THE STORM

STORM BLOG

The plan was to house hunt at an unfavourable time of year so that we would experience the worst that our new home could ‘throw’ at us. We thought this was a good idea even though John had said not to pack warm clothes as we would ‘never be cold’ because we would just ‘head south’ if the temperature dropped to freezing. (Fortunately I disregarded his advice.)
So here we were parked at ‘La Bergerie’ near Tarbes Airport when the ‘tempête’ hit us at 112.5 miles an hour last night. We had parked a tree’s length from a row of pine trees and woke up to find six of them neatly laid out behind us. They had decided to ‘coucher’ – go to bed too! So here are the pics! I must say that other campsite residents had narrower escapes!

So to give you the low-down about the climate of our future home – it is reputed to be mild in winter though close enough to the Pyrénées for a day’s trip to the ski slopes. It rains a great deal (all day and all night) in January and February which is why the countryside is green! It does not get very hot in summer – just too hot to sit outside without the shade of a patio or tree or a gin and tonic. At least this is what we have been told but by the summer it will be too late to change our minds. We have had many frosty mornings but if it is clear and ‘calme’ the days are pleasant and not cold.
It took us two hours to drive the camper to San Sebastian. In a faster car this could make a day’s trip to the seaside a pleasant possibility out of season.
Tarbes is a very ordinary large town with all facilities on a plateau in the foothills of the Pyrénées. The countryside is agricultural, maize, stock, and some wine. It has pretty meandering rivers and streams with woods of deciduous trees.

We have reaffirmed that France has become very expensive. This is not just the recession but sharply escalating food prices in French supermarkets. (Tescoland impoverishes us all!) I don’t know how we’ll manage but meat is pretty much unaffordable here and bread is not cheap. Fast foods are destroying cheap restaurants. (Perhaps we should return to Britain!) We will however have a veggie garden with a longer growing season. John will take up hunting and I will fish and we will have to eat our own rabbits and chickens! Now that I look at what we have written, it sounds like John and I will be working very hard in our old age.

Je dois affirmer avec réluctance, que mon français parlé est très pauvre et je n’avais pas l’habilité de me joindre dans une conversation jusqu’ici.