Facing the unknown 🙄

So as the UK goes to referendum over whether to leave the European Union we are in limbo. There is lots of talk amongst expats here and we are all worried. None of the politicians are saying what it means for us. This is something totally out of my control which I find very hard.
We have owned this house for 8 years now and lived here for 6. It has not always been easy and there have been times when I have been desperate to go back to the UK. We have now made a life for ourselves and accepted staying here. If England leaves Europe it could be difficult to live here. We are fortunate where we are in that we are accepted. I don't know if that would remain so.
For now we will carry on and wait until we are told something definite but just now I feel if someone wanted to buy our place I would sell it.

A good day in the garden

Some of my chickens and the geese enjoying some sun!
Today I have cleared lots of debris that had accumulated over the winter. I have established a hard wood compost heap. Also one for veg peelings and weeds that the chickens can dig over which will make it compost quicker. They will also manure it as they go. Good organic practice.
I have worked out where my polytunnel is going too and put plastic down to kill the weeds. Hubby has said he will buy me one and I am so excited about it. I used to get excited about clothes, bags and shoes but how times have changed! I am sitting having a mug of herbal tea in muddy jeans with a dog on my lap asleep. It doesn't get any better!
My big greenhouse frame that is on concrete and had been a problem to find glass and putty for will be boarded. I will put a green tin roof on it and it will become a potting shed and place to keep all the garden tools. Another exciting project. I plan to put guttering on this and a water butt as this will help with watering the veg patch. I am looking forward to planting the seeds I have collected over the winter.
The geese now have two eggs tucked away in their house. I am hoping she will sit this year. I think she will wait until she has around nine eggs before sitting. The ducks also have a pile of eggs in their house. Hoping for some babies from them all this year.
The chickens are laying eight eggs every day and my egg mountain keeps growing. I use lots, give loads away and still have eggs to spare!
I will also clear nine young trees that have self seeded against the oldest barn wall. This will open it out and enable me to clear the ivy. There is a door into the garden side and my plan is to convert the inside to house goats! It will have stalls for them and a milking stand so when it rains I can milk them in the dry. I must put the bee hive together and decide where it will go in my garden.
The barn renovation that will be a house for my eldest daughter and hubby is nearly done. They will be in by the end of the month. It is looking really good.
I love days like today, I feel like anything is possible and love being outside.

And here it is

Our beautiful C5 parked outside our house. Just been washed after driving up our muddy road!
P has been out today digging out the grass mound that has grown in the middle of our road. With the tractors that use our road to access fields around us it is impossible to keep our cars clean.
This car is the same as the one we had when living in the UK. We bought that one from Amercan eBay and imported it from New York. There is a problem importing an American spec car into France so we sold it before moving here. We have always missed it. We are complete Corvette fans. We have re joined the Classic Corvette club UK and it is lovely to catch up with old friends. We plan to get involved with American car clubs here but being such a big country there are long distances to travel.
Now begins the import process. We have applied for the certificate of conformity and have the European head lights ready to install. P wants to put American style plates on it but not sure if that is allowed.
So begins a new chapter of life here. I think our carbon footprint just went back up!

A new car

so we arrived in the UK Monday evening after an awful crossing during storm Imogene! We were the only ferry still running as it turned out. We travelled as foot passengers as we were to collect the car hubby bought. Our daughter took us to Caen ferry port. It was strange not having a car and meant we had to limit what we took. I still managed to take some crochet with me though! The ferry took an extra hour to get to Portsmouth but we found a taxi to take us to the hotel! Wish we hadn't! The hotel was awful but we were so tired by then we did not feel able to look for somewhere else. Not a good start.
In the morning we decided not to stay for breakfast but to walk to the station looking for somewhere to eat on our way. The station was not far and we found a very pleasant place for breakfast. The hotel offered breakfast for £7.95 each, a bit steep and given the state of the hotel I doubted the quality of the food. Hubby had a much missed bacon sandwich and I had pain au raisin bizarrely! With coffee it cost us £8!
On to the station and we had a short wait for our train to East Croydon. Helped an older lady with her case and she told me her lifestyle! That happens a lot to me. At East Croydon we bought sandwiches to take on the next train to Milton Keynes. Changed at Milton Keynes for the final leg to Atherstone! All that for £12 each. Bargain. Wandered into the village to find coffee whilst we waited to be picked up.
Once at the house we were able to transfer ownership and buy car tax on line. Hopefully the V5 will arrive soon. The car did not have much fuel so we went to a petrol station five minutes away! Parked up with hubby filling up and two unmarked police cars blocked us in! They had checked with DVLA and we came up as no tax or insurance! Showed him my French insurance papers and said we had taxed it. There was a delay for it to show. Had a nice chat about the car once he knew we were legal!
Then drove down to Daventry to stay in a lovely environmentally responsible hotel. Hubby was stressed getting used to the car and worrying about all the traffic.
The next day we drove on down to visit a friend in Caterham who is interested in the car. Then on to Crawley to the wheels place. Now hubby was really twitchy, leaving the car there overnight. The chap mentioned they had a Lamborgini and Maclaren in last week so he calmed down a bit.
Then it was off to find a bus to the town center. Then another bus for 1 1/2 hours to get to bil.
Made it! An epic journey on public transport, survived!
The wheels will be ready later today so back to Crawley. It will be good to have the car back.
Tomorrow we will use the tunnel to take our yellow C5 Corvette home!
The last one we owned we bought from American eBay, went to Connecticut to see it then had it shipped over. We loved it but could not import it to France so sold it before moving over.
It feels good to have one again.

Another victory with bureaucracy

This week we had to sort out the importation of daughter's car. The headlights were changed a couple of weeks ago so the next stage was the CT (mot in England). As it is a newer car it has the type approval number on the V5 so should not need a certificate of conformity. We went to our usual place for the CT who said we had to have the certificate for him to do the test. Came home and contacted Citroen to find out the cost. Meanwhile we were told of another test place who would do it without the certificate. This one is in our department and it is not unusual here for policies to be different in other departments. So we obtained the CT. Next stage to go to the tax office for the quitas fiscal, this is a check to ensure there are no outstanding loans on the car. Daughter and sil live on our property so all uitlity bills are in our name. All they have are mobile phone bills and car insurance. The tax office would not give us the paper without a justification of domicile. Had to go back to our village to the Marie to get an attestation..they love those here. It was issued with no problem so back to the tax office and this time success.
Today was the big one...we had to go to the main prefecture for the next stage. Last year I had tried to change my driving license for a French one by post and twice it was returned to me. I wanted to do this at the same time. Daughter sailed through her bit, paid her money and came away with the document needed to get the French number plates. Hers was done quickly. I had to wait longer for my turn and when I finally was at the window was told there were two more forms I had to complete. The other problem was once more the justification of domicile..proof of address. We had the usual utility bills but they are only in the name of P so we took a tax demand that was In both names to prove we lived at the same address. She had to consult someone else but finally it was agreed I had the right paperwork! 3 completed forms, 3 photos, copy of utility bill, copy of passport, copy of birth certificate and plastic and paper parts of my English license. Then another problem...if I wanted to retain grandfather rights I had to have an attestation from my doctor! No way was I doing all this again so I agreed to being covered for cars only. I have never driven a van, lorry or caravan and never will. I now have a document to show the police if needed to say my new license is in progress! I did it!
One of the problems with dealing with officialdom here is the goalposts keep changing and it is hard to find out what the changes are. Usually you turn up at a government office with what you think is the right paperwork only to be told no!
The department we were in today had a lot of migrants waiting. At least my license was a European one, most of them are non European. Ten times harder to sort out! I felt very sorry for them.
My French is far from perfect but I am managing much better now.
I am feeling good this evening!