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How we got here and a few tips on staying here
Our Tourist Guide (on Paul's handyman site)
Diary July-Dec 03
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August September October November December July 2003 Our move out of Sutton Court Drive was a nightmare. I mis-judged the van space required and we ended up giving away stuff we really didn't want to and having to store about half a Transit full in Sharon's parents garage. We can both honestly rate it as one of the worst days of our lives. Awful. Just as we thought the only way is up, more bad news. Neil Noble and his son Jamie, were going to be driving the van down and back for us. At 4am on a cold Saturday morning in Canvey, Neil told us that Jamie had had his car and passport stolen the night before and couldn't now come. Neil, looking great in his 'knight in shinning armour' gear (okay, it was only a West Ham shirt, but you get the point?) said "No problem. I'll drive the van on my own" The journey was a slog. We tried to share the driving out so that everyone got a break, but at one stage I nodded off for a second, only woken by the rumble strips on the hard shoulder. Scary. After using Eurotunnel for all of our
crossings previously, we'd booked
We arrived at the house about 6pm and within a couple of minutes of arriving the phone rang. It was Liz, a friend of ours from the Limousin, on a wind up call. She pretended to be French and scared the wotsit out of me. Just what I needed. Still she did invite us over for a Bar-b the following evening, so I've let her off (for now) Notable events this month have been: The bar-b at Liz and Tony's. We played Twister, at which Daniel proclaimed himself champion of, Liz amazed us with feats of balance while under the influence of Rosé and I amazed myself at how far my tired overweight body could bend. Biggest laugh of the night (for everyone else) was helping Tony collect a live goose from a neighbour. It was sitting on my lap in the front of the car and the little wotsit peed on me! Did I get sympathy? After the laughter had died down, all I got was a "welcome to France" from Tony and a "more washing!" from Sharon. The boys having some of their fears allayed at the schools open morning. They still have a big challenge in front of them, but now it's not totally unknown.
Meeting Sheila, Robert, Jamie and Stuart. They moved over a week after us from Ayrshire.
Our neighbour Mme Chassin, keeping us stocked up with haricot beans and tomatoes from her garden. Going back to the UK to get the rest of our stuff over. It was great to see the family again, but a funny feeling being back in Britain. It felt even more hustle, bustle and claustrophobic than before. Looking back on the month we feel we're progressing but not as quickly as we'd hoped. The language is a struggle. After an early learning spurt, it seems to have ground to a halt. It's frustrating that we can't just pick up the phone a sort something out. Everyone one has been patient and seem appreciative that we are trying. But you feel such a failure if they end up speaking to us in English. We're getting things done but it's pretty much all stuff that's new to us and some of it is taking a couple of attempts to get right. I hope all this doesn't sound like we're not happy. We are. As frustrating as our failures are, this is one of the reasons why we came here. To challenge ourselves. The challenge continues. 2003Wow, what a month. We can't quite believe how much has happened in the space of 31 days. The biggest event by far this month has been the boys starting school. I can't begin to tell you how proud we are of them. Their first day was Thursday 28th August. While Sharon and I felt like nervous wrecks inside, the boys chatted happily in the back of the car on the way to school. When we got there, they both went in with hardly a backward glance, leaving Sharon and I to endure a day of pacing around, not knowing what to do with ourselves. At 4.30 we picked them up and they were absolutely bubbling with enthusiasm. They couldn't stop talking about the friends they'd made, the work they'd done and the games they'd played. By the end of their second day they were arguing with us because they wanted to go on the school bus, instead of with us in the car. The school day is from 9am to 4.30pm, with the standard French 2 hour lunch break. Added bonus for the boys is that they get Wednesday's off and don't have to wear school uniform (not much of a bonus for us, as we live with 9 and 7 year old fashion icons!) On the downside, they do get homework every night. But it's not much and most of the time at the moment is taken in translating it. As with so much over here, we feel as if we have come through a time tunnel. So many things happen in a way they did 30/40 years ago in Britain. The children are treated like children. They are not put under ridiculous pressure to meet government tests and targets. They play games in the playground that even my Mum remembers playing at school! The teaching methods are very similar to those Sharon and I remember experiencing. The end result appears to be happy, polite kids enjoying their childhood. When we moved over, we had intended to spend 6 months or so, improving our French and sussing out what sells, best places to buy our materials etc. However, Sharon was invited to take part in an exposition (exhibition) at La Trimouille in mid August. It was too good an opportunity to turn down