Musings

20
Sep
2021

Mum’s house in Courry

This has been my first visit since June 2019, before Mum’s cancer returned and finally overcame her.  I have not experienced grief and sadness like this even at her death last March, and since the ending of my marriage.

The house has had 2 short visits last year, and now this September, but everything is more or less as she left it, down to the beach equipment, the crockery she assembled, her larder cupboard, the bathrooms she had done and equipped for everyone to use and so it goes on with every room.  Mum you’re so missing from your special place, your achievements here, the home from home you created, just you, so far away in this beautiful part of France.   

It is day two now, and despite trying to get the endorphins going with an online exercise session!, the sadness is continuing at the moment.  I think I will stay here though as planned for the next 3-4 days to live with the grief, because in a way I feel it’s overdue and it is revealing, I feel, all that she meant to me subconsciously. It remains to be seen whether I will able to take joy from this place again like she would no doubt want.

The story of her ownership of this house began after she had unexpectedly lost her husband, George, was concerned about her savings as the values fell significantly at a point in 2002, and an old friend who lived in this village happened to be selling the property, Laborie, within Mum’s available funds. 

Against all our (I and siblings) advice, she had made her decision and purchase it she did.  There followed many years of journeys out here at the age of 62, on her own, first with Ryannair from Blackpool or Liverpool to Nimes, then Nimes airport to Nimes train station, then a train to Ales, then the local train to St Ambroix, then a taxi or perhaps pick up from her friend for the last 7km journey upto Courry.  Bringing stuff out like bedding/towels in her suitcase.  Ryannair stopped flying from up north to Nimes, so she flew from Luton, the train line from Ales to St Ambroix was replaced by a bus, she eventually bought her friend’s little car and parked it at Nimes airport, where each time she arrived, she had to get the car park attendants to jump lead it!

Over time she removed all the wallpaper and replaced it with white paint, she installed 3 bathrooms, via her commissioning of the local French trades of course – imagine that with ‘O’ level French – one of them replacing the little room housing an internal septic tank when mains drainage came to town.  For a few years it seemed like every time you arrived, you never knew if there would be a leak from the old macerator toilet or its piping, or the original salle d’eau upstairs.  That does raise a smile.

It’s as if this house embodies so many of her attributes – she was indefatiguable, determined, capable, undeterred, positive, strong, and then welcoming, hospitable, wanting us all to share in it all with her. And for the last 10 years she was able to share it with her partner Jack, who engaged with it lock, stock and barrel, and she loved and was proud of it even more. See photos of the inside at post from 2 years ago: https://lifeinnewlanes.com/french-durrells-house-via-brief-stop-at-montpellier/

My family had lovely times here with her and their messages from one particular stay – got to be approx 12 years ago – Mum had put on the wall in the living room:

Posted by admin in Musings, Places
16
Sep
2021

Pandemic & Brexit – Travel in France

Current French Covid requirements for entry

  1. Proof of vaccination or recent recovery from covid

I used the French ‘Tousanticovid’ app (from Google Playstore) which is like our NHS App.  This will scan the NHS Vacc or Test QR code and load the details into the app.  I scanned the paper printout of the vacc certificate from the NHS App.

The French ‘legal declaration form’ I downloaded from the French gov website linked to from our gov site travelling abroad pages; this is a form you just tick boxes in and sign to confirm that you haven’t been in contact with anyone with covid in the last period of time – think it’s 2 weeks

In the Caen port my vacc pass (I handed them the paper version) was scrutinised and compared to my passport; others travelling via Eurotunnel were simply waved through on saying they were vaccinated – I think the same for the ferry at Calais.  The border guard stamped my passport, so assume the clock is now ticking down from 180 days for this period of travel in the Schengen area.

I have put a ‘GB’ sticker on the back and done the headlight beam thing.

Re Critair sticker – I got this for my previous van but forgot for this one so will ensure I don’t drive through any cities that require it.

Proof of destination in EU and return journey to UK

I was not asked for either of these and neither were my three other relatives/friends as part of their respective journeys. As of yet I haven’t organised for any tests for returning to the UK.

My sister bought a test from the UK and brought it with her for her return journey and got it certified via video that she was the one doing it, for inputting to the Passenger Locator Form, which she said took ages to do.

Taking food into France (EU)

Despite understanding that dairy, meat, fruit and veg from the UK are not allowed into the EU, consequently giving away the contents of my fridge after the festival, but keeping my hidden UHT carton, I needn’t have bothered as no interest was shown on either side of the channel.  The same has been reported by my sister crossing by ferry from Dover.

