Secret Blogger Writes Again...

Well, not so secret; it's Nad-le-Bad here to give all you faithful blogees another insight into the lives of the not so rich nor famous, but happily retired and relaxed oldies! ("Less of the old" I can already hear in my head!!!)

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Well I got here on Thursday, after my flight was diverted from Nantes to La Rochelle midflight due to a 'plane being stuck on the runway there. Obviously Maman and Papa had already gone to Nantes so I got myself a chocolat chaud and settled down for a two hour book reading marathon! Pas de probleme though, time flew easily and we were soon en route for La Tranche Sur Mer.

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Things have been very hectic since my arrival... bike rides, beers, visits to the beach, walks, watching downloaded American Idol, choosing floor tiles (!), having guests for dinner, going to the gym, sitting out in the sun, phew! No wonder they're retired, there's just not enough hours in the day to do all of this! Especially when you get up at 10am not realising the clocks have changed and it's actually 11am (ahem - as we ALL did yesterday!!!)

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Here's a few highlights so far then:

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Photo 1 - went for a drive to a place near Bourgenay and had a lovely walk around the coast spying VAST houses and all their land, but feeling sorry for them for not having a lovely sandy beach like at La Tranche. Poor them with all their land and secluded little rocky beaches and stunning views. Makes you feel really sad for them doesn't it?! After that we drove further towards Les Sables and stopped at a fab spot called 'Les puits de l'enfer' which translates as 'The wells of hell' and you could understand why. Even with a small tide the water ran up between all the rocks and exploded violently upwards. It was just a stunning place to see and I suggest any visitors request a visit! After that we headed to the much less attractive Les Sables itself to see where the boat had once been and stop for a cheeky biere on the sea front.

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Photo 2 - on Saturday night we had les cousins round to eat and prepared an array of gorgeous stuffed veg from the lovely recipe book given to Maman by Meryl (thanks!). We had planned to take a 'before' and 'after' photo, but obviously completely forgot the latter as we were desperate to dig in! A real winner. Was great to have Jean, Monique, Catherine and Jean-Pierre round even if my head was spinning by the end due mainly to the 100mph conversations and not of course to the wine...!

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Photo 3 - Maman and I on our coastal walk near Bourgenay as mentioned before. Notice the beautiful blue skies. It's not been perfect; torrential rain in the night, and yesterday morning, but the sun has been shining, and still is. Papa and I had a little sieste in the sunshine on Saturday afternoon in fact! Think we'll be back out there soon.

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Photo 4 - Papa in silhouette. We went on a great bike ride yesterday afternoon, really exhilarating. We cycled first to see the sea here in La Tranche, but once Maman realised she had two willing cyclists with her she took us on a lovely ride to another beach not too far away. The beach was incredible with waves and sunshine but very windy too. We saw some great beach surfers (don't know if that's the right name!) who speedily whizzed past us a couple of times. The highlight though has to be the monstrous hill which nearly killed me on the way there. On the way back, the three of us zoomed down at a ferocious speed and 'whooped' away! What a buzz! I was almost tempted to cycle back up and do it again, but not quite :)

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Final note - the BFGer is doing extremely well. I have seen him do all three so far. B - incredible, F - willing, G - enthusiastic till back hurts!

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Keep your comments coming, I know how much they are appreciated and I personally LOVE reading what everyone else has to say! For those of you who would like to comment, but aren't sure how, you don't need to sign up to anything. Simply press on the bit at the bottom which says 2 comments (or however many there are!) then write your comment in the box that pops up and choose Name/Url. Type your name in and press 'publish your comment' and hey presto! You could of course remain anonymous if you chose!

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Fin de message, bisous

Nadine xxx

No, not the detective!

We decided to drive along the valley of the Dordogne for our return journey from AAA's, but I must say it was a little disappointing, not as dramatic as the upper reaches nearer to Tine's home.

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However we stopped off in Bergerac (hence the title of this post) and were very impressed with the old town. The statue is of Cyrano de Bergerac, famed for his big nose! The other two photos show how similar the architecture here is to that of Figeac. Despite the overcast day we were pleased to visit and will return one day.

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Since our return to La Tranche the weather has been very mixed, one minute beautiful sunshine, next minute a downpour. Hopefully it will improve for Nad's latest stay with us: we're up at the 'crack of dawn' tomorrow to fetch her from the airport. Can't wait!

Visiting AAA

We got up bright and early yesterday to motor down to Dordogne where our Bingley next-door-neighbours have bought some land to build their dream home.

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Some land, did I say? They have bought a whole estate with a flat area for construction, woods, three ponds, and a huge field suitable for grazing animals or growing hay - either way I'm sure their new neighbours will be pleased to use it.

