Although we brought most of our UK furniture with us, we needed to buy some additional items and we’ve been able to get some pieces via the online expat forums where people are coming and going. We wanted some additional storage near the kitchen and had originally thought of buying a new dresser to fit the space. While we were collecting another piece of furniture we were offered a pine dresser being stored in an outbuilding and in a rather dusty and cobwebby state. Joe saw the potential in it as it was a well made piece of furniture although I was rather less enamoured as it looked a bit old fashioned, but we decided to take a punt on it as a project. I did some research on repainting pine furniture (thank you YouTube), and set up the garden studio as my workspace – it’s very useful having the space to work and leave things out. The end result is better than either of us had expected and looks good whilst providing the storage we wanted. And we saved the cost of a new dresser into the bargain.
We’re continuing to meet people in the surrounding area and we were recently invited to dinner together with other near neighbours by a French acquaintance who owns a nearby ‘chateau’ which is also run as a gite business. Despite its name, the building is not actually a chateau rather a ‘manor ’ built in the 18th century in the grounds of a former chateau. Arriving in the dark we didn’t see the full extent of the building and grounds but the interior areas we saw were impressive. The size of the rooms requires furniture of a huge scale and a fellow guest very aptly described a huge cupboard in one room as something you might go through to get to Narnia. Fortunately there was just the right number of us to be able to eat in a ‘cosy’ round tower room with vaulted ceiling rather than the much chillier high-ceiling manorial formal dining room.
One of the discussions during the evening centred around forthcoming changes to rubbish collections. Unlike in most parts of the UK, we don’t get household rubbish collected from the house. We have to take our rubbish and recycling to the bins about 1.5 km away, so you get used to putting bags and bin in the car boot when you’re going that way. We also have the local amenity tip about 3kms away for larger waste disposal. Waste collection/disposal is included in our taxe foncière (council tax equivalent) at a standard rate for every household. The local council is implementing changes from January 2024, the main one being that the receptacles for household rubbish (black bags) will be opened by using a card provided by the council and it will also record the number of bags you deposit. 2024 is a test year and from 2025 there will then be a limit to the number of bags you can dispose of for free, with any above that number being charged. The council claim it will be more equitable for smaller households and will encourage more recycling, although there is more concern about the likelihood of increased dumping of rubbish outside of the proper receptacles. The cards are being issued to every household via a series of roadshows in each village. We picked up ours and now await the implementation of the changes.
It’s much quieter here in the winter and the restaurants and bars at the top of the old town are pretty much all closed up now. There was a good turnout, however, in the town square for the Armistice Day service held here on the actual day. The mayor shook hands with everyone who was attending and we processed from the town hall to the village war memorial in the Belvedere gardens, led by flag bearers from various village associations. After speeches and presentations we were invited to a drink in the Salle des Fêtes, housed in the 13th century Maison de l’Abescat, supposedly once a residence of the Bishops of Agen. We recognised faces from the classic car gathering we attended in October and they kindly introduced us to other locals, most of whom seem to be relatives of the mayor, and who cycled with the former owner of our house. They would be quite happy for Joe to join them as well but he doesn’t really see a ride of 60-70 kms as ‘fun’. There was also quite a good contingent of local Brits, most of whom we hadn’t met before, but who seem to know of us. After seeing news coverage of Cenotaph demonstrations in the UK, this simple service, with all warmly welcomed, seemed a world away.
