04.04 Day 200 . . . It’s The 200 Up !!

Day 200 - I never in my wildest dreams thought I would get this far, probably most people would wish I’d given up writing these a long time ago 😂😂
So once up - and at a reasonable time, we breakfasted and then cracked on with the To Do list as we had promised ourselves yesterday. Today’s tasks completed were - reading over our options again on inheritance law in France and sending an email to our brilliant English Notaire for some further advise. Another email to our French Notaires clerk. An email to the lorry hire company asking some questions - trying to get our ducks in line. Checking dates re storage we have. Phone calls to banks in the UK for more info for the accountant spreadsheet and further completion of that spreadsheet. There were other bits but again it fogs your brain after a few hours of this stuff 😳
At 2pm we got ready and headed out to get our weekly shop, deciding to go to Melle as we also needed to go to ARC charity shop on route as Teresa had one another auction item 🙄 I think we are the only ones bidding 😂😂
The drive to Sainte Soline was lovely as all the rapeseed is nearly out fully and looks brilliant in sunshine with bright blue skies. Oh yeah it’s stopped raining yesterday!! Arc wasn’t to busy on arrival and after a bit of a phaff finding the right person to get the item we were sorted and two glass jugs better off.
We drove from Arc to Melle and had a good old wander round SuperU. - picking up a couple of bits we’ve not tried before. One being a French black sausage which apparently is like black pudding - wait for the update on that. Boudin Noir or Blood sausage is one of the oldest and most traditional of French foods, with inscriptions and documents stretching back 2000 years showing its production. Up to the second world war, it was common for families in rural areas to keep a pig, which was raised to be slaughtered at the beginning of winter. This was a major event each year, with the entire family working from dawn to dust to slaughter, bleed, butcher and process every part of the pig. Nothing was wasted, even the blood and bones were used. Not only was this an important source of meat, but also a source of food during the lean winter months. As this tradition of keeping a family pig for slaughter had faded from being commonplace to being almost unknown, Boudin Noir has declined from being a staple of the average families diet to being merely one of many types of sausage available. However, you will still find Boudin Noir in any serious butcher shop. Nowadays Boudin Noir is prepared by butchers (or factories) using modern methods. Before being stuffed into its casing, the blood is mixed with various ingredients, depending on the recipe of the producer. These typically include some of the following: herbs, onions, cream, fat, fruit, vegetables, grain, apples or chestnuts. Although the name "blood sausage" may be unattractive to some, it is essentially the same idea as British "black pudding", which is not uncommon as part of a British fried breakfast. Except when fat or cream are added, it is a lean and healthy source of protein. Unless pre-cooked, Boudin Noir does not keep for a long time, so should be prepared and eaten within a day or so of being purchased.
From Melle we drove home the reverse route simply so we could enjoy the views of the rapeseed fields. We did see in the way home some more fields which are a weird red tinted colour - we have no idea what this crop is, or if it is as a result of being sprayed with something. More homework needed on this. Anyhow the farmers are out harvesting this . . . and it is barely above ground level 🤔
It was probably about 6pm before we got home and Teresa started in dinner, while I drew up some very simple plans about conversion we would like to do at the house - if possible. Tre had brilliantly come up with an idea while we were at Îlé d’Oléron, which I had obviously put a bit of input on, but both agreed I scribbled some ideas on paper. Let’s see if this ever comes to fruition 😂 Money, my building ability and the Mairie are three main factors in this 🙄
After dinner we settled in for some TV and I tucked into a bag of liquorice we had bought in Melle. For some reason after years of not having it, both Tre and I have had some over the past weeks in mixed sweet bags found here. This however was a dedicated fairly large bag of entirely liquorice. To say I had more than I should have is an understatement. Tre had some but I was a little piggy and kept popping my hand in the bag.
The morale of the story is - if you want a stomach ache at bedtime and a feeling of nausea, then eat as much liquorice as I did.
Let’s see tomorrow if I made it through the night without my head having been down a pan at some hour if the night!! 🤢🤢Read more