We are still experiencing spring like weather at the moment. It was nice enough to sit reading in the garden the other day and the bulbs I planted in the autumn are already quite well grown. We even have primroses in bloom. However, all that is due to change tomorrow according to the local prophets of doom, and the meteo, when we are due to have a significant amount of snow. It does seem odd as I sit here looking out on a perfect sunny spring like day, that tomorrow we may be snowed in! We shall see!
We have been really busy since the beginning of January. Both of us are now fully registered with the local and national authorities. I had to register the gite and chambre d`hotes business with the local Chamber of Commerce, in Issoire, where a very nice lady helped me to complete the forms. Geoff registered his business with a different agency (for self employed professional people) in Clermont Ferrand. This now means that we are “in the system” and are now getting regular epistles from the government re taxes, health and social security type payments. Bliss, oh joy! However it had to be done and it is another job we can now cross off the list. We are also in the midst of setting up another bank account for the gite business so all in all we have had a lot of meetings with officialdom over the last couple of weeks.
We have also survived the second inspection of the gite by the tourist office big guns from Clermont Ferrand. As expected, we have got our classement, but need (of course) to make some more changes! These people need to find something – it keeps them in a job! This time we had to buy new pillows (ours did not have the regulation French fire specification labels – funny that since they were English pillows!) and we need to find a way to “curtain off” the skylights in the big bedroom so that "the room could be totally dark if people wish to sleep in the daytime". This is posing us some problems as the skylights are in the roof and are therefore quite high up. I think I have the answer, but need to get some curtains made. Both of us suspect that they will never be closed by anyone but we need to send proof that we have complied with the request.
We also need to put ventilation panels in the kitchen and bathroom windows – another little job for Brian when he comes to do the bathrooms. All in all though, the inspection went well, and I heeded my daughter’s advice, and didn’t get mad with anyone - (well almost anyway!)
We have been busy socially too. There is a tradition here in January, of the mayors giving their best wishes to the local inhabitants. Geoff went off to our local do – I decided my French was going to struggle with this meeting so I let him go alone. Big mistake! He spent a lot of the time “networking” and meeting people, which was good, but he also “volunteered” me for something else! It turns out that there are a couple of ladies (one of whom is the mayor’s wife) who want to improve their English. Geoff has arranged for us to meet up, have a cup of tea and to speak English for a bit and then French for a bit in order that we all benefit and improve our language skills. It’s a good idea really, but I’m a bit nervous as they are coming here tomorrow and I’ve never even met them. I will tell you all how we got on in the next post.
It is also traditional for the local associations to meet up and partake of a Gallette de Rois – a pastry with an almond paste filling – as a sort of New Year gathering. We went to the Croix Rouge gallette yesterday, and have been to the cycling club’s meeting today. (The cycling club are trying very hard to get Geoff into their midst!!) It is a really nice tradition and we are finding ourselves made very welcome.
We have finished decorating the stairs and hallway at last and I have to say it looks a lot better for a lick of paint. Now that I have got Geoff started I need to keep the momentum going so it’s on to the main room next. I can’t wait to get rid of that awful red ceiling!
Bonne Annee a tous! I wonder what 2007 will bring for us and the business. Lots of visitors I hope!
We spent lovely,if fairly hectic Christmas in the UK, doing all the usual things like eating too much etc. We seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time in the car on congested, foggy motorways as we travelled first from and to France, and in between, as we tried to fit in as many visits to family and friends as we could. We were therefore, very pleased to be back on our very quiet autoroute and country roads when we returned chez nous for New Year.
New Year itself was VERY quiet. We realised (too late) that most people round here either celebrate at home with their families or go to organised dinner dances. We thought we`d go to Clermont Ferrand to join in the fun in the main square, but started to get bad vibes as we drove there, as the roads were totally deserted - and so was CF when we got there! All the bars and a lot of the restaurants were closed and the city was practically empty apart from a few clusters of youths who were all smoking and talking on mobile phones. We soon decided that it was going to be a dead loss, and after a quick detour into Issoire on the way back (much the same picture - even the local hospital`s casualty department looked deserted as we drove past!) we hurried home and just about made it for midnight! We ended up "celebrating" a deux (Geoff`s first and only drink of the evening!) and then despairing of the awful New Year TV programmes, headed off to bed! Next year I`ll make sure Scrooge forks out for a meal out!
We were also a bit disappointed to have missed our first real gite booking whilst we were away. A family from Holland contacted us via the advertising site we have running there, for a last minute booking for the New Year week. Unfortunately, by the time we saw the e-mail it was too late, but we were a bit cheered up to see that the advertising site is working and that someone was interested in the gite. Let`s hope it will be the first of many.
We have been trying out more of the walks around here so that we can reccommend them to our visitors when they come. I am a little distressed by the fact that most of them involve treks up pretty steep hills! Those of you who know me, will also know that hills and moi do not normally mix! However, I am persevering and I have to say that the views from the tops of the hills are fantastic - thats when I get enough breath back to enjoy them! We also need to be careful, as the hunting season is well under way around here. I am still not used to seeing groups of men standing around with pretty nasty looking rifles and dogs, all along the country roadsides. Fortunately, most of them wear lovely fluorescent pink caps which do relieve the menace a bit. They seem to spend a lot of the time imbibing alcoholic beverages of various kinds - which is another worrying aspect as far as I am concerned. Alcohol, plus guns do not make safe companions I would have thought! So far we haven`t seen them actually kill anything, thank goodness, but I still feel uneasy each time we see them out and about. Maybe I`ll get used to all this hunting in time, but somehow I doubt it.