France - Tuesday and Wednesday (Home & Geocaching)

Tuesday, 31 October 2017

As the days are getting shorter we are not in a hurry to get up early in the morning.  I generally wake up at 6 am anyway, but do some reading or play a few games of Wordfeud with friends and family.  I get up at 8, have my shower and breakfast and will see what the day brings if we haven't planned anything beforehand.

Still a bit weary from travelling I liked to get settled quietly and did a lot of reading, as my book for the bookclub needed to be finished this week anyway and I still have to write my review as well.  I also caught up with our bookkeeping, email messages and I read through some tourist info to get the feel of our surroundings.

Michèle came upstairs for some additional information about the washing machine and the fire place and brought the papers and keys for the car.

After that we ventured outside in search for the nearest supermarket, which we discovered at only 400 m distance, so easy to walk, even with a few shopping bags.  As usual we don't do much cooking so were happy to find a few nice frozen meals, which happened to taste good too.

We had dinner at our normal time and sat a few hours in the living room with the nice, cosy fire before we went to bed at 9 pm.  Haloween is celebrated here as well, but luckily we didn't get a lot of knocks on the door...

In the pictures you'll see natural stone exposed or covered to some degree and here and there thick wooden beams (bedroom).  This is an old house/cottage with very thick stone walls and fire places.  It has been extensively renovated and somehow devided in living area upstairs and a garage and studio downstairs.  The garden at the back is used by both. 

Wednesday, 1 November 2017

As Patricia was running out of fresh clothing we did a few loads of washing first thing in the morning.  I also had a 'chat' with Michèle and Jean-Pierre, because they told me that the power had cut out in the morning.  I was aware that we were not to use anything electric while the shower was running (electric hot water system and pump most likely), because there wasn't enough amperage delivered to the house.  In this case Jean-Pierre apparently ran the microwave oven while I was having my shower at 8 am!  So, both houses are affected!  How to solve that kind of problem?  I asked them if we could use the shower between 8 and 9 am.  They could use whatever they needed before and after that time.  I am not too sure how their arrangement is when Vanessa is home, but this suggestion seemed to work for them, so from now on it's showering between 8 and 9 in the morning!

As it was Toussaint (All Saints Day) in France, the shops would be closing at 12 noon, because it is a public holiday.  All Souls Day is celebrated on the 2nd of November, but since it is not a public holiday most people go and take flowers (mostly chrysanthemums, like I remember from my childhood in the Netherlands) to the cemetery on All Saints Day.  

As we had the car keys now and a car for our use, we went for a 'test drive' to the nearest village.  I know I can drive any car in any country, but.... every time I think: "I can't do this!" so I go for a short drive to get the feel of the car and the roads.  Anyway, I had no problems at all, so the drive was a short one and on the way back we stopped at the supermarket for groceries.

In the afternoon I wanted to stretch my legs and explore a bit around town, so I loaded (the only) two geocaches in my phone and off we went.

The first one was near the town hall and a mini golf course in a small park.  A pleasant area to walk through and take a few pictures.

The nearby church

A harvest of apples in a back yard

Mini Golf course

Fountain and town hall

View of the church

Patricia enjoying a rest after we found the nearby cache

#1782 - La mairie, le mini-golf de Fougerolles (cache)

The next part of our afternoon stroll lead to the next cache near a lake.  We searched and searched, but to no avail.  We couldn't find the cache.  What I did find instead was a whole load of chestnuts!  Haven't had those in years, so I went home with a pocket full and can enjoy the taste again.

The chestnuts, or rather, what's left of them... ;-)