October Roundup

October is here and the vines have all been stripped of their grapes and the colours of the fields around Cruzy have changed from the green spectrum to the warmer colours. The photo of the road to Cruzy above gives you a taste of the changing landscape.

We have had a busy month much to our surprise. France has come alive with the Rugby World Cup and the Bar in Cruzy opened just in time. The bar was absolutely packed each night and it was only after the South Africans had returned home did we actually pop in for a drink. And what a drink. We tasted the first wine from this years harvest. We were drawn to it and have managed to drink samples from 3 local vineyards (sample = bottle) and have stocked up our fridge.

We have been driving around in our Renault Megane Scenic for 9 months trouble free, but alas the honeymoon is over. The thing began to play up, normally at roundabouts or when pulling out in front of juggernauts. So, a trip to Renault Minute (a sort of Halfords but just for Renaults) and they said it would cost us 1100 Euros to have the car fixed. We were rather surprised at the amount, but thanks to a friend in the village who has her car fixed locally, we visited a small independent mechanic in the next village. It cost 54 Euros to have the car fixed, a nice saving of 1046 Euros. Of course, Kieran is still shopping for a new car…

We had two little visitors this month. One very welcome and one not so welcome. We loved having our larger picture frames on the floor until we had a young lad visit and we realised that our home was not as child friendly as we had first thought. So, the pictures are now in search of a new home, probably a wall.

Our second visitor was with us for 4 days and he managed to eat many of our treats. Not only did he eat 3 Flakes, specially delivered from Bristol, but he chomped though 5 chocolate biscuits. See the photo above for the evidence.

In January we had the chimney sweep come and clean our chimney in the kitchen. In France, you need to have a certificate to prove that your chimney has been cleaned or insurance companies will not pay up if your house burns to the ground as a result of a chimney fire. So, 9 months later, we installed a wood burner. The fires burn hot and the smell is lovely. Kieran now takes a stroll though the vineyards collecting wood each day. He fills a large Ikea blue bag (yes, they are the same the world over) each day, and Alan burns every single one each night. We have decided to ship in a ton of logs.