The French Renovation

So much last minute relocation stuff is currently upon us! Grand update and more excruciating photos very soon!  By the way, becoming competent in speaking French is a  l o n g  haul. The more I study, the more I realise how totally incompetent I am... I can now understand most of what I read, but following French conversation is tough! I can say things, but these things don't necessarily relate to anything I actually want and need to say. I need to develop my grasp of the French colloquial in order to sound less like C3PO. I am also beginning to understand just how important the mayor is. We've bought him a little something from Britain, but the timing of the presentation of the gift is tricky... I don't want to be drummed out of France for bribery! There are so many things we have to approach the mayor about, that need to be 'got out the way'... I'll let you know how the first meeting goes. I hope he's ready for our painful Franglais. I daren't m...

"... urine must be separated from solid waste." Yes, we might try this!

  There is a little calor gas cooker in the corner of our fine kitchen. The most wonderful find in this 'browned off' kitchen is this brilliant white starchy tablecloth... which we laid out on the 'what I call, coffin'.   Cheeseburgers and champagne! A veritable feast! Our inherited crockery... That little pot on the top left is actually a drainer- I used it to drain our pasta.

One barn is full of hay and the other is full of straw. We've checked with the farmer, who says that as it is quite old, it should only really be used as bedding for animals ... "like guinea pigs". What about donkeys and goats?!  Because of potential forest fires in our foresty region, we are not allowed to burn it, so... if anyone in the Correze region would like some old hay or straw, please let me know!

A discovery in the loft of cottage number 1.

I love rabbits. They're cute, fluffy and innocent. My practical brother, however, bought me this rabbit killing kit: To pay him back for his bloodlust and creature cruelty coercion, when he was showing me the knife and warning me about how v e r y sharp it was, he cut his finger! He he... Now, one of these items is simply a fire starter, so that is quite useful. The loopy things are snares; they strangle the rabbit, or ensnare it in some other painful way. I've seen Watership Down, more than once. I cannot imagine that I would ever be hungry enough to feel the need to use a snare to catch a rabbit. But I think they may have some other practical or decorative function. Suggestions please. The previous owner of our property had a bank of eight rabbit hutches right next to the first cottage, a little Leporidae highrise. I don't know if he caught these, or if he bought them as a reproducing food source. I have eaten rabbit and hare, and no doubt will do again, but can I b...

The French post box is now in place! It was difficult to know where to put it, as this part of the property is also a public right of way, but we have to put the box at the boundary of our property. If it contravenes any laws we'll happily move it elsewhere... the hole we dug here was much easier to dig than the drainage test holes! Now I think about it, the other side of the drive is more identifiable as 'our land'. In France, there are rules about how high from the ground the post box must be. I like that.

Tulle is situated in a river valley, and it therefore possesses a wealth of winding and often steep steps. The steps in the medieval area of town are particularly appealing due to their mysterious maze-like quality. I like the clash of scrupulously modern and splendidly ancient.  All of a sudden, the narrow flights of steps will open out to reveal beautiful courtyards. We couldn't work out how these outlines of church-style windows managed to be preserved here. We stumbled upon this gated entrance at one point. GODF is the French version of the Masons: Grand Orient de France. The Tulle branch has an association with Rudyard Kipling.