Round & about

Mask wearing is required indoors and even requested in tourist outdoor spots like the villages on L’Il de Re.  People are compliant re indoors certainly, and 2/3 compliant outdoors when it’s requested via a sign.

Showing the vacc pass is straightforward via the French app and is scanned in every restaurant/café I’ve been into, otherwise no entry.

Infection rates in France in the area I’ve been visiting are lower than the UK and dropping, and the vacc numbers are going up.  It has become a requirement now for all health & social care workers, plus other civil servants to have at least one vacc dose.  Hospital staff suspensions due to vacc refusal have been reported today via radio news.

I have not felt concerned about Covid at all, probably due to being outdoors, levels of mask wearing, and requirement to show vacc pass.

Apart from the very obvious lack of other British vehicles and the sound of English in comparison to previous years, as well as the above, everything else is as before, and people have been very friendly. There are lots of French mhome/vans on the road, also Dutch & German, although there might be less of these – difficult to tell given where I’ve been since Il de Re.

Posted by admin in France, Musings, Places
06
Apr
2021

Pipe & Slipper Beckoning?

Today is the first day of my life outside of permanent employment, which I describe as semi-retirement. The past 6 months of work has been ‘something else’. I want to record here, that I was part of the NHS Digital and multiple other org team which built the Covid Vaccination National Booking System – a rollercoaster of pace of work and a privilege to be completely unexpectedly involved in.

But having come close to death (my parents and pandemic) in the past year really for the first time as an adult – how fortunate had I been! – catching Covid at Christmas and emerging so thankfully back into my previous good health, crystallized the decision that while the going was good, I could financially, and therefore should, free myself sooner of the 9-to-5, 27 days annual leave a year, in order to be able to do different things.

Travelling in the flesh, rather than via the TV or internet, in hope that the vaccination programme and other covid-reducing measures will release us from lockdown, spending time with family and friends, new pastimes such as gardening, and who knows what await. Seasonal work, some contracting, are certainly not ruled out.

My April to do list has been constructed, and first campervan trip to the Lake District has been booked for some weeks. The gardening started yesterday by a completely unpractised use of a lawnmower cutting its own power cable despite my clocking (obviously half-heartedly) that I needed to be keeping the blades away from it! I have long recognised that I learn by reading repeatedly about the theory of stuff, but the fragments of knowledge only come together to complete the jigsaw once the doing starts. And I certainly learn by the ‘I won’t do that again’ type of doing. 🙂 Fortunately where the cable was cut was reasonably close to the plug end, so I can move this, and get mowing again. Happy Days.

Posted by admin in Musings
14
Sep
2020

New Chapter: New Dwellings

Time to record some changes with a post as I sit in my new, used, home on wheels, with its few-days maiden testing voyage to the sunny climes of Norfolk having been successfully achieved.

I have finally downsized, parting with my beloved 7m Monte2 in exchange for a 6m Citroen Relay-based van from british manufacturers ‘Wildax’, most likely to be known as ‘Blue’.

Just as my house building project was coming to an end, I would not have normally wanted to add into the mix the part exchange of my second home, along with making a final decision about whether I was crossing the Channel for a 3-week annual leave road trip as planned from 28/8. But my target vans become available so rarely, added to which this one was being sold from Skipton, just 20 or so miles from Harrogate. It would appear the
van had my name on it, as it turned out to be one that I went to view at a Kendal dealer the previous year!

The completion of the transaction and handover did bring a tear to my eye, and with Stephen the broker obviously not able to empathise, we agreed that to him Monte2 was just a commodity – another “tin of beans”. For me it represented lots of memories of good travelling times with family, had been a great home while travelling last year, and a great office during the last few months while my house was being knocked about. Of course I know it’s just an inanimate object but I’m not ashamed to hereby state my affection and gratitude for it, with hope that it will pass to a next owner who will value it as much as I have.

So have the risks I ran in swapping my ultra-reliable, everything-working Monte2 for an unknown potential more trouble than it’s worth , materialised? So far no! Delighted with everything but will acknowledge that shutting the sliding door and putting it into reverse takes some heft. And, always looking for improvement ( or “never satisfied”) I’m already deciding the hacks that need doing to it. But out of all its great features, the best has to be ………. the WINDOWSILL.

