Friday 3 November

Suddenly it’s autumn. I was sceptical when a couple of locals told me last week that the weather always changes for the worse on the 1 November, but bang on cue the temperatures have plummeted and we are waking to frost on the lawns.

This prompted me to take a trip to the wood yard this morning to make sure they still have the firewood I ordered in the spring. More by luck than by judgement they had some left, but I’m not convinced the ordering system was working and that it was all down to first come, first served.

We reckon to need about 6 cubic metres of firewood over the winter and prices vary from €35 to nearly €45 per cube. Quality varies enormously, and whilst we are paying top whack for the wood from the timber yard it is well dried oak. Too often wood sellers mix in a lot of chestnut and large amounts of rotting material, so you do get what you pay for.

Today also seemed like a good day to check that the central heating still worked. We’ve only 100 litres of oil left over from last winter, but that will see us through the next few weeks if we’re careful (ie we don’t use it.) Unfortunately a leaking valve near the boiler means that we shall have to call out a plumber.

First the computer, now the boiler – if these things go in threes let’s hope the third one is something cheap.

Wednesday 1 November

A Bank Holiday in France and the day on which you are supposed to pay your respects at the graves of relatives. This seems to involve buying pots of chrysanthemums and turning every graveyard into a riot of colour. French cemeteries are generally very ornate affairs with fancy stone tombs and headstones, and they inevitably have the best views over the surrounding countryside.

With 1 November falling on a Wednesday this year it has meant that the tradition of stretching bank holidays into the nearest weekend has been just a bit too much of a stretch and most people have had to settle for one day off only. No doubt the Dutch family who run the local flower shop have spent most of the day counting the money they have taken in the run-up to the holiday. Their displays had extended into the car park facing their shop, and even Bricomarché had put Olga outside the store to sell and wrap chrysanthemums. You get the impression that when Olga wraps something it stays wrapped.

Since this is a day for the dead our computer decided to die without any warning. It seems the hard disk has just packed up, taking with it all of our photographs, customer details, email addresses, website files and countless other pieces of priceless information. Now that the horse has bolted we have decided to install a backup system. In the meantime a local IT expert is doing what he can to recover the data and we are cursing our luck.

Sunday 29 October

This weekend has seen the 17th Annual Chalais Antiques Fair, and since I am now a member of the tourist office committee I have spent the last 4 days up at the Cloister. It is a great setting for an event such as this, but left me wondering why it is not more extensively used, maybe for small concerts or performances.

The Salon des Antiquaires is entirely run by volunteers. Over the course of the weekend there must have been some 20 or so different people involved in the preparation, running and clearing of the event. I spent most of my time as barman, at times struggling to understand the increasingly incoherent version of French spoken by some of the dealers.

Antique dealers have a reputation of being a bunch of moaners, but we were very lucky with the five that stayed for bed and breakfast with us at La Tannerie. It should have been seven, but one couple decided that they couldn’t possibly stay somewhere that didn’t have televisions in the bedrooms. Our guests didn’t need television, but a bottle of scotch helped to pass the time nicely, and they parted leaving us their addresses in Bordeaux and a promise to return next year.

A big day for us as our baby turns 21 – surely we’re not old enough to have children in their 20s?

Saturday 9 September

So that’s it – the final summer guests have left for this year. 

It’s a time of mixed feelings. It’s sad to think that the summer is almost over, and even sadder to think that our income now takes a nose-dive until next year.  However, it’s quite nice to be on our own for a while, and we can get back in the pool for the first time in 2 months.

We don’t really understand why more people don’t visit this area in September. Flights out here are reduced to mere pence with the cheap airlines, the weather is actually better than the main summer months and our prices are reduced to a rediculously low level.

But we move now into the house-hunting season, and we have been fortunate in attracting two couples to stay here whilst they find their places in the sun. Of course, it is in our interest that they don’t find what they are looking for too quickly, and we shall be doing all we can to hinder their progress.

Monday 4 September

Back in May we started a Monday morning tea room. The original plan was that we would continue to operate until the bars in town re-opened, assuming that they would take our trade away.

However, 4 months later and we are still opening. We have a loyal band of regulars who still turn up each Monday to have their tea, coffee and homemade cakes. The numbers are beginning to thin out a bit now that the school holidays have ended, but whilst it is still worthwhile we will continue to open.

The weather has decided that the summer isn’t over yet and temperatures are rising back into the 30s again. In previous years I would have been cursing that the return to school coincided with the best weather of the summer, but right now, as the number of guests begins to thin out, we can actually enjoy these sunny days.

A good example of the general lack of haste in France.  We have at last received notification that the La Tannerie signpost will be going up “soon.”  This was promised for April, so we’re trying not to get too excited.

Saturday 2 September

The story so far …

We have been at La Tannerie for almost exactly two years and have been keeping a fairly regular diary of the ups and downs of life here in Chalais, a small, rural market town on the southern edge of the Charente, on the border with the Dordogne.

Over those two years we have experienced many extremes:-

• temperatures that have soared into the 40s in July, yet hit -15 in February; 
• receiving kindness beyond belief from many new friends, but being cheated out of large sums of unpaid rent by two long-term residents; 
• the excitement of getting bookings 12 months in advance, but the worry of finding that most people no longer book ahead;
• the sheer incompetence of the DHSS in the UK, compared to the genuine assistance given by their French counterparts;
• the joy of driving on open roads in France, but the frustration of joining a queue for the M25 in Dover;
• the ecstacy of promotion to the Championship, but then losing the first four games of the new season.

Since it has been a couple of months since La Bloggerie last appeared, a quick update on our residents.

We finally asked our Madagascan Tourist to leave, but were very impressed with the response from CAF over the outstanding money owed to us.  A repayment plan had to be put in place with the condition that should he fail to keep up his payments to us they would stop all his allowances.  However, yesterday was the day for his first payment, and guess what?  Yes, he’s in Madagascar.  We’ll give him a week then we pull the plug.

Our friends from Colchester are still here whilst they look for a suitable building plot, but are moving into more spacious accommodation in 6 weeks time.

Christophe (aka Bob) the Builder completes the line-up in Les Etables. He has returned after the summer with what would appear to be a new girlfriend, but this time one without children.  Should make his social life a little less fraught with only his wife and his own children to have to worry about.

Changes to La Bloggerie

After nearly 2 years of keeping our diary of life in the south Charente on the La Tannerie website we have decided to make a few changes that will hopefully enable us to more easily update the pages.

As from the beginning of September we shall be using the blogging service WordPress.com.  Once we have got the hang of how it works we shall hopefully have it looking more like the old version.

In the meantime please feel free to make use of the Comments facility to lets us know whether anyone is reading it!