Blue Sky Living

ten trees and a truffle dog

signed a new book deal about the adventures of our truffle dog - snuffle. You can follow our adventures at truffledogtweet on twitter

Chinese EPR

Looks like I am upside down! The cover above is the long awaited Chinese version of EPR. For some reason the publishers have decided that an image of a man walking through some pink gates into a desolate post nuclear landscape is the best way to sell a book about French rose.

I've yet to have any sales figures, but I am not optimistic!  

La Tuiliere

It began with a falling tile (supposedly bad luck in France) and ended 2 years later with the house you see below. We're a year late completing, horrendously over budget and given the stresses of construction lucky our marriage is still in tact. A word of advice to anyone considering building in Provence - double your time frame and double your budget.

And if anyone fancies helping dig us out of the financial hole we are in, the place is for rent next July and August. Views as you will see below are lovely.

 
 
 
 

Normal services

Well we moved house 6 weeks ago and have only just got the internet. Apologies for the lack of posts etc...this blog will be up and running again shortly. Watch this space.

Restaurant du Lac

First of all I must declare an interest. Three years ago when we arrived in the Luberon we met Philippe and Jill Sublet and were invited around to supper. Philippe cooked an exquisite Boeuf Bourginon, quite the best I have ever tasted. Shortly afterwards he announced he was going to open a restaurant at the Etang de La Bonde, near Cucuron.

I was immediately concerned - was it too far from Cucuron? would the campsite detract from the majestic views of the lake and of the Luberon? Was Philippe taking on too big a project? In the end the restaurant took three long years to finally open its doors and last night I ate there for the first time.

It was worth the wait. The cooking was some of the most refined I have tasted in this area, and the overall ambiance unsurpassed. If you are in the area this summer I have one word of advice - GO. And the price, a reasonable 28 euros for the menu du marche. I repeat - GO

SUBLET Philippe
Restaurant du Lac
Etang de la Bonde
Lieu-dit Pied Bernard
84240 LA MOTTE D'AIGUES
Tél. : 04 90 09 14 10
Fax : 04 90 09 13 05
reservation@restaurantdulac.eu
http://www.restaurantdulac.eu

insurance 3

so where were we....the insurance adjuster told our landlords it was all their fault and to leave us the poor tenants alone.

Incredibly they have still decided that we should pay. Madame had me over to show me a devis for 6K to repaint the interior with damp proof paint. How much was I going to pay she asked. I said I would give her a token €200 and she disappeared in a huff saying she was going to talk to the estate agent and that we hadn't heard the last of the matter.

I have now decided the landlords are the Provencal equivalent of a Venus fly trap. They have this lovely old farmhouse and lure you in with a bottle of olive oil from the trees outside their window and then snap that's 6K for the repainting

Insurance 2

A quick update - we're moving house and our landlords are trying to fleece us for 10K to damp proof the apartment we rent.

When the morning of the great insurance meeting came I was in hospital with my daughter who was having a brain scan (nothing wrong in the end). Our landlords were apparently delighted by my absence. However I'd left a letter explaining our case and our cleaning lady reported events to us. We'd feared the insurance guy would be a local builder, happy to sanction legal action against the English. Instead he proved to be a surveyor from Avignon. He looked around the house, examined the damp which our landlords claimed had been caused by us drying clothes inside. After half an hour he made his decision. Apparently it was like a couple of school children being told off by a head master. I only wish i had been there. Still it was a good day - my daughter was given a clean bill of health (got to love the French health service - two brain scans and an eye examination within a couple of hours of arriving) and our landlords were told to stop trying it on. England also beat Slovenia at football, shame about what happened next.

Insurance claims

Ah the joys of moving house. The big date is still a month off but our landlords are already trying to sue us for water damage to our rental property. The funny thing is we agree exactly on the facts of the case as follows:

In November we told them that there was a serious problem with the apartment. We couldn't shut the doors or the windows, water was gathering on the floor and the window sills every morning. We said they should call an expert. In response they said "c'est la provence". It's cold outside, it's warm inside. It's normal...blah blah

Every month thereafter we told them the problem was getting worse and they kept saying "c'est la provence"

By March there was damp everywhere and they finally did something.

Now, backed by the legal assurance they have taken out, they a blaming us, saying it was our civil responsibility to do something about it.

Am I missing something or is the French  moral code just totally different? Anyway we have a meeting with their insurer on Wednesday who is bound to refuse to  pay, and somehow blame us.

My response will be "See you in court."

Launch Party

Some pictures from the launch party of BSL. About 50 people came, it was a lovely sunny evening but only 18 bottles of wine were drunk. Has the world suddenly become a more sober place without me noticing?

The final picture is of our construction project - it's due to be finished in one month!!

  

 
  

Launch Party

Some pictures from the launch party of BSL. About 50 people came, it was a lovely sunny evening but only 18 bottles of wine were drunk. Has the world suddenly become a more sober place without me noticing?

The final picture is of our construction project - it's due to be finished in one month!!