Last week’s blog said that we (I) had made a slow start to 2021 and hadn’t made much (any) progress on our long list of projects and things to do. This week I have progressed … none. Again.
Unlike previous years there is no major task to be progressed immediately. Last year we had the refurbishment of Priory to start and so had to strip everything out after our Christmas guests had left. In 2019 I was mid-way through building my manshed and took the opportunity of clear dry weather to progress. This year, while we have many things to achieve, nothing has yet started so the motivation required to begin anything is greater and nobody likes dark, wet and cold January!
I haven’t been completely idle having taken a couple of days to split and stack a cord of firewood we had delivered before Christmas, and we had to prepare Priory for a lovely family who stayed with us this weekend when they celebrated one of their children’s birthdays.
January is, unsurprisingly, generally a quiet time of year for us so we are delighted to welcome guests this early in the year. The French are very good at holidaying within their own country and often within their own departement. Our Priory guests live only a little more than an hour away so we are really encouraged that we are becoming ‘known’ as somewhere lovely to spend a couple of nights for a celebration.
This weekend was a 5th birthday but immediately before Christmas we had a group of young friends from Paris who celebrated two 30th birthdays. If you’ve got a significant event to celebrate Kergudon, and it seems Priory specifically(!), is the perfect place to do it.
Otherwise, lots of ‘pottering’; some preparation for the projects to start; some essential admin with the French tax year being the calendar year; and lots of reading. One of the many things I hoped to be able to do having moved here was have the time to read a lot more. Last year, for obvious reasons, was the first time year I managed to read significantly more and last week, while it was typically January weather, I enjoyed my time reading some of the books Father Christmas gave me.
Today was the best day of the week for weather so we took the dogs for one of our walks although back to one we have done a couple of times around Logonna-Daoulas after a visit to the fabulous Sunday market at Daoulas itself.
Last week I mentioned that our area has been getting some publicity recently, and as it’s wonderful, why not? This week it is the Parc naturel régional d’Armorique who have highlighted some of the beauty of the Monts D’Arrée and our backyard. Come and see for yourself.
Next week I will start to do some actual work to progress some of these projects – but the weather’s not looking great …
À bientôt.