Earning Our Keep....

Hello it’s the Midgets here again checking in!

We arrived here at Mum & Alan’s last Saturday which we thought would be busy travelling on a Saturday during the French holiday season but as we don’t go via the the toll roads but use the national roads instead we managed to miss all the traffic and get to see some more amazing scenery on route.  Once again our sat-nav took us a different route to Mum’s which it seems to do each time!!!!.

We said to Mum & Alan if there were any jobs to do around the house/garden don’t hesitate to ask, well with that they reeled off a “To-Do” list of jobs that we could start on to "earn our keep" while here!

1. Fix a leaking toilet cistern 
2. Sharpen the ride on mower blades which involved Julie & Alan holding the mower on it’s side while I got underneath removed the blades sharpened & refitted them

3.  Quick test of the ride on mower which turned out to be mowing the whole bottom paddock

4.  Shift a heap of pre cut logs into the log store and then split and stack them

5.  Repair/replace some leaking pipework in the pump house for the pool

6.  Cut and strim the rest of the huge garden around the house

7.  Replace some glazing bars on the front window.

In between doing all our jobs we did some of our own jobs including cleaning all the “Toys” out of the van and also gave the van a proper deep clean inside to remove the sand/dust that got blown in at La Franqui, we just need to give it a bloody good wash & polish before we leave here in the next few days.  

Also we managed to get the rest of the wheel covers that help protect the tyres from harmful UV sun rays sewn up using Mum’s sewing machine which I made a start on but Julie was constantly hovering over my shoulder saying do this, do that, not like that, you need to hold that, pull this so I gave up and let Julie take control and I must admit she made a cracking job and was much better & quicker than me with all covers fitting nicely (even though I reminded her she got “unclassified” in her “O” level needlework exam at school!)

We had a few bits of post redirected here from the UK i.e. tax disc for the van, kite insurance and some other important paperwork for the van and also a parcel which was meant to be here but on checking it had been sent back to the UK as the courier said that the address was incomplete (although it wasn’t) so after a quick phone call to the UK it was re-sent but after a couple of days and a few more jobs (we think Mum & Alan may have given the courier company a back hander to delay it so we could get more jobs done!) but still no parcel so after another check it was eventually at a depot in Toulouse but again they said they couldn’t deliver it as the address was incorrect so Julie got on the case and managed to track down an English speaking bloke at the depot and asked him to send it to Mum’s local post office in Miradoux a village 8km away but the funny part was Julie giving him our e-mail address, it was quite amusing as she was going through the alphabet in French and trying to think of French words e.g. “J-Janvier (January), “N-Novembre (November) etc etc so it took a while but we received the email and eventually collected the parcel from Miradoux - many thanks to Alan for taking us to collect it.

It has been lovely to spend time here with Mum & Alan, usually we are here in the Winter so it’s been great to spend time out in the garden and around the pool.  It’s a beautiful house and is actually up for sale (we would love it but sadly it’s too far away from the beach) as it’s just too big for them now and they want something a bit smaller.  If you know of anyone who is interested in a completely renovated Gascone Farmhouse with large gardens & own pool in a rural location surrounded by farmland and open views then check this link out for more details http://www.housesoninternet.com/MIP-1092

As usual Mum has been spoiling us rotten with great food, this is what she knocked up while we were typing this blog, it really is a great motorhome stopover for us but this could be our last visit if they do sell but we are sure they will have plenty of jobs for us in their new house!!!!

It’s fantastic to see that so many of you are still interested in & reading our blog, we are amazed that so many people take the time out to keep up with our adventure.  We have now had 7,800 + views so are still averaging about 1,000 hits a month.  It will be a great record of our travels and full of memories & special moments.

That’s it, got to go the Pizza is ready!

J&J

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