The year
before we set sail for France to start our new life, Georgina and Alan tied the
knot and became ‘The Joiner family’, and it is really hard to imagine where
those ten years have gone. This picture
taken on 6 August 2005 is probably one of the last times we were all together
as a family before we left. The Joiners
are now in Canada making their way through the colourful tapestry of parenthood
and Deb and Jez are in Australia. We are all living as expats finding our way
in a foreign land and I think we are making a pretty good job of it. Chris has his roots in the UK so we are able
to see him more often and he is a frequent skyper so we get lots of good and
funny news from back home. We often have
the discussion with our friends here in France as to how we have all managed to
live with the heart ache of not having
our children in our back yards but it is a factor we have all taken into account as we develop our lives
facing our retirement years and old age. 
Although
the white van is definitely surplice to requirements and is for sale we still managed
to find a very good use for it and loaded up with a sauna we bought off le bon
coin. I have been bleating about having
a sauna of my very own for many years but it is never the right time or we do
not have the right place, and this week Mike found the exact sauna to fit the
exact space at a very good price so we bit the bullet. The people we bought from were well to do,
modern and confident folk with all white indoor décor and a dug in swimming
pool in the garden. They dismantled the
cabin and when we went to pick it up were really excited to hear about our life
and we ended up having a drink with them before we left with our bootie. It is
only because we outwardly embrace le bon coin that we are able to have what we
want at the price we can afford and the up side is that we meet very nice
people on the way
This nearly new two
man sauna is now in the gym and we are absolutely delighted with it. There is a
music centre and a DVD player so you can sit and watch a film but I am not sure
if that is really going to scratch my back as I am enjoying the soothing music
and the feeling of total relaxation. Whilst the pool is useable we have been
doing a 30 minute sweat in the cabin and then a 30 minute swim and I feel we
are living a totally different life from that we set out having nine years ago.
Mike found
an ad on Anglo Info offering free pond fish for anyone willing to come and get
them. We jumped at the opportunity to concentrate on the pond, and fish seemed
like a good place to start this new project. We were delighted to meet George
and Andy who seriously put themselves out to help Mike gather as many fish as
possible and we ended up with over 100 of all sizes. You might think that fish
are just fish but they really know how to hide under the lily pad and make
themselves unseen, so we have left an open ended agreement that if they find
any more then we will get over to bring them home to join their pals.
I mentioned
to George that I might like to take a cutting from their very impressive lily
pad on the pond that we were plundering and when we
went back to collect our second batch of fish, a quarter of the plant had been
dragged out for us to bring home. Mike looks like he has a halo and I am sure
he deserves it for all the work he has done this week.
We threw
all the bits of lily in the pond and then came in to search the internet for
the easiest way to set these plants into our pond. We made our to-do list and shopping list and
gathered all we needed to separate and replant these plants so that next year
they will be comfortable enough to make a good show for us…..that is of cause,
all a bit dependant on whether the ducks decide to leave them alone. Early signs are not good as
the girl ducks were all around the pot
with the left overs in having a bit of a feast, so we are now thinking about
how we make lily pads ugly and not very appetising.
And finally
we had the pleasure of joining Trevor and Carol to celebrate their visiting
daughter’s 30 birthday. Mike made a scary comment that he was 31 when Shelly
was born but we still managed to keep up with the best of them and were the
last to leave the party. We kept up with
the fabulous youth around us with little children playing and their energetic
parents all enjoying their holidays at Mum and Dads place……. The weather has been very kind this year and
we have managed many lovely garden parties long into the night…
so long may it continue……
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