La Bloggerie

By all accounts we were extremely lucky. We sat in bed at 3am listening to the howling winds outside, never for one minute thinking that 40 miles away on the coast the storm was claiming many lives.

Our position below the chateau in Chalais means that we are protected from the predominantly westerly winds, and the little damage that we suffered here bears no comparison to the pictures filling the French news reports today.

Monsieur Sarkozy will be in the region tomorrow taking control of events, but this was the force of nature showing who is really the boss.

Lots of weather reports are suggesting we’re in for a battering in the next 24 hours so we’ve been out securing anything that looks vaguely like it could catch the wind.

The storm that passed through a couple of days ago wrecked the two remaining gazebos and had managed to rip a satellite dish out of the wall, so we’re hoping for a quieter night.

Out of the blue a huge thunder and lightning storm appeared this evening. Rushing around closing shutters meant that for a few brief seconds windows were wide open, and in that time we were both drenched and pelted with some pretty painful hail.

There is some weird weather going on at present. In the space of a week we have gone from very cold to unseasonably warm. But with the end of February in sight spring is only just round the corner.

In fact we have seen our first flock of cranes fly over (is it a flock?) so they must reckon the cold weather has finished. Can’t think I would choose to spend the summer months in Scandinavia though.

One project that has taken a fair amount of time in recent weeks has been the re-fitting of the kitchen end of La Sècherie.

We started out simply looking to put right the stone wall in the living room which, for whatever reason, has been a constant source of crumbling dust. That job led us into replacing the drafty old door with a new double-glazed window, which in turn meant we were able to re-think the layout of the kitchen.

So a one day job became a 10 day rush, as we had long-term tenants arriving who would quite reasonably be expecting it to look pristine.

The before and after photos

The biggest problem with trying to keep a blog up to date is that when we have lots to write about we’re too busy – when we have the time to write we’re not doing anything worth writing about.

But a Monday in Chalais is market day, so with brother and sister-in-law for company we took a quick look around the market this morning, though those who have been here during the summer would be surprised by how much the market shrinks during the winter.

We have been ‘enjoying’ a very cold spell over the last week and stall holders have to be made of pretty stern stuff to cope with standing behind their stalls for 4 hours on a morning like this one.

But the warmth of Le Flore, the bar by the bridge, proved an irresistable attraction and they were doing brisk trade. Nothing beats a large hot chocolate with a fresh croissant when you’re frozen through.