In praise of the French medical system this is the service I received.
I rag a friend to ask if she could refer me to a physiotherapist. She called one of two doctors in the village and asked for a referral form me. The doctor said she would prefer to see me. 25 minutes later I was in front of the doctor. She was efficient and prescribed anti-infallamatories and painkillers which I got immediately from the chemist opposite She also prescribed 10 sessions with a physio also in the village, next door to teh Post Office. we went straight there after the chemist but think we may have hit lunch hour. Therefore we went back after lunch and the physion gave me my first appointment for less than an hour later. I cannot fault the efficiency of the system. without harping on as I know how borin it is listening to tales of bad health, unfortunately the drugs disagreed with me and I stopped taking them and the physio's methods weren't having the desired effect. From past experience with the same back problem I have huge success with Bowen therapy, a very gentle treatment and have now found a lovely therapist in Saintes. Enough of that anyway...
Phil however has been hard at it during this time.
The windows in the courtyard are looking better and just need a final coat. Amazing how white paint freshens everything up. The stonework around the windows and doors has had concrete removed (don't ask me why someone chose to put nasty grey concrete in as filler) and has been refilled with a chaux and sand mixture.
Some stud partition wall in the kitchen has been built and plastered and the double doors have been fited between the hallway and the kitchen. I did manage to varnish these - well most of them. Phil had to do the lower bits as I couldn't bend that low. He has also created shelves to house necessary stuff and at some point we will have cupboard doors. That'll be a little way off as the decision on what we'd like may take some time.
The first guest room that we call Bedroom 2 is nearly finished. Just a few bits to tart up. Phil finished painting ceiling, walls and beam and I managed to do a little painting around a window.
This was just in time for the first set of visitors.
We had a lovely couple of days with Martin and Sandra and spent last Monday visiting Oradour sur Glane.
This was the scene of the most atrocious brutality on June 10th 1944. To cut a long story short the German army rounded up the residents of this village and shot the men, mostly in the legs so they couldn't escape, at various locations around the village. They were then shot dead and burned beyond recognition. Meanwhile the women and children were rounded up and locked in the church where they were murdered. In all 642 lost their lives within a few hours with only a few who got away. The bodies were mutilated and burnt beyond recognition and stuffed in wells and sewers. Only 10 per cent were recognisable in order to bury in a named grave. This wasn't the only incident of this sort but others are much better known. The village has been left as it was and a new village built next door. There are cars from this day left in the streets and a pram in the church. The exhibition was very well done and some of the film footage extremely harrowing. A very sobering day for us.
Our next visitors came for a cup f coffee on their way back to the UK. Lovely to see Pete and Barbara who have been working really hard in their beautiful house near Cognac. As soon as they had left we had a quick lunch before driving to Limoges to meet my girlfriends.
It was so great to see Mand and Trees get off the plane and to bring them both back here. It is Mandy's second visit but all was new for Trees. We had a very busy few days or rather they did. Mandy has been gardening and Trees was desperate to knock a wall down, so we saved the wall in what will be Gite number 1 for her. Her face was a picture (so pleased I can provide you with something to demolish) and here is the result of her efforts.
Thanks girls for all your help. We had such fun and the days flew by - you will be missed.
Much love xx