so we accepted the invite. The expo started on 8th August and it seems as if things took off like a Harrier from that date. We sold over 660euro's worth of glassware and pottery, made some new friends and some exciting contacts. Sharon now has her work on display in the old part of Montmorillon and it is still selling well. We've also been invited to take part in other expos' and we are going to approach other shops in other towns with Sharon's work. We've even been told to go to Paris with it! While this is obviously excellent news it does have it's problems. Our language 'skills' are being stretched to the limit and we are having to look into registering as a business sooner than we expected. It is surprising how mentally tired an hour of French 'conversation' leaves you. As with most of Europe, we've been having record breaking temperatures over here. For 2 weeks in the middle of the month, the daytime temperature did not go below 35c. For 5 or 6 days it was well over 40c. It was incredible, far too hot for us lily white Brit's. When there was a breeze it was like standing in front of a fan heater and our £200 swimming pool proved to be best buy of the year! It's now early September and temperatures are hovering around 25c. It feels a bit chilly! We had our first guests this month. Sharon's parents Terry and Glenys followed by my Mum and her husband Dennis. It was great having family over. They were great company and a big help. Having guests forced us to sit down and relax of an evening instead of working on the house and glass-painting. Being away from our families is still by far the biggest downside for us in living in France. I think it's something we will have to learn to live with if we stay here. Since our families left on the 21st we've suffered from a bit of a 'hangover'. Although we are getting out and about and mixing with people we do feel a bit cut off. Sharon misses the day to day chats she used to have at Rochford Primary School, when she could talk without translating. It will get better with time and it is just part of settling in. A few other brief points
The thorns in the garden are proving a pain. So far we've had punctures in a lawnmower tyre, the wheelbarrow tyre, 2 leather footballs and 3 plastic footballs.
All in all it's been a brilliant month, we've achieved so much more than we ever could have dreamt of and we could not have wished for the boys to have adopted a more positive attitude toward the school than they have. Here's hoping it continues. September 2003 September has been a bit of a settling in month. Not so much excitement (thankfully) but steady progress. The boys have just blown us away with how well they have settled into the school. We knew we were taking a risk with their education in bringing them over here but we were confident in their abilities to adapt and progress. They have surpassed our expectations by miles (sorry, kilometres). After just 20 days at school we are told that Daniel is taking part in class discussions in French, is conducting his own English lessons in the playground and correcting the schools English teacher (from the US of A) on her grammar! Luke is surprising himself with what he is capable of. In England it was a battle to get him to school and he felt useless because he wasn't meeting the required standards for a 6 year old! Over here he is waiting at our gate for the school bus and without the pressure, he is finding his motivation. In the UK he was told he wasn't ready to do joined up handwriting, yet here they teach it from day one and he is writing in beautiful French script. He's even enjoying his maths. The boy's have made a few friends in the short time they've been at school and they've had a couple of them round to play. They were so excited to show Stephan and Sophia that we had 3 chickens, but when they visited their houses they found that Stephan and Sophia had about 60 chickens, plus cows and pigs and ducks and geese etc. The boy's still love their 3 chickens though and now that we're eating the eggs Sharon and I do too. We're getting an average of 2 a day at the moment and they're delicious. At first they were laying eggs all over the place and every day was like an Easter egg hunt. But I found a great trick for getting them to lay in the henhouse. We've put a golf ball in one of the nesting boxes and ever since then every egg has been laid in that box! Tip courtesy of Backyard Chickens website. The house is progressing well (ish). The days just seem to vanish. I've boarded out the studio and tidied the pipe work. When I ripped down the old ceiling I found a mouse nest in the insulation, complete with baby mice. It ties in nicely with the rats nest we found underneath the old toilet when we ripped it out (ah the country life!). The garden is still producing surprises. We've got edible mushrooms popping up all over the place and masses of walnuts. Sharon made some delicious scones with home grown walnuts and fresh laid eggs. Income has slowed a bit, but then we weren't expecting to be selling yet anyway. We did an expo in Moulimes which went well. But our main priority at this moment in time is learning our market over here and we are doing that all the time. Sharon is experimenting with some new finishes and new products. They are looking great and hopefully I'll be re-doing the business end of this website soon. We've
continued to make new friends and the French have continued to surprise us with
their warm welcome and generosity.
