Week 30th January - 5th February 2006

Monday: Sharon was looking out of the kitchen window at a red squirrel and decided that the laurel bush had grown too big and was restricting her view of the garden. You know what I am going to say next...yes.. the bush has to go. Out comes the chain saw and pick axe and two hours later it is as you can see in the photo. Don't know whether to dig up the stump or add a bird bath and feeder. Guess I will do nothing until inspiration kicks in.
Went to Pete and Jan's for dinner tonight, chinese food. Yum. It's one of the very few things I miss about England, my local Chinese take away.

Tuesday: Things on the planning front are looking up. Dear old Marie-Paul has put the fix in with the Mayor. We have a meeting next Tuesday in the Mayor's office and with a bit of luck I can submit a request to change the permis. Excellent.
Drove up to Cherbourg to pick up our new letter box. It's cast iron and a bit rusty but will look a treat once painted. Photo next week.
Finally booked the flights to Florida! Pete & Sue Bradley have invited us over for a holiday. Booked the fly-drive to Miami with Airmiles. Amazing what 8000 airmiles can buy.

Wednesday: Lazy day, cold, phoned Alexander the builder. It's about time I got off my backside and actually got phase two of this building project off the ground. So, going to tender. The "Enterprise Alexander" is a building firm in St Denis Le Gast. They did some restoration work on Peter Gibson's neighbours house and come highly recommended. Booked a rendevous for Thursday at 11am.

Thursday: Shock horror. A Frenchman has actually turned up on time for an appointment. I am talking about Mr Alexander. However, to let the French side down the oil delivery turned up at the same time - the oil was supposed to be delivered on Monday. I can't tell you how nice it is to have a full talk of oil. I was running very low and had to turn the boiler off for an hour to let the new oil "settle in".
Went shopping for birthday presents in the afternoon. It's Matt's birthday on Sunday and I bought him a boat, hohoho.
French class in the evening. Most important thing of the night was that one of the other English couples live in Marigny and recommended their builder! We will go round to their house next Wednesday to have a look at the work.

Friday: Picked up Matt, Abby and Jake from the airport. News from home is that Paul has gone on a motivational course at the Excel centre this weekend (instead of helping Katie move in to her new flat). At 10pm this evening he is scheduled for fire-walking!

Saturday: Nice brisk winters day so we went for a promenade along the promenade at Agon-Coutainville seafront. After lunch we visited Chris and Janey so that Jake could see the chickens (these are the funniest chickens in the world - they are white and have pompoms instead of combs) and ride the horse. Jake loved that. Cooked steaks on the open fire for dinner. They turned out to be tough as old boots (tasted nice though).

Sunday: Matt's birthday. For their present we took them out for a slap up lunch. I like the restaurant very much and it was packed out. Very elegant, more like Paris that Normandy.
The kids have to go home tomorrow. For Abby's birthday Matt is taking her to Rome on Tuesday. They just about get home in time to leave again. Jet setters.