Conversations

Where has the week gone? It’s been such a busy couple of days - yesterday we had our first french lesson for about 6 weeks. It was great to catch up with Clare, our french tutor, via Zoom. There are things that are clicking, but sometimes it’s the simple words that just don’t come to us, that’s an age thing. It’s so hard learning anything as you get older, but learning a language is such a fun way of keeping your brain active. All that said, we feel so much better than say 6 months ago. Even by being here just 6 weeks we feel more confident to leap into a difficult situation. As an example, our little female black cat Lilly was struggling to eat, so we knew a visit to the vet was needed. Telephone conversations are probably the hardest way to communicate, however I picked up the phone and rattled off who I am, where we live, and that we have only just moved here from the UK. But one of our cats, is ill, so can we have an appointment please. ‘Demain’ she asked, “on, no! Aujourd hui”, ‘à quinze heure’, “quinze heure, merci, à quinze heure, au revoir “.

Lilly is feeling her old self today, with her appetite back, so a good job done.

Today we drove to Chatillon-Sur-Seine to meet with an accountant who had been recommended to us. He was extremely helpful in helping us navigate what we need to do and how best to go about things and, more importantly, when to do things. We had a light lunch in Chatillon then went for a walk around the very ancient town. We started talking to a gentleman who said he had been retired for just a year. He knew lots about the town of Chatillon, all of which he wanted to share with us. He did not slow his speech for us, but was extremely clear in his pronunciation. Brian, who struggled previously to hear the French words being spoken, came away extremely happy, as he had understood a lot of what was being said, so we are clearly making good progress.

Some pictures taken around Chatillon-Sur-Seine