Yesterday was a big day for us. We almost bought a car! But before I get into that I just wanted to show you some photos. The first below shows the view from the back of the house, La Vallee - what a spectacular back yard for Sophie and Connor!
The old chateau in the background, across the valley, is of interest as Sabina (the lovely Dutch owner of La Vallee) was saying the locals believe this is was the hunting lodge for one of the old French kings. Sophie, Connor and I walked down there the other day.
The photo below shows the view the other way looking back at the three houses that Sabina and her French husband, Mark, own. Ours is the one in the middle. The house on the left is the pigeoner, which is where pigeons roosted and where the droppings from the pigeons was collected and used as fertilizer. They're common in this area of France and were really a status symbol back in the day. The house on the right is the renovated old barn. In the winter, going back a couple of hundred years, people sometimes used to sleep above the animals to keep warm!
Below is a photo of us in a beautiful circa 16th century courtyard which is part of the impressive romanesque St Etienne Cathedral in Cahors. It's a beautiful town and the capital of The Lot department we reside in.
The other day we visited Figeac, about an hour away. Below shows Jane and Sophie having a good time in the old city, with some beautiful medieval and Renaissance houses in the back ground. And yes they're baby wipes that Jane is holding. Mind you, I'm becoming pretty handy with the ole nappy changing too!
Now back to the car. With Jane not being able to drive a manual, and automatics a real rarity in France it has been a challenge. We've visited about seven car yards from Figeac to Cahors to Gourdon, our local town, and really just had the one English speaking salesman, and he was actually Italian! Our man in Gourdon, Frederick, came through with the goods - he's arranging a delivery from somewhere in France. We had a about a two hour discussion via Google Translate - a very handy tool in these type situations, but gee it takes some concentration as it doesn't really translate correctly very time - followed by a handshake, voila! A 2012 Renault Grande Scenic is now almost ours.
The only hurdle now to attain this car, is ,as per Frederick, we need to receive a certificate saying we now live in France, from our local Marie (council), which makes me a little nervous. As you've probably heard the red tape in France is formidable.
Sophie is looking forward to starting preschool on the 13th of May in our local village Payrac. It will be interesting to find out if there are other English speaking kids there - I'm not betting on it.
Classic scene this morning. As we're driving along one of the narrow country roads to Gourdon this morning, we see the principle of the Payrac preschool ( a nice, very school principally type lady we met the other day) plucking the feathers off four, what looked like recently deceased geese, on the side of the road! Why she chose to undertake this task on the side of the road, has got me stumped.
Bye for now,
Michael, Jane, Sophie, and Connor
The old chateau in the background, across the valley, is of interest as Sabina (the lovely Dutch owner of La Vallee) was saying the locals believe this is was the hunting lodge for one of the old French kings. Sophie, Connor and I walked down there the other day.
The photo below shows the view the other way looking back at the three houses that Sabina and her French husband, Mark, own. Ours is the one in the middle. The house on the left is the pigeoner, which is where pigeons roosted and where the droppings from the pigeons was collected and used as fertilizer. They're common in this area of France and were really a status symbol back in the day. The house on the right is the renovated old barn. In the winter, going back a couple of hundred years, people sometimes used to sleep above the animals to keep warm!
Below is a photo of us in a beautiful circa 16th century courtyard which is part of the impressive romanesque St Etienne Cathedral in Cahors. It's a beautiful town and the capital of The Lot department we reside in.
The other day we visited Figeac, about an hour away. Below shows Jane and Sophie having a good time in the old city, with some beautiful medieval and Renaissance houses in the back ground. And yes they're baby wipes that Jane is holding. Mind you, I'm becoming pretty handy with the ole nappy changing too!
Now back to the car. With Jane not being able to drive a manual, and automatics a real rarity in France it has been a challenge. We've visited about seven car yards from Figeac to Cahors to Gourdon, our local town, and really just had the one English speaking salesman, and he was actually Italian! Our man in Gourdon, Frederick, came through with the goods - he's arranging a delivery from somewhere in France. We had a about a two hour discussion via Google Translate - a very handy tool in these type situations, but gee it takes some concentration as it doesn't really translate correctly very time - followed by a handshake, voila! A 2012 Renault Grande Scenic is now almost ours.
The only hurdle now to attain this car, is ,as per Frederick, we need to receive a certificate saying we now live in France, from our local Marie (council), which makes me a little nervous. As you've probably heard the red tape in France is formidable.
Sophie is looking forward to starting preschool on the 13th of May in our local village Payrac. It will be interesting to find out if there are other English speaking kids there - I'm not betting on it.
Classic scene this morning. As we're driving along one of the narrow country roads to Gourdon this morning, we see the principle of the Payrac preschool ( a nice, very school principally type lady we met the other day) plucking the feathers off four, what looked like recently deceased geese, on the side of the road! Why she chose to undertake this task on the side of the road, has got me stumped.
Bye for now,
Michael, Jane, Sophie, and Connor
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