Blog 3 / January 2016
So this is
the bit of camper that needed replacing and I am very happy to blog that our
girly is now running fine and going up hills like she should have been doing
1500 kilometres away from home…..
For you
petrol heads in our readership, this is where it went….. Mike had his work cut out, short of space and
just not really wanting to do the job. He asked me, nicely, if I would go out
with him to be the monkey wench and hand him the tools. I have been doing this
ever since Mike go his first motorbike in 1970 and I have been acting
interested and have become a little engine knowledgeable in all that time. I wrapped up warm and stood in the cold
watching the work go badly, and we abandoned our posts two days in a row. I
then declared that I was having a duvet
day and it was while I was contemplating the insides of my eyelids that Mike
applied himself, with only the dog to rant and rave at, and got the manifold
off and the rest is history. 
This is the
coldest day so far, it came and then it went and we are back to double figures
again but for a mega second it was very cold, and healthy, for this time of
year
A bit of
chilly frost is good all-round and it gives you the opportunity to find the scarves
and gloves at the bottom of the drawer, wrap up warm and really need to light
the fire.
I have
often mentioned how I like big Lorries visiting and the annual gas delivery is
a good moment to enjoy. The pond is
frozen over and the atmosphere wintery and a full load of gas for the central heating
gives you a bit of a lift. We left this fill-up
until the last minute as I hate having gas sitting there with nothing to do and
now we have the central heating on full blast to dry out the house after the
tirade of rain in the past few weeks. I
am waiting for the payment to be whipped out from under our feet straight from
the bank and we are expecting it to be in the region of 1500 Euro….. ouch, that
hurt. I have to make sure that the money
is in the bank because they just come along and take it. You can’t have a contract with Butagas
without being on standing order and if you don’t have the money in the bank
waiting it is a criminal offence…..but it is nice and cosy at ours at the
moment……
We wrapped
up warm in the week and went over to the Maisey German Battery for a wonder round.
We were slushing through ice covered puddles but it was not only good exercise
it was very interesting as well. We walked around the whole site and then
jumped into the car with the heating on full and had a pic nic looking over the
harbour in Grand Camp Maisey just down the road. We continue to see Graham and
Ann once a week and always go out for a picnic even in the rain …. It gets us
all away from our to-do lists and we have a good natter and a lot of laughs.
Mark played
Host and Shirley cooked Pie….my favourite. We were 8 around the table and
enjoyed the company of a bunch of expats just making it happen in France. The confection in the foreground is homemade
chocolate treats and in the middle of winter, pie and chocolate is the very
best solution 
And
finally, I spend a lot of time on Facebook and have many people that I watch
and chat to who have been in our loves for many, many years. Mike and I moved to Winnersh, Bershire in
1981 with our three young children. I met up with Lyn at the school gates with
her 2 tiny little girls and later she had a boy and we brought our kids up in
and out of each other’s homes. Being away means we are in danger of losing
contact with this history. I am always delighted when I can get up to date and
through Sarah’s (bride) Facebook page I watched her preparing for her wedding
and looked at all her wedding day pictures. It is at times like this that we are sad we left all of that behind, then
we look at what we have achieved and how comfortable we are, so I thank our
lucky stars, we are here in our special place in Brevands. I have a huge appreciation for Facebook, for
giving us the opportunity to stay in contact in a really easy and comfortable
way.
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