As for the other significant accommodation, 6 months on from a lockdown-interrupted realisation of my vision, it has finally been achieved. It’s not a Grand Designs, but still significant for a house described by my brother-in-law as one that someone decided to build to make use of a pile of bricks left over from building the rest of the estate. Similar to making some kind of tart with leftover pastry. Well, I declare myself delighted with the final result – some compromises along the way,- external unwanted but necessary soil stack which can be disguised with some kind of trellis and climbing plant, or quite frankly, just becoming invisible to my eye within a short space of time, and a genuinely unexpected monstrosity of a chip shop flue pipe (log burner) sticking out through the roof, which cannot. The trees in my garden do hide it from my view to a certain extent, but not that of my neighbours’. I was relieved to find that my immediate ones did not see its appearance as a hostility-declaring incident , as they still cut my front lawn for me a few days after installation.

I also discovered just last week that there is proper access from a public path at the back of my garden, which I had been totally unaware of. Given that my modifications had knowlingly closed off access to the garden other than through the building, this was a fantastic completely unexpected bonus.

Annual leave week one covidly-morphed from a drive down to Lake Maggiore to building flat-pack furniture!!! – yes I know it was a difficult choice to make – but also doing more enjoyable home setup stuff such as being able to order sofas, rugs, pictures etc. I do feel I have been extremely fortunate to have the resources to be able to create my home just as I want it to be, and this creative work to be able to engage in, during social distancing. Just as well I now have all this new space, to take the incredible amount of stuff which came out of Monte2, and which I am not intending to try and stuff into Blue.

Since my last post, I will admit to having passed a significant birthday also, which should have been celebrated with a disco, only to go the covid way of all such plans. But moving swiftly on – what more can I say, other than it’s time for me to go to France now via the virtual immersion offered by the Tour de France on TV. Missing greatly my adopted country, and hoping for lots more opportunities for campervan travel across that water in the coming months and years. An Italy ski trip has been booked for February with a great gang – let’s see whether covid or yet another government brexit-induced episode gets in the way.

The above does reflect what small part of the planet in human/societal terms I come from, that I have enjoyed such a good life thus far. The challenge continues to keep anxieties about the bigger picture checked, and to maintain joy instead but I will record them here because they are part of my thought life also. I understand and wish it could be other that my good life has in part been enabled by the inequality in the world, the past and current exploitation of peoples and the environment. I do fear for the planet and all its life, plus that of younger generations because of climate change. I fear the rise of populism, and the decline of those institutions and political systems which although flawed, have on balance been forces for good, in the face of the huge challenges which are already here but undoubtedly going to increase. And all those things are interconnected. I hope and pray that leaders from across the spectrum, with a genuine wish for justice and the flourishing of all people, global as well as local strategic vision, courage, determination and competence, will come to the fore or be further empowered to work together from top down, bottom up, middle across. I hope and pray that I will know and have the courage, if and when it’s necessary, to stand for what’s right, rather than pretending I haven’t seen.

“ For evil to flourish it only requires good men to do nothing.”
Simon Wiesenthal.

Posted by admin in Musings, The Good, Van
16
Sep
2019

Unplanned early return & tears for brexit

Just 2 weeks after I wrote the post on the ferry heading for Calais, I am writing again on the ferry in the other direction, heading home early due to family illness.

In Switzerland I was hedging my onward options due to the situation – not wanting to travel further east and south – so I took the opportunity in the decision time to join my sister and her husband on a campsite at Le Lavandou on the French Mediterranean coast, where I have stayed twice before. I was able to be an extra person and vehicle on their double-sized expensive pitch – so cheap for being on a 5-star campsite in that location! – and enjoyed 3 lovely days of more Summer.

This area and the medieval town of Bormes Les Mimosas is beautiful.

The past 3 weeks hold the record for the miles/kilometres driven, and having made the decision that I should return to the UK, I have certainly covered territory in 2 days: 9 hours driving from Le Lavandou to Beaune in Burgundy, mid-way up France, and a further 7 hour to the ferry, with cruise control all the way and Monte2 fantastic. More than 300 miles from Dover up to Lancashire.

So it’s a goodbye again as I sit at the rear of the ship and look southwards at Calais receding into the late afternoon, early Autumn sunlight. I wanted to record the really unexpected wave of sadness which swept over me earlier as the town came into view from the motorway heading to the French coast, the realisation hitting that this would probably be the last time for me before the UK leaves the EU.

I am happy to admit to the depth of this feeling – and to explain it as being like a grief for the ending of my own personal relationship with the EU – and France in particular over the years – and all its potential options that I have taken for granted as being part of my life since I started studying French and German at university in the late 70s. All this emotion found its echo coincidentally and most unexpectedly in those moments by the randomly-ordered Stevie Wonder tracks I was listening to. I did choose to ‘go with’ all the emotions and associated reflection.

