Sunday 29th

Surprise, surprise rainy grey morning; Paul, Dan, Cullen and me took big umbrellas and soldiered into the rain for a stroll through some lovely countryside down past the lakehouse for coffee and then back up to Brossac via Raymond’s house and a nice chat in the St Bernard while it rained outside we warmed up and read through our horoscopes and teased each other in French, great language practice!

Newsflash about Chalais flooding comes through, not go through town, boats only!!

PM Group excursion to Aubeterre. 2 cars and the whole group pile off to AUBETRRE-SUR-DRONNE, Charente. With its red-tiled roofs, steep cobbled streets and typically French town square lined with linden trees, it’s well known and one of the most popular of the Les Plus Beaux Villages de France, the once fortified town saw battles against the English and then the Huguenots during the Wars of Religion. And as a stopping point for travellers on their way to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, the village also has a pilgrim history.

It’s a lovely village to wander about in, especially as many of the streets are filled with artisans making and selling pottery and other crafts. We sat in  Place Trarieux, a tree-lined square, (named after Ludovic Trarieux, the founder of the League of Human Rights who was born here) We had crepes and coffees and watched the world bustle by. We were met by Gerard who owns the lake and Paul did a little tour of the town. The town is also famous for having  the inventor of the stiletto,  Roger Vivier originate from here. A great afternoon and such a relief to see the rain has stopped and we finally got some sun.

Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th

It has rained so much the little town of Chalais has finally drowned!! The river broke its banks unsurprisingly and as it passes through the Centre of Chalais the whole of the town’s streets are now underwater!!! The intermarche is knee deep in water and so is the petrol station and a few of the little local shops in the dip where the market is have all been flooded and were struggling to save stock. The high street is blocked off and we have to wait till it all drains away. I doubt there will be any market tomorrow and I really hope all the folks in town are okay, if we’d known sooner we could have sent out an LG party to do some rescue work!! Lets hope for a stop in the rain tomorrow

Saturday 28th

Ouh! Sore heads all round and a slow, early start as Brianna and I had decided a few days previously that we wanted to go to Bordeaux today. Paul managed to drag us out to the station only to find the trains not running in the Angouleme/Bordeaux direction and our options were to give up and go back to bed, (which was quite an attractive option at that moment), or get a lift from Paul to Choutres. We went for the painful option (thanks to Paul’s generous lift offer) and had a chance to snoop round the market when we got there and have a coffee while we waited in the rain for our train. 21 euros later and I had my tickets and we were speeding towards our day trip adventure in the big city.

Needless to say it rained and rained and rained all day long but Brianna and I pretended it wasn’t raining and just (sight saw)? our little hearts out. The city of Bordeaux is such a stunningly beautiful place with sandstone buildings everywhere in the most ornate designs and overwhelming sizes. Street after street of cute boutique shops, galleries and old churches. The highlight for me was the Notre Dame Cathedral, not the same scale as the Parisian one but just as beautiful; I also loved the many squares and the town hall, all stunningly beautiful. I will have to return when its not raining so I can actually get some pictures! I tried but my camera got so wet I had to give up.

After a delicious lunch near the town hall, we separated and both tried to shop till we dropped but when we met back on the train at 5.30 we realised we were both empty handed and wet but happy to have made it into the city but also happy to be going back home to La Giraudiere.

Friday 27th

Another work day as we had French yesterday afternoon and everyone is sleepy, the rain and grey sky is getting into our bones, poor Courtney has a cold but is still painting, little soldier!

Paul is smiling and bouncy as usual and the rest of us are limbering up our vocal cords for Karaoke tonight,. Out to the lake in the evening after dinner and it looks a bit scary as Holly (a professional singer) is singing her heart out and making us feel a bit nervous, how on earth can we get up there after her? It takes a few drops of Dutch courage and then Paul and his hareem of backing singettes get up and show us how its done. ‘Send my baby a letter’ is crooned out at with such finesse that virtually everybody gets singing and now they all want a go, good old Paul! A few good songs later and the DJ gets the dance tunes on and all the ‘Paulettes’ in the house are boogying to the tunes and laughing lots, this is so much fun and a much needed way to shake the grey dreary weather out of our bones.

Thursday 26th

Waving goodbye to Susan and hello to new arrivals Sandra and Robert from California mmm, there is a strong California contingent, what’s going on? After lunch we had a 2hr French lesson from Alison who is originally English, got through a lot of vocab and she told us to try out one of the best restaurants around in Bardenac called Poirier Gaston, continuous courses of delicious food and wine for 12.5 euros, 20 euros on Sunday but we would have to book as so popular, Looking forward to a group outing there.

So after a hard day blogging and emailing while the others painted, built bonfires and mothered us, Paul, Dan and I disappeared off to Chalais to pick up the other car from the garage where it was being made slightly more legal on the road. I was excited as I got to drive again, something I have been wanting to do since I got here.  We sneaked in a cake for Dan from the patisserie and then I went off to get more stuff for the evening meal while Dan and Paul went to have coffee and more cakes (chubs)!! Paul let Dan do the ordering but after 5mins of puzzled looks form the guy in the café Paul had to help out and explain the difference between a long and short coffee, I’m still confused. Good try though Dan, keep going with the coffee but maybe ease off the cakes.

