La Vie Francaise

We've been busy entertaining our first 'guests'. Our good friends from Lincolnshire came to stay with us for the past 5 nights and we were very worried that they were going to be frozen stiff. Fortunately, it wasn't too perishing; only a couple of nights of -5 deg. We enjoyed having their company and also having the input of their ideas on the house and how best to approach the work. We acted as guides and had some nice trips to Cahors, Toulouse and up to the Dordogne, even though the snow and ice that we had last week was slow to melt!



At the end of last week we received a letter from the Planning people asking for more information about the work we want to do; are we creating more habitable floor area as a result of the work we want to do? We had to say yes, and, as I thought all along, we have to have architect's drawings of our plans to get our planning permission. The way it's looking, I suspect that we won't get started on the house in earnest till the Autumn. So, in the meantime, it's in to the garden and, more importantly, working on the barn. We can either convert the barn into a large 'studio' building, or into a large 2 bed dwelling. Strictly speaking we need planning permission to do this, but, in my quest to become a 'local', I'm just going to keep quiet about what we're doing.

Also during this week I had to go to the local Gendarmerie about my speeding offence. The local 'flic' wanted my information so he could put the points on my licence. But of course he couldn't do it as I've a British licence. Allo, allo, allo! A possible offence here. It seems that, as we are now resident, we have apply for a French driving licence within 6 months. My friendly 'flic' gave me 15 days! However, to my great relief, it's a fairly simple admin. job and we won't have to take a new driving test. At this rate I'll be changing my name to Jean next.