Becoming Niortaise

Time to Say Goodbye

2010-09-13T19:55:00.003+02:00

To France. To the life I've been building here for the last few years. It's time to go home, alone. For a little while things hadn't been working out for leniortais and I. He, panicked about getting married among other things, me getting anxious about living here and not finding work (ie. purpose ie. for a workaholic).

So Saturday I'm heading home to Brisbane, back to mum and dad's. I'll try to get work and just cruise along back home for a while and see how things go.

Fitting the last 3 years into a suitcase weighing maximum 20kg is not easy. I'm leaving a lot behind, not just possessions though, and it's really difficult. I know I'm taking a lot of stuff with me and by stuff I don't mean possessions either. A lot can happen in 3 years. I don't regret coming to France but going back home will just be opening a new chapter in my life.

So this is my last blog entry on this blog. I may or may not start another. Ché pas.

I should be excited to pick up back home too, especially since I'd been missing life and people back there so much. Hell I've already got my mum sending me job ads (including one for teaching year 5 back at MY old primary school). It will be good to see everyone. It will be strange to go back to my old bedroom and live with mum and dad instead of doing my own thing like here. But of course it will be good, just need time to adjust. Looking forward to seeing the two doggies; One who will think I've just been out for the day and the other who will knowingly appreciate that I've been gone for some time.

So thank you to any of you who have followed my blog.

Merci et au revoir.

Lacy ribbons socks done!

2010-08-29T22:26:00.001+02:00

Veil

2010-08-28T23:03:00.000+02:00

14 repeats of 18 done!

Veil redone

2010-08-23T22:57:00.001+02:00

So after we got back from London, I worked out I'd been doing M1 throughout instead of YOs. So I restarted. I need 9 balls for the project and I bought 10, so I just restarted, putting the original tighter one aside.

It took me 13 days to knit this much the first time, but only 8 days this second time.

165 stitches. 18 row pattern repeat. 9 repeats done so far. 9 to go. Oh and then of course the massive border & edging which is more than half the project. Yes, I am insane.

New stash!

2010-08-18T16:32:00.000+02:00

Haindpainted sock yarn from Fibres d'art

Ribbed Ribbons Sock

2010-08-12T22:09:00.001+02:00

First one finished!

2010-08-01T15:31:00.000+02:00

2 hour knitted bath mitt

2010-07-27T21:33:00.001+02:00

Veil progress

2010-07-27T15:34:00.001+02:00

One-third of central square finished! About 17 000 stitches so far!

More veil knitting

2010-07-22T00:24:00.001+02:00

3rd repeat of 18 finished. Lifeline added.

Another 10 rows done

2010-07-20T22:35:00.001+02:00

Now just starting 2nd of 18 repeats

27 rows done

2010-07-20T00:20:00.001+02:00

Red edging is temporary (will come off when this piece is finished & grafted to border). Green thread is a lifeline in case I mess up, I can pull back to there.

18 rows per repeat. Done 1.5 repeats out of 18.

First 10 rows of pattern (of 335)

2010-07-18T23:16:00.001+02:00

Veil yarn!

2010-07-16T23:11:00.001+02:00

Progress

2010-07-16T00:03:00.001+02:00

Shetland veil gossamer yarn has arrived!

2010-07-15T12:45:00.001+02:00

Squeeeeeeee!

Greg's Diamond Jumper

2010-07-15T00:44:00.001+02:00

40 rows of 113 done of the body piece

Start of another Citron shawl

2010-07-11T19:22:00.001+02:00

In Fonty Kidopale

Citron shawl finished!!

2010-07-11T13:34:00.000+02:00

Progress on the Citron shawl

2010-07-06T21:05:00.001+02:00

Why I'm not getting married in France

2010-07-06T09:55:00.001+02:00

Ridiculous dressups for hens & bachelor parties. No thanks

Start of Citron shawl

2010-07-05T17:17:00.001+02:00

Pink lemonade maybe!

Finished!

