OK - I should have kept my mouth shut! The day after my last blog post it started to snow and it snowed solidly for three days. We ended up with about 30cms of the stuff! It was very beautiful though and we quite enjoyed it. All the roads were kept pretty clear including the lane leading to Chabanol which was ploughed daily by the local farmer. he did tend to leave a large heap at the boubdary of the property though, which I did wonder may have been the result of Geoff having complained about his cows coming into the garden! The "main" roads were ploughed and gritted regularly and so long as you drove with care, we found no problems in getting out and about. The trees were absolutely lovely with their heavy toppings of snow and ice - they looked just like the pictures you get on postcards or jig-saw puzzles. I was out and about with my camera and have some really great photos. Geoff managed to get some tobogganing done in the field near the house and the dog loved the deep snow so we were all happy! We also managed to keep warm despite the very low temperatures - it was -14 some nights - so all in all we can now say that we have experienced our first Auvergnat winter weather and survived! The snow has all gone now and we are back to pleasant, cold, but sunny days. One of the amazing things is the way the flowers in the garden emerged from all this snow in full bloom! All the pansies, snowdrops, crocus and violets are as colourful as they were before the deluge.
In the middle of all this arctic weather, we had the Foire de Sainte Paule in Issoire. This traditionally was the big winter market day, when all the animals were brought to town and sold. Nowadays, there are no beasts, but there is a huge outdoor market, which results in all the streets being closed to traffic to accomodate all the stalls. It was great fun and very busy, despite the biting cold. There were lots of stalls selling mimosa, the traditional flower of the day, which made the market very colourful as nearly everyone was buying bunches of mimosa to take home.We also went for a meal with some of the Red Cross people at lunchtime.Traditionally, tripe is the dish of the day, but fortunately (for me anyway) there were alternatives!
My meetings with Yvette and Angele to improve my French and their English are going really well. We all get on well and it is great to be able to actually chat and share news with someone again.We do seem to speak more French than English - great for me but not so good for them. It is their choice though so I am happy to just go with the flow. I am learning a lot about all the village goings on too! Very interesting! Geoff and I were also invited by a young couple (Davy and Isabelle) who live in the next hamlet, to an evening with them and some of their friends last Saturday. We had a lovely time and once again were really encouraged by how welcoming everyone round here has been. They are really going out of their way to include us in the life of the community.
One other big bit of news is that we have a new addition to our family! Those of you who know me will not be surprised to hear that it is a young cat! It had been hanging around Davy and Isabelle`s garden for about a week so they rang and asked if we would like to take her. I was there with the cat basket within 10 minutes! We christened it Maisie, ( which rapidly was changed to Max, after the visit to the vet last week!) and he is settling in very well indeed. Chester is a bit put out especially as young Max likes to hide and ambush him in the garden, but they are getting on quite well together really. it is great to have a kitten again but it is presenting us with another problem for any travelling we want to do. We are going to the south coast this weekend to celebrate Geoff`s birthday and I am hoping that our neighbours will feed young Max while we are away. Fingers crossed.
We had another visit from Hazel this week - unscheduled to say the least, but very nice. She had been due to fly to Tallinn with a crowd of her friends, but the flight was cancelled due to the snow at Stanstead so she changed her ticket and came here instead for a few days. We took the opportunity to go to St Nectaire on Sunday to sample the thermal pool complex there and very nice it was too! We were able to have a swim ( in lovely warm water), Jacuzzi,sauna and steam room for only €13 each.Another trip to recommend to visitors methinks. All of that warm water enforced how much I am missing my bath! Hopefully, Brian, our plumber, is going to start on the bathrooms next week. Again, fingers crossed!