Merry Christmas to all our Readers

Our first Christmas in our 'new' house in France. Strange that it is not the Christmas we expected nor is it the Christmas we would have pictured in our wildest dreams last Christmas! But that is the adventure called Life.

Winter has coincided with our Christmas and we are struggling just at the moment. In fact we have got the Winter Sails. We have been covering all of the windows and doors with sheets and blankets in an attempt to block off all of the draughts we can now feel. But the draughts are so strong that they are billowing out like spinnakers. The more we try to heat up the house, and the bigger the wood fire we burn in the fireplace, the more we are finding all of the holes in the walls, floors and around the windows and doors!! The previous owners, ( the germans ) only came here during the summer, and so they weren't interested in making the property insulated and weather proof.

We realise that we have to survive this winter but take in to account issues of insulation and adequate heating when we get going on the rebuild of the property next year. I have talked to our neighbour Bernard, who knows everybody around and he has told me where I can buy some more wood for the fire. I thought that we had lots of scrap wood for the fire, but we are burning it at a much faster rate than I expected. We will be going out in the next couple of days to buy a Calor gas heater to boost our means of heating. At the moment it is all adventures!!

To all of you who read this, I wish you a Happy New Year!