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It really was great to see AAA (and share a few beers - beer buddies are hard to find here!) They are determined to make it work and we saw the plans of their home-to-be, and we can't wait! More importantly we were SOOO impressed with young A's progress in French, all thanks to our good friend, French Anne (as we all know her).

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Photo 1 shows the family and me by one of the ponds - full of tadpoles, by the way! The next photo shows the Lord of the Manor with yours sincerely, touring the land. Photos don't do the property justice: ALL you can see in Photo 3 is theirs! In the far distance in that photo is the flat field where they're going to construct their house. The final photo shows the temporary home (very plush, I might add) that they will live in once the septic tank has been installed (don't ask!!)

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We are really looking forward to watching the developments here. Thanks to AAA for a lovely overnight stay - many more times like this to come!

The morning after the night before

Les hi-jacking the blog again!

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Bonjour tous le monde et merci beaucoup pour votres comments. Eh bien c'est ma blog finale de La Tranche - have you noticed the impressive bi-lingualism? Well our photos here show two 'mornings after the night before'. The first one shows the result of overnight stormy weather leaving the coastline worryingly further reduced but the workforce are building defences at an incredible rate.

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We have seen blue skies and sunshine and dashed out to enjoy it at every opportunity - hence the bike rides, the first for me for nearly 40 years!!! The photos are posted to prove my newly discovered skill tenderly nurtured by Dave while Jim and Tine went off to do le shopping at SuperU. After half a dozen circuits of the carpark I was fit to be allowed onto the cycle paths and eventually the road!!

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Our second 'morning after' [ photo 4] shows three of us [ the fourth taking the photo ] after a night enjoying Jean and Monique's warm and delicious hospitality - the 'moonshine' - a local degustation and calvados nightcaps rounding off the evening well, as you may imagine. Many thanks J and M, we hope you enjoyed the hot cross buns.

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Well Jim and I can truly recommend a visit to Maison Clegg - good food, good wine and great company - we can't wait for our retirement so that we can do this more often!!

Last of the Summer Wine

Having a great week with Jim & Les - thankyou, Les, for yesterday's post. How come you get 5 comments (including PRIVATE conversations, Cécile & Nad!!)

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The jetty now looks ready for the next phase as all the support posts are the same height. Further along the beach they are repairing the section that collapsed in the big storms the other week. Still not sure what they're doing there though....

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In the afternoon we motored down to Aiguillon to show our friends the sand-spit there. The sun came out and we 'enjoyed' the invigorating wind. It's a beautiful wild spot with very few other people at this time of year.

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Can't help but think of 'Last of the Summer Wine' with the last two photos - you can decide who's who. (For French readers 'Last of the Summer Wine' is a long-running BBC TV comedy about a group of pensioner friends getting into mischief: one of the characters is called Clegg too!)

Old friends and a stranded ship

Les is doing this post!

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We are here with our dear, dear friends practising for our retirement days. La Tranche is as lovely as ever - a bit breezier than the norm but we did catch the suntrap in the garden this afternoon for our siesta time. We feel really at home particularly as Dave has downloaded Corrie and Match of the Day for us - the latter was to keep Jimmy quiet!! and in addition we were actually recognised and welcomed by Nico - how's that for fame. A real bonus was calling in on Gill and her lovely mum Betty now living in Sulniac [ Brittany ] in her fabulous new abode - the kitchen is the envy of both Tine and I.

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As you can see from the photos we have been out and about - the ship beached at Les Sables was an amazing sight - the lunch was even better!! Then we followed the coast back towards La Tranche with jaunts on a couple of contrasting beaches seeing oyster beds and amazing sand sculptures made by the winds - the people camel trail on photo 4 shows the intrepid explorers.

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Tine and I are enjoying cooking together again although the fish presented to Dave tonight was not the best example so didn't aid our mission to convert him to the delights of fish!! All recipes welcome.

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Bamboo trees and a new room

They're in! Yes we have bamboo trees at the bottom of our garden as you can see in the first photo. They should grow to 6 or 8 metres in height so they should do the trick. I couldn't resist taking the second photo showing some of the lovely hiacinths and daffodils in the garden. Please don't notice the uncut grass!

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We had a very busy day sorting out and getting rid of a thick layer of dust, in order to get a room ready for our honoured guests who arrive tomorrow. As you can see, we managed it - who would expect anything else with Tine?! The house is gleaming with cleanliness. In fact I think we'll eat our evening meal off the floor!!

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We are so happy with the second bedroom which doesn't appear to be too small despite having quite a section lopped off to make a corridor to the garage. I'm sure you will appreciate the plaster-board wall in the last two photos! And yes, Matt, that is your set of drawers!

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ps The temperature got to 27°C in the sun this afternoon - an ideal temperature to sit out and slowly change plugs on lamps!

