Hi folks. It’s been a while since we last added an update. The summer was very busy for Sharon with her expo’s and what with me settling into work again, there always seemed to be other priorities.

The big news is that we have apparently decided that we are staying in France! I say ‘apparently’ as we can’t really say that we sat down and made a decision. We went from having regular discussions on the merits of staying or going back, to one night when we noticed that we hadn’t been talking about moving back for ages. Our discussions were now about whether we should extend the house or move into La Trimouille. It’s strange, in the same way as we can’t remember making an actual decision to move over, we can’t remember making a ‘decision’ to stay. At least over here we can blame it on the wine!

Sharon had a great summer with the expo’s. Our favourite was Chauvigny, where we hired a cabin that was sited in the main square of the medieval city. We had it for a week and that included and evening market. It was fascinating meeting so many different nationalities and Sharon can now truly say her work is spread globally! It was really nice to have French couples buying Sharon’s work and saying it was as a souvenir of their visit to Chauvigny.

My job is going as well as can be expected. I passed my probation period and I now have a contract. It feels pretty much the same as any other job, I have good days and bad days, but trying to man manage in a language you do not speak well is tricky to put it mildly! At times I still feel like an outsider, but those moments are becoming fewer. The staff have been patient with attempts to speak French and I felt a boost to my confidence when I was recently invited out for an after work drink with everyone. It is a different working culture over here. While they are sometimes extremely laid back during work time, they think nothing of working unpaid for 10 or 15 minutes into their lunch break or at the end of the day. Every morning it is pretty much compulsory to greet your fellow workers with a handshake/kiss plus bonjour, ca va. My journey to work takes about 45mins for about 60kms (38 miles) Rush hour here is a little different to south east Essex! It’s mainly through countryside and at this time of year there is a lot of wildlife about intent on diving under your car. Red squirrels, weasels and rabbits I can cope with but I don’t fancy the prospects of Ford Fiesta versus a deer or boar!

We’ve enjoyed some great times with family and friends visiting over the summer. My sister Karen came over with hubby David and my nephew and niece, Matthew and Hannah. One of the highlights of the week was the Dad’s versus Kids football matches. The kids won of course, David and I were just happy to be able to walk at the end of the games. Then there were the parent championships. The children set us a number of challenges to see who was the champion Mum or Dad. As a result of these challenges I am able to advise other parents not to use a pogo stick after a Chinese meal and a bottle of red wine. My former bosses Terry and Jean, from Thermoshield in the UK visited on their way down to Spain and I think they were shocked at how we were managing to cope in our little house. After telling them it was so peaceful and relaxing here, we had one of our neighbours chain sawing his firewood ready for the winter and just when we thought the dog had settled down it jumped up at Jean and spilt coffee all over her. Welcome to our little French madhouse!

The boys are back at school and still enjoying it. It’s a great feeling to see them chatting and playing with their mates. If you didn’t know better you’d think they were all the same nationality. Luke now goes to Judo club on a Friday night and we hope to have guitar lessons arranged for Daniel soon. School dinners are interesting over here. Daniel, who was the world’s most fussy eater, has eaten things he would never have dreamt of. Last week he had Ostrich, but I resisted the temptation of asking if he got a leg! We are very lucky to have 2 sons with such a good attitude. They hardly made a fuss through all of their first year at school, they just got on with it and did the best they could. It was tough for them though and this came out when we were talking recently. We were reflecting back on this time last year at school and they both said it was much better now even though the teachers are expecting more from them. Daniel said, "we feel normal now, just like the others. Last year we felt different and didn’t know many people".

We feel extremely lucky to have met so many nice people over here, both English and French. There is a strong sense of community here and pride in your town or commune. People help each other out and we’ve made friends in the past months that we feel we have known for years.

Bits and Bobs

• It’s pretty much definite that we are going to extend the house. March 2005 has been set as a provisional start date.

• A few weeks ago Luke was chatting to Sharon and informed her quite matter of factly, that the donkeys one of his friends kept were going to be eaten by the family soon. After leaving Sharon shocked and outraged for a few minutes, he informed her that he was only joking! Can’t think where he gets his sense of humour?

• Good idea they have over here for showing you are legal on the road. You have to display proof of motor insurance and vehicle roadworthiness on your windscreen.

• Sharon did incredibly well with her veggies this year. We've 2 freezers and they are both bursting with home grown goodies. Peppers, potatoes, beans and peas. Courgettes, carrots, pumpkins and tomatoes, I could go on and on (and frequently do!) Next year we are going to double the size of our veggie plot and Philippe, a local farmer is donating some nice rich manure to help us along.

