SEPTEMBER

September is my favourite month of the year.

I spent a week of it in the UK where the weather was unusually kind.

Much as I enjoyed my week I was looking forward to getting to get back to France.  The Ryanair flight back was completely stress free.

I grumble about Ryanair but really shouldn't, without them we couldn't do what we do - live in two countries.

Yvonne was pleased to see me back home.

The double cushion trick is the way to a cat's heart.

Hugo has matured into a truly wonderful dog.

The September weather has been fabulous.

Warm days, cool nights and mornings, and plenty of sitting out.

The sunrises have been gorgeous.

The sunsets beautiful.

There has been plenty of deer activity - the brame is in full swing. 

We went to our favourite town, Chinon, for the afternoon.

Chinon never fails to enchant us.

We have passed an early evening or two enjoying life in the village square.

With the village pizzeria not yet re-opened after a change of ownership we went to Descartes to try the newish pizza restaurant there.

The pizzas were not great and we have read that the restaurant is about to close.

Making good pizzas is clearly harder than you might think.

Two gorgeous old cars were parked outside the salle des fêtes in our own village.

It was "Paella night", rescheduled from earlier in the summer.

It's usually an outdoor event with fireworks at the end of the evening but due to the successive heatwaves it was postponed to September.

Paella was served to a huge number of people.

It was an excellent evening, great food, lots of fun and fabulous fireworks.

With the cooler weather we fished the old Harleys out of the barn and went for a few rides.

I never thought I would still be riding my Harley at the age of 74.

Mine is 19 years old, his 22 years.  Almost vintage.

The band "Celtiqua" played their farewell concert at the Lavoir in Preuilly.

It was a bitter sweet event, great music from old friends but a sad goodbye.

The weather is looking good for the coming week and into October.

Long may it continue (although we really do need some rain).

When comfort food is more tempting I have earmarked this recipe for our courgettes:

https://www.ocado.com/recipes/one-pan-courgette-lasagne/3PNvJ4T7DIynBjWpm04ISQ

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!!

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.