Bonjour from the Vendee

Welcome Katie!

Enjoy the weather if it's good

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What about the language? Can you speak french?

All the best,

Julien

It's a challenge!  The neighbors speak the local patois which makes it more difficult.  Our area is very rural so English speakers are not common.  As soon as I think of something clever to say the conversation has changed but I am very good at nodding and saying "oui, oui', with the occasional 'c'est vrai?' thrown in for good measure.

hope it doesn't make your life too hard! I saw that you lived in Andorra, which is very close from my home actually (I am from Perpignan). Did you like Andorra?

I loved Andorra! The mountains were beautiful.  We were in a walking group and went for 4-hour 'walks' in the mountains every week.
I hated Andorra!  The traffic and tourists were so bad it somtimes took 2 hours to drive the 8 km to get to the main shopping area - and then you couldn't find a place to park. 
Our house was up in the mountains above the village (as are all 'houses', the villages are all apartment blocks) and we got tired of the treacherous drive in the winter snows....and we wanted a garden. 
Perpignan is a lovely city.

I hope you went skying while you where there. Can't be the same in Vendee

I agree the constant flow of tourists is tiring!

Perpignan is nice, but too quiet ... there's actually no jobs there. This is why I am in London now

HI Katie,

I was just pulling weeds yesterday! My dandelions are doing fabulous, too bad that I didnt plant them! And the 'garrance' -that sticky weed that the french used to use as red dye is driving me nuts... Happy Spring!!

Riana