• The boys had a good time at their end of year show for the school and all of the children were presented with a book by the Maire (Mayor) afterwards. The day before they had been on the schools end of year trip and did rock climbing, abseiling and archery. Sharon went along to help out and had a good day, though they didn't manage to get her to abseil.

• A ladies group has asked Sharon if she will give a demonstration of her glass painting and some lessons. It’s happening in mid Feb, so fingers crossed.

• The boys came home from playing at their friend Stefan’s farm, and declared that they’d agreed to swap their Playstation for a cow! While getting rid of the cause of most of the arguments in the Tomlin household was appealing, we didn’t think a cow was a very practical. It would have made far too much mess in their bedroom.

• Our friend Liz struck again just before Christmas. She rang pretending to be from the office at the Hyper U supermarket in Montmorillon. She said that the school in La Trimouille had put my name forward to act as Father Christmas at the store. I was told that I’d just be handing out presents and that they would supply the suit. I was concentrating so hard on the French that I didn’t notice what a daft situation it was and I actually agreed. I thought it could be fun. It was then that the wicked person that is Liz burst out laughing.

• We had a lovely evening before Christmas, when we invited about 20 people to the house for the ‘official switching on of the Christmas lights’. We’ve only got 2 garlands but Sharon wanted to make it sound grand. About half the guests were French friends and half British friends. The evening went really well and everyone mixed in without having Brit’s one side of the room and French the other.

• Some people who have seen our house think it’s quite new. In fact it’s over a hundred years old but has been rendered, which makes it look newer. We have started to reveal some of its character by taking off the internal plaster from the front wall. It we now have the original stones that the house is built with showing and they are held together by mud mortar (yes, we’re living in a French mud hut!). We’ve also exposed the oak lintels above the door and windows. Lucky we did, as one of them was so rotten it fell apart in my hands.

7th June 2005

Hi folks remember us? After spending the last month or so saying "I must update the diary" I’ve finally done it.

The glass painting lessons Sharon gave in La Trimouille went very well, considering she had an awful cold at the time and it all had to be done in French. Twelve local ladies attended and the feedback was very good. They have asked her if she can do another lesson later in the year. We are currently putting together information for people who offer accommodation in the area on the lessons Sharon can give to their guests.

Sharon’s been busy booking expo’s and you can find a list of where she’ll be and when on the Petite Maison d’Art homepage. She received an interesting e-mail in March from a company called AngloInfo. They set up websites in various regions with information and resources for English speakers in France. They launched one for the Poitou Charentes (our region) with a golf tournament and bought 4 pieces of Sharon’s work as prizes.

The boys have had a mixed couple of months. We haven’t had much family time recently as we’re going flat out trying to get the new kitchen finished and the extension started. It’s tough trying to get the balance right and as anyone with children will know, they are not the most patient of creatures. Still, hopefully we’ll be on top of things in a couple of months, just in time for the summer. Sharon’s main expo season. Oh dear!

Between the four of us, we’ve decided that next year the boys will be changing schools. They will be going to a private school in Montmorillon called St Martial. For anyone thinking that we have suddenly come into some money, I can assure you that this private school is a lot cheaper than those in the UK are. It will cost us about 90€ a month each and that includes school dinners. In UK terms, the school is a combined primary and secondary school. It’s not that we are unhappy with the school in La Trimouille, it’s just that at St Martial we believe the boys will get more help with the areas they find most difficult, namely French grammar. Daniel would have been going up to St Martial in a year anyway and Luke would have followed later, so there are no additional changes involved. Sharon and the boys visited the school last month and were all very impressed. Sharon with what the headmistress said and Daniel and Luke with the adventure playground! We were a little nervous about notifying the school in La Trimouille that they would not be coming back next year, but we need not have worried. They understood our reasons and Daniel’s teacher said that she was very sad that they were leaving.

Luke still loves his Judo club. He used to get thrown all over the place because he couldn’t stop giggling, but now he has some great little tussles. He recently took part in a tournament in Montmorillon and came third in his group. That evening, as he sat there with his medal around his neck watching Doctor Who. He asked why we kept looking at him and smiling. We can just picture him when he’s older. The blue eyes, cheeky smile, Judo black belt and fluent French/English. The girls won’t stand a chance. Ooh, it takes me back to my youth. (if only!)