2010-07-05T01:39:00.001+02:00

Well the knitted part is. Just have to weave in ends & block it

Mohair lace stole

2010-07-04T22:38:00.001+02:00

To wear at night over my blue & purple dress for Greg's cousin's wedding

2 cardis done!

2010-06-30T01:15:00.001+02:00

6 year old Cardigan finished!

2010-06-30T01:10:00.000+02:00

Dogs zonked out in Fnac

2010-06-26T15:44:00.001+02:00

Doggies resting while their owner plays a video game in Fnac store

Button detail

2010-06-25T23:06:00.001+02:00

2 year old Cardigan finished

2010-06-25T23:05:00.001+02:00

Cardigan for a 2 year old

2010-06-25T12:19:00.001+02:00

Jumper finished!

2010-06-24T22:54:00.001+02:00

Start of the Seascape Stole

2010-06-22T23:49:00.000+02:00

In Fonty Kidopale (70% superkid mohair, 30% polyester)

Elise's scarf

2010-06-22T21:10:00.001+02:00

Finished and blocked. Just waiting for it to dry

Tim tams in Niort!

2010-06-22T16:20:00.001+02:00

And lots cheaper than Monoprix too!!

Monique's jumper

2010-06-21T20:21:00.001+02:00

Knitting all finished! Now just blocking the lace to make the pattern
jump out. Wait til it dries then join together! Now to get Elise's
scarf finished!

Body of jumper done

2010-06-20T15:02:00.000+02:00

Just the sleeves to go!

Front all done

2010-06-20T01:16:00.000+02:00

Monique's jumper update

2010-06-20T00:31:00.001+02:00

Finished one side of the front of the jumper...

Le sigh

2010-06-19T15:38:00.001+02:00

Ohhh France. Of course I'd want to shop at a store named this...

Progress on Monique's Jumper

2010-06-18T01:02:00.001+02:00

Scarf Progress!

2010-06-12T19:24:00.001+02:00

Arbre de Tricot

2010-06-12T11:54:00.000+02:00

Covering a tree in knitting for international knitting day!

Elise's scarf

2010-06-10T16:41:00.001+02:00

Here's the start of Elise's scarf. You can't tell from the pic but the
yarn is just a tiny bit sparkly too!

Knitting a Yarn

2010-06-08T13:01:00.003+02:00

So lately to fill in my copious amounts of spare time due to my prolonged holiday time with my soon-to-be-finished job, I have been knitting. Actually for the last few weeks or so, the only updates on my blog have been pictures quickly sent from my iPhone, showing the updates on my current projects. The writing side of my blog has been quite neglected for sometime now; actually, mostly since I started using my iPhone to update it.

So....knitting.... leniortais asked the other day if it was une passion, and well I guess it's becoming one, although I'd never call it that in English. To fill in spare time, and to justify to myself the time spent in front of the TV, my hands have been busy at least creating something and having something to show for the many many many hours in the week when I haven't been working.

I learnt to knit in 2008 when I was stuck back in Australia, waiting for a visa to come back to France for a new work contract. The 6 week wait turned into 3.5 months, and so I asked my Grandma if she could teach me to knit. The time remaining there, I made a purple scarf for myself and a white scarf for my mum. Returning to France, I continued with the needles and for that Christmas all of leniortais' family received scarves and I even did a baby blanket for his godson. I sourced some thick wool and 12mm needles online and made a really big blanket. Something like 200 stitches across - on straight needles. I didn't know about circulars at the time! 200 stitches was tight but I made it work anyway. After that, I pretty much put the needles away for a while. I was busy but I just didn't have the knit urge going on.

Then just recently, in April, lafauxvaisienne came to stay with me and she brought her knitting with her. She was working on a baby hat for her niece, due very soon, and she handed over some DPNs and showed me how to do it. I made the hat while she was here and then started another of my own once she left, just so I wouldn't forget how to handle the DPNs. The baby hat lead to an adult hat , I really didn't like the pattern, but it looked easy enough for me to do and I had spare yarn hanging around. From there I found a hat pattern I loved, the button tab hat. I've since made several of those.

