The Merry Month of May

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Well, apart from it being the last day of the month and therefore blog posting day, its also my birthday today. As I said last time its no day of rest though, as we have B&B guests so I was up early (for me anyway) to make breakfast. I am enjoying my day though and have opened all my presents and cards. Our lovely holiday house neighbours, who are here for the weekend, have just been across with a beautiful hanging basket and an invitation to join them for aperos this evening. I had a Skype call with our son and the grandchildren this morning and am expecting another from my daughter this afternoon so the day is going really well. I almost don`t mind thinking about how old I am!!

Birthdays apart, May has been another topsy turvy month in many ways. Mayday itself was a bit a bit of a disappointment. We had decided to go out for a picnic and chose to drive up to a place we had wanted to explore for a while, called the Domaine Royal de Randan, near Vichy. Total waste of time as it was closed! We had checked before we set off and although it was usually open on Wednesday afternoons, and remember, this is a tourist attraction, it was closed on this holiday day! I give up…sometimes it seems that no-one wants to have tourists here. We did have a nice drive though and a good picnic :blush:

The weather has kept us all on our toes all month, being hot and sunny one minute and then cold and wet the next. We even had snow on the 5th of May, which is the first time we have ever seen our real summer garden furniture and parasol covered with the white stuff. It was a considerable amount too. Fortunately, it didn`t last long, but we have had some really cold days and we are still lighting the wood burner some evenings as it gets very chilly at night. We had to give in and buy some more wood too. Happily, our new supplier is a friend and let us buy a small amount and he arrived with it the day after we phoned him. It turns out that we are not the only ones having to get emergency supplies as this cold weather continues. Needless to say, the garden is suffering big time. The grass is growing rapidly and Geoff is having to get out there to mow it whenever the opportunity arises, between the rain showers. This in itself poses problems now, as at one time he was happy to do the whole lot in one go, but now finds that too much and chooses to stagger the task over two or three times. He has been concentrating on making sure the lawn outside the house looks nice for any would be buyers and so the other bits get a bit neglected…and continue growing! The flower borders get rapidly overrun with weeds when we have weather like this and frankly, we are getting to the point where our energy supplies are running low trying to keep the garden looking good. However, we managed to get our plants and hanging baskets bought the other day so the garden looks very pretty just now. I am just hoping that the weather picks up a bit and we get more sunny days soon. We have managed to eat outside a few times but it really is very hit and miss. We are forecast high temperatures at the weekend so fingers crossed it continues.

I also am getting desperate to start swimming again. My hips are beginning to be very stiff and sore and swimming fixes that very quickly. The lake area where we swim, has been completely revamped over the winter and I am champing at the bit to get back into the water. Some of the changes the powers that be have made, especially to the parking areas, look a bit bonkers to us, so it would be nice to try them all out before the summer tourists arrive. The buvette has also been completely upgraded and the lure of eating there is growing stronger every day! However, I need the water temperature to go up several degrees before I am going into the lake! Its still mighty cold up there!

On the house selling front, we are still having people viewing the place, but still no offers as yet. I am beginning to get fed up with having to clean all the time and I also find having to go out during the viewings a pain in the proverbial. It is going to get more complicated soon too, as we are starting to have guests now, staying in the B&B and gite and so those dates will have to be worked around. Im not sure our guests will appreciate having strangers looking around during their stays! However, we remain hopeful regards the sale…it will only take one special person to turn the corner and see the house, to fall in love with it as I did…and as Ive said before we are not in a hurry.

Although I am getting to the point of wanting to stop doing the B&B and gite, we need to continue at the moment, in order to be able to sell the house as a “going concern” if that’s what a prospective buyer wants. And so, it all is starting again now. We have had our lovely returner guests (who are friends now), Gordon and Julia, stay twice this month as they broke their journeys to and from their house in Spain. They really are lovely people, who appreciate everything this place has to offer…including us! They even insisted on taking us out for a meal, so we spent a lovely evening together at Le Margalou in the village enjoying Viviane’s splendid cooking :blush: We love guests like these two! We also have B&B guests staying now and more due tomorrow as well as a family in the gite, all of whom are making the most of a long public holiday weekend. Fortunately, I then have a week to recover (until the phone rings that is) until the next lot! Although I still enjoy having people stay here, I am finding it more and more difficult to get motivated these days…and more and more physically tired afterwards. I need to stop!

Geoff is also becoming more and more frustrated with the French governments new regulations surrounding all his teaching contracts this year. He reckons that all the faffing about trying to get the teaching started and the contracts through all the rules, have cost him 80% of his teaching revenues so far this year. Its driving him mad having to wait for people to sign off on the contracts… and even if they do now, it will be difficult to get all the teaching completed by the end of the year. Very annoying…and costly too. For the first time ever, I think he is actually starting to look forward to retiring at the end of the year.

We did give ourselves a bit of a break this month though, and went off for a long weekend to visit our friends near Bordeaux. Marc and Michelle were the exchange visit parents for our daughter when she was 13 yrs old and we have kept the friendship going for all these years. They retired to a village near the west coast a couple of years ago and this was our second visit there to see them. We had a lovely weekend (despite the cold weather) and were well looked after as usual. We even had Skype calls with our daughter in the UK, and with Sophie, their daughter - who was our exchange “daughter”- and who now lives in Nouvelle Calédonie with her family. We had a couple of trips out, one to Cap Ferrat and one to Arcachon which were nice…if a bit cold! This area was one of the places where we considered buying an apartment for our retirement, but although we do like it there, I still think we will be happier on the south coast, if and when we are actually able to buy something. Our friends however, have taken to their new life like ducks to water and don`t miss living in Paris one little bit!

So, June approaches and looks like being busy. I just hope the weather picks up a bit…I need to get swimming and we want to make eating in the garden a regular thing instead of now and again! I am also hoping to fit in a belated birthday night away, as has been promised by my ever-loving husband – the same husband who booked guests into the B&B over my actual birthday! Watch this space folks to see if that works out!

A bientot mes amis.

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We have the first three weeks this month in the gite starting tomortow.
It must be difficult wanting to be on the move but having to keep things going in case someone wants to buy as a going concern.
Our pool is still too cold, the nights are chilly.
Happy Birthday.

It is a bit difficult! I am taking bookings for 3 months ahead…no more just in case we get a buyer. And I`m longing for that swim :slight_smile:

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I’m just a casual reader of your blogs, Christine, but they do add something extra to SF, and one can read between the enthusiastic lines to see the occasional harsh realities of surviving France, not least of which are the uncertainties, precarities and changing nature of life as we age, and need to adapt to circumstances not entirely under our control. A crisp breath of fresh air.

Every good wish in your endeavours and do keep on the move, that’s crucial IMO.

Thank you so much for that. I still love writing the blog & hope to continue for as long as possible. I also still love living here & it will break my heart when we do eventually leave but as we get older we realise how difficult it will be to live here without family support in the future.

The Domaine Royal de Randan is well worth a visit if you can find it open

Happy birthday :birthday:

Thank you :slight_smile:

We will try again some day :slight_smile: