OFII maintenant estampillé et approuvé pour 12 mois

Finally received our letters from OFII with appointment dates and times for medical and interview in Limoges.

Fortunately we decided to head over the day before and get ourselves organised.


A very stressful time leading up to this point.

It was 35 degrees and all the historic centre of town had been dug up.

Our accommodation was on the top floor of a hotel without a lift and because I had requested a quiet room, we were placed into what we thought was a room built in the fire escape at the back of the hotel.

Very very hot and stuffy and the shower was as big as a shoe box. So not much sleep that night.







We planned out our route from the medical centre where we had to be seen by the Pneumologie Dept at 10.30am and then get across to the other side of the city for our 11.15am interview at the OFII - easy you say.

We were held up at the hospital as we were seen separately. Just to make the day more interesting, no gowns were supplied when we had our xrays.

After all our preparation with paperwork, even listing our vaccinations from childhood as was requested, medical history provided by my Australian doctor, none of this was asked for by the Doctor.

Only a few questions regarding our private health insurance, any prescribed medications and weight. Then the Doctor just stated that the xrays were all clear and placed a stamp on the medical form.

So then it was a mad dash across town to the interview.

The Tom Tom went stir crazy, cars were pulling out in front of us, trolley buses to contend with, round-abouts that would bring anyone to their knees.

But with Bill driving like Daniel Riccardo, we made it with seconds to spare.

Once we arrived at the OFII, out of breathe and stressed,  we stood at the counter, passed over the documentation along with the medical certificate and xrays from the hospital.

They then asked for more paperwork which after a few minutes we worked out what they were asking for.

Once provided, they printed off the visa and placed it into our passports and stamped them. All good to go after a few instructions about showing the two visas in the passports when going through customs.

A celebratory drink of French Champagne coming up!

For anyone attempting what we just completed, my advice would be to make sure you have all the documentation even though we weren't asked for some of it doesn't mean that others won't.

So relieved and excited about the prospect of now staying the whole 12 months.

Look out France!

A few more pics of Limoges......

Some more pics of places we went through on the way to and from Limoges.

Bourganeuf is a beautiful village with the Castle being converted into a cinema.














We also found the most amazing brocante shop absolutely jammed packed with stuff - could have spent all day in there but Limoges was waiting.

Coming back we went through Uzerche, absolutely beautiful, and Treignac, again a wonderful village.

They are so picturesque.

All the little villages you pass through on your way to somewhere excites us the most.

All the flower pots so wonderfully placed at window sills and doorways, along stone walls, hanging pots overladen with flowers.

Seeing many Chateaux in the distance.






The pic opposite is of a 14 century hall in Treignac - just amazing.

The French forests are just beautiful.







 A new Francophile

Wendy

Winter is coming Jon Snow

This week saw us preparing for winter.

We had 2 cords of wood delivered.

Now all stacked ready for those long cold winter months ahead.



We had a lovely night out in Boussac on Saturday night.

The Dollies French were appearing at the local Salle Polyvante in Boussac.

It was a very entertaining performance by the 3 ladies.

The theme was music from the 40's.

It was put on by the AIPB ( a group of people that encourage multiple nationalities to engage in local community events).

We celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary on Sunday - Bill can't forget the date 11 Sept.....thanks Osama Bin Laden.

We took a drive to Chateauroux, passing through St Severe on the way.

They had a huge brocante.

This town is beautiful and pretty close to us.

It's a vibrant village with a Boulangerie, Pharmacy, a few restaurants, post office and a number of banks.







Chateauroux didn't live up to expectations. We had only passed through this town from the train station as a pick up and drop off destination.

The center of town had a number of new buildings which looked quite ugly and not in the french theme.

Going on a Sunday meant we expected everything to be closed as is the way in France but we did happen to find a few coffee shops/restaurants that were open.

However, we both agreed, that the church was probably the pick of the sightseeing here.

A friend has kindly given me a lot of material this week as I was after some curtain material.

So much sewing for the winters months - will keep me out of trouble.





Next week - PORTUGAL and SPAIN!!!

Wendy

Social Marathon

This week has been full of social engagements - it seems like back to back.

A luncheon at our place on Wednesday which was absolutely lovely.

Very hot and the wasps were a problem with one guest being stung.

Copious amounts of food and wine were consumed and lots of jokes were told. Below is a photo of Michael having us in stitches.


One of our guests is a painter (photo of Mel on right with tractor behind him - and that's another story).

We have commissioned him to paint a scene of our village which would include our maison.






Then there were Friday night drinks which turned into dinner.  We discovered a huge big umbrella in the barn that Bill erected to provide more shade. Those pesky wasps didn't give up and another guest was stung. In desperation I went into Boussac to buy a few citronella candles to burn but the wasps seem to just ignore the candles - so will have to research this more as to how to keep them at bay. Again lots of food and wine and many stories told. Our French neighbours came so conversations were held both in French and English.

Then another luncheon at our place on Sunday - not so hot but the wasps still buzzed.

Another lovely afternoon in the french outdoors.
















We also had a visit from our dear neighbour's grand daughter last Saturday.

