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Published: January 18th 2007
livingroom
ready for santaHi all,
Not going to make any apologies about the lack of a blog over Christmas.... we were relaxing fully for the first time in ages!!! Been a wonderful break from everything, we do however hope that you all had a good holiday and wish you all the best for the forthcoming new year....
We downed tools just before Christmas to run to the airport and pick up Helen's mother who was joining us for the festive period, we managed to just finish off the first room for here visit, literally put the hammer in the tool box, picked up the keys to the landrover and off we went!!!
We spent most of the time relaxing, had a few visits to local attractions, such as Bayonne, a beautiful town near the coast, huge fortified walls and good shopping for Christmas! We wondered around our town and had a few meals in some of the local restaurants, real regional cuisine, soups, cheese, large meat dishes and my favorite Gateau Basque, all washed down with complimentary wine of the area.
The Thursday after Christmas we took Pat into the mountains to the ski resort of Gourette, a lot of the
kitchen
prepping for the chef! slopes were closed due to lack of snow, it has been apparently unusually warm for the time of year, but the slopes that were open were great fun, we zoomed about for the day in glorious sun shine. It was very good to know we can make a good days ski from here, that opens up a lot of business opportunities for us when the business gets going.
We had a couple of other guests visit us to see in the new year, Hope you had a good time MR & Mrs V, it was a strange here as the bars were all closed for new years eve - however they did open at 7 in the morning when all the locals got together drank heavily, sang songs, danced and generally had lot of fun for most of the day!!!
So we arranged to have some drinks with our friends here and then a meal for later on. Midnight came here we pretty much did the happy new year bit and went straight to bed as we were all exhausted!! Probably due to the amazing lunch we had at the local bar.
The Bar terrace has probably
The Chef
here cometh the bringer of tasty treats the best beer garden in the world!!! It's a terrace attached to the outside of the bastide walls of the town, over looking the river valley and the mountains below. We sat there in the sunshine, it must have been around the 20 mark, ate a wonderful meal and drank our fill on good wine...... I am thinking for next year I might very well celebrate the new year at lunch, have an early night and then join all the locals in the morning at the bars when they open to celebrate then, seems much more civilized!
Onto the house.
We have had the architect around again to show us the plans for the rear section of the house, we have agreed on the plans and now have to have a meeting with the marie and also the planning officials of the area, now things get tricky!! It could be accepted or not, apparently depending on the mood of the officials on the day!!
This doesn't stop us from getting on with the middle section of the house, still lots of decorating to do there. I have included some pictures of the old rooms and the new room
we have finished. Also some picts of the rear sections so you can see what the place looks like before we start work. We hope you will be able to see a marked improvement over the months ahead!
Have also met another neighbor yesterday, first real unforeseen problem. He came around with his carpenter, not to say hello but to let us know that our chimney in the front section is falling onto the roof of his house!!!! So we have to try and find a mason pretty quick to stop any damage from going further!! I think that these little problems will crop up more frequently as we go on. Well it is to be expected with a house of such an old age......
Until next time.
Ben & Helen
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