The weather has continued to be gorgeous. We are now into early October, we've just had barbequed trout and we are still wearing shorts. Some of the sunsets and night skies have been breathtaking. A few nights ago it was crystal clear, I've never seen so many stars. I'm sure we could see the milky way, but I'm not an astronomer. It must be the absence of street lighting and loads of houses that makes the colours and stars so stunning. We've bought a French car. It's a Renault Senic and we collect it on the 3rd October. It's a diesel so it should save us a bit on fuel. Diesel is about 50p a litre here at the moment and un-leaded is about 69p. Other highlights: Daniel falling in the water when we were walking with Samy and Florence. He was going on and on about having 'cat feet' as he jumped around the rocks, then splash! Poor little fella was soaked from head to toe but we couldn't stop laughing. We've started our French lessons in Montmorillon. They are very good so hopefully we will see (hear) some dramatic improvement! We've now got French TV as well as the UK channels. Good practice for getting our French ears. The sick hen who is better now seems to be taking on the role of Rocky the Rooster. Every 5 minutes she seems to be finding another way to escape out of the chicken run. I was chasing her down the road a few days ago. Maybe we'll try her in a casserole dish and see if she gets out of that. It has been a really good month. The boys have settled well and we feel at home. Neither of us can imagine that we will want to move back to England, it all feels so right here. We feel like we belong. We are getting impatient over the income thing. It feels like we have so many options open to us, the trick will be choosing the right one. Or will it be a mixture of all of them???? Time for another glass of Rosé! October 2003 Have we really only been over here 18 weeks? There's been so much sorting out, adjusting to, learning etc, it feels like we've been here for a year at least! The boys have kept up the good work at school. Daniel's teacher has said that his handwriting is better than most of the children in the year above him. Luke is relishing his new found confidence and doing things he would never have attempted 4 months ago. They've had 2 school trips this term one was to a local vineyard where they helped press grapes (they start them young out here) and the other was to Futuroscope in Poitiers. Luke was a little nervous about going to Poitiers. It must be daunting for a 7 year old lad, to get on a coach, drive miles away from his Mum and Dad, with people he doesn't know that well and can't speak to or understand properly. He said he had a 'tummy ache' and didn't want to go. As it was a fun trip, we told him that he could stay at home if he wanted, but we thought he would be missing out on a great day. In the end his tummy ache got better and he went. We were proud and relieved when they both came home and couldn't stop telling us what a good time they'd had. It's great to see the boys facing up to fears and challenges in such a positive manner. Even with things like being afraid of the dark. Both of them quite happily run half way down the garden in the dark to shut the chickens up for the night and believe me, the dark is dark out here with virtually no artificial lighting. Sharon and I are really pleased (especially as we're scared to go down there!). As I've said before, they are setting us a great example to follow. Obvious highlight of the month was Sharon having another 21st Birthday. I took her to Poitiers with the plan that she could buy something she really liked and we could have a nice lunch. In the end, we arrived at lunchtime and every restaurant Sharon fancied was packed. We ended up on a bench in a shopping mall, with a ham roll. We then looked around umpteen shops and Madame couldn't find anything she liked. Not our most successful day! On the 19th we'd invited Samy and Florence (our French friends) over for a taste of English cooking. Sharon made a lovely chicken casserole followed by blackberry and apple crumble with custard. Afterwards we had a nice cup of tea (PG Tips) They enjoyed it and seemed impressed (and relieved) that English food was not as bad as they'd thought. Samy was amused that I made the tea and cleared away the dishes. The men are a bit macho out here and don't do 'women's work'. I did suggest to Sharon that I become more French but she didn't answer. A major step forward this month has been applying for our Carte de Sejour. What is a Carte de Sejour? Well basically it's a residency permit. If you want to stay in France continuously for more than 3 months you need to apply for one. It stems from the fact that all French citizens have to carry an ID card, therefore non French citizens residing in France are legally obliged to carry one too. Enter the Carte de Sejour. After all the horror stories we had heard we were not looking forward to it. But after a trip to our Mairie, we completed the surprisingly simple form and handed it in with photocopies of every official document we had to our name. We were told that everything was okay, so now we just wait for them to come through (hopefully). We are now on the committee of the schools parents association. It's called the APE. They wanted to know what we did in the UK to raise money for the school. I listed a few bits out, but spent ages clawing through dictionaries, trying to find a translation for 'Quiz Night'. In the end all I could find was a 'Soirée des questions et des réponses' (an evening of questions and answers) After much puzzling over what I meant, Monsieur Lyon exclaimed "oh! a quiz night"! Another example of the difference in attitudes and lifestyles over here, was shown in the numbers attending the meeting. In a school of about 80 children, there were nearly 30 parents at the meeting. In Rochford we were lucky to get 5 or 6 parents in a school of around 300 pupils.
