If we can't get this (insert several non printable words) replanting forms/ customs/ INAO mess sorted out soon my head is actually going to self-detonate.
We've just noticed another problem (or six) with various bits of paperwork, and I can feel my blood pressure ascending like some kind of natty pressure cooker.
I really really hope that once and for all we can go to see the cave and get everyone singing from the same song-sheet.
I've been out hitting things with a machete in an effort to calm down, our vignes are being de-shoot-ed perhaps a little too vehemently.
And to top it off we have some sort of unspecified unidentifiable maladie which chemical D is coming to look at tomorrow..... excellent way to start the weekend! Please God can it be nothing serious, I'm not sure my arteries can take much more.
Thursday, 31 May 2012
Friday, 25 May 2012
Frustration and the levels thereof...
P got up to an email this morning from our Cave saying there is a problem with our replanting this year and can we please call them urgently.
After a very frustrating meeting, in which I'm sure I babbled incomprehensibly in very poor angry, tired french we are frankly non- the wiser. We do however have a meeting on wednesday am with the Duanes.
Basically it seems that back in the dark-ages when some of our vines were planted they were registered as being on a bit of land, when in reality they were on three. No-body corrected it and when we did our pulling out forms and things were looked at on the satellite it became clear. Now it seems that we have another problem because our Ugni-blanc is only a table wine, or rather, was, as we've pulled it out. They now say we can't replace it with AOC without filling in a form, paying some money and waiting. The most important part of this is, we can't replant all the parcels we've arrached, because, wait for it, you can only apply for the AOC when there are no vines in the ground. One lot of bureaucrats won't talk to another and P is loosing his sense of humour!
My frustration at not being able to speak good enough French is building, sadly not at the same rate as my french is improving.
Everyone think nice calming positive thoughts for Weds and lets hope it's one of those occasions where it does all get sorted out, as opposed to those where, we leave with more problems than we arrived with.
After a very frustrating meeting, in which I'm sure I babbled incomprehensibly in very poor angry, tired french we are frankly non- the wiser. We do however have a meeting on wednesday am with the Duanes.
Basically it seems that back in the dark-ages when some of our vines were planted they were registered as being on a bit of land, when in reality they were on three. No-body corrected it and when we did our pulling out forms and things were looked at on the satellite it became clear. Now it seems that we have another problem because our Ugni-blanc is only a table wine, or rather, was, as we've pulled it out. They now say we can't replace it with AOC without filling in a form, paying some money and waiting. The most important part of this is, we can't replant all the parcels we've arrached, because, wait for it, you can only apply for the AOC when there are no vines in the ground. One lot of bureaucrats won't talk to another and P is loosing his sense of humour!
My frustration at not being able to speak good enough French is building, sadly not at the same rate as my french is improving.
Everyone think nice calming positive thoughts for Weds and lets hope it's one of those occasions where it does all get sorted out, as opposed to those where, we leave with more problems than we arrived with.
Wednesday, 16 May 2012
Beams and big bits of wood.
Well James has been here this past week and we now have the main beam up! All 1 ton of it. James and P spent all week doing complicated joints (James) and making pegs and big holes (P). We then managed some how ( I say "we", I kept safely out of the way) to get in in place with some strategically placed acro poles and a block and tackle... 3 englishmen and a passing frenchman. Xavier bowled up at the crucial point, lit up and watched! Apparently we and our green oak, carpenter with whom he wouldn't pick a fight and apparently thought was canadian (it's the socks James) and traditional methods was just too fascinating!
Getting the beams into the building was the first major undertaking...
I made those trestles.... and that was the extent of my help!
Three Englishmen and a Frenchmen...
P making the hole a bit bigger.
Ta Da!
Getting the beams into the building was the first major undertaking...
I made those trestles.... and that was the extent of my help!
Three Englishmen and a Frenchmen...
P making the hole a bit bigger.
Ta Da!
Saturday, 5 May 2012
The tenacity of vines.
You have to admire and love a plant that gets mullered by frost and is not defeated. The second (rather blurry) photo shows the new growth appearing behind the damaged shoot. We all just need to keep our fingers crossed that there is no more frost and that the reds recover like these whites.
Right then we are off to try and manoeuvre a beam weighing over 500kg into the gite. Our wood has arrived and our carpenter arrives this afternoon... about the same time I need to be collecting the cat from the vets and that's an entirely different story, involving a lot of vocabulary that never in my life did I think it would be necessary to learn.
Right then we are off to try and manoeuvre a beam weighing over 500kg into the gite. Our wood has arrived and our carpenter arrives this afternoon... about the same time I need to be collecting the cat from the vets and that's an entirely different story, involving a lot of vocabulary that never in my life did I think it would be necessary to learn.
Sunday, 29 April 2012
On fending off shepherds and the kindness of neighbours.
Our lovely neighbour, David, who is largely incomprehensible to me 90 % of the time, turned up on the doorstep this morning, asking (I think) if we had given permission to the shepherd currently erecting his fencing on our field.
I stumbled through several poorly constructed sentences (he has that effect on me, I can't understand him and therefore I can't understand myself) the result of which was David striding towards them and suggesting, at full volume, that they leave now.
All good except that the shepherd then came towards me wanting to know if I really meant it. I managed better with him, explaining that because of the vines and also that, whilst I didn't know if it was him, the last time we had sheep on the field no-one had asked and it was a little impolite. I did also say that I knew it was difficult to find places for them to put their sheep but I was sorry... and I may even have shrugged!
What he probably understood though was a lot of random words, not put together in any kind of sentence, and that is why I'm especially grateful for David's torrent of abuse which meant he had the general meaning before he got anywhere near me... and why also the sheep are back under next-doors trees, which frankly is probably, where they'd rather be given the current inclement weather conditions.
I stumbled through several poorly constructed sentences (he has that effect on me, I can't understand him and therefore I can't understand myself) the result of which was David striding towards them and suggesting, at full volume, that they leave now.
All good except that the shepherd then came towards me wanting to know if I really meant it. I managed better with him, explaining that because of the vines and also that, whilst I didn't know if it was him, the last time we had sheep on the field no-one had asked and it was a little impolite. I did also say that I knew it was difficult to find places for them to put their sheep but I was sorry... and I may even have shrugged!
What he probably understood though was a lot of random words, not put together in any kind of sentence, and that is why I'm especially grateful for David's torrent of abuse which meant he had the general meaning before he got anywhere near me... and why also the sheep are back under next-doors trees, which frankly is probably, where they'd rather be given the current inclement weather conditions.
Saturday, 28 April 2012
Rain.
It's been raining now for about 3 weeks non-stop. After a while you start, or rather that's a bit presumptive, I, start to feel like I'm stuck in the end of the world and I'm going crazy.
Our gardening barn has flooded, but not from anywhere obvious or easily reachable but from under the concrete at the back of it. The drive and front garden is under about 1-2 inchs of water. Everything is wet. Even the chickens are morose.
I look at the weather forecast daily and start to feel like I'm loosing my mind.... there is no end in sight and it's showing 95% chance of rain for the next 10 days.
Then again I've just seen on the TV somewhere in northern India where it rains over 2m a year ! They also mentioned a period where it rained there non-stop for 2 years.... so maybe I need to stop complaining and get a bit of perspective.
Right then I'm off to bed and maybe, just maybe, it won't be raining in the morning.
Our gardening barn has flooded, but not from anywhere obvious or easily reachable but from under the concrete at the back of it. The drive and front garden is under about 1-2 inchs of water. Everything is wet. Even the chickens are morose.
I look at the weather forecast daily and start to feel like I'm loosing my mind.... there is no end in sight and it's showing 95% chance of rain for the next 10 days.
Then again I've just seen on the TV somewhere in northern India where it rains over 2m a year ! They also mentioned a period where it rained there non-stop for 2 years.... so maybe I need to stop complaining and get a bit of perspective.
Right then I'm off to bed and maybe, just maybe, it won't be raining in the morning.
Monday, 23 April 2012
Frost damage and other things.
About a week ago we had a frost overnight and now our vines are either sulking or dead! As an non-agricultural person it's hard to comprehend just how reliant on the weather and therefore, things definitely beyond my control, we are.
The vines that had leaves out and are in the parcel next to the house got hit really hard and all the other parcels except the smallest (hmm I'm not feeling got at) have patches of it.
Having talked to some other vignerons in the area because a lot of the buds were not out, its still possible it'll be ok. Also because I was a little over generous when pruning, we have a few to spare. It'll probably push the harvest back, but on the plus side, our bunches might be bigger!
Everyone needs to keep all their lucky digits crossed for us.
The weather here keeps remorselessly plodding on being dreary and wet. Yesterday for the first day since my aunt, uncle and cousins were here (sorry guys) it held off raining (at least in a torrential fashion) for most of the day, which meant that I now have the stakes in for the tomatoes, bean poles up (although for how long, they're more than a bit wafty) and I've started the war on mystery yellow plants. I have no idea what these things are but they have roots that could invade most of Europe from here.
Today, it being Monday, is admin day. Sigh. I need to speak to Cyril the wood man and then, I'm off to Bergerac for fun with the TVA form, Orange (take a deep breath now) and the Dr's for form filling. I'll either come back feeling like I've accomplished things or I'll be wound up and fractious, at this point it could go either way.
I have my lucky socks on.
The vines that had leaves out and are in the parcel next to the house got hit really hard and all the other parcels except the smallest (hmm I'm not feeling got at) have patches of it.
Having talked to some other vignerons in the area because a lot of the buds were not out, its still possible it'll be ok. Also because I was a little over generous when pruning, we have a few to spare. It'll probably push the harvest back, but on the plus side, our bunches might be bigger!
Everyone needs to keep all their lucky digits crossed for us.
The weather here keeps remorselessly plodding on being dreary and wet. Yesterday for the first day since my aunt, uncle and cousins were here (sorry guys) it held off raining (at least in a torrential fashion) for most of the day, which meant that I now have the stakes in for the tomatoes, bean poles up (although for how long, they're more than a bit wafty) and I've started the war on mystery yellow plants. I have no idea what these things are but they have roots that could invade most of Europe from here.
Today, it being Monday, is admin day. Sigh. I need to speak to Cyril the wood man and then, I'm off to Bergerac for fun with the TVA form, Orange (take a deep breath now) and the Dr's for form filling. I'll either come back feeling like I've accomplished things or I'll be wound up and fractious, at this point it could go either way.
I have my lucky socks on.
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