New jetty and new trench

Got up early AGAIN this morning, not sure if the builders were coming or not! In fact we didn't need to, but the joiner came later and now we have a proper wall between the 2nd bedroom and the new corridor, and doors in several places. I don't think there will be much more progress until the electrician has been to do his bits, and I believe he's pretty busy at the moment, so we'll have to be patient.

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So other changes that need to be documented: well, they're working hard on the new jetty - it must be a nightmare working between tides. This afternoon we saw some workers getting extremely wet until they stopped for the day. Photo 1 shows how big the pipes are that are being sunk into the sea-bed to support the new jetty. It would seem that some places are rockier than others judging by the heights of the poles (Photo 2).

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We've been busy too, digging a trench towards the bottom of the garden (Photos 3, 4 & 5) - as you can see the water-table is high as the bottom of the trench was soon awash. We've put in a barrier called Stop-Racines (roots) and this afternoon Jean took us in the La Paillote van to the garden centre where we purchased four tall bamboo plants. Apparently they are very invasive and the Stop-Racines keeps all the roots in place! We've done this to try and mask the house at the bottom of the garden which is split into four apartments and overlooks our land. Anyway tomorrow we'll have the excitement of putting the plants in!

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Finally there is a photo of our vegetable garden which is coming on a treat. We have now planted quite a few potatoes to go with our neighbour's artichokes.

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We are very excited that Jim & Les arrive at Nantes airport on Saturday (08.50 - yet another early morning!) It's a shame the house is at sixes and sevens (French readers here wonder what I'm talking about!) but we know they'll love it!

Further developments

Got up early again today as the workmen were coming for 8ish. We're used to getting up at 9 am these days - it's a hard life!

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We left the two builders to get on whilst we went to La Roche for our first dental appointment AND SURVIVED! We now have a very friendly dentist who talks in English ('Are you good?' and pointing to the glass of mouthwash but not knowing how to say rinse!!)

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Back home to see yet more changes to our house. Photo 1 shows some of yesterday's work when we moved what is left of our wood to the side of the house to make room for this set of shelves covered with a tarpaulin. We desperately need a garden shed but La Tranche council insists on a proper build, not a purchased shed - perhaps that will change with the outcome of the local election....

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Photos 3 and 4 show the former door to the store-room at the back of the house (whose contents are now in that very attractive wardrobe outside!) - this will be a window in our second shower-room/toilet.

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The next photo shows the garage doors, now breeze-blocked to the width of the new 'French windows' (yes, I know they're all French windows here, but you know what I mean!)

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Photo 5 shows part of the new wall between the 2nd bedroom and the corridor to the garage. We're told this will be finished tomorrow.

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And finally you can see the mezzanine which is going to be lowered by 10 cm and will provide extra sleeping space for non-claustrophobics. It's beginning to take shape - yeah!!

Disappearing pathway

I sometimes struggle with what to write on the blog but suddenly there seems to be loads to show you so I'll do a couple of posts tonight!

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These four photos were taken over the last couple of days and show the sea's latest target zone. We HAVE had very high tides this week but they are going to be even higher in April - hopefully we won't have a storm at the same time though.

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Apologies for using two photos again from the other day but I wanted you to see the changes.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

A very exciting set of photos here - well, they are for us, because today the builders started on the conversion of the garage into living space!

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We had been busy decorating the kitchen (replacing a very dark unpleasant orange with ivory) and painting the tiles in the toilet now that we have a new suite there. (Yes we bought the right undercoat - does anyone know if you can paint tiles in a shower - I mean to cope with the force of a shower, as the tiles in the bathroom are really YUCK!)

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Photo 3 shows Tine in the spare bedroom taken from the garage. Photo 4 shows Tine (again) in the back 'store-room' again taken from the garage. The last photo is taken from outside the 'store-room' (about to become a shower room) looking through to the garage. As I said, not very exciting!

Spring tides and bad weather

I know the UK has been hit by big storms this week, and we've also felt the effect, with torrential rain and high winds overnight. Photo 1 shows a very sad view of our garden through the window - no, they're not tears on the lens!.

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The second photo is courtesy of Monique who ventured out to watch them working at night on the new jetty - the tides are against the workmen so they're having to work at night! Next day you can see some of the 'poles' that have been sunk into the seabed, presumably to support the new 2-LANE jetty (yes!)

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Tine helped at the Municipal elections yesterday. Please don't ask me to explain the French voting system as it is beyond understanding for this mere Brit. I dropped her off and left the car (good job, she returned after midnight, 9 hours later!) and walked back along the beach. I couldn't believe the new damage caused by the sea. For those who know La Tranche the last two photos were taken at the end of the pedestrian lane between the campsite and l'Equipage. Wow!!