Tango

Have you had a moment or moments in your biking time that you look back on and think "how the hell did I get away with that!"?

The tester didn't notice that I didn't have one at all on the Speedy at it's last MOT!

You think that Brexit was mainly to keep him out?

Well, Pete, it's a lot different to 16 years ago, mate!

Cheers mate. Unfortunately it has taken so much effort to actually get the bonneville registered here, that it's staying.......forever!

Yes, we had to sell our house in the UK before we could buy here. We "sold" it late last year, but the "buyer" messed us around until March this year before he then decided he didn't want to buy it! Fortunately it sold within a week of being put back on the market, but because of the buying rules here, we couldn't make an offer on a place until we had the money in the bank. When we first planned to move over early last year it was for Mandy to take up a job in the European headquarters of the company she worked for. We got things in place and I took early retirement, then a few weeks before we were due to move, Mandy's company imposed a global headcount freeze, so the job offer was withdrawn. We decided that, as we had already made the decision to move, that we'd do it anyway. Mandy volunteered for redundancy from her job and we went ahead with the move. Mandy set herself up as a freelance consultant, but work was slow. Then, a few months back, a senior director from the European headquarters phoned her and sounded her out about a new role, which is what Mandy is doing now. The biggest thing has been in getting into all the "systems" here. The French love a bit of bureaucracy, so getting into the healthcare system, the tax system, getting our residency permits and all the other stuff has been challenging, but we're pretty much there with it all now. The coasters? Well, the French lifestyle! and we're both pretty impressed with the healthcare system here so far.

One year ago today we arrived in France to start our new adventure. It's been a bit of a roller coaster ride so far, but things seem to be settling down now and we hope to finally get our own place in a couple of weeks.

Ha ha...can you imagine how much stuff would go "missing". They'd have to put Crimewatch on 24hrs a day!

I read earlier that Felixstowe docks can't accept any more containers as there's a backlog in clearing the ones already there.

Hey Rob, welcome to the definitely madder house! Yes, quite a few familiar names, but you can block them, so that's ok!

Definitely part of the bourgeoisie now!.....

An oldie but goodie.....

Funnily enough, chilli and smoked paprika feature heavily in our diet, along with garam massala and curry powder!

Unfortunately garlic butter is not allowed, so we had to make do with some brown rice. I've seen some packs of wild rice in our local supermarket, expensive, but maybe as a treat!

Last week's sweet potato, bean and chickpea chilli, done in the slow cooker. This was probably my most successful recent attempt!

Menu choices have become very restricted since Mandy has been diagnosed with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and she's (we're) on a diet! My cooking has had to become a bit more "experimental"!

Well, not exactly a masterpiece, but we've got some rotisserie chicken left over in the fridge from Saturday, so I am going to heat it in some chicken gravy on a bed of green beans with sweet potato and sweetcorn mash. Hopefully it won't kill us!