L’année de vie dangereuse

  Easter Thurs 2 to Sun 5 April 2026 A big clean up of LPR before a Good Friday departure for the 17 th C farmhouse east of Limoges for our 8 day sit. We arrived at 3.00 pm after a picnic stop half way and were greeted by Christine, an English women of our vintage, who has lived here with her husband for 20 odd years. A number of surprises then greeted us. The script said two black labs and a grey cat called Esme were our menagerie. Indeed, we were greeted by two beautiful black Labradors called Poppy and Tinks and we also met the cat. Apparently, and unbeknown, there are also two “barn cats” that need to be fed and allowed inside for water. So, we met Thelma and Louise. Oh, then “you wouldn’t believe it, says Christine, the modem just blew up.” No internet then. “You don’t need to work do you?” Well, no but it would be handy to have some comms, given we are in the middle of nowhere. Ah well, just an adventure. “Oh and by the way, let me introduce you to the bees!” A large swarm...

  Sat 28 March – Wed 1 April 2026 Life goes on here at LPR. More chain sawing of cordage logs and gardening. Johnny hasn’t left a list of jobs, so there’s no construction or concreting to do and Monday the light rain came in the early morning. Another visit to E. Leclerc, the famous supermarket is on the cards. We have also just scored two pet sits in the area. One for 10 days over Easter and another for 5 days in the following week. Two black Labs and a cat for the Easter sit, so it will be good to have a couple of dogs for a change.  And a curious observation. There has been almost no vision or live reporting of the Iran war. Compare what media was shown (and manipulated by military Public Affairs Officers like a certain Captain we know), in most conflicts from Vietnam onwards with the paucity of images and reporting coming out of the Iran theatre. No sign of petrol panic here. France gets most of its oil from the US. Inside Noz, the cheap shop where we got slippers and da...

Saturday - 21 March to Saturday 28 March 2026 We have settled into a familiar setting. Plenty of firewood for the open fire as the nights and mornings are 3-8C but the days are 18-21C and clear blue skies. Off to the market on Saturdays for fruit and vegetables, artisan bread, fresh fish and a rabbit. Four days in a row of wonderful weather. Almost able to sunbake on the terrace. Our jobs have been focussed on chain sawing the cordage wood into small lengths, splitting some of the larger and older logs, poisoning some weeds and training the honeysuckle to fill in the gaps on the fence. This is followed by a walk around the local roads in time for the 5.30 GnT.  It is cold enough then for an open fire in the living room and again in the morning for a couple of hours. We are now playing with the complicated German boiler to see if we can get the house radiators to work. Success after Lady P’s persistence. Cooking has been wonderful with all the produce from the market and we have...

 Saturday 14 March 2026 The US and Israel launched an attack on Iran on 28th February, throwing travel to Europe into disarray. The Australian Government issued a 'do not travel' notice and Emirates cancelled our Brisbane to Dubai and Paris flight. Iran retaliated by sending drones and missiles to all its neighbours, including Dubai airport. So, deciding that it was indeed a year of living dangerously, we managed to get a re-route via Melbourne to Dubai, which was on again off again, closed then open. Most missiles were shot down by the UAE but it only takes one. After two days in Buderim visiting Zena, who is now 98, we flew to Melbourne, surprised the grandkids for an hour or so after school, then the limo to Tullamarine and the Emirates A380 to Dubai. All went well and the Captain announced that we were on final to DBX. At 19,000' he announced that the airport was closed and we had to do circuits. It was during this time that we felt and heard the shooting down of two mi...