30th April

Not the best weekend for Dave!!

Well we have now found out where the hospital is.....but not in the best way possible!!

Dave felt very ill on the Friday after Lucy and I left, with a high temperature and splitting headache. On the Saturday morning he woke to find a large bruise on his shin. He felt rough for the rest of the day but felt a little better and hoped it would go away!!

However the bruise had got worse by the Sunday morning so Dave decided to take himself off to outpatients at the hospital,which was very brave of him!! Very little English was spoken at the hospital but Dave coped ok - however the initial diagnosis was very worrying as they thought it was blood poisoning. While I was panicing somewhat at home and changing my flight to get back to France the next day, by the evening, the doctors had decided it was actually a skin infection - still a bad one needing treatment, but thankfully not as serious as we thought!!

I arrived back in France on the Monday - was thrilled and relieved that Lisa was able to pick me up from the airport and take me straight to the hospital. Dave was feeling much better and itching to get home by now, but had to stay in another night! I picked him up on the Tuesday and took him home with 3 weeks supply of anti-biotics and strict instructions to stay off the alcohol and rest. He has obeyed the former but he wont rest unless I tie him down - however the best compromise was to rest sitting on the mower, so we now have a fully mown lawn for the first time!

The weather is still lovely - and getting warmer by the day. However some rain is expected this weekend - eagerly awaited by yht e farmers I think as they haven't had their usual amount of March/April rain in the Ariege this year.

Am writing this in McDonalds in Pamiers - still no phone or Broadband at La Maire!!

25th March - 22nd April

Lucy's first visit to 'La Maire'

During my absence, the guys made good progress and coped admirably with food shopping, using the washing machine and various excursions to Brico Depot - transporting home 5m lengths of decking required some thought!! Daniel and Richard built an impressive area of decking at the back of the house, and the mower was finally repaired. Dave then spent most of the following week cutting the grass - the first cut of the season was a bit of a challenge as the grass was very long indeed!

Latest photos can be seen here
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/lesleyolver/LucyFirstVisit

Lucy and I had a good flight out - sat behind actress Tamsin Grieg on the plane - Lucy is a big fan of 'Black Books' so was rather pleased!
Lucy loved 'la Maire' and was very lucky to have some warm and sunny weather for her stay. I was suprised to see how much the garden had changed while I was away - signs of Spring everywhere and everything growing like mad!

Lucy took on the job of shutter painting during her stay (alongside a fair bit of sunbathing and talking to the neighbours' dog!) Green shutters are now all finished and back in place - they look lovely! We also did lots of cooking - mostly cakes - some of which we gave to the neighbours as a thankyou for their gifts of lovely fresh eggs.
Daniel and Richard took on the difficult task of putting insulation in the 'garage room' ceiling and finishing it off with plasterboard. This will eventually be our main guest room so it was good to make a start. Dave is making progress in the new bathroom, but also keeps finding 'little jobs' to do in the garden which is so inviting at the moment! I also wielded a paintbrush - both watercolour and emulsion - generally kept food on the table, and even planted some seeds!

Our stay was punctuated by the flight chaos caused by the dust cloud from the volcano in Iceland. Dave and Daniel were due to fly back to the UK for a 5 day Land Rover driving holiday in Morocco. This was a competition prize won by Daniel so had been eagerly awaited! Their flight was cancelled, but thankfully for them the trip has also had to be postponed. Lucy and I managed to get our scheduled flight home on Thursday - so we were lucky!

The saga of getting a phone line and broadband to La Maire continues! Our initial contract had to be cancelled, then a new phone line ordered - but it now appears more lines are needed in the village, so it seems we will be waiting a while longer! However, we have mobiles, helpful neighbours with broadband, and there is always McDonalds which provide free Wi-Fi - so we will manage for the time being!

Lucy goes back to Loughborough on Sunday, then I will return to France in time for our next visitors - Mum and Dad are coming to stay for a week in May. We are very much looking forward to their stay and showing them around the area - and hope they will also have their usual luck with the weather when on holiday!!
Meanwhile, we need to find a bed....

Next blog update near the end of May - or sooner if we get online!

7th - 24th March

Two seasons in one week!!

Well, after an eventful and productive couple of weeks, Lesley is now back in Maidenhead, and back on-line, so is able to continue 'the blog'. We had hoped to be up and running with phone and broadband at La Maire, but many things never happen quickly in rural France!!

So lots to tell...we had a cold but sunny drive down to the Ariege - then our arrival at La Maire at 11.00pm coincided with the start of a 24 hour snowfall!

We got the wood-chip boiler up and running however and the house soon began to heat up - slowly! The first night was bitterly cold, but happily the house was all in good order after a cold winter.

The sun soon came out again, but temperatures stayed very low for about 4 days - then Spring suddenly arrived and it was time to unpack the the t-shirts!

Daniel and 3 friends were due to arrive the following week to help out, so our first few days consisted of buying a few essentials - fridge, freezer, washing machine, mattresses etc. However there is a lot to learn - we forgot that most shops in France close at lunchtime, so all customers are shown the door at midday, whether you have a trolley load or not!! Delivery of the white goods turned out to be impossible for another 2 weeks, but we were offered the use of the shop's own van to deliver transport our purchases back to the house - quite an interesting experience along the single track lanes!!

A couple of trips to Ikea also enabled us to begin sparsly furnishing the house, so it is starting to feel like home.

