I’ve started learning Spanish at the CLAN, where I teach English. It was supposed to be a beginners’ class, but I’m the only beginner, the rest of the group having already done 3 years, so I’m struggling to keep up. The fact that the course is held in French doesn’t help; the teacher keeps offering me extra help in the form of vocab handouts and thinks it hilarious when I turn them down, saying I’ll go online instead.

It was good to note today, that I’m not the only one struggling; two of the other students are also in my English class; Nadine arrived with her English notes instead of Spanish and Henriette, when asked a question in Spanish, replied “Yes. Non, non, si”, and not just once. We had an article to read aloud, which wasn’t too difficult, but translating it into French, through English, was something of a challenge. I suppose it will keep the little grey cells busy – if it doesn’t wear them out entirely!

Olivier arrived last week to sand the floors downstairs, in preparation for tiling them, so Nick ordered the tile sticky. It should have arrived on Friday, but the lorry didn’t turn up at the depot; Nick’s done pattern designs, drawn parallel lines on the floors and swept till it nearly shines, but the sticky still hasn’t arrived. He’s not good at waiting and has now resorted to cleaning his workshop; I hope it’s here soon, before he goes completely mad!

Valentine’s day

For all those who are wondering what’s become of Hermione/Herman, he’s now known as Norman and is living very happily at Tracy and Tony’s.  He spends his time with his girlfriend, Clementine and several ducks, in a field with access to a large pond.

He is unrecognisable as the bully who prevented me going into the garden, so meek and mild is he now. He occasionally attacks Tracy (but she can handle him), but is completely smitten by Tony and the attraction is obviously mutual!

With a little under 4 weeks to go, more than half the tickets for our St. Paddy’s night bash have already been sold.

It should be a great night. The meal looks excellent; potiron soup, green, white and orange crudités, daube de boeuf, salad, cheese and guinness and chocolate cake with crème irlandaise, wine and coffee included. The band is playing during the aperos, then between courses and, of course into the wee small hours after everyone’s finished eating and are ready to dance off the calories.

The members of the walking club, who are organising it, are all really enthusiastic; people are being assigned jobs, decorating the salle des fetes, preparing food, manning the bar, waiting on table, washing up, etc., etc. As for the band, we’re rehearsing hard and trying to learn a couple of Celtic numbers favoured by the local line dancing clubs.

So if you’re in the area and haven’t already reserved your place, don’t wait too long!

Bien qu’il reste presque quatre semaines, on a déjà vendu plus de la moitié de places pour notre fete de  St. Patrick .

Il devrait être une bonne soirée. Le repas semble excellente; soupe de potiron, crudités vert, blanc et orange, daube de boeuf, salade, fromage, gâteau de  chocolat et de guinness  avec de la crème irlandaise, vin et café compris. Le groupe joue pendant les aperos, puis entre les plats et, bien sûr, jusqu’aux petites heures du matin après le repas, quand quelques uns seront prêt à danser.

Les membres du club de marche, qui organise cette evenement, sont tous très enthousiastes; des gens ont leurs metiers assignés, décorer la salle des fêtes, la préparation du repas, travailler au bar, faire service aux tables, faire la vaisselle, etc., etc. Quant au groupe, nous répétons dur et essayons d’apprendre quelques numéros  celtiques favorisée par les clubs de country.

Donc, si vous êtes dans la région et n’avez pas déjà réservé votre place, ne pas attendez trop longtemps!

The cycle club has a new president, who’s making little changes, such as at the monthly dinner, where each group of eight has to elect one person to help the ladies who’ve made the meal serve and clear away afterwards; an excellent idea. He’s also started writing a weekly report on the Sunday run, distributed to all club members.

He’s very keen on having a website for the club too, and Nick has been working on this. But Nick, not renowned for his literary skills, was not expecting to be asked to write the weekly report, and write it in French of course! Kieran has installed a French keyboard on the laptop for him, complete with all the accented letters, but that didn’t help a great deal as Nick is pretty oblivious to where accents go, having had years of using the excuse that his keyboard doesn’t have accents. I suggested a French spell check, which, once installed, has made his life so much easier as it adds all the accents for him. I think he’s nearly enjoying writing the report now!

The club is taking part in an organised ride from Bordeaux to Sète in May, but need someone to drive the van to carry the bikes to the start and back from the finish, and to provide support along the route. Jeanneau was going to do this, until he realised he had double booked; so when Jacques phoned me to see if I’d do it, somehow Nick and Kieran persuaded me that it’s a good idea, and no, it won’t be at all difficult, it’s just a big car really. Evelyne will be my navigator and Jacques will lend us a satnav too. Not being a confident driver at the best of times, I’m not at all convinced, but we’ll wait and see. I hope we don’t get lost on a tiny road with no way of turning round!!!!

We woke to snow this morning! Yes, it had been forecast, but we didn’t expect 8cm of the cold, white stuff. It’s been getting very cold in the new house recently; even wearing four sweaters, two pairs of socks and tights under my trousers, I’ve struggled to stay warm enough while painting. Nick mysteriously disappeared to Nogaro this morning and returned triumphant with what he calls a Jackie-warmer; a little stove that attaches to the top of a gas bottle. It’s remarkably effective; after only half an hour or so, we were basking in the balmy temperature of 10ºC – what bliss!

Being warm enough, I had no excuse not to finish painting the walls and ceiling in the first bit of the upstairs, before I went out teaching, or to wax all the woodwork within reach when I got back. That’s the most difficult, scary part done, above the stairwell; tomorrow we can move the scaffolding to the next section, still the stairwell, but lower.

Dinner tonight was a two and a half egg omelette, made with goose eggs donated by our neighbour. They’re enormous, compared with one of our hen’s eggs; we struggled to eat it all!

Nous nous sommes réveillés à la neige ce matin! Oui, c’etait prévu, mais nous n’attendions pas 8cm. Il a fait plus et plus froid dans la nouvelle maison récemment; même quand je porte quatre pulls, deux paires de chaussettes et collants sous mes pantalons, j’ai eu du mal à rester assez chaud pendant je fais de la peinture. Nick a disparu mystérieusement à Nogaro ce matin et revint triomphante avec ce qu’il appelle un chauffe-Jackie; c’est un poêle qu’on peut attacher à une bouteille de gaz. Il est remarquablement efficace; après seulement une demi-heure, on nous a dorer dans la température douce de 10°C – quel bonheur!

Être assez chaude, je n’avais pas d’excuse pour ne pas terminer  la peinture des murs et le plafond dans la première partie de l’étage, avant de sortir au CLAN pour ma classe d’anglais, ou pour ne pas cirer  toutes les boiseries à portée de main quand je suis rentrée. C’est la partie la plus difficile et le plus effrayante à faire, au dessus de la cage d’escalier; demain, nous pouvons bouger l’échafaudage à la section prochaine, toujours la cage d’escalier, mais moins haut.

Dîner ce soir était un omelette à deux oeufs et demie, fait avec des oeufs d’oie de  notre voisin. Ils sont énormes, comparé à une de nos œufs de poule; nous n’avions pas faim après tout manger!