Lost en France

We're back at our 'other home' and the last leg of the journey was smooth as the rest - surprising as I was expecting more of a delay due to Bank Holiday traffic - especially as the weather is so beautiful. The car is unloaded. Most of the luggage was the wine for the aforementioned 'Uzerche Win Club'.  Last trip we had introduced a number of my colleagues to the merits of Roche Mazet Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon - those merits being pleasant wines for just over £2.30 a bottle. This trip orders had increased and some more expensive labels had been requested too. As a result we brought home 70 bottles of wine. Had we had a car accident on the way home, I fear we risked drowning.

Up early, again, for the IKEA delivery due between 08:00 and 12:00. It arrived at 12:30. Two armchairs, two beds, three mattresses, bed linen and two toddler bed-guards. Quite a load. The rest of the week mainly consisted of assembling the furniture and continuing to rubdown, fill and paint doors and shutters. One  of the prime objectives was to get the ground-floor ready for Natasha, Tom and granddaughter Serena coming over in July. The beds were for them and we had a door and two large shutters to paint - especially the shutters as they were in a state of poor repair and covered in flaking lead paint. Day bed that will pull out for mum & dad And a special, extendable bed, for Serena. ~It will grow with her to eventually become a full-sized single bed . The larger bed took Sally and I a considerable time to assemble, compared top that, Serena's bed was a doddle. The shutters were prepped, repaired and painted over several days. They were in a poor s

Packed the car on Friday morning. Whilst we were not full to the gunwales this time, the packing did take some care as we had to get a long flat pack day-bed in as well as Sally's e-bike. We managed - though Sally couldn't have her seat back as far as normal. We made good time down to Folkstone, arriving an hour early. We'd booked the first 'cheap' crossing on the Eurotunnel and so expected to be waiting for some time but, to our surprise we were  waved straight on to one of the peak trains. We'd booked a night at the Haute Aile near the terminal, having stayed there before and having liked it. It was just as good this time and the steak in the restaurant was as excellent as we remembered and a good price too. We sat next to another English couple with a house in the Correze so spent a pleasant evening in conversation. We were up at 05:30  (04:30 as far as our English bodies knew) and hit the road. The run down to Uzerche, skirting Paris and avoiding the P

November was a long time ago and a lot has happened in the UK since we were last at Chez Loakes, including me taking permanent employment again (rather than contracting). Whilst this brings job security and the money is fine, it does mean we'll be limited in the number and duration of our trips to Uzerche in 2019. The first trip is planned for this coming Friday and will see us staying for a week, including the Easter weekend. We've really missed the house and are very excited about going back - mixed with a little trepidation as the house has been empty for around 5-months over the winter. When we left you last, we were off to the top restaurant in town  'La Treille Muscate' for a late wedding anniversary celebration and then heading home. The meal was a little disappointing if I'm honest. This time as we'll be celebrating my 58th, we may try La Table de 'M', instead. Supposed to also be nice and we've not tried it before. The trip home was un