After a sumptuous Thai meal cooked by alice we drove off to the lake in driving rain and had deserts and beers, I have a feeling I’m going to be smuggling a few pounds of lard back into England!! At least Easy Jet can’t charge me though!

Wednesday 25th

Raining again but finally a bit warmer during the day, really, really cold last night though! I restrained myself from snuggling with Sydney’s blanket though!

After breakfast we got straight to work, Dan doing some car repairs with Paul as there were slow punctures to sort out and then on to wiring and fitting a false wall. Courtney doing painting in various places and Cullen doing Mum duties, we still have lots of party food to get through. Brianna helps out with Mum duties and I was busy answering mail.

Susan’s last meal was Hobo dinner’s, a camping dish of mince, onions and potatoes wrapped in foil and cooked to perfection by Courtney, yum one to remember when camping the summer. It all goes in the foil raw and comes out delicious and ready to disappear into our stomachs! We toasted Susan and wished her well on her Paris adventure and safe travels back to the States…

Tuesday 24^th

Finally getting into work with Day one of the working week for the Volunteers so I got down to emails and the blog diary and the others disappeared in different directions to do their tasks. While Susan wrote an article, Dan did a hand rail for Gites 4 and learnt some carpentry skills, Courtney our trusty painter was hard at work as usual painting in the Gites 4 and Cullen was being Mum by cooking and cleaning for us all. Paul was building walls in the old house and organising and overseeing the whole process of course, every now and then we tried to communicate in French to keep the rust off our brains. Our next volunteer arrived just in time for lunch. Brianna is from the states, California, and is going to do general bits and bobs and explore France.

After dinner we went for a nice walk with Sydney, my new best friend, down to the lake to see if we could have a desert but it was closed so we diverted to the Village and found ourselves in ‘St Bernard’. They were very quiet indeed and glad of our company, we mostly got strawberries and cream and Sydney the dog got lots of cuddles from Magaleine who works there and we practised our French on Magaleine and each other. A nice walk home in the lovely evening darkness and pleased to be getting some exercise.

Monday 23rd

More rain and Market day! After breakfast we all left for Chalais market. We got dropped off about 10am and offered a lift at 1pm. We looked forlorn and were worried that it was raining so much we’d struggle to find something to do till then but there were a lot of things to see and unfortunately lots to buy. Of course we started off with the coffee stop at the local café where we wanted to dry out and warm up. A good opportunity to try out our ordering in French, a black coffee comes in two forms; un alonger which is a black coffee with hot water to make it long and a café noir which is a black coffee which comes out long straight from the machine so its stronger; We struggled with our orders in French and trying to get the right coffee, the waitress listened to us for a moment then she couldn’t take it anymore and spoke in perfect English, mmm not sure if i felt silly or not, still trying to work that one out.

After warming up we hit the stalls and got phone cards sorted out and tried on many hats and bought purses and and herbs and artichokes and tasted cheese from the expensive cheese stall. Time for another drink in Le Perroquet vert which means green parrot in French. It’s a wonderful space where you can buy drinks and snacks and it has a library, art gallery and second hand clothes and brick a brack shops inside over several floors. I love this space, its relaxed and creative and shows not everything has to be new to be appreciated. After lunch, (omelettes) at the next door restaurant, La Bonne Humeur, we were met by Paul and drove home to dry out and get warm again.

Film night watching Star Wars in Gites 1, with popcorn and blankets and then an early night. I had taken a blanket from the garage and snuggled up with it during the film and during the night, only to be told the next day it belonged to Sydney the dog!! Oops!!

Sunday 22^nd April

After breakfast we all did different things. You’ll never believe it but there was a break in the rain and even a little sun, I went for a walk with Susan and Gail. There is a path going up past the caravan site and playing field behind the old Church that takes you through some lovely woods with a picturesque path through to the lake. There were wild strawberries growing and sweet chestnut trees and lots of wild flowers, I wish I knew what they were. Something else to learn. On to Passirac a beautiful little village with a stunning Country house and Church and old winery. An old train track is now a walking track back to the village.

Back after lunch and the afternoon was spent in Angouleme with some of the locals at the bowling alley. Two teams on two lanes to make the games quicker it costs about 8 euros per person per game, mostly shoe hire and they are not the sexiest shoes!! We battled it out on the lanes with each person finding their own technique, some ran towards the lanes and launched the bowl into the air, some did a classy stroll and twisted the wrist and dropped the ball into the lane. Lots of fun followed by a game or two of pool and air hockey and then the 30mins drive back to Brossac courtesy of our new French friends Nico, Sarah, Arnaud and Lucy.

Rumbling stomachs all round after that heavy work so we had to get to the local restaurant, The Saint Bernard in Brossac before people starting chewing on each others arms! We were joined by the local football team, well part of it and a couple of other locals so had a very long table.  We pitched in for a bit of the wine which is really cheap and then whatever food we had; I had a lovely confit de Canard, slow roasted duck leg, which is so succulent and tasty its criminal at 9.50 euros. Dan chose a good prix fix menu at 16 euros which was duck gizzard and bacon salad, I don’t think he knows it was duck gizzard but it was very tasty. So far I have been impressed with the food here when eating out. Courtney has omelettes a lot and even those are really good.

So a pretty busy Sunday…big smiles all round