Brittany Ferries plans increased service to France

Brittany Ferries plans increased service to France
However BF may fill the void left by P&O, but I doubt prices will fall.

BBC NEWS | Business | P&O to slash workforce by 1,200

BBC NEWS | Business | P&O to slash workforce by 1,200
Not good news for those of us running a holiday business in France that caters for English tourists.

Mole shotgun

I have been having terrible problems getting rid of moles in the garden. I've tried gas, poison, traps but still they come back. A friend lent me Le Detaupeur, a mole 'shotgun',and it seem to be working. I've had three charges go off recently and another explosive charge went off this morning and the number of mole hills is reducing. There is a bit more certainty that you have scored, because the only way the charge fires is when one of the little blighters pushes up the plunger. Adds a bit more excitement to my day.

Mushrooms

Today we went armed with a wicker basket and the Edible Mushroom Guide and we all ventured out to some local woods mushroom picking. Unfortunately, not a very successful fungus foray, only bagging a couple of edible mushrooms. The most frequent find was the Common earthball (Scleroderma citrinum), also known in the U.S.A. as 'pigskin poison puffball', marked as poisonous in my book. The other specimens looked like Chanterelles (Cantharellus cibarius) or Autumn chanterelle (Cantharellus tubiformis), both edible, but we couldn't make a positive id considering the number of lookalikes. We have been told that in France you can take a mushroom to the pharmacy and they will identify it for you.

Move to France, maybe ?

Just as an alternative to this site I found the web site Don't move to France. Life is not a bed of roses here, and here is an alternative view.

It's a bit ironic that after France Telecom phoned about ADSL last night our telephone line has gone on the blink. It's still useable for voice but it's so crackley that modem speeds are way down and we keep losing the connection. Caroline phone FT this morning and they arrived this afternoon to fix the problem after testing the line remotely. Unfortunately, Caroline was out and I was round the back and missed them. They are coming tomorrow morning to have another go. Pretty good service really.

Rural goes ADSL

Caroline took a phone call tonight from France Telecom trying to sell us ADSL. He didn't have to try very hard, we have been waiting to buy for two years. Yes, Yes send me an order form. Rural France is not well supported by Broadband so we hadn't held out much hope, but the great news is it's coming on the 2nd of December. Fantastic news, I'm getting a bit fed-up with dial-up now more and more sites expect high speed connections. Roll on December.

APE

Caroline is a member of the APE, parent and teachers association for the local school. They help to raise funds for additional school activites not paid for by the state. She went to a meeting of the APE last night and one of the items on the agenda was to elect a new President. Most of the comittee members had already been President at some time and so tried to get Caroline to stand for the job. Eventually she accepted Vice President if the new President would show her the ropes ready for next year. I think this is amazing considering we have only lived in France for two years and neither of us spoke French before arriving. Our integration is progressing at pace with the Jersey trip, newspaper article, competition win and now this.

Dodgy courtesy car

Got the car back after a service yesterday at the local garage. While it was there I was lent a courtesy car. It's a very old Peugeot 30something (the badge has fallen off) that rattles more than a milkfloat, the steering wheel seems to be only loosley connected to the front wheels, no power steering, no air conditioning, no central locking, a manual choke (remember those ?), a radio without push buttons (manual tuning), doors you can see daylight through round the edge, no hub caps, very very shabby paintwork, and a boot jammed shut. The speedo doesn't work at all and I suspect that most of the other dials only give the vaguest indication of the true reading. It does however have velour seats :-) a 5 speed gearbox and electric windows, that work (well the drivers door) ! It was fun for a day but I'm glad to have something a little more modern (and safer) back on the drive.

Egg production back up.

With the new chickens (10 in total) we have now almost at full egg production. One of the new point-of-lay chickens Caroline bought the other day laid it's first egg. Some days we have too many eggs, but friends enjoy free-range eggs for a change.

Bought 25 litres of woodworm treatment and cleared all the cobwebs and muck off the beams ready for spraying. Some beams are a little rotten in places where the rain got in before the new roof was put on, but nothing serious. All goggled and masked up, it's not going to be much fun spraying.

Mobile boulangerie

Living in the French countryside is very pleasant but it does mean you have to jump in the car for everything. Our nearest bread shop (which we visit nearly every day) is a couple of minutes drive away, however they have just started a new service, bread delivery dor-to-door. Currently it's only a Tue and Fri but we don't need to order and we just buy a loaf or two from the back of the van.

New chucks

Finished clearing upstairs in the barn in preparation for the builders who arrive at the beginning of October, and removed old steel sliding gate from the front ready for the builders. Some of the floorboards were a bit rotten and there was evidence of woodworm. I think I may have to get the garden spray out and dowse everything with woodworm treatment before the plasterboard and insulation gets fitted.

Caroline bought 6 new point of lay chickens this afternoon. Two brown, two black and two white. At the moment they are all sticking together like new children on the block with the 'old hands' probing the youngsters from the edge establishing the pecking order.