(She's still thinking about it and you know how long women think about things!!) says Chris
Yes, well you know what us women are like, we always have a list of jobs and unfortunately the nitty gritty ones get done first and the enjoyable ones go to the bottom of the list!
Never mind, I have finally sat down to write my page. Initially I will try to update you all on our last 5 months, that is since we left Crete and moved to France.
There were many reasons for us leaving Elounda Crete, and as we have now done the deed there is no point in going over them all again apart from to say, that to date we are both much happier and less stressed here in France. We have worked very hard for most of our time here but we have both got a lot of satisfaction from what we have been doing.
We moved into 'Chez Rae' our friends cottage, he very kindy gave us the use of the cottage until we found somewhere to live. We spent the first 6 weeks doing a general clean up as the cottage had been empty for 3 months, biggest problem was the mice but I can tell you now that the kill rate was very even between
I think the final score was 4 to Chris and 5 to Dibley, however Dibley continued to chase and kill in the garden so by the time we left 'Chez Rae' the cats score was in the region of 20!
We also got on with painting the rooms and laying carpets to make the cottage comfortable for the winter as our friends here had all warned us that in February the temperatures can be as low as -14C, cold enough to freeze a cup of tea.
We then went off to the UK for a planned Christmas trip, however my Mum had a fall a couple of days before we arrived in the Uk and I ended up moving in with mum for over 3 weeks as she was quite incapacitated, Chris managed to 'do his back' in again so at one point I had Chris laid out at my brothers appartment where we stay and me at mums and I was driving up and down the motorway between the two of them. Chris recovered first and went off to his parents for Christmas (by the way the car engine blew up the day after we got to the uk so had to have the engine rebuilt and I had to hire a car for two weeks just to get around and play nurse to the invalids).
On our return to France nearly 5 weeks later we walked into the cottage with water pouring down the chimney breast and mega rising damp in the room that we were using as a lounge. This gave us the kick to go and find somewhere else to live and we were very lucky in that some friends that we have known a few years happened to have an empty farmhouse.
Initially on our first visit I was not happy to take it on, however we borrowed the keys and spent a couple of hours down there and had a good look around and me being me made a list!. We decided that if we put a lot of effort in we could make the farmhouse into a lovely home. We spent 6 weeks cleaning (and I mean cleaning, we had to use acid to clean some of the dirt, the old couple who had lived there had allowed the goats into the house). We then set too on the decorating and installing a kitchen - there wasn't a cupboard in the place. Chris has excelled himself, he has leant to plaster, albeit small areas, he has done well, he has built half a kitchen( the other half is scheduled for 4 weeks from now) and after 6 weeks we were able to move in with the toilet , our bedroom and half a kitchen completed.
We then went off to the Uk again. This time we were going back for Pam & Glyns wedding, for those that don't know them, they are a couple we met out in Elounda. They used to run a bar in Elounda, now they had a knick knacks shop there.
We had a lovely day (as can be seen from the photos that are on the web site). It was so good to meet up with friends from Elounda, either that are now living in the Uk or who are still out there.
We also had a date with some friends in Birmingham, yet another couple who we met out in Elounda. It was Steve's 50th birthday party so we went down to there home stayed with Steve and Elaine for 3 days.
On the way down there, I stopped off at Stoke to visit Bev (used to run Maxims in Elounda). Bev was the 1st person that we ever met in Elounda 17 years ago and she and I have been good friends since. It was her brithday also so I met up with her and her family and had a brithday luncheon.
We should have left the uk on the Monday of the bad storms however our ferry was cancelled so we stayed a day longer with Steve and Elaine and set off on the Tuesday. Chris was riding his motorbike back to France and I was in my car. The drive to Dover was windy but dry, the ferry crossing was fine, I even managed a doze on the way over but once in France the conditions were atrocious. We both agree now that we should not have done the journey in those conditions but we did and we are here to tell the tale. The wind and rain was awful and Chris was being blown all over and I was struggling as we had the top box on the car. We were both trying to keep an eye on each other and it wasn't pleasant.
Once back at the farmhouse we both took to our beds with nasty colds but we are fine now. We have been busy getting more of the farmhouse done. This week we have taken out the old farmhouse range oven and installed our own wood burner. We bought the woodburner from Bulgaria when we were over visiting our friends Dave & Sandra. We can now sit in our tee-shirts once it is lit. I am also halfway through making the curtains for our bedroom and once they are done I will start on the guest room.
The weather has not been so good since our return form the uk, we had got spoit, as for 3 weeks before our uk visit we had had glorious weather and when our friend Rae came over for a visit they had the first
bar-b-ue of the season. Not bad for 23rd February. I was also to be found out on my sun lounger the next day.
Well I think thats it for now folks. I will try and update this page each week or more often if I have any hot gossip.
Early Visitors Page - A few piccies of friends and family
Our holiday in Cuba - A few photos
My Genealogy - My first family tree
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