The itch to knit was back! From the hats, I was looking for something more challenging, something different. I found a gorgeous cardigan pattern, Hey Teach, on knitty and knew this was my next step. So I gathered materials and started. I finished in just about 10 days as I was knitting a LOT per day. Next project was a jumper for leniortais' godson. A few days later, it was finished. With nothing to do all day except a little housework, cooking the meals, watching TV, and surfing the net, a LOT of knitting gets done!

So what's next? Well I've just finished some secret birthday knitting and I'm about to start another button hat for a friend's birthday as she saw the pics of the first ones and thought they were so cute :) Then I have 2 sister projects. A beautiful soft lacy scarf, Branching Out, in a soft pink kid mohair for one of my sisters, and then a lacy jumper, Cherie Amour, for the other sister. I'm waiting on orders for both of them. Waiting on the mohair yarn for the scarf, and waiting on big 9mm circular needles for the jumper. Actually, I took the plunge and ordered a set of interchangeables online so I won't be constantly buying more needles, plus I can then get some of the larger sizes that French merceries just don't do. I was talking about the interchangeable set with the lovely lady at my LYS and she had never heard of this type of thing before. The French don't use circulars much, but obviously they don't use interchangeables at all!

I started a Knitting Group on the On Va Sortir website about 3 weeks ago and we've had at least 3 people show up each time, ages ranging from 20s to 50s and even had a guy turn up! I then read the other week in the Niort council magazine, Vivre à Niort, that there was another yarn store in town! It was actually on the edge of town in a suburb of Niort that really just seems like a little village attached. It has a church in the middle of the main square and the local primary school and businesses surround it. Just off in a side street, there is the Atelier de Lola, which does lots of craft supplies but also some gorgeous knitting supplies. Pascale, the owner, even had 100% recycled Indian sari silk, spun into yarn in this mesmerising mish-mash of colours. I wanted to buy it but had no idea how I'd use it. I did, however, get some Egyptian cotton yarn in hot pink for some secret knitting. Also, I found out that they too have a knitting group, a Café Tricot, although they no longer do it at a café, instead they just do it at the Atelier so Pascale doesn't have to shut up shop for it. I'm heading along this week for my first session there! So TWO knitting groups in this tiny town where I didn't even imagine I could get things knitting!

Cardigan finished!

2010-06-07T16:42:00.001+02:00

Dishcloth

2010-06-03T11:59:00.000+02:00

Back of Enzo's jumper

2010-05-30T19:42:00.000+02:00

Cardigan

2010-05-25T23:21:00.001+02:00

Voilà the back of my Cardigan. Almost wondering if I should have made
the stockinette stitch longer, but no going back now!

Ahhh Paris

2010-05-24T10:53:00.001+02:00

Aux Champs Elysees

2010-05-24T08:58:00.001+02:00

Button hat 2

2010-05-11T12:13:00.003+02:00

Same wool, different pattern

2010-05-11T12:13:00.001+02:00

More knitting

2010-05-01T08:39:00.001+02:00

And then this time, I decided I needed another project, and so found
this stretchy beanie pattern,
And the end result...

Knitting

2010-05-01T08:38:00.001+02:00

Recently I've taken up my needles again, this time inspired by
lafauxvaisienne, and actually learned how to knit with 5 needles
going. She was in town for a week and showed me as she was making a
baby bonnet for her sister's new baby. I dont know anyone at the
moment with babies this little but it seemed a good idea to at least
copy the pattern to get used to this strange knitting.

And voilà the end result!

Breakfast in America

2010-04-17T11:08:00.001+02:00

In Paris!

Crème brûlée!

2010-04-15T19:08:00.003+02:00

Fait maison by me!

K&K Live

2010-04-15T19:08:00.001+02:00

With tim tams and port!

Australian Ginger

2010-04-15T19:07:00.001+02:00

Not that I was looking for it, but what a strange discovery in my
local intermarché

Tim tams in France!

2010-04-15T19:06:00.001+02:00

Pic

2010-01-23T17:05:00.001+01:00

Anzac biscuits

2010-01-23T17:04:00.000+01:00

Warming up for Australia day on the 26th!