The lads all arrived - with wellies and workclothes - so Dave soon found plenty for them to do. The biggest job was demolishing the chicken houses, which they attacked with gusto!! Two days later, the chicken houses had become a petanque ground and a very neatly stacked pile of bricks! Another 2 day job was digging out the land behind the back of the house in preparation for the patio, and then the attic rooms to be cleared and painted.

The lads managed a couple of days out as well, to the coast, to Carcassonne and to the mountains - and by the middle of the week we had English TV up and running - just in time for the France/England rugby match!!

Fresh air and hard work makes for very large appetities, so we have also been keeping the local supermarkets in business!

We have both thoroughly enjoyed our first few weeks at La Maire. We still find the beautiful countryside all around quite a distraction from the jobs in hand and it is such a lovley place to wake up to in the mornings.
We have been warmly welcomed by the farming community around us - they all came out to say hello, and we were also pleased to be able to meet up with friends Sue and Steve, and Lisa and Neil from the village, all of whom are helping us to settle in so smoothly

Dave is staying there to continue working for another couple of weeks, with Daniel and Richard to help. I will go back with Lucy - her first visit- in a couple of weeks time....who knows, maybe we will be on-line by then!!

Some photos of the last couple of weeks can be seen at
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/lesleyolver/LaMaireGettingStarted

Friday 5th March 2010

Well - we are home again from our really wonderful holiday to Hong Kong, Sydney and New Zealand. A few more photos from our trip can be seen here

http://picasaweb.google.com/lesleyolver/HongKongSydneyNewZealand2

So - next stop - St Victor Rouzaud!

The new trailer is sitting in the front garden ready to be packed and the car is ready for some exercise after its 6 week rest on the driveway!

We are looking forward to being back at La Maire and starting work - Daniel and some friends are joining us for a week or so so help with some of the dismantling of chicken sheds, clearing up and if it is wet - painting. It will be good to have the extra pairs of hands - and we will enjoy their company as well. Our first week there will involve quite a lot of shopping, so we all have somewhere to sit and sleep - if there is any time for that!!

Dave's first item on the shopping list is the tractor mower!

We understand March tends to be the wettest month in the Ariege....so watch this space!!

Monday 7th December

Late afternoon sun from the garden

Time to go home - for now!

A quieter day today - just enjoying the weather.

It does feel as though we have been on holiday - even though we have been working hard for all (or most of ) the week. Dave however has now finished 'real' work and will be officially retired in February, so the 'holiday' continues. We are looking forward to a family Christmas, skiing after the New Year, then a 'real' holiday to Australia and New Zealand in Jan/Feb, before returning to La Maire in March to start renovations in earnest.

Saturday and Sunday 5th - 6th December

We woke up to a beautiful red sunrise - so dashed up to the living room to take some photos.

The men at the farm down the road were just setting off hunting. Jeannine Prax told us on Sunday that they were hunting for wild boar, and that Dave would be very welcome to join them next time....maybe next year!!

The weather continued to improve over the course of the weekend - very calm and warm with plenty of sunshine. Sue and Steve visited us on Saturday morning (our first visitors!), and we also met them in Foix in the evening for a delicious meal at 'Gaia', run by an English/Australian couple. Had the most incredibly tender steak - and tarte tatin exactly as it should be made!

I also went cycling for an hour - Dave was busy chopping a wooden support into shape for a beam in one of the outhouses. Cycling was all either very much downhill or very much uphill - but good fun and amazing views. The weather had cleared enough to be able to see the whole range of the Pyrenees - with more snow on top after yesterdays rain - beautiful!!

On Sunday, we went up to the mohair farm to see Olivier and Marielle - and to have a look in their shop. See http://www.mohairfrance.com/index.html for more information. Olivier also took us up to see the goats, which are very pretty and very sweet - I never thought I would say that about a goat!!. The goats are shorn at the farm, the wool is sent away to be treated and made into the lovely products which they then sell back at the farm. It really is beautiful wool, and in such a huge range of colours.

Friday 4th December

Wet weather - and a very pleasant evening!

Wind and rain all day today - but the countryside still looks lovely!

We started painting the hall - and were pleased to be making some progress, however small. There will be a lot to do next year, both inside and outside the house. Every room will benefit from some decoration - we will need to fit 2 bathrooms and convert the garage into a guest ensuite - along with building a balcony, patios, tidying up the land and putting in a pool. Dave keeps adding 'new jobs' to his list. However we are very relieved that the house is very comfortable for us as it is, and it will be a pleasure spending time here while we do the work. The majority of the work will be outside - lots of dismantling and clearing of old farm buildings, before we can even think about landscaping a beautiful garden - but we will get there!!

We are enjoying our wonderful and very efficient wood-chip boiler - see photo.

However, we are also discovering that the boiler will keep us fit. It requires about 8 - 10 bucketfuls every day at this time of year - and the pile of woodchips are down the lane in the barn!! With no wheelbarrow at present, this means several trips a day each to keep it running....will have to look into that!!

In the evening, we recieved a kind invitation for drinks by Lucy and David Brooke at 'Le Chateau'. They had also very thoughtfully invited some other neighbours, Olivier and Marielle from the mohair farm next door, and Neil and Lisa Anslow, who also live in the village, along with 'le maire' and his wife. It was wonderful to be made to feel so welcome and also to discover that we have such lovely friendly neighbours.