It’s 28th January, a lot has happened, and yet on some fronts it feels as if nothing is happening. It is over six weeks since we arrived in Milly-la-foret hopeful for a quick fix to our campervan and computer issues, and therefore a last few weeks of touring before we departed for home. We have the computer back now, it took six weeks to install a new hard drive, thankfully it was under warranty so apart from the cost of sending it off by courier to the repairer, it hasn’t cost anything. Unfortunately it took ages for them to fix it though, the parts were trucked on the 20th of December and even allowing for Christmas slowing things down, it was more a lack of attention which caused the delay. Despite sending an email saying we were going back to NZ and needed our machine back, there was no response and no action. It was only when Jackie phoned them and spoke to them in French that they got going and did the repairs. Of course we were in england when it finally arrived back, and so it was another week before we got our hands on it. Here it is now, but of course having a new hard drive means all the internet/skype things need to be reloaded, and I can’t find the appropriate passwords for jackie and nick’s wireless, so I’m relying on their computer for internet access. We haven’t sat around waiting the whole time since early December, though there has been a lot of that, and far more than we would have wanted or anticipated. Initially we stayed in the truck at an aire on the out-skirts of Milly, that was OK for quite a few days, but then the frosts came and the truck got colder and wetter inside. There were also rather blustery nights when we had to take shelter under trees in the village for fear of being blown to the next department. As winter progressed the local council (Mairie) turned the water off, I presume to ensure that the pipes didn’t burst with the freezing temperatures, and that made our stay at the “tarmac” less inviting as there was no longer water for washing, but more importantly no longer toilet emptying facilities. We endured until after Christmas, when the frosty mornings meant there was thick ice on the inside of the truck windows, and the thre of us had to all huddle in bed together under piles of sleeping bags and duvets to stave off the frostbite. Needless to say, we became sleep deprived, and our existence was just that, and pretty miserable with it. In order to get things moving on repairs to the truck we had to take it up to Arpajon which is a little town, not unlike Milly, with a village halle where the weekly markets are held (and have been for over five hundred years). The drive itself is quite pleasant, northwest from here, with a series of little villages being the guides to our correct path. Between the villages was very pretty farmland, the only problem being that the morning they wanted to see us there had been a very heavy frost and the road was incredibly slippery, and the cold night led to a dense fog which made the temperatures stay freezing and the visibility almost nil, and the journey frightening to say the least. We allowed plenty of time, two hours in fact for what later became a forty minute drive, however with the conditions and one wrong turn (onto a fast flowing motorway with no obvious way to get back off and head in the opposite direction) the two hours allowed didn’t suffice, and we had to call Jackie and ask her to phone the garage and explain we were half an hour behind schedule. Fortunately the assessor was running behind time too, so we ended up waiting three quarters of an hour or so for him. When he arrived he made a cursory assesment of the truck, we pointed out all the broken bits that weren’t so obvious, and told him about the damage that we could see on the undercarriage due to the truck having belly-flopped over a deep culvert. He seemed to acknowledge this, especially when I showed him photos of the accident site and the truck perched and then being craned off it’s landing spot. He said he would get back to us in a day or two with a report. Despite numerous phone-calls we heard nothing until after Christmas (about 10 days later) when a letter arrived asking for about four more pieces of paper, a “purchase agreement”, proof of “certificate of fitness” (the truck, not us), the photos of the accident (which I had emailed through to him 10 days earlier), and something else obscure which we didn’t have). Of course by now it was the 27th of December and Jackie and Nick had gone to England until the New Year and we had no copies of any of these papers and we were stymied. I’ll get back to the truck saga, it does after all continue, for quite some time. Apart from hanging around Milly getting pretty desperate with the increasing cold and the feeling of being a burden on Jackie and Nick (though we weren’t staying with them we were relying on them for interpretting and advice) we did try to do a few things. We managed to help out with a bit of child-caring which was lovely, not just because it was helpful but also because spending time with Elena and Josie is also a very pleasant experience, and getting to know these far away rellies is great.

A few of the many pastries we have sampled.

Elena and hilary playing in the truck

We walked into Milly with the Elena and Barbara (the dog) a few times. Pretty but cold. We had the truck so could travel places, but in the accident the bonnet had become so buckled that the release button wouldn’t work anymore and therefore we couldn’t remove the bonnet to check oil or water or any other important engine type things. We had already driven from Madrid (or earlier) in Spain, across to Barcelona (via Zaragosa) and all the way up from South eastern France to Paris with numerous side trips along the way, without filling oil or water, and we were getting very nervous about blowing up the engine. Ever since the very large Spanish mechanic had whacked our step with a very large sledge hammer, a red light had shone on our sppedo/odometre dial and I wasn’t convinced any oil warning light would be able to shine past it or differently, so we were not too keen to over-tax our truck with too many kilometres travelled. We did however make a few small journeys, one was to a little village about 15kms from Milly, called Barbizon, it is known as a place where the artists who were known as the “colourists” gathered and took up residence as it was near the forest and a beautiful place where they could commune with nature, and light and paint what they saw, quite a new and controversial style in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The village is very pretty, with a couple of museums and pretty buildings, though a bit touristy and hence expensive (19 euro for two coffees and a hot chocolate) see I still remember that six weeks later!!!!

Views inside one museum which used to be an inn all the painters congregated at. They painted everywhere and everything within reach!!

We also went to Fontainebleau a bigger town about 20kms from Milly, where there is a chateau of the same name. We did the town a lot, but also had a look around the chateau grounds. Despite spending a lot of time here over the weeks we didn’t ever venture inside the chateau, which I gather is quite a spectacle, if not a little over-the-top. Of course it being the Christmas season there was much to see which celebrated this, with decorations, lights, trees, and general lively goodwill despite the cold weather.

One of the highlights was taking Josie and hilary to Vaux le Vicomte a Chateau we had visited very early on in our holiday, with Jackie, when Di was left behind, crook in bed. The Chateau is open over the Christmas period decorated and beautiful with trees and festive scenes. We all had a lovely time, the girls were treated to a present each by the pwners (a piece of Papo of their choice (about 4 different choices) and a turn on the carousel which at first Josie thought was for younger children than herself, but which Hilary so glowed at the thought of, that she too joined in and had a great time. 3905 3898 3890 3881 3874 3864 3938 3937 3925 3917 3908