L’année de vie dangereuse

Easter to 10 April 2026 Which it was. A good day Monday that is.  A good burger and salmon citronee at Alison’s restaurant by the lake; dogs fetching sticks from the lake; and catching up on emails. Tuesday was a quick trip into Limoges to visit Grande Fraish and Kiabi for some fruit, sardines, salmon and bread and  some cheap summer gear as it is now a bright, warm 26C at Les Vergnes. All   our neighbours (3 of them) are away and we are surrounded by paddocks full of green grass and yellow dandelions. With all the deciduous trees now starting to bring on leaves and blossom the place looks a little like NZ or even parts of the Kiewa valley. Wednesday was another walk up the hill to the dam for a session of stick catching and leaping about in the water.   That’s the dogs, not Flashy. Stripped off into shorts, catching the rays on the terrace, sipping on beers (0 alc) at 11’sh, we noticed a fox in the adjacent paddock. The binos picked him out perfectly at about ...

  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...