Sent from my iPhone

Even more snow!

2010-01-06T09:13:00.001+01:00

Bonne année!

2010-01-04T09:12:00.001+01:00

A cool start to 2010!

Christmas table

2009-12-25T03:07:00.000+01:00

Table set for lunch!

Christmas breakfast

2009-12-24T23:28:00.000+01:00

Table set for Christmas breakfast!

City Hall

2009-12-24T23:27:00.001+01:00

Day out in Brisbane city

Back to Brisbane

2009-12-21T22:05:00.000+01:00

So we are back at my parents' place again after a weekend with Bec in
Australia's biggest, brightest and busiest city! We had an absolute
blast and were just sad that we had to go home! Of course Bec was
flying back to Brisbane too for Christmas so that worked out really
well.

I got a good dose of contraception on the plane flying back as we were
surrounded by little kids, one particularly painful one in front of us
too! Luckily that was just a one-hour flight and not our long-haul
flights!

Sent from my iPhone

On the ferry

2009-12-20T10:09:00.003+01:00

On the ferry

2009-12-20T10:09:00.001+01:00

Kids busking in Manly

2009-12-20T10:08:00.000+01:00

Sydney ferry

2009-12-20T10:05:00.001+01:00

Breakfast

2009-12-19T13:14:00.001+01:00

Birthday boy at Bondi beach breakfast! Baguette! You can take the boy
out of France but you can't take the France out of the boy.

Sydney - first evening

2009-12-18T21:07:00.000+01:00

Gold Coast birds

2009-12-18T21:05:00.001+01:00

Beach

2009-12-18T21:05:00.000+01:00

Awesome beach weather!

Spotted at the Gold Coast

2009-12-18T21:04:00.001+01:00

Monsieur Grenouille

Picking mangoes

2009-12-18T21:00:00.001+01:00

This is how you pick the mangoes high up in the tree if you don't want
to risk climbing it

Learning about mangoes!

2009-12-18T20:54:00.000+01:00

Shopping Centres

2009-12-18T20:50:00.001+01:00

One of the many things you can do in shopping centres back in
Brisbane, that you can't do in Niort!

Yum

2009-12-18T20:49:00.001+01:00

Had to have these things I missed when I got back! Gloria Jeans coffee
(Australian Starbucks basically, I have only ever had 1 bad coffee
from them), Boost juice smoothies, and Hanaichi Japanese food (how
authentic it is...I don't know but it's yummy)

Darling Joelene

2009-12-18T20:47:00.000+01:00

Isn't she just gorgeous !

First week back

2009-12-18T07:26:00.000+01:00

So here we are, Friday of our holiday. Currently sitting in the plane
on the way to Sydney. We had two short days to recover from our long
flight and then a two day stay at the Gold Coast.

Luckily we'd found an awesome deal online for the luxurious Gold Coast
accommodation. 2 separate one-bedroom apartments, each probably about
60m2. Only $88 per apartment per night! The place was just LUSH!
Gorgeous furnishings, indoor and outdoor pools and spas, and just a
short stroll to the beach. We tucked into lovely food too - enjoying
seafood opposite the water, ate sushi, Australian hamburgers complete
with beetroot (the Frenchman approved!), and numerous Starbucks
drinks! We swam at the beach, in the pool, wandered the shops, and
took the time to sit and watch people go by as we sipped our coffees
or frappucinos

Sent from my iPhone

Beard papa?

2009-12-17T05:56:00.001+01:00

More like weird papa! In French "barbe a papa" means literally Dad's
beard, but it actually is fairy floss/candy floss/cotton candy. Well
thus place looked like it was selling profiterole-like pastries. So
why Beard papa???

Sitting in Sydney airport

2009-12-13T22:26:00.000+01:00

So our journey is coming towards its end. We're waiting for the last
leg of the journey home!

Arriving in London was actually quite exciting. It felt like I was
walking back into civilisation! We grabbed sandwich deals at Boots,
paying £7 total (sandwich, drink & snack each). At the CDG airport the
sandwiches we saw were 5,60€! needless to say I was happy we'd
brought our own at least for the first leg of the trip!

