Creating Connections in France

We have watched the guys from Gaz de France work tirelessly this week digging up the road, inserting our meter in the wall outside our gate and installing the pipe run which will run the natural gas to our house. A great and very jolly bunch of guys, they offered to dig through further to reach our cellar where the pipe will connect to the 2 boilers and afford us central heating. Admittedly, these situations are helped by being able to joke with them in French. A smile goes a long way, a “petit café” even further and thereby we have a great connection.



We have been down here in the Languedoc Roussillon for almost 8 months now and have yet to experience the Autumn season. The air temperature is a little cooler now but the sun is still hot and golden. We have watched the leaves slowly fall, the shadows still long beneath them, their colour rust hued. Autumn fetes abound in local villages: the chestnut fete, the lemon fete, the garlic fete: people go to great lengths in these communities to involve the locality and we have felt very much a part of it. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why we love our life here: we seem to have established a connection with people that was harder to find in the UK. I still love the way everyone says “bonjour” when you enter a shop or meet in the street. It is so simple to make friends here.

October 5th was a special day for Mr. Fix It and me. Having known each other for several years through friends, this date 2 years ago was our first proper meeting on our own and what a day it was: an instant connection! So now in France, we decided to celebrate this great day and drove to Narbonne for a wonderful evening. Built by decree from Rome in 118 BC as a trading post along the then newly constructed Via Dolmitia, this city grew to become the capital of the Roman province of Narbonensis and one of the most important cities of southern Gaul, as it then was. Now, it is a beautiful city, graced by wonderful architecture and rightly proud of its situation alongside the Canal du Midi.

Autumn brings its own rewards, the colours on the landscape here in the South of France become golden and thoughts turn to log fires in the evening. Our kitchen awaits the Mr. Fix It touch: plans for its design are already prepared on paper and I look forward to the day I can indulge in some great culinary delights in what I know will be a wonderful room. But for the moment, as always, we are determined to enjoy our life here whilst planning the next stage of our renovation. This huge project would not be for everyone and if I had a pound (or a euro) for every French friend who has walked into our hallway with that very French “drying thumb” gesture, I would be a rich lady! Little by little, however, our house is taking shape and the space and grandeur of this building go a long way to making up for its present – and temporary – shortcomings.

We feel a huge connection with the French way of life already and still marvel at the strength of the blue sky above us. Why, even one rose has stayed with us as summer fades away.



Alexis
http://www.francebuyingguide.com/