub-zero temperatures, went jogging down to the nearby woods. She is the faint figure in the distance on the picture below.
The donkey was finding the grass a bit cold. I wonder if anyone feeds it in such circumstances
Tonight we dine on steaks and watch the movie Looper, which makes no more sense than it did last time I saw it.
Tuesday
The temperature was down at -3 when I got up this morning. While Daughter exercised, I conducted paint tests on various locations. In the main, Daughter was not impressed with the colours being tested.
Then we went to La Rochelle, about 75 minutes away from our house. It was extremely quiet but you could see how it would be an amazingly popular place in the summer. We had lunch at one of the harbour restaurants, visited several chocolate shops and took quite a few photos. But Daughter wasn't feeling very well and we didn't stay long in the end. She slept all the way back.
One of the many chocolate shops - our favourite today
Tins of sardines and the modest tower on the town hall
Our friend Dave came for a brief visit this evening and got my internet working. Another small bit of progress.
Daughter has an early night, while I stay up late reading.
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