Yes, I joined the gang yesterday as well and didn't realise that I could bore you all with the varied and infinite details of life here in France. I've lived here in the Vendee, which is the bit between Nantes and La Rochelle on the Atlantic coast/Bay of Biscay, for about 2.5 years now. Life is very quiet and tranquil, I live in a small group of about 25 houses between a very small village and the nearest "town", 600 and 6000 inhabitants respectively. Winters are cold but not as bad as Scotland, and there is nearly always some sunshine at some point each day, summers are hot and I'm taking a little while to get comfortable in the very hot times in July and August, but hey what a problem to have! Previously I lived in Scotland, Gourock on the Clyde coast, for 3 years - going back to my roots as I was born and bred in Glasgow, in the midlands before that and in and around London for many, many years.
Divorced, no kids, but a very demanding nine year old arthritic dog, Lady, a Whippet/terrier rescue friend. I got started crafting through the Digibox Create and Craft shows although I've always knitted, by hand, done cross stitch and a bit of dressmaking. I have 2 crafting problems here in France. One is that there are so few craft outlets here and they all concentrate on things like decoupage onto boxes etc. You know when you cut out things and then paste them in single layers onto objects. And also making jewellery from tiny tiny beads. I rely heavily on internet ordering from the UK but have to be careful because some companies charge extortionate amounts of P & P.
Having obtained all the lovely things from Joanna etc I then have to find a market for the finished goods. French people are heavily into craft, or "bricolage", but they don't want to buy anyone elses work. I took a stall at a local night market last summer with a friend, she had soft toys and other fabric items, and most of the French picked everything up, examined it closely and walked away. We reckoned they were trying to memorise how to make things for themselves. Heaven help them trying to work out the cards made from Joann'a CDs! Our only customers were English holiday makers and they were knocked out to discover that we weren't French - one Scot and one Welsh lady.
Enough for now, I have a dog who wants some food and I need to check out the tennis at Roland Garros - I think it's the young fit men that grab my attention.

A bientot 8) Fran