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Rosie’sFrenchAdventuresandIrish Shenanigans.com

~ Letting ‘Life’ show me the way.

Rosie’sFrenchAdventuresandIrish Shenanigans.com

Tag Archives: adventures

Ireland: Making A New Life in a new country during a Pandemic part I

03 Wednesday Feb 2021

Posted by RosieJoseph in Ireland, The continuing adventure, The good, the bad and the ugly., The things you have ro do

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Admin, adventures, bureaucracy in Ireland, Change, frustrations, keep going, LIfe, life in Ireland, pandemic

I have said many times before that when I started this blog it was to encourage, or help those who wanted to change their lives by reading about our story and thinking ‘I can make change, they did!’ But it’s not easy.

I suppose the best place to start is how we have had to learn to let go of so many things including the houses we have renovated and loved, our jobs, of our knowledge of where we are, of the all the visual triggers for our memories. I know in the last few weeks at Montaigu I had strong memories of the fabulous summer of 2018, of three Welshies running round our garden, of Oscar joining in the fun.

I remember laying on a lilo in the pool on a baking hot summers day and looking up at the endless blue sky and thinking ‘I am laying in a pool in my garden’; the memories of friends who have visited, and looking out across at that fabulous view.

Sweet memories.

Then there is the logistics of just making the move, like we have, twice!! It is very stressful when you have two cats and two Welsh Terriers in tow.

But, it can be done, nothing is insurmountable only sometimes illness and always death. I learned that a long time ago when my mum was told that she was dying of cancer.

Once arriving in your new country there are all the things you have do when you move to a new country, add the pandemic and lockdown into the mix and it isn’t easy at times, this is my experience so far….

I have explained in a previous post that because of Brexit if you are resident in Eire (Ireland) you can no longer drive here on a UK driving licence, it has to be exchanged. But there is more to this, in that despite both of us getting our eyesight reports finally signed off you cannot get the licence without a PPS number. So that was my next point of call…

I applied for our PPS numbers, but to do that I had to register us both on MyGove.ie. This I duly did but to get a PPS number I needed proof of address which is difficult because we are renting an airbnb! So I changed our address on one of our bank accounts to this address but then I had to wait two weeks until a statement was available to download. That done I applied for both of us remotely because due to Covid the normal face to face interviews are not taking place unless in exceptional circumstances.

This in itself was a time consuming task because of numerous problems with the documents going wrong in their system when trying to send electronically, but eventually a lovely lady used her initiative and called us, then emailed us and bypassed the obviously useless system! Three days later letters arrived with our PPS numbers. ‘Fabulous!’ I thought. ‘I can apply for our driving licences now.’ But noooooo…..

To apply for a driving licence you have to enhance your Mygov.ie account, and to do that you have to have a PPS card, and the only way to get a PPS card is to have a face to face interview!

So I am back to square one, and now our signed reports are out of date, as you only have twenty-eight days and we will probably have to pay again!

Today I am contacting the office near to the house we are hoping to buy to try and arrange interviews! It’s all part of the process, and there is more to come, but it’s all part of the adventure, thank God I was a civil servant in a previous life!

Rosie

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On the Boat to A New Adventure in Ireland

03 Sunday Jan 2021

Posted by RosieJoseph in Change is a coming, Dream, France, Goodbyes, new adventures, New Paths, poignancy, The continuing adventure

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

A haven, a moment in time, adventures, adventures in France, Ambrières-les-Vallées, atmospheric skies, au revoir, Auld Lang syne, leaving France, pastures new, Reflections

I wrote this blog on New year’s eve, but the dreaded internet got in the way. I thought it was appropriate to say a final farewell to France. Of course I am now writing this in Ireland, but this is the final farewell. There will be a flurry of posts this week, so much to write about…..

31.12.2021

So we did it! I suppose if you’ve done it once it gets easier. We said goodbye to France due to arrive in Ireland at 3.30pm Greenwich meantime.

    View from Deck

    I have limited internet, so here are some photos of Ambrieres les vallees on our last day there. It was a very pretty town, and affluent, as indicated by the Marie’s office. But despite its affluence the town was still struggling to survive, as were many in France.

