Boîte. . . sac . . . sac . . . boîte

Bonjour. . . from the other side of the channel. It's great to be here. The weather has been fantastic today, although lousy for the first few days. We've had all sorts of messages from local friends and the social whirl seems to have got going very quickly. 

The move was effortless. Not sure how many boxes we finally ended up with in storage - probably about twenty-five. That's after having had what we thought was a good clear-out with regular visits to the local charity shop. It's amazing the amount of stuff you collect and hoard. 

The car was loaded, but safely so. We still had to leave four of our own small storage boxes and one of my accordions with our friend John. We'll collect them when we're in the UK mid-June for a week.

Thinking about it we've been packing and unpacking for the last six years, if you include each time we've travelled to and from the UK. Unsurprisingly perhaps, it's a very pleasant feeling to be just in one place.  Except that now we've arrived, another sort-out is underway, although just bit by bit. 

We arrived mid-morning Weds 10 April. Thursday we went to Chinon for the weekly market, which is still really in winter mode. Fresh asparagus and strawberries are starting to appear. Then to one of our anglo-french groups for conversation and lunch. In the evening we went to the cinema - fabulous Hungarian film Just the Wind which won the Jury Grand Prize at the 2012 Berlin Film Festival. Based on actual events that happened in 2008/9, although the characters in the film are fictional. Saturday we met a friend for coffee in the morning, got change of address sorted out with our bank. In the evening we went round to a neighbour who is a wine producer - Patrick Lambert - for an apèro dinatoire with the family. Lovely evening. Today Sunday has been a beautiful day. We've been doing more sorting and gardening; paperwork. All the essentials. It's going to take a while.