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Chez Moi - Bonnifont - 2013 A record of what happens, as it happens......well almost !
Review Time Well, here we are at the end of 2013 and we thought it was time to do a little review of our time living in France. We have come a long way since we moved in that late November day in 2010, when everything felt a bit strange and very different. In summary: Land: remove fencing, paddocks, sheep shed, shower trays, old building blocks, piles of building sand, pool pump house, shed in front of kitchen window, piles of wood covered in plastic sheets and all that blue plastic that fell apart in the sunlight and scattered all over the field. Installed a new fosse septic (no sewers here), topped, ploughed and sowed the bottom two acre field which is now part of our garden. Chopped down several trees both alive and dead to give us a stunning view over the valley and loads more light in the house. Widen the drive by removing a brick wall and several tons of earth before covering with gravel. House Projects: new bathroom (white now not PINK!) new back passage(!!), new man cave (AKA the Retardis) new utility room, new guest bedroom, new lounge cupboard, new cloaks cupboard, new cloakroom fitted, decorated main and second guest bedroom and inner hallway. Painted the front of the house, the garage doors, all the window shutters, doors and windows to brighten the property up and it now looks happy. Can’t remember the number of times Mike has been up on the roof to fix leaks, the worst of which was over his pillow in the bedroom. Very effective alarm clock though! We are currently leak free!! Also been flooded out three times due to downpours and one mini hurricane – we are very quick at pumping the water out now! Heating : stopped draughts, insulated rooms and roofs and put in solar heating and wood boiler system and wood burner in the lounge so the days when we had trouble heating the lounge to 16 degrees are long gone. Have to be careful it doesn’t get too hot now! Solar heating for hot water in the summer is fantastic. Absolutely free from about March to September which is just as well when Ellie and Matt take 40 minute showers each. Switching from oil to wood has also cut our winter heating costs by at least half and cutting and splitting the wood is good exercise for Mike. Practical things sorted out like Audi and Renault CT and licence plates and insurance, health cards, doctors, French radio licence, registering to vote. We now have two 4*4 Ford Mavericks which are fantastic as mobile workshop when working away from the house. Five acres does not seem as big as it did when we first arrived back in 2010 but it’s a long way to walk especially if you’re carrying chainsaws, ladders, hedge trimmers, portable generators and the like. Extension leads are useless here. 100 feet only reaches half way across a field so if you need electricity for a job you need to produce it yourself. We do get the odd power cut much more often than we did in the UK and we do get snow much more than we used to get in the UK. We generally have at least a one week period where we do not venture out each year due to snow. It’s very rural so no snow ploughs and no road clearing so we maintain an emergency supply of food, milk and water at all times as well as a standby generator set that powers the freezer, fridge and heating system as well as the lights and Sky TV of course. Comms : Two days after we arrived here, we had to order fuel oil for the old boiler with no land line and using a UK mobile phone hanging out of an upstairs window, in French, on a bad connection! Now we have satellite broadband, skype phone (on battery backup) and sky TV ( and these days we order wood from our regular, very friendly woodman, using our skype phone!) Hobbies: Solar tracker, wind turbine, amateur radio competitions, tennis, jigsaws, poetry group, writers’ workshops, church group (including annual carol concerts, bbqs and bazaars). For those interested in radio Mike has a fan dipole for 40m/80m, a topband doublet, an 80m vertical (not at all impressed), VHF/UHF/SHF vertical on the chimney and a 10 element 2m beam on a 40 ft pump up mast. RF wise, it’s very quite and a pleasure to operate on the short waves. All of the radio equipment and the skype/IT kit has been powered from the solar and wind charged battery bank since March 2011 so we’re trying to do our bit. Village life: we have been committee members on the Comite des Fetes for two years helping with many events including a major music concert, pedal car championship, being a wise man and shepherd in the living Christmas nativity, and assisting with various meals and festivals. We also attend the key village events like Bastille Day and Remembrance Day. Jen can now take minutes of meetings in French! And most important of all - Made some really special friends of many nationalities, and had great fun with them, and we have so enjoyed several visits from treasured family and friends. Dinning al fresco with family and friends in our summer kitchen is an evening Mediterranean treat. Additionally, we seem to be establishing some annual events such as our DIY Christmas carol evening and our New Years Eve party. Both are great fun and we love filling the house with our friends. All in all, it has been a huge learning curve, but the most amazing fun, and living here is even better than we dared to hope. We feel very settled and established here now, and we still pinch ourselves most mornings. We have settled happily into a non settled routine. We do what we want when we want and we usually burn the midnight oil and then some. Parlaying in French gets easier and easier, although we will always have our limits. We feel extremely privileged to be living here in rural France along with the absolute peace and quiet and we enjoy every day, whatever we end up doing. 2014 onwards: Going forward, we hope for loads more visits from family and friends, and great times shared with our wonderful friends. A new French experience for us, a neighbour. Yes, we have Sarah moving in next door in early January. She will be our nearest neighbour at only 50 metres away. Previously our nearest was 250 metres. We look forward to welcoming her to Bonnifont and enjoying her company. Projects for the coming year are –finish decorating the workshop, decorating the kitchen and painting the back of the house. Longer term, Mike wants to learn to fly, and Jen wants to take intensive French lessons. So, there we have it. Onwards and upwards and into 2014. |