Daniel is into fishing at the moment. He caught his first trout on March 12^th and it’s in the freezer waiting for the BBQ season to begin. However, Daniel, being the fussy eater that he is, says he won’t try any. Maybe if Sharon cut it into strips and coated it in breadcrumbs, we could trick him? Anyway, back to the fishing. The local fishing association is setting up a club in Montmorillon for youngsters interested in taking up the sport. They’ll learn how to make flies for fly-fishing, all about maggots and worms, and how to find good fishing spots. Daniel is really keen, so we’ve put his name down.

My job continues to bring some money in. I can’t believe that I’ve been there a year now. Orders have picked up well and I now split my time between the office and the factory. For anyone that doesn’t know, a French computer keyboard is laid out differently to English one. So apologies if there are more mistakes here than usual.

We’ve extended at last, but unfortunately it’s not the house yet. After last year’s successes with the vegetable patch, we decided to make it bigger. With me having limited time and Sharon not exactly being of Russian shot putter physique, it was always going to be a struggle. Fortunately Daniel came to the rescue and managed to arrange a ‘trade’ with the Father of one of his friends. The deal was that he would come over with his tractor and plough up our new veggie patch, if Daniel would translate for him when he had to speak to another English family who wanted him to do some work. I can’t think why he didn’t want Sharon or I to help! The result is we now have a 8m x 25m veggie patch which has already got peas, potatoes, carrots, celery, lettuce, tomatoes, strawberries, onions, melons, courgettes, beans and peppers. Add to that the eggs, peaches, apples, walnuts, cherries etc and we’ve quite a tasty summer to look forward to.

On the subject of the extension to the house, it should be starting in September/October this year. We’ve chosen a local French builder who was recommended by some French friends. He’s been working in the area for a long time, so hopefully we’re on safe ground. It will virtually double our living space and most importantly, give the boys their own rooms. It’s going to be tight with the money, but if all goes to plan we’ll have a spacious, comfortable house, in a beautiful location and no mortgage or loans.

Brief bits

• The Brit’s in La Trimouille are building a float for the French ‘Fete National’ on the 14^th July. It’s gone down really well with the locals and we’ve even had a newspaper in to interview us all. If you want to know more about it click here.

• Even the French will agree, their language is very wordy. This was confirmed for me when I recently ordered a cutter block for a machine at work. When I looked up the word ‘clockwise’ in my ever present dictionary, I was confronted by ‘dans le sens des aiguilles d’une montre’. Which I think literally translates as ‘in the direction of the hands of a watch’ Help!!!!!!

• I’ve had two groups of English gypsies/travellers come into my place of work. None of them spoke French, but they were trying to persuade my boss to have his car park resurfaced, in English. When I was called to help out I politely said no thanks and they complimented me on my English!

• At the moment the boys are making camps in the woods with some friends. Rightly or wrongly, we would never have felt safe about letting them do that in the UK. It’s lovely seeing them do things that we were able to do as kids.

The past few months have been quite fraught at times. If we were climbing a cliff, we’d be at the top lip but too knackered to pull ourselves over. We’ve all worked really hard over the last two years and we want everything to drop into place now. But there’s still a stack of work to do on the house, a few more euro’s would be handy and I want to get out of manufacturing. It’s hard to explain to people that while it is a relaxed lifestyle out here some of the stresses are every bit a bad as they were in the UK. The main difference here is that we can see possibilities for the future, whereas in the UK, for us, it seemed like more of the same for 20+ years and then pot luck on a pension. We’re making progress and that gives us hope for the future. Coming over here is something we cannot envisage ever regretting, however it turns out long term. We’ve learnt so much about ourselves, plus the fact that we firmly believe this will prove to be a massively positive experience for the boys. The childhood they are having, the confidence they have built and the challenges they have over come can only stand them well for the future.

The boys have started at St Martial, their new school and as with pretty much everything over here, they took it all in their stride. There were nerves as the big day approached, but I think Sharon and I did pretty well not to let them show. As it turned out, they had a great surprise at the school gates. Two of their best friends from La Trimouille had changed schools and were also starting at St Martial. The school at La Trimouille was good and we are very thankful for the warm welcome they gave Daniel and Luke, but we didn’t feel they were being pushed enough. This may sound daft, as one of the reasons we gave for moving over here was that we didn’t like the way the UK system heaped pressure on all children to be academic whiz kids. It seemed that at La Trimouille, it was the other end of the scale. For example, Daniel was being taught the sort of English he’d learnt at nursery school. At St Martial more is being expected of them and they are receiving extra help in the areas they find difficult, such as verb conjugations. They've both worked really hard and it's great to see their confidence grow. After only 2 weeks at the new school, Daniel stood against 9 others in an election for the class representative. He missed out by 1 vote. Luke was invited to a Birthday party after only a week. It was full of French children who he’d only known for a few days, but he trotted happily in and had a great time playing football and riding ponies. They’re well settled in now and school activities include horse riding on Friday afternoons for Luke, while Daniel's been doing photography and honey making, with Judo and first aid coming up in the near future. They get homework most nights but ‘generally’ have got into the habit of getting it out of the way so that they can go out and play. A week or so back they were watching a cartoon on French TV and I asked if they understood it all. The reply was "well it’s no different to watching it in English is it?" stupid me eh?

