Another exciting week in St Silvain.

The beginning of the week was taken up with repairs, painting, gardening and barn cleanup.

We discovered a giant new shop in Montlucon called E.Leclerc.


It has everything imaginable, from paint in one aisle then straight to cold meats and seafood. 

Booze at the end of every aisle, plus a cave that contains the more expensive wines. 

The room is climate controlled.

Amazing place - rather overwhelming really.

We were invited to a luncheon on Wednesday at Bordessoule (Ladapeyre) by some English friends. The day was extremely hot but we had a lovely afternoon sitting under their gazebo.







Thursday - Boussac market day - we did the tour of the village.

Very interesting history and claim to fame with the famous George Sands (female writer) bringing her lovers to the Boussac Chateaux.

Six Tapestries were discovered in the Chateaux in 1841 in disrepair. 

Rats had eaten some parts of them and others being used to cover furniture. 

They were made around 1484 and depict each of the five senses. All have a unicorn, lion and noble lady. 

They are now displayed in the Musee de Cluny in Paris after being restored. 


We visited a local restaurant called Pierres Jaumâtres which is located at the base of some huge boulders very near to our place.

We haven't yet made the trek to see the boulders but have put it on our to do list. 

The restaurant is fabulous as it looks out over the valley and has a beautiful big outside deck area.

Friday night was mussel night and was very popular with the locals.








Friday saw us start French lessons (again) - we are keen to be able to speak at least half well by the end of our 12 months.

Saturday was a big day for us. 

We picked up our new secondhand car - a 2008 Laguna - but not without incident. 





Our old car must have known that it was being traded in, so it decided to lose it's exhaust 2kms from our house on the way to the car yard on Saturday. 

As we were trading in the vehicle we had emptied everything out so Bill had nothing to be able to either attach the exhaust or remove it. 

So off he went walking back home to get some tools to bring back to fix.

In the meantime a lovely french couple pulled up and helped us out. 

They drove to pick Bill up, return him to our house to pick up the tools and then drove him back to the car.

It took Bill about 20 minutes, laying on the road, reaching under the car, to dismantle the exhaust. There were a lot of expletives........

We were then on our way and picked up our new car. 

So much more comfortable driving around with air conditioning, with a speedo and fuel gauge that works, a clock and it even has SatNav - YAY.




The last big news for the week was receiving our letter from the OFII (Office for Immigration and Integration). 

We now have our appointment date for 14 Sept in Limoges. 

Just means we have to delay heading to Portugal and Spain by about a week. 

Lots of paperwork to gather and provide a list of vaccinations right from childhood - this might be a struggle. 

Our medical examination has been scheduled by them for the same day in Limoges.

Whilst sitting here writing this post it is raining with thunder and lightening. A welcome relief from the very hot days that we have had the last few weeks.

Bon journée pour maintenant.

Wendy