The initial adventure is now over and the serious business of building a life begins. We have a bank account, had trouble with the telephone and internet business, received factures for this, and signed forms for that, death duty needs to be avoided and goodness knows what more has yet to be encountered.

We now have a very good Doctor and are about to be signed up by the health service. It will cost a bit but may well be worth it, already being offered more attention than back home!.

The wood has to be ordered for the winter to allow is to dry, we have bought some stock from the previous owner which will get us started. Summer will not be here forever although it may seem like it will now.

The village summer meal and dance was a major fear but in fact went well, there is a French conversation group that we have joined which is fun and come September the more important, for Tony particularly, formal lessons in the language. The consolation is that I did manage to learn a little English but that was a while ago.

It is taking a while to fit all our kit into our smallish house and there has been much assembling, using a tourneivis and hammer, of flat pack placards etc. There has been a floor to lay and the garden had become a little overgrown.

We went to see a stage of the 'tour de france' and collected silly hats etc from the caravan. We have been to the Med because it is there, become experts at the local markets and wasted hours walking around out of town 'centres commercial'.

The tip, here called the decheterie but now to be the 'espace ecologique', has been essential and is not dissimilar to that in Bognor. We need a yellow sticker to get in which we have to give blood to get but as yet have not had to go through the initiation, it is the vacances you know..

Bikes and things have been put to one side for the moment but we must now try to get some activity back to our lives. As we are three hundred plus metres high there has to be some thought as to how best climb to this altitude without having to push the bikes too far. Certainly Tony's lightweight bike needs some new lower gearing which was to be ordered before our broadband was cut off!! That being another story of strange French ideas of how to do things. Customer service is fine but there are some built in delays which do not help if you need to be in contact with the outside world.

Most of our meals are taken in our summer place at the bottom of the garden (see snap). How many years did we intend to do this for in England only to be beaten by the weather. That is not to say that the weather has been really good, in fact at times the uk is warmer, it is just that one feels more comfortable outside here. As most will know many family Sunday lunches are taken outside in France any plot of land suffices and the cheerful chat goes on long into the afternoon. Just how it is, not just the weather but a summer tradition. Not you may notice late in the evening as we try to do it but an earlier start for the warmer part of the day.

The sunflowers have now been and gone, sadly hanging their heads now having beautifully supplanted the acres of red poppies for some weeks. The grew so fast that one could almost 'see them grow'. Everything grows quickly here and the farmers are now nurturing the maize and treating the vines with both kid gloves and hard work. The garden centres are selling lettuce plants and cabbages as the seasons are a little longer here.

The only downside has been France telecom/Orange the service has been rubbish and the staff totally indifferent. We have signed a one year contract but no one seems to be interested in connecting us. Sharon on reception informs us that this is - c'est normale- and anyway it is holiday time. That did not stop them from signing us up. Please Tiscali come to France. All other services have been well organised and caused no stress at all.

The sunflowers are with us now and next there will be the grapes. The weather has been anything from hot and humid, to cool like England. But whatever things do grow fast here. Currently we are having a heat wave and are grateful for our outside room. This day reached 40 degrees by the chemists thermometer.

Today however it has rained and the sky heavy. Never a dull moment with the weather. The thunderstorms follow a hot spell and the lightening is well worth watching. (from a safe haven!) The next day the sun may shine and the heat approach the unbearable. We now look forward to coping with whatever the autumn and winter have to offer. It is only a few miles from mountains high enough for winter sports but in parts remaining relatively mild until Christmas.

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We have had our village fête the sunflowers are being cut and the grapes harvested.Now the serous business of prepairing for the winter, wood for the fire, getting in some books and hopefully getting out the walking shoes as it is much easier to get out now it is cooler. Jean is going to try the village gym group and I am getting together a slide show of the fête and the village to show at the evening of the torchlight procession. A preview on a laptop was well received and a return showing requested by the chairperson of the St Roche group. This group organises the procession, makes tke costumes and works very hard.

I have decided that a projector is more important than a printer as it will reach a wider audience. Perhaps some prints to exhibit next year. The local artists have an open day which could be one way for me to get back into prints. I am sure that they could turn up their noses at photos.

My current keyboard (clavier) is a French version, for the accents of course, and being French it has a much different layout; great fun!

In two weeks we go to Spain for three days to meet with Frank and Pat and then in October we return to England for a few fays. This is proving difficult to organis as we can only see a limited numder of people. Jeans friends are in Eastbourne and Tony's are scattered. We shall see.