So we settled down with our sandwiches, watching people go past, while
we waited for the flight. All in all, the London to Singapore and
Singapore to Sydney flights were pretty boring. No free champagne this
time! And silly BA offered chicken curry as a meal option on both
legs. Pretty spicy too - would have loved to have seen that offered to
other Frenchies! Leniortais is quite used to my cooking with lots of
different spices, but other Frenchies, maybe not so much!

Arriving in Sydney was nice, hardly any wait for immigration - even
for Leniortais who couldn't do the e-immigration like I could.
Breezed through customs & quarantine, even with the food to declare.
The guy specifically asked if we had pâté - how French but no, I'd
thought about it but decided to avoid it !

Quick transfer to the domestic terminal, walking in from the shuttle
bus - what is the first thing we see? Gloria Jeans!! Had to stop and
get drinks - caramel latte for leniortais and Tim Tam chiller for me.
We still have the last leg to go to fly up to Brisbane, but walking to
the departure gate, drinking liquid Tim Tam I couldn't help thinking -
you're home.

Sent from my iPhone

From the plane

2009-12-13T12:42:00.000+01:00

OK well not actually sent from the plane, but typed in the plane and
uploaded as soon as I had free wifi again.

So this is the transit rundown so far...

We left Niort on Saturday morning on an 8.30am train. Luckily we
didn't have to leave on the earliest train! It was early enough
though! Leniortais' mum picked us up from our place and took us to the
station. Both Leniortais and I decided to leave our coats at home.
Yes, the weather was turning very cold and it will be could when we
get back in France, however, there was very little time we actually
will spend outside. From airports to airport, station to station, we
had about 30 minutes outside total, and that was in Poitiers because
of a train delay. So coats stayed at home, Leniortais' mum glared at
us, telling us that the courants d'aire would make us sick. Well cold
temperature yes! But not a huge issue in the end.

So we left on the train, coatless, arriving at the airport around
about 12ish. Then the real wait was to come. We couldn't check in
until about 3pm and the flight was to leave at 6. More
delays...eventually we left around 7. Luckily, we found powerpoints,
charged our iPhones and grumbled about the wait. En plus, there was a
strange group of Japanese girls singing right next to us in the
waiting area.

First part was going to be an anti-climax. 1 hour flying but so little
compared to the big long haul to come. We'd booked in fairly early so
luckily got the seats with extra leg room! Leniortais with the window
seat, myself in the middle and a big cranky African-French woman. As
we had those seats, we couldn't keep any handluggage with us or under
the seats during take off and landing. The hostie came over to explain
this, the French lady didn't understand so I translated, she wasn't
particularly happy, wanting to keep her bag with her. Asking to be
moved, grumbling, etc. And the British hostie looked blankly at her in
the same way the French lady was looking blankly back at her. So very
fun translation session to start.

However, there are advantages to impromptu translating! As they
started bringing the drinks around, the hostie brought Leniortais and
I 2 mini bottles of champagne! Not bubbly, not mousseux, real French
Champagne, gratis!!

More to come...

Sent from my iPhone

Weird Christmas entertainment in Niort

2009-12-11T21:12:00.000+01:00

I'm sorry, but when will France just get with the program? These weird
characters looked like they belonged at carnivale, not Christmas! They
scared kids and the music was jazz - no Christmas songs at all.

End of November

2009-11-29T14:11:00.002+01:00

Well here we are, heading quickly towards the 12th and final month of 2009. It's time for me to sit at my computer, grumbling about the rain outside and think of brighter topics like flying to Australia in 2 weeks time!! French winter has made me finally appreciate the fantastic weather we have in Queensland especially. The last few weeks I have been dragging my heels, particularly through muddy puddles, complaining about the grey skies and the rain pouring down as I try to drive to work in the dark at 7am.

