Surviving the dream

What brilliant weather we are having at the moment, it is so very, very warm, this morning 26 degrees celsius in the shade. Too warm for me and it is only May. We are apparently going to have some wet and stormy weather arriving from tomorrow. We will see, although generally Meteo France are pretty accurate.

Hubby is fine, and so is the dog. In fact both are quite calm and happy at the moment, I must be doing something right. The car is now mended. The new tyres are on, the new power steering pump is fixed, all it needs is a bit of valeting! We have been to Puy du Fou and bought our season tickets and we took in one show, will only go during the week, the weekends and Wednesdays will be a bit busy up there I think with youngsters out of school!!

After waiting a couple of weeks to hear from the last estate agent I decided to email him to see whether he would be adding our property to his portfolio. He sent a very nice reply saying that he would not be taking us on. I don't like the fact that he didn't have the courtesy to contact me and let me know that he would not be putting the house on. I feel that it was very rude of him. Don't think I will contact him again.

Obviously I was brought up with better standards than him.. I have found that there are a lot of Britaniques in the area who carry a 'holier than thou' attitude around with them (and a lot of them are professional men). There are a couple of chaps I have met ages ago and both, it appears, were lawyers in the UK. I didn't ask them what they did before coming to La Belle France, they volunteered the information in the course of conversation. When I find people doing that I ignore the 'fact' that they give me as it is of no interest or importance to me. In a social situation I like people for who they are and not what they 'did' or 'do'. There are some really nice people I have met out here, quite a diverse crowd who I am really fond of from all parts of the UK. There are also those that I would not give the time of day to - it would be the same in the UK, you either get on with neighbours or work colleagues or you don't!

I remember being invited, a few years ago, to a young English girls (womans) birthday. I said that I would make her a cake. I did, it was a very nice chocolate and meringue confection that took ages to make and was absolutely delicious. A recent acquaintance at the party said to me "I'm surprised you made her a cake, she is a cook you know." I zipped my lips..Hrrrmph, I had been married x number of years and had been cooking longer than the birthday girl had been around. This person had no idea of my past at all, for all she knew I could have been a cookery teacher/writer etc..... I just smiled and said that it was a pleasure to make Xxxx a cake as I love to make cakes. What is it with the British abroad? I do sometimes wonder....

Mr Saistout moved in next door, he is 'living the dream' with his partner (who we rarely see), growing vegetables, keeping poultry and planting hedges right on the boundary line, not registering his vehicles and they are not working... Early retirees - methinks they will come unstuck in the near future, Mr Sanscolle eventuellement.

There is also Mme Je-sais-tous-les-gens-importants... well - we won't go there. Also Mme Coiffeuse (cash only please) and Mme Estheticienne. These people have all appeared in the last 5 years and feel that they could do me a service.... I don't want it!! It is not what I came here for.

I belong to a couple of associations here, one related to tourism and the other is a ladies group. I don't ask for this but I have recently been invited to join all sorts of 'France' related groups, things like 'Surviving France', 'France - the Dream' etc. etc. I think so far that there have been 5 I've been invited to join in the last couple of weeks. Are these sites set up for and by insecure people? I don't want to get dragged into the 'I'm an anglo ex-pat got to discuss it all with other anglo ex-pats' lifestyle out here, it is not what I came here for.

For us, we are 'surviving' France and we are not 'living the dream'(or the nightmare!) but are living our lives here, enjoying our retirement (when health and car lets us). It is what we came here for. Am I being a bit cynical about the other British living here (in my neighbourhood)?

I have found another immobilier, a French girl, absolutely delightful and she had, again, different ideas to the others. She suggested splitting the entire property up into two lots.... whether it would work or not I don't know. If we do sell the barns as a separate entity God knows what we will do with all the stuff stored in them! Maybe have a 'garage' sale and make a bit extra.. We will see