Wild Boar lunch

The village of Lavausseau held a communal lunch yesterday. The pride of place were 2 wild boar turning on the spit. You can see the contraption used for turning the boar below - a Heath Robinson design utilising bicycles, batteries and oil drums. I can vouch that it tasted delicious, and that the 5 hours of lunch proved to be a happy experience for all.

Wild Boar 

Wild Boar 2 

Wild Boar 4 

Bluetooth Mouse

Bluetooth Mouse 
I've just acquired this new mouse. It is an Iogear Bluetooth optical version. It is very small, and, best of all, it is wireless. I was fed up with the trailing wire of my previous mouse, as it was never long enough. I already had a Belkin USB Bluetooth adapter that was used for synchronising my Ericsson T630 'phone with Lotus Organizer, so, as the Iogear mouse comes without its own adapter, this was an obvious solution. It uses Nickel Metal Hydride batteries which can be recharged via a USB2 cable overnight. I am very pleased with the product, and highly recommend it.

Home grown fig

Fig 
There is a huge fig tree at Bas Etang 2, and here is a sample. It tasted delicious.

Swimming Pool Fencing

Pool 
Legislation was passed last year in France that requires all pools to be fenced and gated. Pools open to the public had to have them in place by Summer 2004, but private pools, such as ours, have to be completed by 1st January 2006. So we bit the bullet today and ordered ours. It is a black plastic mesh version (try saying that quickly!) which will be delivered in a few weeks time. I have elected to install it myself to save 700 Euros. I will need a diamond tipped drill, as the posts will be fixed into the slabs around the pool. I understand that I can hire the equipment quite readily, but I am worried about cracking the stone slabs.

Lily pads in La Boivre 

The vista 

On our cess pit! 

Pampas grass

Selected views 
Isn't it magnificent?

The Folly at Bas Etang

Wendy House 
This was built by our predecessor as a rather large wendy house for his children. It has electricity, lighting and heating. Needless to say we have not spent any time in it yet!

Water levels

Water levels are dropping 

Almost gone 
The water level has gone down considerably in the Boivre, and the hosepipe ban is in force. The lower photo shows the tributary that has stopped flowing.

Our fruit harvest

Our fruit harvest 
Perhaps we don't take much care of the poor chaps, but this is as good as it gets at Bas Etang.

The main inhabitants of the garden

Our new friend 
We have lots of mole hills in our garden, but never actually see the critters. That is, until now!

The dry season

Field 
The lack of rain is taking its toll on the plants and grass at Bas Etang. The field shown here is turning brown, though there is still enough green vegetation to maintain an attractive appearance.

The Chateau

The Chateau 
We visited this chateau the other day. It is owned by a young couple from Belgium who we met socially. They were kind enough to invite us to have a look around. They have been spending the last 18 months refurbishing, with significant input from contractors. The progress was most impressive, and all the 8 bedrooms have now been completed. The previous owner was very unreasonable, and took all the movable fittings possible. Even the security system was sabotaged by cutting the wires. It had been in their family for over 300 years, so it was probably due to the angst from selling.

Our first Fish

Trout 
I've just received this photo from our friends, Ann and Geoffrey. Geoffrey is a very keen fisherman, and advised me on the purchase of the necessary equipment when they stayed here a few weeks ago. The river is teeming with fish, and I thought it would be a cinch to fill a bucket with them. After all, there is an area where they are virtually captive, and have nowhere to go except onto the hook. Or so I thought! After a few hours of trying, Geoffrey finally succeeded in catching this one shown above. And a jolly good meal was had by all later that day.

Bastille Day at Lavausseau

Bastille Day 

1 
Today we all joined in the celebrations at Lavausseau. There was a lunch held in the open for all the village, and all the newcomers were introduced to everyone. Unexpectedly, the mayor, who was in charge of the proceedings, called for a minute's silence in memory of the victims of the 7th July bombings in London. You can just make out Amanda, Tony and Mimi who are at the microphone leading the singing of the Marseillaise. The lunch lasted for three hours, and, with unlimited wine, was a joyous affair. We met a number of Brits who are living in the village, so we look forward to more socialising in future.

Mishaps happen

So all I was doing was bending over to drop a chlorine tablet into the pool skimmer basket. The tablet dropped in, closely followed by my Sony Ericsson T630 that had slipped out of my breast pocket. Quickly it was fished out, and immediately examined to check the functionality. It was dead. So I waited a couple of days for it to dry out, and then I was delighted to find that it worked again. Well, almost. The connection to my PC, via a serial port that I use for synchronizing with Lotus Organizer, did not respond. But then, I reasoned, I really don't have many contacts and appointments to maintain anymore - I'm retired after all. So, maybe it doesn't matter any more.

Incidentally, I use a prepay SIM card from the UK. So long as I use the phone at least once within six months, it will stay active indefinitely with the money I paid up front. In France you can only charge up a prepay account for set amounts, starting at 15 Euros, that expire after two months. So, infrequent use can be costly.

We have liftoff!

At last, the internet is back on stream at Bas Etang. But only after 5 visits by the France Telecom engineers. They replaced the 50 metres of overhead cable that stretched from the house to a nearby pole. That reinstated the voice line, after it had been silent for 5 days. The ADSL line still didn't work. But then they went to the Lavausseau exchange, and changed a module there. Voila! It works, at last, after 2 weeks.
Last week I received the new desktop PC from Dell, only 3 days after ordering it from the UK (via Bombay). However, Dell had declined to accept my credit card (after taking down all the details)as I lived in France. They couldn't explain why that was a problem, even though the UK credit card is registered to me at the French address where delivery was to be made. So I had to make a transfer bank to bank, which I swiftly did over the internet. However, Dell then charged the credit card and received the cash in their bank too. I notified them straight away, requesting the £22 fee for the BACS transfer cost as well as the refund. Dell then informed me that they would send the refund together with £165 compensation. You could have knocked me off my perch with a feather!

The new balcony at Bas Etang 2

The new balcony 
We finally had the new balcony made and installed a couple of weeks ago. The next tasks there are to retile the verandah, and paint the wall of the verandah white.

Troubles at Bas Etang

A couple of days ago my Dell notebook crashed permanently. It was at least 6 years old, and the hard disk had failed. I'm not too bothered about losing everything on it, as I have crucial data and programs stored elsewhere. But, then the worst thing happened - we lost our internet connection altogether. So Amanda's PC can't act as my backup either. My Netgear ADSL Router was losing the connection at a greater frequency than previously, until total failure occurred. France Telecom recognise the symptoms, and have promised to come in the next few days to restore the connection. Meanwhile I am posting this blog via Bas Etang 2.

I have ordered a new PC from Dell. It is a desktop, with a 3.2Ghz Pentium 4 processor, 1 Gigabyte of RAM, a 320 Gb hard disk, and a 19" UltraSharp LCD Screen. It is due to arrive in the next fortnight or so. Meantime, I've managed to borrow another Dell Notebook.

One other item of note is that the Balcony is being installed on the terrace of Bas Etang 2 today. Pictures of that achievement will be posted shortly.