Melanie, who just turned 11, came wandering into the yard.

She spent time with trying to teach us words for things in the house and garden.

She was quite excited about being invited in and wanted to take some photos of us and inside the house.

She is learning English at school and so it was good practice for her as well as us.

Hopefully she will be a regular visitor.




We had excitement in our village last Sunday with the Tour du Limousin come through. The announcement came over the loud speaker from the Mairie (Town Hall) but I couldn't understand what was being said. So came out the front and there were all the neighbours in front of their houses waving flags. I wondered what was going on so hung around awhile and then all the motorbikes came through followed by hundreds of cyclists and support crew.

With our social calendar now tapering off a bit this week, we need to get on with some painting around the place whilst the weather is still warm. We have to coat the walls with a weather penetrating paint and finish staining the cover at the front of the house.

Bill did manage to obtain permission from our neighbour - Alain - to access his property to remove ivy from our barn wall.

Bill also asked him if he was interested in selling his land.

We are interested in buying some of it if we go down the path of renovating the barn.

Bill was met with a "stern" reply of NO. So that's the end of that I suppose, unless circumstances change for Alain.

Apparently he owns quite alot of farming land around here. The farmers are reluctant to give up ownership of land as they get subsidized by the government.

Oh well, we will wait and see if he changes his mind as we are in no hurry.

As we are heading over to Limoges and then down to Portugal soon, we need to get the automatic sprinkler system working to keep the garden thriving while we are away - a project for this week.

à plus tard

Wendy

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

A busy week in paradise

We experienced the most amazing weather this week in St Silvain.










From very hot weather to thunderstorms and then rainbows to beautiful sunsets..





This week saw us setting up a stall at Domeyrot (2kms from St Silvain) - very early in the morning.


We had a lot of items to sell.
A great way to meet people and practice our french.


It was extremely hot....lucky we had taken an umbrella and lots of water.

It was a huge brocante with running and walking races and entertainment by African Dancers with a bit of line dancing thrown in.














That night we were invited to an old water mill that had been restored into a restaurant (Moulin de Breuil).


We were all seated at trestle tables outside with a view over the river.

Absolutely wonderful.

There were 2 pigs on a spit that they were cooking roadside and the band was playing right in front of the entrance to the restaurant.

A perfect evening.





We visited the elderly lady 2 doors up who had invited us over for morning tea when we first arrived. She had been into hospital to have a pacemaker fitted and that is why we hadn't seen her around the village the last few weeks. Anyway she is okay and her son and granddaughter were there when we arrived. It was an interesting conversation. Bill drew a map of Australia to show the granddaughter and Madeleine where we had lived in Australia. We stayed for about 45 mins and have since invited her over for morning tea and to show her our garden.

We are now regulars at the Boussac markets.

Cafe du Sports has put sand on the ground outside.

We are told it is for the workers who can't go on holidays but want to feel like they are at the beach during lunchtime.

They don't close off the main street for the markets so there was a commotion last week when 2 huge trucks were trying to pass each other.
After lots of reversing, pointing and moving of other vehicles, success.It seems to be a regular occurrence as we have seen the same thing happen a few times.

Big hay trucks, harvesters all go through the main street, just passing within centimetres of where we are seated.

We were invited to a 60th Birthday party yesterday at Bord St George.

Absolutely delightful day, although the weather was more like Melbourne with all 4 seasons in the one day.

We met some people that had just purchased their 5th apartment in the French Alps and invited us to visit them between Dec and April.

Michael's new neighbours that couldn't attend the party as they were busy moving in surprised him by arriving in the back of a truck complete with accordion, plastic chairs, singing happy birthday in French. He teared up a bit. (No OHS safety issues here).






We visited Toulx St Croix church on the way to the 60th Birthday party yesterday.
Beautiful 11th century church.

It has four sarcophaguses found from the 7th Century.

After searching through various car yards around the area, we finally found ourselves a newer second hand car. (And no it's not the little white van although it probably would have been a very handy vehicle).

The process is quite different here in France.

We bought the car in Gouzon (10kms away) last Thursday but cannot pick it up until 27 August.

They have to change over the registration, service the vehicle, clean etc before it leaves the car yard.

At least we will know have more confidence when driving around France and into other countries.


We had a music festival in our village from Thursday till Sunday.

The tents were set up in a paddock behind our house.

We went to get our free tickets on Thursday thinking all the events would be held in our village.

But they were spread out over a number of villages.

We were told it was going to be jazz music so were quite excited about it, but found out it was all alternative style music which we are not really into. Anyway the village was buzzing with cars and people for a few days.


I have been busy trying out different cooking ideas and recipes.

It's even harder when I am not sure of which pastries to buy to be able to make pasties.

My third attempt seemed to actually look more like a pastie than the first two attempts.











Walking maps now purchased - can't possibly get lost now.

First walk scheduled for next Sunday (weather permitting).

We are still waiting to hear from the OFII - hopefully this week sometime as we want to start making travel plans to head down to Portugal and Spain.

Jusqu'à mon blog suivant

Wendy