Some bad news on the job front. I was made redundant at the end of October. They were only selling 10 or 15 windows a week and so the manufacturing side of things has been closed down. They now buy everything in. It didn’t come as a shock as I’d felt since I started there that it wasn’t economic to run a factory when you are only selling a few frames a week, but it was a blow. I'm very proud of what I achieved there, both personally and for the company and I've gained a lot of confidence for the future. Another positive note is that at least we’re now in the system over here and while I can’t look at being on benefit as a career move, it will give us some breathing space until I get another job. My French has improved (though not as much as I think it should have) plus I’ve got 17 months of French employment history along with a very good reference letter, which can only help.

We had to keep our heads down a bit in July and it’s still a little dangerous to mention the ‘O’ word in French company. I’m talking of course about the Olympics! To say they though they had it in the bag is an understatement. Sharon turned on the French news to see crowds celebrating in Paris and thought the result had already been announced. It was only when she switched over to the BBC that she realised the voting was still going on. When the announcement came, they were totally gobsmacked. We then had the experience of being told that the UK delegation had cheated. We even had the Mayor of Paris, who headed the French bid, saying on the BBC that it was a good clean competition and well done to Seb Coe and his team, then afterwards, popping up on French TV saying that the UK had broken the Olympic rules. Sometimes when France loses at something they expected to win, it's claimed that the opposition cheated in some way. Never that they just weren’t good enough. It was the same when England won the rugby World Cup. We were told in all seriousness, that the English players must be on drugs because they were so big and strong. I replied that they were not and that their fitness was due to good food and lots of training. As opposed to the French team who ate too much cheese and drank too much wine! Generally speaking the French are not good losers, which can be a good or bad I guess.

The events the following day changed the atmosphere completely. After the sour grapes of Wednesday, we half expected reaction to the London bombs to be "well that proves it was a mistake to give you the games". We couldn’t have been more wrong. We had French neighbours, friends and workmates making a point of seeking us out to offer their condolences and ask sympathetically if we knew anyone who had been hurt. Sharon even had parents at the school gate that she’d never spoken to before, coming over to say how sad and shocked they were to hear the news. The Olympics weren’t mentioned and the general opinion seemed to be that this is the world we live in. Paris has experienced attacks by fanatics and just as likely to again. It is heartbreaking to think that there seems to be an increasing number of people who are willing to waste their own life and the life of others in the misguided hope that it will actually achieve something.

As you may have seen on our Char Page, the Fête Nationale in La Trimouille was a great success. Sharon’s parents Terry and Glenys came over, along with her Aunt and Uncle, Olive and Bert. The celebrations started the night before with a torchlight procession around the town. This was followed by a disco in the main square. Bert, who’s in his 70’s, couldn’t stop moving! He danced around the town with the procession. He danced with numerous French ladies in the square (though his favourite was the one with bad breath!). He even had a Dutch lady ask if he was going to the party the following evening, as she would like to book a dance with him. He was a gyrating phenomenon!

The 14^th July began with a small service by the war memorial at which the local band played Land of Hope and Glory as a mark of respect to the victims of the London bombs. They had apparently learnt it especially. The cavalcade was great fun, though very hot. All of the locals we spoke to thought it was great that the Brit's were involved and were well impressed by the float. Even now we are getting people come up and talk about it. If you want to know more about the day and see some photos visit our Char Page.

We had a great birthday party in October. It was to celebrate 19 years since Sharon was 21 (am I diplomatic, or what?!). We decided to have another English / French event and it went very well. All of our English friends speak a decent amount of French now and everyone mixed in well, helped by a red wine and cognac punch (with sliced orange and lemon for health reasons!) It is nice to be able to throw a party like that and by 3am we even had some of our French friends speaking some English. We feel we are in a good situation here in having a nice mixture of French and British friends.

