Category: Part 2 – The Languedoc

Early in the summer of 1990 Jane, Sarah and I took a two week holiday in Frasquenet. In order to offset some of the home loan I had taken out, we had decided to rent the house out to holiday makers, in the weeks we didn’t need it. Advertisements had been placed in the Sunday Read More »

The TGV was something of a disappointment, not because it didn’t travel fast, but because there was little sensation of speed, as it glided, smoothly through the French country side. Also the hype that one hears in England appears to be a little overdone. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been told either Read More »

On a Tuesday evening in mid July 1991, a couple of days before we departed for our summer break, one of Jane’s friends of many years, Jao Chai, came to stay with us in North West London. Jao Chai who is a Singaporean, had long been talking about taking a year off work. During this Read More »

The next morning as we drove South from Marvejols, we saw signs announcing ‘Les Loups de Gevaudan’. There followed some speculation as to whether the close proximity of these wolves, might account for the ‘Beast of Gevaudan’, which had apparently terrorized the residents of the area in the 1760s, and is the subject of another Read More »

The following year there was no spring renovation trip to Frasquenet. This was due to a time critical project at work, combined with a lack of volunteers. During May and June I started to turn my thoughts to what my summer French holiday project should be. The wall enclosed, patch of concrete at the back Read More »

We arose early the next day for our drive to Toulouse. I drove while Jane and Sarah caught up on lost sleep. Once past the Corbieres hills the landscape becomes a little less interesting, so I turned my thoughts to the imminent problem. Earlier in the year, I had invited my mother Mabel and stepfather Read More »

I was expecting the spring decorating party of 1993 to be sizeable. Apart from those who had been before and who expressed interest in participating again, two ex work colleagues Dan and Bert were keen to come. Dan asked if it would be OK to bring his girlfriend Charlotte along. I could see no reason Read More »

“You cannot park anywhere on the Euro-Disney resort until the morning, except in the car park of a Hotel you are staying at”, said the security guard, supervising the entrance to the car park of the Sequoia Lodge Hotel. “We are booked in here, for tomorrow night”, I responded. “Then you can come back tomorrow” Read More »

When we arrived at Frasquenet Isabelle was just finishing up her weekly cleaning session and informed me that the previous guests had left about four hours earlier. I unpacked the car while Sarah rushed to her room to re-acquaint herself with long forgotten toys. Jane headed down to the shops to stock up with groceries. This Read More »