Bikes, Computers, Coffee Machine

Yes - we finally have all our luggage. We had air-freighted 5 boxes, including our bikes and other important stuff (aka Ange's coffee machine) to Paris. Also arriving was most of our winter clothes which I had mistakenly packed in the wrong box. I was dispatched to pick it all up. It was a long and uneventful drive north. Except for the part where I had to detour into Paris to get more gas, only to find that Sunday afternoon 5pm is actually rush-hour in Paris, although I still don't understand why. After some delay and dubious road choices I eventually made it to the Hotel. I still managed to complete some scouting of accommodation for our upcoming family trip before crashing at about 11pm. The next morning was pretty stressful. Did I mention I can't speak much French? The shipping agent couldn't speak English. With some difficulty I managed to follow her directions to find the customs building and then the depot yard. It was a major relief to load the boxes into the car and head South.

After driving for roughly 600km's and only 3km from home, Bambi jumped out in front of my car. Yes, I killed Bambi. Fortunately there was very minor damage to the car and our insurance is comprehensive, with no excess. Another good reason to consider EuroLease if you plan to hire a car in Europe for more than 16 days. Much of the Dordogne is forested. The area around St.Cernin very wooded and is full of wild pigs and deer. It is hunting season at the moment, until March 15th, and the place is also crawling with hunters. We see them all the time although they don't come too close to the house (that is the wild life and the hunters). The next day, on the way to school, I showed the boys where the deer lay just off the side of the road. It was gone in the afternoon when we picked them up from school. Henry decided that it must have just been having a rest and that it had now gone off to play with its friends. This was a good ending to the story and we left it at that.