Alive and blogging!

It's official. I am THE worst and least dedicated blogger on the planet. But I am back in the land of blogging and promise to (hopefully) this time keep regularly updating the few of you who stop by for a mere nose, if nothing else.

The truth is the last few months of our time in Sauvage country where relatively jam packed. Now i'm talking rural France jam packed, so don't get excited. But I did meet some really lovely people, with the added bonus of play mates for Raffers, and so life became all non-stop lunches and play dates and coffee mornings. Not that I'm complaining. It was wonderful to have some native speakers to sound off at, and from a sociological perspective, it was a real eye opener as to the the attraction of expats to rural France plus their experiences here. I feel I could write a book on the 6 months alone!

But time came for us to pack up the trusted Corsa and head on our merry way. We departed from Le Sauvage on April 4th, in a whirlwind of stress and anxiety, mainly caused by some administrative cock-up at AVIS in Poitiers. I mean, when you request a people carrier, you expect to get something relatively large and capable of carrying your (recent) life possessions to your new abode down south. AVIS' answer to a people carrier? A bleeding Renault Megane!!!

Mad panic ensues as Aged P had flown out to help us move and was very nearly involved in a coin toss between leaving him behind or Raffers' trike. We opted for Aged P (in the end) and with minimal tears from Raff, we left the trike along with a number of other possessions too big to squeeze into the 'people carrier' with our lovely landlords and AP was to collect them at a later date.

A memorable (read stressful) 6 hour drive involving nearly running out of petrol, flat tyres, baby screams and pulled neck muscles, we arrived completely knackered into our (new) home town in the early evening. Just enough time to pop to the local supermarche, buy a couple of bottles of the local red and an enormous packet of crisps to enjoy as we relaxed in the late evening sun slowly lingering on the cavernous walls of our courtyard garden.

Ahhhh this is the life I thought. Nothing but beautiful scenary, good wine and long days of hot sunshine. Now this is what I call a glass half full, and reached to top mine up from the bottle of 2,75 euro Minervois.

The following 2 1/2 weeks it did nothing but rain.

With Aged P back in UK and Roy living the high life in 5 star luxury Shanghai style, me and Raffers watched gloomily as the rain battered against the window panes, day after day after day. I tried in vain to get the log burner going but completely lucked out. I'm not an open fire kind of girl. I like them if someone else can get the damn thing going, but seriously...I mean how the hell does the bleeding thing light!? Give me central heating any day. Mmmmmm central heating and carpet. Ever fantasised about new build houses in the Thames Valley? No? Neither did I before I experienced freezing cold French townhouses.

But I'm over that now. We've had some great weather the last few days and the house is beautiful with original features and bags of character. I'm really happy to be here and looking forward to getting to know our new home and settling in, for however long it is this time.