The heating has been on in our house now, at varying levels since the beginning of November. We had a burst of pretty damn cold weather at the start of the month, causing us to turn it up high, then a week or so of fairly warm weather where we turned it off as the thermometre hit even up to 20°C! Then now we're back to pretty cold. Apparently for November, it could still be worse. It's been about 10ish degrees, sometimes a bit more as a maximum lately. No excuse for the rain though. I particularly hate the sound of rain when the alarm rings in the morning, telling me that I'll have to be driving through it on the way to work, which is already early and dark enough without rain and possibly fog.

So to Australia...

Just 2 weeks to go and we'll be jetsetting off to Brisbane via Paris, London, Singapore, and Sydney. Yes, that's why the flights were cheaper - lots of stops, but really not too much extra travel time in the end. We do arrive in Brisbane in the morning, a bit of a pain, but at least we have good weather to look forward to!

Also, we have just been able to book 2 nights down the Gold Coast in a 5 star apartment! With some lastminute deals, we got a studio for just $88 instead of their price of $300+! Leniortais and I will have one and my parents have booked another. Absolutely gorgeous photos. 2 pools, just near the beach and in the hub of Broadbeach. Leniortais is stoked (although he is yet to learn that word for it) and we're all going to have a great time! Originally, we were looking to go after Christmas, but we didn't get our act together early enough and it's pretty much all booked out. So we opted for a couple of days just after we arrive (and have recovered from any jetlag).

We'll then have a weekend down in Sydney with my best friend! We'll be there the weekend of the Carols in the Domain, so leniortais will get a good chunk of Australian culture then and there! I really should start playing Christmas carols at home now to get him used to the idea... Christmas tree goes up soon - it's almost the first of December!

After Sydney we get a few days back with my parents before Christmas itself. I expect this time to be the silly season, and to be honest I'm really looking forward to it! I don't care about crazy carpark jams at the local shopping centres! I am just glad that I'll be doing it not wearing a coat and layers of winter clothes. Waiting time and busy shopping centres seem much more manageable when you're wearing open sandals (or thongs if you must) and summer clothes. I want to take leniortais to one of the shopping centres when they stay open all night (a once-a-year event in Brisbane). At first he didn't really get it, thinking, "ummm can't we go shopping another time?" until I pointed out the novelty value and the fact that just couldn't be done in France. The first year they did it in Brisbane, the shop assistants got dressed up in PJs and slippers and it was really festive and a novelty. I'm waiting to see what it's like this year. Actually, I should go google and check that it still is happening! My aunt reckons the best time to go is about 2 or 3am. The late nighters come out and usually are heading back home by midnight or 1am, while the earlybirds are starting to pull into the carparks around 4.30 or 5am. The middle of the night, the pure novelty factor, is usually fairly quiet and extra special.

Yay - just checked the website and yes, Chermside is open all through the night of December 23rd. Definitely a novelty outing!

I'm finding it pretty hard to think about boring things like work at the moment. Admittedly my classes are all organised for the next two weeks. Bonus. But I do have an exam to write for my PH4 students. it shouldn't take too long as I only take them for half of their class time, the other teacher has to give them an exam too, so they'll both be fairly short. So again, easier for me.

I think I'll get back to doing my "2-weeks-to-go" dance, possibly while pulling out the Christmas tree and dusting off the Christmas CDs...

Lunch in Le Beugnon

2009-11-14T00:33:00.002+01:00

Classy!

Caramel

2009-11-14T00:33:00.000+01:00

That cat that is not ours but who suns himself on our terrace

Ideas...

2009-11-14T00:32:00.002+01:00

Dessert at lunch in Menigoute

2009-11-14T00:32:00.000+01:00

Yum! Miam miam!

Lunch in Menigoute

2009-11-14T00:31:00.001+01:00

Time change

2009-10-26T08:11:00.000+01:00

We turned the clocks back 1hour on the weekend, so my drive to work
was lighter, except the fog was crazy. At least it means that it
should be warm and sunny today.

Sent from my iPhone

Car issues

2009-10-22T18:20:00.002+02:00

The last two weeks have lead to a few problems with my car. Now I
don't mean a car accident, don't panic!

