The wait is almost over

The murmuration Toft starlings is growing everyday, they are using the old dying birch tree as a congregation point. I see Roe deer most mornings in field next to gite, the most I have counted is five, I hope they become a bit more aware of the presence of people before the hunting season starts. There have also been charms of goldfinches and family groups of Long tailed tits and tree sparrows forming up, autumn must be on the way.

Two roe deer (at a distance)

Firstly, sorry I haven't been on here for a couple of weeks, no excuse but not a lot been going on, so this will be a round up and look forward. 

So one week to go before we move into Maison des Lis, as you can imagine we are getting excited and doing a lot of mental planning. However there have also been practical things that needed to be done. Sharron was back for the weekend, she hadn't been here for a couple of weeks and I had definitely been missing her. We had arranged a meeting at a local bank to open an account on Friday afternoon at 2pm when the bank opened after lunch. We needed to open the account as we needed to take out house insurance, you cannot buy in France unless you have arranged insurance in advance. We arrived armed with a mass of paperwork but as it transpired not quite enough, they needed an electricity bill, luckily Sharron managed to download one. The whole thing took over two hours and if it wasn't for my brilliant wife and her language skills I would have still been there.

On Saturday we went to the house, this was only the second time each of us had been there and the first time together. We wanted to some time with Gill and Grahame who are selling so they could take us through various systems and things we need to know once we move in, there is a lot to know, but they are amazingly well organised and there are folders full of notes and instructions. I am not going into any details as I want to do an in depth look around the house next week once we are in.

When we left the house we visited the member of the family who has been on her own private vacation, Warrior. Warrior is currently residing in a very nice cattery and seems very happy, but I must admit I don't like seeing her in there. 

It will be quite interesting when she does come home as we will need to not only keeping the house for a couple of weeks but also keep her separate from Ollie, the resident cat at least until he has come to terms with three large dogs invading his space.

On the subject of large dogs, space on the sofa is still very much at a premium

On Sunday we decided to have a day out at one of the many recreational lakes in the Haute-Vienne department. We drove down to Lac de Vassivere which is a huge man made lake covering about 1o square kilometres. 

Built just after the war. It has 45km of shoreline and in the middle is the ile of Vassivere which is where we had decided to visit. We parked next to one of the shoreside cafes. There are facilities all around the lake, parking is free and that includes overnight camping for RV's. The lake is used for various water sports, Water skiing, swimming, sailing fishing etc.

The island is the home to a chateau and art gallery housing some really interesting modern art created by a succession of artists in residence. I is reached by a causeway or ferry.

One of the more interesting installations was this.

in the lake. it is made from plastic sheeting and barrels, but looks amazing.

I also loved this view up the inside of the observation tower on the island.

On Monday decided to spend the morning at the lake nearest the gite at Eguzon, but I took Sharron to a beach on the other side of the lake that she had not been to before.

It is a bit quieter there than the main beach, but has a cordoned off swimming area and facilities

While we were there we watched a Carp fisherman getting ready for a 2-3 day trip to one of the less accessible areas on the lake

Yes, that is 2 boats tied together! I couldn't believe the waders, he spent 2-3hrs wearing them while packing the boats, the temp was 30 c + he must have been melting.

I hope to write another post before we move, but if I can't the next one will be from the new house. We have to arrange broadband at the house which will involve a trip to the Orange shop at the weekend. Interestingly the package includes a landline which gives free landline to landline calls internationally which will be good for keeping in touch with family. But if there is a delay you can keep up with developments on Facebook & instagram