Who has the time for this retirement lark?

One of the things that seems to have obsessed people when telling them about our proposed life in France is : what were are going to “do”. Well take it from me folks, this relaxed lifestyle is sort of,…. time consuming…. !!.

Take a “normal” day. Now the nice French folk have managed to get their clocks one hour infront of ours in Blighty so, technically, your eight o’clock is actually our nine. Happy as I am to be an early riser, there isn’t much point if it’s still pitch black at 8am local time, so a cozy little cup of tea in bed seems like a much more sensible idea.

Stitch too has gone from being an early morning nightmare, (whine, scratch, moan) to the sort of dog you have to prise out his doughnut bed to have a wee, so popping down, putting the kettle on, and returning to my dosing (that’s not DOZY) hubby has now finally become an option.Hooray. Safe to say after re-warming my tootsies and swallowing my 1^st batch of “meds”, clambering back out of bed seems pointless until 1) they have kicked in and 2) there is actual daylight to be seen.

Hello NINE a.m.!  ….. Downstairs for muesli and a cup of strong coffee to ready myself for action. What action you ask ?…..well decide if you need to go grocery shopping or need something more specific for the houses’ revamp from holiday house to permanent residence ?. Well the shops shut for lunch at 12 (until 2pm) so you better make your minds up fast coz there is nothing more frustrating than trying to fit a weekly shop into a 30 minute “window”. It fast beings to resemble “Supermarket Sweep”

You have plenty of time until 12.00am I hear you say, well not really, as there is also under consideration the “W” word ie: are canine breakfasts required immediately upon our morning decent and W relegated to an afternoon activity or, are they “good to go” before you go out?. Try fitting a W in before the shopping and beating the lunchtime deadline.??? Nope, afternoon it is.

So now your morning has degenerated into dashing around before the shops shut, your afternoon understandably pandering to your dog’s needs ……before you know it, it’s clean out your wood burner, get in some logs, do your Snow White bit to the increasingly grubby floor tiles (as a result of the W) flick around a duster,peel some veg and bingo it’s getting dark.

I announced this morning (in bed with a cup of tea) at 9.38 a.m. OUR time that on Tuesday we have been here a month,we then spent a good ten minutes trying to remember what we had ACTUALLY done during that time. Needless to say the “things needing doing” list had barely been started, and we’re not consoling ourselves that we still have another umpteen weeks. We seem to have been flat out for the last four.!!! Priceless.

Anyway,one of the things that prompted this blog was my blog or lack of it. So I will promise you that I will do my piece on French agility in the next couple of days. I have attended once,last Wednesday,and am due another visit tomorrow (Saturday) so no excuses, I will find the time…….just probably when it’s dark !!.

Post script: My last two blogs had no pictures...that sucks, so here are a couple to keep you going and to assure you it does cloud over here sometimes....even rains........   

Winter sunset 

Double rainbow 

Phee barking at puddles(before splashing in them big time)