At last...

It's the end of the week and although the weather is changeable, it's a lot milder.  Could this be the end of winter?

We had help with separating the pallets ready for fencing, along with generally clearing the garden. It was so good to be outside in the sun.

We've been looking for a ride on mower for over a year and noticed this one on Anglo-Info yesterday.

Fortunately we were the first to respond (they get snapped up here in Brittany). I'm REALLY looking forward to it being dry enough to use it. It's fantastic! All I have to do is turn a key as opposed to that other well known method.

At last!!

A busy Tuesday.

Back to French lessons in Vannes after the two week break. It was good to see everyone again.

We had lunch with Paul and Maggie at the old convent before having an invite to board their boat for a drink and look-see. Very impressive! Then it was back to the classroom for our final lesson of the day.

Bev commenting on the size of the steering wheel.

With my back to the main bedroom...tons of room. All the equipment for navigation is to the left.

Paul and Maggie...the perfect hosts!

They are such a nice couple.

The rest of the day was a bit of a disaster, although it was nice to see St Anne D'Auray.

At Pluvigner we stopped at a gallery to ask directions to Kerlihuen and Lann Vraz (our final destination to view some roofbars for our car). We were taken aback by the owner who shut his shop and walked me to where he thought Lann Vraz was. It turned out that he was mistaken, so we went back to his gallery and he did another google search. What a kind man.

We never did find Kerlihuen and as for Lann Vraz...we got there by some miracle but there was no signpost, nothing in the map book and nothing available via navigation.

Needless to say that the roof bars didn't fit. We arrived home just before 7pm.

I'm ready!

There was a house clearance nearby so we drove over to buy a few things... including two boards, two masts, two booms, three wetsuits, three pair of shoes, three harnesses, two extra dagger boards, a sail, uphaul ropes and various miscellaneous  bits. It looks like it isn't going to be all work and no play this summer :)

Running around one day and in the freezer the next.

This was just a 1/4 of a pig.

All ready for the freezer. What a bargain!

Bargain Buy!

We've spent the day with Dave & Annie in Vannes. First we visited Casterama, Leroy Merlin and Emmaus. Next stop was a birthday treat for lunch at an 'eat all you can' Chinese restaurant before returning home for a game of 10's and cutting my birthday cake (a little early, but what the heck!)

Later, we picked Marthe up and drove to a farm in Billio to pick up our 1/4 pig that was slaughtered earlier. It was a great social event. Karen and Hubert were also there to pick up their 1/4 pig. We all sat around the kitchen table after dividing the pig and chatted over aperitifs. It was all very French and totally alien to anything experienced in the UK.

The farmer's wife advised us to hang the sausage overnight before freezing. So, that's exactly what we did...over David and Eileen's shower rail.

We gave Marthe some sausages, but to give you an idea of what a bargain buy it was, we had all of the joints, chops, bacon and bits ( I could hardly lift the crate)...including a kilo of pate all for the price of the sausage if we bought from a butcher. 

We could get used to the French way of doing things:)

A really relaxing day.

Bev looking totally relaxed.

Bev unable to look into the intense light.

We are sitting outside mid February eating ice cream.

Such a beautiful day.

We finished a few jobs inside and generally caught up.

La Gacilly

Chill day with Dave and Annie.

The place is full of artisans and will be a great place to visit in Summer.

I LOVED the stonework.

The restaurant we chose for lunch.

It wasn't very busy, but we did have lunch early.

Apparently Yves Rocher comes from La Gacilly.

What do you reckon, David?

This was pretty cool.

We know the owner of this gallery.

Almost missed this.

I took this shot of their workshop from the gallery area. Incredible. The music (English) was blaring and no one was in sight.

It was a great experience.

Drove to Ploermel to visit the Comptoir Des Rue and picked up an absolute bargain for 5 euros which wouldn't fit in the car. I'll show it when I pick it up.

We finished the day by chainsawing one of Dave's tree trunks and worked on one of my goals.

Almost forgot...our decoder arrived this morning which means we can watch French TV (once we get another satellite dish).

The last few days.

I'm really excited about what I'll be doing with pallets this year. 

I managed to get fourteen of them in my small trailer.

It looks a bit run down from this angle, but this is our neighbours place from across the field the other day. I'm looking forward to painting it.

With Simon and Corinne on a perfect Sunday afternoon.

It was a frosty start to the day, but what a glorious day. It was so good to be out and about splitting wood and generally enjoying pottering around in the lovely sunshine.

We managed to sign up for french TV, internet, mobile and landline for the same price as just internet and landline. It means we can keep in touch better while one us is out and about. It also means French TV which is great when you're learning the language.

SOLD

SOLD

I thought we'd be left with two cars, but thankfully we were able to sell the Citroen.