Other highlights My Dad visited this month. It's great when family visit. You get a warm smiley feeling when you see them arrive, but on the downside you get that heavy stomach feeling when they go. Unfortunately Dad arrived with a heavy cold/flu and the weather was lousy, so activities were limited. Still he did leave a few germs as a reminder of his visit. Thanks Dad! We are going nuts in La Villecharault. We must have over 1000 walnuts, 6 big jars of newly preserved chestnuts and a couple of hundred hazelnuts. The mushrooms coming up in the garden are delicious. You can't get much fresher than picking a few mushrooms, popping down to the chicken run for a couple of eggs and knocking up a quick omelette. Just wish we had a pig. We are coming to the conclusion that we are the hibernation capital for most of the moles in France and we're running out of patience with them. I wonder what Pierre next door must think, when he sees me jumping up and down in my wellies in a frustrated attempt to squash the little wotsits. We had a water problem on Dads first day here. Our tap water was coming out muddy brown. After checking with neighbours and finding that we were the only people affected, we reported it to the Mairie in La Trimouille. Within 2 hours it was all sorted out. The French often pan their public services, but we were quite impressed with this performance. It's been a bit of an up and down month emotionally. It's a mixture of things. We've all had niggling health problems, coughs, colds etc. With winter coming, the weather's changing. We've had thick morning frosts and the rain is playing catch up for the summer. Basically, we're all a bit mentally knackered. We knew it wasn't going to be easy coming out here. At least, not as easy as these escapism programmes on TV make out. But you can only prepare yourselves so much before plunging into a new lifestyle, culture, language etc. As I've mentioned before, we came over here with a challenge to build ourselves a better life. We are still up for that challenge, but while some may think that this sort of thing is an extended holiday, the facts are that it is hard work and probably will be for at least the next year. I know some people may look at the low points I've mentioned here and think we're wobbling. That's not the case. We try and make this diary a fair reflection on our life over here. It's not all sugar and rose's and we do have moments when we think we've had enough. But on the whole, we are still happy. We are still amazed by the kind, generous and warm welcome we have received from the French. We are all benefiting from spending more time as a family. We still love walking out in the garden and hearing only birdsong and we are not planning to return to the UK to live. Off to muck out the chickens now. See you next month November 2003 Sharon and I have been back to the UK this month (separately). I took our Honda back to sell it, while Sharon went for a few days of retail therapy and to get her hair done! We took advantage of Ryanair's crazy prices. I got a single from Stansted to Poitiers for £13 and Sharon had a return ticket for about £30. Best bit of the breaks was seeing family and friends. Maybe it sounds 'gushy' because we keep going on about them, but they are great and we were both really happy to see them. Worst bit of the trips was the shock of south east England. After a few months of driving on French country roads, the A13 from London to Southend was a real jaw dropper. It was banger racing, except no one got hit! In saying that UK road fatalities are far far lower than they are in France. Road safety is one of the few things the French (grudgingly) admire the UK for. The problem is that with the less congested roads out here, the speeds are higher, so when an accident happens it's normally a bad one. Next time your sitting in slow moving traffic, be grateful for it! Other things that really struck us was how luxurious our families houses felt. Our little house is comfortable but basic and by comparison the UK homes seemed very palatial. The atmosphere also hit us. Instead of relaxed and laid back we're getting used to in France, it seemed very competitive and panicky. Daniel and Luke are making good progress at school. The amount of French they've picked up in 13 weeks of schooling is terrific. They're starting to translate for us at times when we're out. A taste of things to come I think. Daniel 'delighted' us over dinner with details of how he had dissected a rabbit in class. With particular emphasis on the difference between the contents of the stomach and the intestines! Luke has made himself a little friend. he's been calling him Nutter, but it turns out his name is Nathan (something's lost in the pronunciation). It's good to see Luke starting to make friends. The school meetings are long over here. We've had 2 this month and both went on until nearly midnight. The French love a chat! It struck us, as we sat there struggling to understand what the teacher was saying, how hard it must be for the boys. Sharon and I are making progress with the language. I've muddled through with a few phone conversations and Sharon has done really well at the expo's. It seems at times as if we're doing well, then it plateaus for a while and we feel we're getting nowhere. I think we're doing the right things though. We have nearly 4 hours of lessons a week and we have always made an effort to put ourselves in positions where we've got to speak French. Quite often we've had shop assistants talk to us in English, but we always try and talk back in French. It's odd when you have a Frenchmen talking in broken English, to an Englishman talking in broken French! Watching the Rugby World Cup was an interesting experience over here! I watched the England v France semi final with some French friends. They were most impressed with my England shirt and when I stood and saluted for the national anthem. On the whole the French seemed to accept that the best team on the day won, but we've heard plenty of excuses. Apart from the rain (L'Equipé described the French team as 'soluble when wet) we've been told that apparently the England team is on drugs, where as France are very strict on drugs and they are not allowed. Once I'd corrected this misconception, I was asked how come the England players are so big and strong then? I said it was down to good food and exercise as opposed to the the French team who drank too much wine and ate too much cheese. After which we had a laugh and they threw me out of the house! Come the final though, they were rooting for England and much whooping was heard at La Villecharault when we beat the Aussies. An odd thing to come from the rugby was being asked by some in the UK who we wanted to win, England or France? It has to be England. We love France, it's people and it's way of life but we will always be English. Although we feel more European since we moved over we will always be English.
