UNBELIEVABLE (if we were not in France)

The weather has turned showery after weeks of dry weather.  This has brought out zillions of snails.  This handsome little chap was on the voie verte, the cycle/walking track that we use for walking Hugo in wet weather as it’s less muddy underfoot.  And of course he loves it.

There has been a development on the residence card front.

It is exactly two months since we received our “décision favorable “, confirmation that our applications to renew our CDS was accepted.  On the document it says we would be contacted by the préfecture about when to collect the actual cards.  This is usually by SMS a couple of weeks later.

After a month we emailed the préfecture to ask very politely if they could send another SMS as so far we hadn’t received it.  We got no reply.  

Two weeks later we sent an email to the Ministère de l'Intérieur, the organisation that issues the "décision favorable", to say if they knew if our cards were ready and what we could do to get them.  They replied immediately to say yes they were and that we would be notified when to collect them by our préfecture in Tours, and to contact the préfecture if we hadn't heard anything in another couple of weeks.  

We emailed the préfecture again saying we understood that the cards were ready and could they PLEASE send an SMS so that we could collect them and, of course, pay the damned fee of 225€ each.  

We have so far had no reply to either of our emails.

Yesterday, I happened to have a conversation with a very nice lady who helps British people with all kinds of French matters, from tax forms to hospital visits.  We rarely need her advice these days and the conversation was on behalf of someone else about something completely different but at the end of the call she asked me how we were getting on with our CDS applications.  I mentioned that we had had our "décision favorable" two months ago but still not received an SMS.  

She told us we won't.  The préfecture has changed their procedure and they no longer send text messages (because it's too expensive, apparently)...................WHAT ???!!!

Instead we have to go online and book an appointment for "retrait de titre de séjour" to collect them from the préfecture.  If we were not accepted for an appointment, it would mean the cards were not ready yet.

How long would it be before someone at the préfecture replied to our emails to tell us that text messages were no longer used and we should apply online for a rendezvous instead?!

Unbelievable.  The whole system is in the dark ages and moves slower than Mr Snail.

However, the story doesn't end there as finding the right website on which to book the appointment was in itself also a challenge.  Nothing to do with French bureaucracy is ever easy!

We have appointments for 21st May, nearly three months after our existing cards expired (and nearly seven months since we applied to renew them).  The champagne is in the fridge already!!

FUN WITH WATERCOLOUR

 

At our last watercolour class Nick was away so our teacher felt it was an opportunity to do something girlie and frivolous.

We each covered an A3 sheet of paper with abstract flower designs.

This was then folded and cut through in the middle.

Then folded into a little book.

Great fun and very easy to do.

RECENT PHOTOS

Purple wild flowers at Étableau.

Our lilac rose is in full bloom.

The pansies are still going strong.

Geraniums waiting to be potted up to replace the pansies.

Our yellow climbing rose is in full bloom.

We struggle to grow anything in this bed.

Last year potted colius did really well there so we have done the same again.

New chairs for the picnic area.

One of the old white ones had broken.

It split when Nick leaned back on it.

I thought that could be dangerous so we changed them.

Some geraniums have already been potted up.

We have gravelled the island in the middle of the drive.

The water bath for the birds is very popular.

Two water bowls for the bees.

I read that the pebbles enable them to drink without falling in and drowning.

The park at Paulmy.

The lake at La Celle-Guenand.

Construction work at the lake.

I think it's restoration of the lavoir.

Another view of the new chairs.

All the white ones have now been replaced.

The view from the picnic table.

I went into the barn for something and Yvonne followed me in.

Moments later she came out with a mouse.

She ate it immediately.  Head first of course.

A tidy up of the well room was overdue.

New storage boxes for outdoor cushions.

More pansies.

Pictures from the park a few days ago.

It was a much sunnier day and turned out to be very warm.

Not bad for the end of April.

We are so lucky to have such a lovely place on our doorstep.

A GOOD LUNCH AT A NEW PLACE

We recently, on the spur of the moment, visited L'Ascenseur in St Savin for lunch.  It had been recommended by several people but, being nearly an hour's drive away, we somehow never made it until now.  You can see its website here.

It was worth the wait and worth the journey!  People don't take pictures of their lunch so much nowadays but this meal was so good I just had to.  The ambience is relaxed and the service excellent and unfussy.  

A salad starter for him.

A calamari starter for me.

We both had the chicken main course.

Followed by a delicious cheese course which included a small glass of port.

A fruit meringue for dessert for him.

A chocolate concoction for me.

Finally, a very good coffee.

We thoroughly enjoyed it and will be going back soon.

St Savin is also a great  place to visit, a UNESCO world heritage site with a fabulous abbey, lovely walks and a charming old town with numerous other eateries.

 Apparently, St Savin was the birth place in 1827 of the man who invented the first hydraulic elevator, Félix Léon Edoux, which is how the restaurant gets its name. 

EN SUITE BATHROOM FINISHED !!

BEFORE - the sink area was cramped and crowded.

Nick always hated the blue glass blocks.  I didn't mind them too much.

The sink itself was resin, not porcelain, was scratched, discoloured and worn.

The handles on the mirror doors had fallen off and were held on with sellotape.

The switch for the lighting was inside the cupboard and very fiddly to turn on.

AFTER - new sink unit and the return wall with the glass bricks has gone, creating more space.

The sink is porcelain and the light is now a wall light with a switch where you would expect it - on the wall!

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BEFORE - on the shower side there were flimsy contiboard shelves crammed with stuff.

The floor was tiled in the same tiles as the shower cubicle and were uneven and broken.

The old toilet was not screwed down, just glued on top of the tiles.

Years of limescale deposits due to the very hard water meant it never really looked clean.

The lighting was an old fashioned spotlight above the shower and we suspected it was actually not designed for bathroom use.

AFTER - the dark grey floor tiles have been replaced with a lighter laminate floor.

The new toilet is neater and most definitely fixed properly to the floor.

The lighting is now a proper bathroom light.

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BEFORE - the wobbly shelves were very useful but full of stuff that never got used.

AFTER - new painted wood shelves, half as deep.

We have given away piles of towels and loads of unused toiletries.

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BEFORE - the ensuite bathroom was dark, cramped and very tired looking.

AFTER - the new one is more spacious, light and fresh.

We had to make a difficult decision about the shower cubicle.  It's hard to argue for changing something that functions perfectly but is just old fashioned.  

The en suite is open to the bedroom and I really wanted to have a door of some kind across the front of it.  That meant we would have to change the shower cubicle to make space to either build another wall or hang a sliding door.  We dreaded to think what plumbing surprises lay behind or underneath the shower and would almost certainly have had to have it all done professionally.  All of that would have added a huge amount of money to the cost of the project. The en suite is, after all, literally in the bedroom so we compromised and decided to stick with the old shower and the curtains that we added a few years ago.

We're very pleased with the end result after a lot of work but minimal expense.  We could have demolished everything and had a showroom en suite bathroom which would have cost ten times as much and been the best room in the house!  Hard to justify for somewhere that you brush your teeth, take a shower and spend a penny!!  Not to mention that was unlikely to add much to the value to the house when we do come to sell it.

Now at least it looks clean and neat and not something that a prospective buyer thinks they're going to have to fix immediately.  I call it my "forty shades of grey" bathroom!!