My hope is that Brexit will sooner or later become in reality only a bad dream, as I thought it was when I woke up the morning after the referendum 3 years ago. I am a citizen of the UK, but will always feel that my valued citizenship of the wider European grouping known as the EU has been taken away from me on spurious grounds and on balance for no real benefit in the complex, interdependent world of now. I have much sympathy for those EU nationals who’ve been resident in countries other than their own for many years, who now feel everything’s up in the air, beyond their control, and ‘no longer wanted’,

Came across this building – see the caption above the door – in a little Swiss hamlet near the Italian border.

Posted by admin in France, Musings, Places
01
Sep
2019

Summer in the UK, & into Autumn

It’s 1 September, blue sky and sun shining on a flat sea, the coast of France once again in sight and I’m starting this post from the ferry taking me as planned across the channel to Calais, from where I will hot foot it into Germany. After an overnight in Ghent, Belgium, I am first of all going to the Dusseldorf Caravan/Motorhome show – apparently much bigger than the Birmingham NEC one – because yes, I am still a nerd for ever more tiny space and vehicle homes design, and this is THE mecca for all things motorhoming. Will see.

It’s been a good interlude between travels. One of the things I’ve been able to do in the time back in the UK is obviously spend time with family and visit some old friends, many of whom I haven’t seen for years. I’m going to continue this with a visit after Dusseldorf to a former au-pair who was with us 20 years ago but now with her own family in Germany,

I split my time in July/August very comfortably between my Mum & partner’s house in Lancashire and extended family back in Harrogate. Despite much coming and going with bags containing equipment to cover any type of activity I might want to do in these various locations, my memory and post-it notes failed only once (at least as far as I’m aware having at least made it through border checks etc) resulting in me driving in the end many unnecessary miles back from whence I’d only just travelled, to retrieve a bag thought left behind, but which was, in the end, at my new destination already. Abit of a tortuous description, but it sort of reflects the idiocy of that event! Now that I’m back living out of the van again for a few weeks, so only one respository of stuff, fingers crossed, all necessary items will remain with me.

Having decided that I still had motivation for business analysis work when the career break ends, I took a professional diploma a couple of weeks ago, so it was a good use of time to be able to do revision in a very relaxed fashion. Got absolutely fed up with it all though so the exam date came around at just the right time. Hopefully I’ll have passed it to add to my CV/LinkedIn if I come to apply for new jobs. At the mo, am feeling that just when British employees are going to become a hassle to employ, I would like to see whether I can get a contract in some European city, doing this only some 30 years after I had the original intention. Evolution of such a possibility to be continued when this journey finishes, which will probably be towards end Oct, when I will take a ferry circumnavigating the globe, or put the van on an earth-orbit-hopping spaceship so as to arrive at Scotland via the Arctic Circle or alternatively, black hole; either will be preferable despite my travel sickness and increasing aversion to flying, to getting caught in the post-no deal Brexit queues.

Having decided that I did not have motivation to do house hunting over the Summer so as not to risk distracting myself from setting off again, and closing down any other options, a house which ticks all the boxes unexpectedly presented itself in Harrogate just a couple of weeks ago, so I promptly put an offer in which was accepted, so that’s now all going ahead 🙂 Plus ca change!

The last objective of the Summer was to achieve the longed-for bop, and last night’s ‘Haven’t Stopped Dancing Yet’ event in south London, which I lingered around in the UK for, delivered. I stayed at the Crystal Palace caravan site some 3 miles uphill from the pub venue in Bellingdon, resisted using Uber for the first time after having checked the prices, and after 3 hours shuffling on the dancefloor with other like-minded 70/80s funk disco aficionados, little rucksack on back, and feet this time in non-birkenstock shoes, managed the cycle ride back by midnight.

I’m finishing this post now in Ghent on a free car park in a really pleasant location along with about 10 other vans – Monte2 feels welcome and at home – about to watch some British tv courtesy of getting the Amazon firestick to work. Autumn touring is already making its difference felt with time being one-hour later over here, so the night draws in even earlier. More hiding then in the van of an evening, playing guitar, typing away, reading, watching some tv.

Tomorrow morning I will seek to be “wooed by one of Europe’s greatest underappreciated all-round discoveries” ?? 🙂 – surely Lonely Planet’s over-egged its billing for the town.

Then, Dusseldorf & Wissenbach here I come, after which head for Croatia. Tschuss.

Posted by admin in Belgium, Musings, Places