What an amazing year!  We finally fulfilled our dream of moving to France. So much has happened, here is an “abridged” version……..

Rich finished work at Brize Norton towards the end of January and we signed for Pechine on 29th January 2006 and moved in (with 2 suitcases!) on the same day. After a few days, Sandra returned back to the UK, while Rich began work on the ‘beautification’ of Pechine.

On his second weekend in France, Rich awoke to the shock of 4 inches of snow; he was completely snowed-in for 2 days - apparently the first time it had snowed at Bajou for 4 years!

Next came the logistics of moving all our gear. Although hugely experienced in moving house, this was the first time we had to organise (and pay for!) all by ourselves. The most economical way was found to be one trip down in a 7.5 tonne lorry (many thanks to Bob Wright for his help in the ‘Big Adventure!’) and a second trip down in a Luton van (this time Rich and Sandra in command!)

By mid-March we were all ready for the final big ‘push’. We managed to fit in Eva’s birthday in England (her first in the UK) and the following day Rich, Sandra and the dogs set off on the ‘final’ journey (number 7), after bidding a very sad and emotional goodbye to Aligine. We knew she was in goods hands though, as she now lives with Ben and Bev Campion. We drove through the Chunnel and managed the journey in one day - no problem! A week later, Joseph and Eva arrived with Nanny and Granddad. Three days later they started school! The kids (and dogs) all settled very quickly. The school at Artigat is very friendly and understanding - we were all reassured! Work started on the upstairs apartment at the beginning of March. We continued with the ‘beautification’ of Pechine, namely removing ugly fences, replacing shutters and landscaping the garden - ‘Mother’s Day’ was spent sowing a new lawn!

March soon gave way to April. Easter found us taking part in our first village event - The Easter Omelette! Great fun, but the actual omelette (sweet, with lots of alcohol) is not for the feint-hearted! Work continued apace on the apartment and the garden. Sarah and Angus visited; she was soon roped into painting the new bathroom - good girl!
 

By May, the building work was completed - on time and budget - great work Didier, Steve and Nils ( our International Team - French, English and Dutch!) A marathon painting, decorating, finishing and furnishing began - 60 litres of white paint later… H and Aligine (both visiting for a few days) helped us move in the furniture and make the final few finishing touches to the apartment. Joseph and Eva continued to settle into French life, making lots of new friends. JJ had a strategic plan for teaching the whole class to speak English so that he wouldn’t have to speak French; he quickly realised this wasn‘t going to work, and so started to get on with the new language! Eva is a natural; she sings and speaks French with just the most delightful local (and very proper) accent!

The Gite/apartment was finished by the beginning of June. Mike and Pam were our ‘guinea pigs‘, shake-down facilitators! After nearly 2 weeks, the gite seemed to pass muster……We had visits, all too fleetingly, from Leaza and Peter and Millie . June also saw us gain two new arrivals - Ally and Gini the kittens, both totally adorable. The dogs soon became firm friends with the cats - something we did not anticipate! Eileen and John managed another visit. The weather was now warming up quite nicely and the children started to enjoy our new pool.

July began with a quick visit from Cath and Fred which coincided with our first (very last minute!) paying guests, two French couples who stayed for two nights. Our first ‘official’ guests, Ruth and Ivor,
arrived during a particularly hot spell of weather. They stayed for one week, and were swiftly followed by the Crombachs, a family of five from Holland, who stayed for two weeks. July 14th found us watching the Tour de France a few miles from our house, whilst basking (or melting!) in 40 degrees of heat. During the hot spell we also built our new deck; we were very pleased with the results, although could have done with cooler weather! H visited for the second time - always a pleasure!

Before we had time to think, it was August and Pam and Mike were back again. During their visit, the Houston Family managed a couple of nights in the Gite, on their way down to Spain. We took charge of our third new arrival, Tiffi the cross-griffon puppy - an early birthday present for JJ. August was completed with a visit from Sarah and Colin and the kids, a wonderful two weeks that was enjoyed by all!

Back to school in September for JJ and Eva. After consulting with Joseph’s teacher, we decided that he would stay in the Maternelle part of the school so that he could continue learning the language, whilst not being under any huge pressure. Both children were really happy to be back at school after two months off. Their French was really starting to come on well. JJ’s birthday was spent at the wolf park in Orlu, a wonderful day out. Cath, Morgan and Fred had planned a visit but unfortunately had to cancel due to work commitments - Cath and Fred did in the end come for a long weekend. We also had a visit from Simon and the York Mountaineering Club - five climbers who stayed for ten days. H managed her third visit - we think she likes it here!

We went back to England for a few days at the beginning of October, to celebrate Eileen’s 70th Birthday - too short a trip to fit in all the things we had planned. It was great to visit UK, but even better to get back home again!!  Pam and Mike very kindly looked after all our animals whilst we were away. We came back to a meeting with the teachers at the school. They were all of the opinion that JJ should move up a class as he was coming along so well - as you can imagine, we were VERY proud of our boy. He is now in the CP class and has homework every night! We feel that the move has done both children good - Eva is now in the Maternelle by herself, and is flourishing! They both have lots of friends and have been invited to birthday parties for the last three weekends in a row! At the end of Oct, our very, very best friends in the whole wide world, Guy, Lou, Charlie and Ellie, came to visit.  We all had a fab time and we hope they will be back very soon (sorry for not including you in the first cut and we are glad you took it so well!!  Ed).

November found us starting work in our part of the house for the first time. We renovated the bathroom and a few other bits and bobs - our DIY skills have come a long way, we can now even manage a bit of plumbing! We received guests from UK, the Walker Family, who stayed for a week.

This pretty much brings us round to now! The weather is still lovely - warm and sunny a lot of the time. The drawback is that there is no snow! We can’t wait to get into the mountains for a bit of skiing, etc, but I guess we have all the time in the world… We are spending Christmas here at Pechine, with Pam and Mike and H. For New Year we have a family from Belgium coming to stay.

2006 has been the best year of our lives (so far!) We have experienced so much, met so many friendly and helpful people, and learnt huge amounts! We hope that this letter finds you and yours all safe and well and enjoying the Festive Season. We would love to see you here in 2007!
 

email: talk2prime@hotmail.com