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Published: April 12th 2007
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Firstly we can say that there is no excuse for such a lapse in our entries.
APART from we have been busy, entertaining, building, integrating, painting, plastering, gardening, going out to dinner or BBQ's with new friends, walking, running, skiing, cycling, cheering on the local rugby side, days at the beach and basically rushing around the area.
When we first moved over here, people said to us, goodness you coming in the winter? They said it would be grey, quite, miserable and cold. Well yes, there were cold, grey wet days but nothing we were not used to back home in England. As for the quite life, you must be joking. The people we are meeting both local and ex-pat are nothing short of fabulously friendly. We have probably made more friends here in the first 5 months than we made back in Marlborough in the first 3 years. People here just want to get to know you and they are interested in what's going on and more importantly they want to share a drink with you.
We went for lunch the other Sunday with our local vet and his wife, lovely young couple. We arrived at 1.30pm
had a lovely meal outside in the blazing sunshine, and yes I am brown already, all washed down with plenty of wine. at about 6pm we all decided to go for a walk along the river as it was so nice. We had a lovely evening walk and as we were heading homeward, Benoit decided it would be a good idea to drop in on one of his clients/friends. Now you have to understand we were all a little bit tipsy, there were four of us plus 2 large dogs, it was getting very near dinner time and it was of course Sunday. We all rocked up to this lovely little farm just outside the town and were greeted in the barn by the Farmer. Within 2 minutes, dogs were tied up and we were all ushered into the farmhouse where Pastis, Porto and much discussion ensued until we were all fairly tired. This happens quite a lot around here by all accounts. We have to stock up not only our wine racks but also our bizarre spirits cupboard as you never know when someone might turn up outside your do looking for a chat and more importantly an appero.
But this little example just goes to show, we had never met this farmer and his wife before, but as we were friends of Benoit the vet we were immediately welcomed without question and where as back home things might have been a bit more for show more polite, everything that evening was real, entertaining and very very welcoming.
Work on the house has been slow since the completion of the first guest bedroom in the centre section. Mainly due to the fact that we have been inundated with guests since our arrival. Don't get us wrong, it's wonderful to have people here to stay and to show them what an amazing area of the world we have decided to settle in. However we now have a few weeks where we can crack on with decorating and plastering before our next visitor.
The rear section of the house is on hold as well whilst we await for quotations to come through from the various builders and also for the approval of our architects plans. This could take anywhere between 2-3 months maybe even more before we have a solid approval and or confirmed date for the start of
Sauveterre V's Puyoo
local derby for the semi finals - tough game demolition and construction. we have started to realise this is going to be a very big job.
In the meantime I am making very good friends with our elderly neighbours by trimming down all the trees so they can enjoy some of the lovely sunshine were having. Included with the lovely sunshine we have had clouds over the mountains and the snow and the skiing season has come very late. We managed a bout 6 days in all spread over the season. The resorts are closing on the 15th this month no matter what no, even though there is still a good base layer high up for skiing. Have to admit the resort of Gourette where we have been going to was a lot of fun and skiing in sun is definitely the way to go!
What other news can we report.
The rugby season is coming to an end here and our local side has been battling very hard to stay in the Basque cup. There have been some very close games both on the home and away legs. They have just had their semi final home leg which was a draw so now they must
Sauv v Puyoo
Me and the brother in law enjoying the game in the background win away to continue their fine run. As champions of France for their division they have a great reputation and it certainly means a lot for the players as well as the fans. There is a possibility that if I can get my carte vital and some decent insurance I might be able to get a game or two next season - I must be mad.
Ah yes a big announcement there is very soon to be the pitter patter of tiny little feet in our household.
yes thats right were getting 2 kittens! Sorry no children on the horizon yet. Helen and I have been into the Basque lands where they breed only the most feral and ferocious farm cats and she has managed to pick 2 out from a litter and we will be housing them in about 2 months.
Our first attempt to find kittens didn't go so well and resulted in Helen being accused of kitten murdering. We asked our friend the vet Benoit if he could source some kittens for us. He asked us for our preference, we were after 2 and we would like them black and white.
We bumped into Benoit
a week later and he said he might have found some kittens for us were we still interested. We were in deed, so he said he would call straight away and check to see if they were still alive, as kittens don't last long around here if they are not wanted. Another week past and we bumped into him again. He told us that he had indeed found us A kitten. A kitten? we asked. We were after 2 kittens. He then explained the there were 2 kittens but only one was black and white so it's brother had been executed by the owners!!!!! At this point we had to explain that we would have indeed had ll their kittens no matter what colour if we had know that would happen. Any how to make matters worse the brother of the poor kitten has now died as well - probably due to loneliness! It's a cruel world. We have been promised that there will be no harm to the ones were not picking from this new litter!
We also have new owners of the local bar. After sometime the previous owner, Jean-Claude, has retired his seat. He had a
leaving party in the bar which was unbelievable. This is no quite town what the locals have a reason to party, but in between the fetes and BBQ's it's an absolute pearl.
Hope you enjoy the fun pics showing our sometimes sleepy and not so sleepy town. These pics are taken from the towns local info and blog website. It's really worth checking out to see what else is happening here in the town. the link is below:
www.sauveterre.canalblog.com
anyway all reading are well and look forward to hearing how things are in your world.
Be good and we will try to keep this blog more up to date now things are really starting to happen around here!!
Take care - Ben & Helen.
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Warby
non-member comment
Got it the first time
Thanks for the update. Looks like you're both having a great time. Can you now take your finger off the send button pls....!