Just as forecast, a grey morning with heavy rain, but we have views of greenery from most windows and it's been interesting watching the autumn colours in the garden and the tall trees behind the house in a neighbour's garden. Not to mention, the fact that this is Limousin and there are trees (lots of pine trees) rising up in the distance through the mist all around.
Our daily trip to the supermarket, which was busier than usual because of half-day closing because of Toussaint, then on to the boulangerie, then we called on a French couple, Roger and Elsa, who actually live in Paris, but have been here for the Toussaint holiday with their grandchildren. This afternoon, more stripping of wallpaper and investigating how to remove the backing from carpet upstairs that was stuck down to the lovely chestnut floorboards about 30 years ago! We were invited back to Roger and Elsa's at l'heure d'apéritif for an apéritif, so have been back there again this evening for a drink (mine was a Muscat and Harry's a Salers - a local apéritif made from gentian flowers - an acquired taste some would say).
We had planned a visit to the cemetery today, to see the tradition of placing flowers (usually crysanthemums in a pot) on your family grave, but didn't make it, so we'll pass by there later in the week to see the cemetery in bloom!
How we met Elsa and Roger was pure serendipity (if that's how you spell it!). The day after we signed for the house in August, there was a vide greniers in the village - 'empty your attics!', the French version of our car boot sales. The regulations here are that you can't do more than two vide greniers a year - most villages have them at least once a year, and you have to fill in a application form, stating that you have not done more than your quota of two. You are then allocated a spot in the middle of the village - if you're lucky, your stall will be right outside your own front door, so you can popping in to fetch forgotten things to sell on your stall. It was a good opportunity to meet people, and a good excuse not to buy things, as we could say we had just bought a house, which was full of furniture, crockery, etc. 'Ah, it's you who've bought Monsieur Salesse's house!, then welcome to Chamberet!' There was some very interesting stuff on some stalls - including some very strange tools and agricultural-type items, as we are in a very rural area here.
At one particular stall we had that conversation, and the woman (Elsa) said that Monsieur Salesse was cousin to her husband. (Roger). He arrived and we had a chat and they invited us round a couple of days later to their house. The house actually belongs to Roger's mother who is now 95 and in a nursing home at Treignac, the next village about 8 miles away. Roger was doing the family history - he's cousin to Madame Salesse who died about 5 years ago. Her maiden name was Serre and it's the Serre family tree that Roger is busy investigating. They invited us back that evening for an apéritif and we took along various family photos and papers we had found here in the attic. Roger was able to tell us a lot about the house here and Monsieur and Madame Salesse and their families. They are a lovely couple - Elsa is Chilean and they have lived all over the world because of Roger's job and Elsa speaks English which is helpful at times. They called here to see us last week to see how we were getting on with the house (and I think were quite shocked and sympathetic to our cause when they saw everything that needed to be done!) and invited us to call round before they went back to Paris, which we did today. The two grandchildren who were staying with them have very un-French names - Ulysses and Darius - two lovely lads, and their mum is called Marisol - a Spanish or Chilean name from Elsa's side. They are off back to Paris tomorrow, but Roger will be here in December and has offerred to give us a hand with jobs where you might need a couple of people. He's also given us information on insulation for the attic and on their new Ikea kitchen.
Unfortunately, our nearest Ikea (or Eekea as it's pronounced here) is at Bordeaux, about 2 hours drive away - but that could be a good excuse for a weekend at the seaside, not to mention sampling the local beverage!
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