About 3 weeks ago now, I was driving along, when the knob of the gear
stick came off in my hand as I was chnaging gears. A little scary at
first admittedly! The plastic had cracked around it earlier in the
week, but as we were busy moving, I thought I'd deal with it later.
Well it turned out that the knob cracked into 4 different pieces and I
was stuck with just the stick. A cloth over the top of it made it
easier to change gears and so finally I managed to book an appointment
at Peugeot today. Yes I drive a Peugeot. How French. It is a 306, 1994
model, still running well and we'll keep our fingers crossed that she
keeps on going until we head back to Australia in a few years time.

The other car issue also got sorted today. I had to go to the
prefecture to change the address on my carte grise (registration
papers). French registration plates on cars have recently changed.
Until the change, the last 2 digits of the plates were the number of
the department that the car was registered in. Where we live, the Deux-
Sevres, it's 79. Paris is 75. Now, any new cars have plates without
the department numbers in the registration number. You can have a
sticker at the side of your plate with your choice of department
number, not just where you register it. However, if you don't ask, you
just get the default number, the one of your department. You can see
the 79 one below, although it shows the logo for the region, Poitou-
Chatentes, quite boring I think actually. For any cars changing owner
or even just changing address, you need to get new plates. I'd kind of
forgotten this, so when I went to change the address on my carte
grise, they gave me not just a change of address certificate, but also
new registration number. In France, you then take the paper to a
number of garages where they'll sell and fit the plates. So luckily
I'd decided to go to the prefecture before going to Peugeot for my
other problem. Unfortunately, it was just another expense I hadn't
been expecting. Fortunately, the guy at the Peugeot desk was very
smiley and helpful. Thumbs up for customer service at Peugeot
Automobilis in Niort!

One interesting thing I did see while chez Peugeot was that they had
courtesy bicycles to lend to their customers while their car was in
the shop! It does make sense. The garage is located in the big
commercial zone, which is actually quite large and it would be quite a
walk if you worked at the other end of it. A bike would be very
convenient. Vive la France!

Sent from my iPhone

2009-10-22T18:17:00.003+02:00

2009-10-22T18:17:00.001+02:00

My new desk set up

2009-10-18T20:05:00.001+02:00

Very cool clouds out my classroom window this morning

2009-10-14T08:13:00.001+02:00

My new Ikea kitchen

2009-10-11T21:43:00.000+02:00

2009-10-11T21:42:00.001+02:00

Becoming Niortaise

Time to Say Goodbye

Lacy ribbons socks done!

Veil

Veil redone

New stash!

Ribbed Ribbons Sock

2 hour knitted bath mitt

Veil progress

More veil knitting

Another 10 rows done

27 rows done

First 10 rows of pattern (of 335)

Veil yarn!

Progress

Shetland veil gossamer yarn has arrived!

Greg's Diamond Jumper

Start of another Citron shawl

Citron shawl finished!!

Progress on the Citron shawl

Why I'm not getting married in France

Start of Citron shawl

Finished!

Mohair lace stole

2 cardis done!

6 year old Cardigan finished!

Dogs zonked out in Fnac

Button detail

2 year old Cardigan finished

Cardigan for a 2 year old

Jumper finished!

Start of the Seascape Stole

Elise's scarf

Tim tams in Niort!

Monique's jumper

Body of jumper done

Front all done

Monique's jumper update

*Le sigh*

Progress on Monique's Jumper

Scarf Progress!

Arbre de Tricot

Elise's scarf

Knitting a Yarn

Cardigan finished!

Dishcloth

Back of Enzo's jumper

Cardigan

Ahhh Paris

Aux Champs Elysees

Button hat 2

Same wool, different pattern

More knitting

Knitting

Breakfast in America

Crème brûlée!

K&K Live

Australian Ginger

Tim tams in France!

Pic

Anzac biscuits

Even more snow!

Bonne année!

Christmas table

Christmas breakfast

City Hall

Back to Brisbane

On the ferry

On the ferry

Kids busking in Manly

Sydney ferry

Breakfast

Sydney - first evening

Gold Coast birds

Beach

Spotted at the Gold Coast

Picking mangoes

Learning about mangoes!

Shopping Centres

Yum

Le sigh