Keeping you up to date of our 2024 events!!!
Thinking back to the beginning of 2024 after a quiet Christmas at home perhaps still recovering from our UK trip at the end of of 2023, according to our 2024 diary, from the end of January through to May it is packed full with medical appointments for both of us.
There was the occasional dinner party or more usually ‘apéro’, but much of our social life revolved around the club in Chalon-sur-Saône (which incorporates Barbara’s knitting group). We attended a cabaret evening and of course our regular visit to the ‘Carnaband’s Show’ which is all part of the Chalon Carnival in February. As spring was struggling to establish itself the group took one of its usual day trips and we had a few impromptu meetings and lunches as the weather slowly improved.
We managed to do a few jobs in the garden but this mostly involved keeping the weeds in check between rain showers. So we turned our attention other jobs around the house, replacing light fittings and getting rid of old documents. Jon realised that our wooden outside table was beyond repair so we bought new metal furniture. No more varnishing every spring and the old timber would burn well on our winter fires.
Since we stopped doing our summer parties (due to the pandemic, and our age) the old gas barbecue was in a sorry state and destined for the tip. We manage to salvage the frame and adapt it as a trolley with electric plansheer/grill and hot-plate.
The only visitors during the first half of 2024 were Matheus and Juliana in March. They finally managed their visit to the Guedélon project (see below) which we all missed due to the pandemic.
Barbara had been busy making arrangements for the ‘Abitur class from Teheran’ Teheran school group, who wanted to make their annual gathering this year in Tournus at the end of May. So looking back the first half of 2024 it was fairly busy.
With June, the warmer days finally made us believe that there would be a summer after all, but then by August it was of course a bit too hot! Pam, Rob, Fiona and Jacob arrived for their summer visit. This year they came in convoy with their friends and neighbours Helen, Mario and family (two girls and the baby). We had the space to accommodate them all and we think a good time was had.
As Autumn threatened, we started to think about a visit to UK. Once again we had to fit it in between our medical appointments and all the other interruptions to our daily life. As I write this (at the end of November) we are just about recovering from the UK trip. First visiting our friend Margaret and also Jon’s aunt Anne near Newhaven on the south coast. Then to Essex staying with Pam, Rob and family for nearly two weeks, before returning to France to replenish our little stock of Champagne from our vigneron friends near Epernay on our way back home.
November 21 was the release of the 2024 Beaujolais nouveaux, so we braved the first snow of winter visiting Château du Pizay and up to more than an icy 800 metres for lunch at La Terrasse du Beaujolais. Now we are stocked up for the winter and looking forward to a quiet Christmas.
Guédelon (Castle in the Making), is a fascinating project for us amateur historians which we had been following for some years.
It was actually on British TV a few times.
Looking forward and wishing you all the best for 2025
With all that’s going on in the wider world its difficult to be optimistic, but getting up early enough (to get fresh baguettes from the boulangerie) and see a December sunrise over our valley like this makes us think that things are not so bad.
When the visitors came in May, Barbara’s Brothers presented us with a large canvas print of the 2023 family gathering which now hangs on our stairway.
‘Abitur class from Teheran’ lunch at La Terrasse du Beaujolais
Our overnight stay with Mags who was a former neighbour to us in Rivenhall. She arranged a big surprise for with her two-now very grown up sons joining us for dinner. From the left Omar, Mags. Alex with his partner and Jon.
Once again we have to give a big mention to all our grandchildren and their parents. We really don’t know how they manage to fit the extra activities in!
All three boys are into their football, Jacob has now started ‘big school’ and also continued with sailing while the rest of the Findlay family were involved with helping out at the sailing club.
Fiona continues with her ballet classes and attained one of the highest awards in her group.
We were lucky to see Sebastien play some rugby while we were in Essex. The smallest boy on the field but his tackles always stopped the opponent. He went for their legs!
Blink and you will miss it (the goalkeeper did)
Football seems to be the preferred sport. Sebastien added another ‘man of the match’ trophy to his collection with this stunning penalty shot to the top left. I think the Lacey boys have been practising at home on their little pitch behind Corner Cottage!
We try as best as we can to consider our environment. Reducing our meat consumption, avoiding food flown in from far away and being as economic as possible with heating and travelling. While we still enjoy running two cars and our little Fiat 500 is very handy local trips especially if we have to park in a busy town. Now we have actually found that even though it’s a large diesel SUV our Alfa Stelvio is actually more economical than the little petrol Fiat and possibly less polluting! We don’t really need two cars and it would be logical to compromise with one medium size vehicle, but living in the countryside and making some long trips now and then, our only option is a hybrid. Even limiting our days travel to around 400k remains a stretch for an electric vehicle and of course, although we are not often pressed for time, you must factor in that the cost of an overnight stay is between 150€ and 200€. And of course any remotely affordable electric car is Chinese! So, like most other people we will hang on for now.
The names of the cars!
I am not sure if it makes economic sense, but we feel it’s environmentally good to use a small car for local trips, shopping etc. while, for a powerful SUV, our Alfa Stelvio is noticeably fuel efficient (and more comfortable) on longer journeys. We don’t usually name our cars but because of the last two letters of the Fiat’s registration, and its character, we immediately started calling it Pee-Pee! Now we had a problem. We had to settle on a name for the Stelvio, something Italian sounding.
We have owned several Italian cars over the years, but they say that you can’t be a ‘petrol head’ without owning a Alfa Romeo or two. Top left, our two 156’s, the blue one was the GTA which we often called ‘The Beast’ due to the growling sound of its V6 motor. Both cars were taken over by Jason and Babsi when we moved to France and bought more practical left hand drive vehicles.
My father had an Italian work colleague called Oscar. He and his wife Elsa became family friends and for no apparent reason, I woke up one night thinking about the times we spent with them about sixty years ago. They had no children, but Oscar was very proud of his wonderful Lancia car which I suddenly remembered he called ‘Carolena’. Why my ageing brain choose this moment to drag the name that Oscar called his car from some dusty corner of my mind must have been an omen.
Bottom left- ‘Pee-Pee’ in the background, with our ‘Carolena’ Stelvi finally back from the repairers during the middle of December 2022