Friday, 31 July 2009







I'm reminding myself of Bill Murray in Caddyshack!The taupes(moles) are driving me crazy building their sandy mounds all over our garden.Corinne is constantly finding me outside with the garden fork in my hands waiting for the little devils to appear!Hopefully my latest aquisitions will be the answer.Solar powered spikes that emit high pitched noises to scare them into my neighbours garden

Thursday, 30 July 2009











Just been working on my latest project for the last three days,restoring an old barn door that will be our front entry door.Check out the before and after shots.Now I've gotta find an old lock and. some drop bolts so I'll have to get back to the vide greniers this weekend and have a look.Had a surf at lunchtime,solid punchy 6ft and a little messy ,lefts at Les Bourdaines,Igot flogged by 3 solid sets and came in with my tail between my legs.Probably why there wasnt anyone else out there!The waves have been good and promise to be good tomorrow morning with it a little smaller and offshore.Its been a good summer for waves so far,lets hope it stays that way

Tuesday, 21 July 2009

Stinking hot at 36°,the french are sweating and whinging.Ha ha ,I love it hot,with it expected to be hot for the rest of the week.Warm water,surfing in shorts.Last night I had the longest barrel since I arrived.I was in shock.I tried to meet up with Lakes for a late surf and he was just finishing his when i hit the beach.The tide had dropped really quick and the bank he was surfing was over,so with a perfect 4ft clean straight swell I headed out the back to a bank that had just started to fire with the dropping tide and scored some fast pitching freight train rights with only a few being makeable and only one a couple of tourists out.After gettig pitched a couple of times I scored an amazingly fast, long open and very deep 5ft barrel that is definitely one for the memory bank.By far the longest ive had since arriving here 2 years ago.It is amazing to get such quality here and sometimes so unexpectedly.Ill go back tonite but i'm sure it wont be the same.Its hot so Lola and i will go to the beach now.

Monday, 20 July 2009







Just had a great week with my sister Pauline,Paul,Daisy and Lily.Went swimming,lunched at San Sebastien in Spain,Had apperatif with Monique,Fed the goats and Donkeys and played tourist around here.We ate plenty of local dishes and drank plenty of good wines.Lolas had so much fun hanging out with her cousins and was so sad to see them leave.Lots of tears..Its amazing how much theyve grown up in 2 years

Sunday, 12 July 2009











I poured the half the slab for the terrace last week.I took a leaf from the frogs book as they very often mix their concrete themselves as there are no minimix here.you can buy a 'BigBag' of stone mixed with sand, so all you need to do is add the cement and water and away you go.Its a lot cheaper than ordering the concrete from the plant.And now we have an area to relax outside.I've taken Lola surfing the last 3 days and she loves it.Small summer waves here are perfect for kids to learn.





Pauline arrives tomorrow with Daisy and Lily so Lola is very exited.Paul arrives on Thursday.Should be a fun week

Tuesday, 7 July 2009











The Lawsons left here last week and are probably nearly home in Flinders by now.We had a couple of meals with them.It was great to see Sandrine again and Lola enjoyed her time with Emma, and the beautiful littleNina.Pete was lucky to get some good waves with nothing epic but some pretty good sessions that were much better than home.




Lolas on school hols now so if the sun is shining we'll spend plenty of time at the beach




Nearly finished the bathroom/toilet downstairs and it is now fully functionable.Bliss!!So good to have a new 900mm cooktop/oven to use, its a luxury after what weve had.




Derek is here at the moment and we've had a cuople of surfs together but its been pretty ordinary.Mavybe tomorrow.




Wednesday, 1 July 2009











We are finally in our house!!!!




Sorry about the lack of updates but I've been working 7 days a week to get it ready to move in and havent had time to scratch myself!! Its a long way from being finished nbut its habitable.Lots of things have happened .I have managed to sneak in a couple of good surfs at Vieux Boucau ,had Lolas concert and breakup fiesta, bought some great antiques including 2 beautiful wardrobes,old sewing machine,some beautifully restored oil lamps an antique camera on a tripod and an amazing squeezbox among other things for a ridiculously cheap price.




Lola starts her summer school hols for 8 weeks this week.Its been very hot with heatwave conditions for the last week or so.30 -36° ,very hot for here and the frogs cant handle it,I love it and I get great pleasure out of seeing them squirm and sweat and whinge and cringe.Ha Ha, the hotter the better I reckon!And theres more to come,haha

check out the size of the bug!