Other Highlights We're growing veggies now. We've got some winter lettuces in and I've just planted a load of chicory. Really looking forward to next year when we can grow a lot more. The girls are still excelling themselves. Laying normally slows down as the days get shorter and colder, but we're still getting about 10 or 12 eggs a week. Sharon has to keep on making cakes to use them up! Talking of cooking. Sharon is excelling herself in the cuisine department. She's been making some really tasty and easy to make dinners and cakes lately. Maybe by next month we'll have an 'Old Ma Tomlin's French Country Cooking' page. Ouch! Had a lovely evening with Robert, Sheila and their sons, highlight of which was finding that the Chinese restaurant in Montmorillon does a very tasty take away. If money gets a bit tight I may think about buying a moped with a thermal box and offering my services as a delivery boy. We spent an enjoyable Sunday afternoon bottling wine. We bought 30 litres from a Wine Depot and transferred it into 40 bottles. The good news is it only cost about 1.50€ for a bottles worth (just over a Pound in old money). Bad news is its best left for a couple of years before drinking. Forty bottles of wine, just sitting there for 2 years! Can we resist the temptation? I've been asked to help out with the French Telethon on the 6th December. I'm helping with traffic control for a vintage motorcycle rally. Keep an eye on the news for multiple crashes involving old bikes in France! So there you go, 5 months gone and we're still here. Sunny and peaceful has changed to chilly and isolated. It seems as if everyone's hibernated. You feel cut off at times and Sharon especially misses the day to day chats. Things you put up with in the sunshine become infuriating in the rain. The 'snugness' of the house has caused tempers to fray on a few occasions and the garden where we spent many a summers night looking at the stars through the bottom of a wine glass, is now trying to invade the house via the boys shoes! At times we expect too much. The things that get on our nerves are resolvable, so long as all goes to plan. We're making good progress with the language and we're building a lovely group of friends, but at times you want it all now. We've come a long way in 5 months but we've further still to go. Next instalment due early Jan (hangover permitting! December 2003 We've just got back from spending Christmas in the UK and it's good to be able to say 'it's nice to be home'. It was great spending Christmas with the families and they made a real fuss of us. We got round to see most of the people we wanted to see, though not for as long as we'd have liked. We were not sure whether the boys were more excited to see Nan's, Grandad's, cousins etc or by the prospect of an impending visit from Santa. At times all the excitement was a bit too much for them. It seems like we go into a different world whenever we go back and by the end of our visit Sharon said 'it's been lovely, but it will be nice to get back to a bit of normality again'. Then it occurred to us that 'normality' at present is living in a foreign country, where we are still learning the language and setting up a new business. It must say something for our state of minds and of our confidence for the future that we were happily looking forward to that. I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions! The boys were glad to be home too. Luke made us laugh when we asked him what he was looking forward to about visiting England. He said seeing his family and carpets (it's all tiles and rugs in the house). By the end of the break he said he can't wait to get back to France because of the nice hard floors! He takes after his Mother. The weather has turned really cold. Here we are, just into 2004 and it's snowing, seems like only yesterday it was 40+ degrees. Mind you the house is still nice and warm. We've no central heating, only a log fired stove, a couple of petrol fan heaters and a towel rad in the bathroom, but it's never been cold. There's something satisfying about lighting a fire to provide heat for your family, must be the caveman in me coming out. We're sure it's healthier too. So far the only colds we've had were exported from England via my Dad, we'll have to see how we go for sniffles over the next few months. The Telethon bike rally went well and as far as I'm aware I didn't cause any accidents. It turned out to be a trial bike rally not vintage bikes as I'd thought. They were following a cross country route and we had to stop the traffic whenever they crossed a road. Funniest moment was when the 60 or so bikes went roaring off down a dirt track lane, only to come roaring back a minute later, closely followed