January 2022

The year started with a glorious blue sky, amazing views of the Pyrenees and a walk with Lilou.  I spoke to friends and sent messages to everyone I missed at 12:30 New Year eve/day.

Happy New Year 2022

I went to a fantastic New Year's day supper, lots of champagne and wine.  Traditional French onion soup with cheesy croutons followed by a Scottish salmon starter with prawns and mayonnaise.  Then, tatties, neeps and haggis with a superb whisky sauce.  A cheese board with truffle cheddar and finished with a great alcoholic trifle  and a wee dram.  We started at 7pm and I got home at 12:30am ready for my bed.  La Barthe is only 5 mins away, where my friends Mandy and Ian live.

Decorations being stored

This week will see the Christmas decorations being packed away for another year and the traditional burning of the tree, unfortunately no roots for planting.  But it's great for starting the open log fire.

Hawfinch

Two days into January and I saw a new "La Bastide" bird, after seven years, a Hawfinch, the largest European finch was perched on a tree on the road into La Bastide.  It was an impressive sight with large bill making it look parrot like.  It flew off after five minutes.  I remember the last time I saw one was over forty years ago in Windsor Great Park feeding on beech mast.  The start of the year has black winged kite and great white egret over-wintering and a merlin.  The birds outside the window, blackbird, robin, hedge sparrow, blue and great tits are making short work of the Christmas pudding, seed and fat balls.

It is a quiet month with some hedge trimming, vine pruning (lots of grapes last year, very few hornets or wasps) and leaves swept up.  Lots of sunny days walking the dog, birdwatching, cooking, eating and drinking.  All my favorite pastimes.  Looking forward to the snow in Saint Lary for the kids skiing in February.  This will be followed by a boys ski trip to Baqueira, Spain, before the 2022 season.  I have a friend of 40 years, coming over from America.  Unfortunately due to my back problem I will not ski.

We have our first bookings for June and July and we are getting lots of enquiries,  with the website updated with the 2022 calendar, VRBO, Gitelink and France for families all up-to-date for the coming season.  I think like last year (which was quite successful) that bookings will be later than normal due to the on-going Covid pandemic, with countries' travel policies in flux.  Upgrades this year will include three new mattresses for the double beds.  This will officially make them 2m long as we had them extended as old French beds are small.

It has rained over the weekend, non stop.  Now it's cold -3 and we have had our first snow of the year which lasted 30 minutes!  However more due.  During the morning five roe deer walked across the frosty field into the wood and Lilou discovered a few pheasants in the scrub below the terrace.

Another great lunch with friends, homemade chicken liver pate and warm bread, followed by roast beef, roast potatoes, vegetables and gravy,  pudding was apple crumble and ice cream.  Lots of Saint Emilion wine, finished with a great Irish whiskey - Powers, which you would expect as our host was Irish.

Sussex

The chicken has molted (why do they moult during the cold of November and December)  it looked like a shop bought plucked bird for a while, but is now beautiful again.  First eggs for a few months, now back to one a day.  I will add two hens donated by JP, later this month.  The ducks seem happy, but have not started to lay yet (end of January last year). but I am hopeful they will start soon.  I can then stop buying eggs, which are never as good.

This year I hope we get fibre, it has been installed in Lautrec, we now need all the cables laid to Puycalvel, so that we can order the service.  The first year is cheaper than the current ADSL at about 1/2 the price.  TARNFIBRE have the task of the rollout for the Tarn, fiber is being installed in the whole of France.  I have since discovered that we should get fiber in Puycalvel in November.

Well, I had an x-ray as my back is still bad from the tractor incident.  Nothing broken, but some osteoarthritis (consistent with my age), however my discs are about 20% smaller than they should be, which the doctor said would explain the back problem.  After a visit to my doctor in Lautrec, I now have physio treatment.  Currently I am doing daily Pilates and have the odd massage and walk with the dog.  I think it may take some time, but I hope the physio helps as I'm incapacitated doing any real work,

The sun will shortly rise and the blue sky will be clear, hot coffee while I type!   Another cold, but bright day in the Tarn,  Always good to finish on a positive note.  After about forty years, I received a letter out of the blue from a friend who I worked with at Brookland's college in Surrey.  Incredibly she has had a house here for thirty years and it is only forty minutes away.  I am looking forward to meeting up in the summer.