A lot of alcohol was consumed, it fact, medically speaking, you could say some of us became binge drinkers for a night. However, the only one ill the next day was Poppy, our dog. Apparently, she was quite a dab hand at nicking food from people's plates while they weren't looking.

We've been asked a few times recently why there are so many British moving to France who do not mix with the locals or try to speak the language. Some don’t even bother to say the four magic words in French (please, thank you, hello and goodbye). We know from experience that it’s tough trying to learn the language, but it comes with the package of moving to a foreign country. The ironic thing is that some of those who think they do not need to try with the language say they were fed up with living in the UK because of "all them immigrants", stating "and they don't speak English do they!" In the 2 years since we moved over, there have been a lot of Brit's arrive. Now it is possible to have a large group of friends with not a French person among them. Institutions are also changing. Banks and DIY stores are now offering an English speaking service, the course you have to do if you want to start up a business is now being run in English. We've even heard that the tax forms will soon be available in English. The upshot of this is that some do not feel that they need to learn the language. Apparently 60% of Brit's moving to France end up moving back to the UK once they realise it is not like it was on the telly. We're hoping the 40% who stay will want to try and keep their national identity while integrating with the local community.

France is blighted in the same way as the UK with misleading TV programmes and newspapers. On a few occasions we’ve spoken to French people who think that the only reason there are so many Brit’s moving over is because when you die in the UK it is not possible to pass on your assets to your children. Instead, they go automatically to the state. We’ve even heard this from teenagers who have been taught it at school. There are also the ‘facts’ that everyone in the UK has a massive fried breakfast every morning and gets blind drunk every night. Some hear or read this stuff and actually believe it. In the same way as in the UK, some fall for the stereotypes peddled by the media about the French.

We are now the proud owners of one male and one female rabbit, and we all know what that means? Lots of high quality inexpensive meat on its way soon. Some may think this is cruel. But we are of the opinion that if we can give these animals a decent little life and kill them painlessly, that is a far better option than buying a cling film wrapped lump of meat of unknown origin in a supermarket. Personally I enjoy telling people who ask if we are going to eat our rabbits, "no we’re not going to eat Mum and Dad, just their children!" If truth be known, I'm apprehensive about doing the deed, especially as I'm not good with the site of blood! Our friend Steve, who is a butcher, will help me with the first couple of batches and after that I'll hopefully be confident enough to do it on my own.

We're thinking that our chickens, the golden girls, will be golden roasted soon. They're not laying well and even when they do they've started to eat their own eggs. I'm sure it can't be a lack of protein in their diet as they have a mixture of grain, plus a commercial pellet, ground up oyster shells and they are totally free range. We had said to the boys that we wouldn't eat them, but they seem to have grown accustomed to rural life and are now quite happy with the prospect of a bit of fresh chicken on the menu.

BRIEF BITS

We were very proud of Luke when at the end of his first year at Judo, his instructor said he was good enough to jump a belt and go straight to a yellow belt. He now wants to enter as many competitions as possible in an effort to win lots of medals. He’s already putting older boys on their backs and I’m starting to worry about how I’m going to get him to do his homework when he’s older.

Sharon gave a talk to Luke’s class about her glass painting. It's all part of a project the school is doing where parents come in and talk about their jobs or skills. Understandably she was nervous standing up and explaining in French what she did to 20 plus children.  Both Sharon and the teacher were very pleased with how it went, though Luke wasn't sure if he was proud or embarrassed. Daniel's teacher has now asked Sharon if she could spend an afternoon in her class. It would be great if Sharon could get a part time job at the school. It could be the final part in the jigsaw.

Our neighbour Pierre has given us another great chunk of wild boar meat. Sharon marinated the last joint for 3 days in red wine, onions, garlic and herbs. It was delicious. We'll be having this piece on Boxing day as a nice alternative to turkey sandwiches. Pierre has also promised us the next pheasant that he shoots.

It is lovely that so many old friends from the UK have kept in touch and it was great to see Dave and Elaine McDonald when they 'popped in' to see us on their way down to Lot for their holidays.

 ***STOP PRESS***

I’ve got another job! I start on January 3rd and it’s on the same salary as I left my last job on! It’s near Poitiers again, but this time I’ll be making wooden furniture, stairs, doors and windows. I'll also be travelling to various parts of France for a few days about 4 or 5 times a year, fitting aluminium screens in banks. It’s another challenge and as before there’s the mixture of excitement, relief and pure fear!

Photo page 2006