by a dozen cows being herded by an embarrassed farmer. Another funny moment came at the meal in the evening. It was in a barn and it was bitterly cold. Daniel came out with a classic bit of Franglais when he angrily exclaimed to everyone in earshot; "I'm freezing my pieds off here" Pieds is French for feet. The boys really enjoyed the Christmas party in Journet. After a little show with clowns, jugglers and acrobats, Father Christmas came in pushing a wheelbarrow full of presents (we were told they'd eaten the reindeer last year!) It was lovely seeing all the excited, smiling faces and the kids were quite happy too. It was a smashing little do considering Journet is a tiny village. After the show I spoke to our neighbours the Chassin's. Although they've given us lots of veggies and some advice now and again, we've not really spoken very much due to our lack of French. So I was very happy when they were surprised and complimentary on how much my French had improved over the past few months. Madame Chassin said that she was pleased we were not one of these families continually asking "do you speak English?" Sadly, we've seen quite a few of them over the past few months. It's a real shame when you see some Brit's who cannot even be bothered to say please and thank you in French. Even more shocking was seeing an English lady hold out a fan of notes, which must have been at least 250€ (£175) for the girl in the Post Office to help herself. We've all come a long way with the language, but we've a lot further to go and at times it is incredibly frustrating. At the moment we are having a problem with our new cooker. It should have been delivered with jets to suit bottled gas, but it wasn't and it's been sitting in our backroom since 2nd December. We've been back to the shop and we've spoken to them on the phone, but it's difficult to be assertive when you're struggling to understand and find the right words to say. Our friend Florence has now called them and all I can say is that I'm glad I was not the person on the other end of the phone! In England I was a regular blood donor, so when I saw publicity about a session in Montmorillon I thought, may as well carry on over here. I went along and was most impressed with the set up. Big tray of chocolates as you go in, fresh fruit juice's and biscuits while you wait and afterwards a buffet table with cold meats, paté, cheese etc. Anyone who has donated in the UK will know that you'll get tea or orange squash with a biscuit for your efforts. Problem was, they didn't want my blood! In fact they will not take blood from anyone who lived in the UK between 1980 - 1994. The reason? CJD or mad cow disease. The doctor sympathetically explained that although there was no evidence to support it, there was a fear that the disease could be passed on via blood transfusions, the French Government had adopted a 'better safe than sorry' attitude. Three days later, watching the BBC news, the lead story was of the first reported case of CJD being passed on via a blood transfusion. We saw the New Year in with some friends and a few less than spectacular fireworks. We didn't go too mad with the drink as we were visiting French friends the following day and had agreed to try an array of traditional French dishes. Snails, Frogs legs and roast wild boar. I still can't believe that I asked for 'seconds' of snails, but I did. They were delicious but I had to blank out the thought of what I was eating. Sharon and Luke are now partial to Frogs legs testified by the little pile of cocktail stick like bones left on the plate. The wild boar (which had been shot by Samy's Dad) was absolutely gorgeous cooked in red wine and mushrooms. Mmmmm! Well worth missing out on a New Years day hangover. I guess we really are integrated now! I think the boys end of term reports sum up very well how the whole family has done over this first 6 months. They said that they had tried very hard and had made excellent progress, but that their efforts need to be maintained as there was still a lot of catching up to do. We've much to look forward to in 2004 and a fair few challenges too. Among these are:
Lastly we'd like to say thank you to all those that have contacted us with kind words about this diary. We are really surprised that people we have never met are following it. We'd originally only intended it as a way for friends to keep in touch with what we're up to, so it's come as a real surprise to get e-mails from as far away as Australia! We hope we can keep you interested through 2004 and it's great to hear peoples comments on the site. Many thanks and a bientôt. For the continuing story please follow this link Our Diary 2004 |
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