I'm back!

Hello again! Got home late last night after a great few days in France with my dear friend Ian.

He and I met at the age of 16 - there's only 3 weeks between us - when our respective families were holidaying at the same hotel in southwest Ireland. I remember it was not the driest of holidays, and the game of Cluedo provided us with lots of entertainment and amusement in the hotel lounge. There was a lot of laughter, and to this day, any mention of that game takes me back to that time. After we went back home, Ian to Belfast and I to Edinburgh, we kept in touch, writing long silly letters to each other, and occasionally meeting up. Eventually Ian married and moved to England where his working life kept him till the beginning of this year! His first marriage failed, but he married again and had had two children when we lost touch, goodness knows now how or why we did that! Years went by and I thought about him quite often, never expecting we would ever see or hear from each other again. 21 years later, out of the blue, from FriendsReunited, came an email - "Ian W..... is trying to contact you", with a letter that was definitely from the right Ian! "Are you the Evelyn I met on holiday in Ireland.... etc", I wrote back immediately, "It's me! It's me!" and we have been writing to each other ever since. I learned that he had a third child but that his marriage had broken down and he and his wife were each leading very separate lives. They finally parted a couple of years ago and at the beginning of this year Ian moved to France, having bought a run down property to do up! I saw lots of photos of it early on, so was really excited to be going to see the place for real, and to see what he had done. (It's looking good - very good! There is still a long way to go but it's all taking shape nicely.)

So Ian came to Poitiers airport to meet me and take me back to the village, and the hamlet he now loves to call home! As we passed the village square we stopped to look around and someone waved to him from the bar. "Shall we go and have a quick drink?" he asked me. We ended up staying there for a couple of hours, with Lionel (Lee-on-el) the owner, Francois and Mimi, two great characters from Belgium now living in the village, and an English couple called Vicky and Steve. Conversation was in French and English with a little of Mimi's Flemish thrown in for good measure. It was great fun, and a wonderful introduction to the village! Hands were shaken, lots of kissing on both cheeks - I still don't know when one kisses twice or three times, but it's the done thing, whichever!

Right at the moment I am having a very bad relationship with my computer. I'm almost tearing my hair out -it will have to go (the computer, not my hair!) - so haven't managed to upload too many photos to edit and enter here tonight. Ian laughed at me taking so many photos and told his friends that his mother could drink tea for Ireland but I could take photos for Scotland! Yes, I did take lots, but I just wanted to parcel it all up and bring it home! So over the next day or three you'll get to see some of them. However I must just let you see a pic or three of Ian's place!

Here's himself with his French bread under his arm, and that's his house in the centre of the photo, in the background. Madame Pinot lives in the white house - lovely old lady - only speaks French, so Ian is learning a lot.

We had walked the long way round from the shop and are actually on our way home here! Ian is walking backwards at this point!

This is the part of the house you can see in the above photo, and here's Ian giving the shrubs a bit of a drink of water. These will be planted alongside the wall to form a sort of hedge! Through the open door is the kitchen, while to the left, down three wooden steps is the sitting room, an odd shaped room, but with an old traditional fireplace and a woodburning stove. Very cosy. Above the kitchen is Ian's room the bathroom is to the left and round the corner is the guest room - mine for the few days - over the sitting room. I reckon this has been two houses at some time, with the French doors into the sitting room being the original front door of the one house and the kitchen doors the front door of the second.

Moving over to the right, and tucked round the corner, is the oldest part of the house. This would originally have been the back of a small cottage in a row behind the main house. I'll show you them in a moment. Downstairs Ian is planning to have his dining room, while upstairs is his den with computer and photography gear, books, CDs....... It leads to the balcony which gets the sun in the afternoon and evening. There's a wooden bench table on the small patio too. Lovely!

So, going down past the sitting room and around the corner, turn right and you find yourself looking up the lane at this lovely old row of 19th century houses. I'd have thought they were older than that, but no matter! The house below the chimney pot in the centre is the other side of what will be Ian's dining room, with the wee window being his den! He has also bought the house on the right to do up for guests, either friends or self-caterers on holiday, and is in negotiations for the one on his other side for the same purpose! There's an old water pump and a plinth with a cross in the foreground.

So that's a little introduction to Ian's place - so interesting, and really fascinating! We tallked about different ideas for the house improvements, and both came up with ideas for our respective homes as a result! Just got to start doing the work on them both now!

Anyway, all for now. I must get this up and running, before I fall asleep over the keyboard! I just had to get this started! Lots more to come, but this is it for tonight!

Talk again soon.