    Enjoy the photos more to come from Ireland

    Ambrieres les vallees, taken from the town that’s cut into the rocks
    I fell in love with this weir and little bridge
    The weir
    The Marie’s Office in Ambrieres les vallees

    Rosie

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    Taking A Moment: The Last Sunday Morning Snuggle in France

    13 Sunday Dec 2020

    Posted by RosieJoseph in Change is a coming, For the live of dogs, Goodbyes, My home, new adventures, New Paths, poignancy, Saying Goodbye, Simple things, sunrises and sunsets, The continuing adventure

    ≈ 3 Comments

    Tags

    adventures, being grateful, Blessings, Change, Changes, Contentment, Dogs, Happiness, LIfe, Simple things, Small things, Welsh Terriers, Welshies

    December Sunrise Ambrieres les vallees 2020
    Welshie moments

    I often write this blog on a Sunday morning/afternoon as we sit in bed having our fourth cup of tea, snuggling with the Welshies. It is one of our treasured moments, a simple thing, counting our blessings.

    We have been mega busy dismantling our home, and today will be the last Sunday that we will have the opportunity to do this in this home. The weather has lent itself kindly to us doing this given that the rain is pouring down, and every now and then a spurt of wind whips around this hose on the hill.

    Once I get up my sparkling lights will be taken down, and off the bed.

    Our Bedroom, a place of sanctuary

    The 1860’s French dressing table will be emptied, ready for the remainder of our furniture to be moved on Tuesday.

    Our Antique French Dressing Table lovingly painted by me.

    This bedroom will no longer feel like ours, and this time next week we will be moving to a gite in anticipation of handing the keys to our house over the week after.

    One of the lessons we have learned as part of this adventure is that we make our homes, it is RD and I who create them, and make them into places where people like to come, because they are welcomed.

    I know I will create a new one, in some ways I am looking forward to it, but I started this blog all those years ago to encourage people to step outside of their comfort zones, to broaden their horizons, and to not be afraid of doing so. So I am writing about this move because yes, it is scary, yes it is poignant, yes you can recreate again, but yes you should live in each moment.

    I asked RD the other day if he felt afraid, he said ‘Yes’.

    Despite it all we know we are doing the right thing. Life has showed us that over and over. But right now we are procrastinating, or perhaps just treasuring this moment because we know it will never come again.

    Rosie

    December Sunset Montaigu Ambrieres les vallees 2020

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    Diary Of A Move: A Winter Move. What Fun!

    07 Monday Dec 2020

    Posted by RosieJoseph in Change is a coming, new adventures, New Paths, Saying Goodbye, sunrises and sunsets, The continuing adventure

    ≈ 7 Comments

    Tags

    adventures, Change, clearing out, emigrating, French Countryside, French Sunrises, French sunsets, moving home, packing up, Reflections, Welsh Terriers, Welshies, Winter

    A Memory From Christmas 2017

    Normally at this time of year I would be doing my favourite Christmas thing: decorating my Christmas tree. But this year we’re dismantling our lives, so this one from 2017 will have to do. I chose it because it was the first time our son Tom came to visit us in France, and it was truly a magical time.

    Christmas 2019

    For us now Christmas isn’t about material things, it’s about the people, the simplicity and the memories we make. This year the memories will be vastly different from all others.

    Our First Christmas in France 2015

    We are on a countdown now, and I am not going to lie it is a little bit frightening, and trust me I chose that word carefully; because as we dismantle we know that we will not have our own place for some time, and those little voices can kick in and start whispering the ‘what if’s’. Over the years of living here and reading philosophy, psychology and the Tao I have become a lot better in closing them down, and mantras have become my saviours.

    RD has been working so we have a limited amount of days we can clear out the two ton (sometimes seems like more) of crap we have accumulated in our lives, which involves many trips to the dechetterie (dump). Add to that the fact that the dechetterie is only open three half days and one full day a week and it all becomes ever so slightly desperate!

    So on Saturday we had no choice: dechetterie it was! But the weather has turned decidedly cold here, and on that dictated day we also had the pleasure of freezing rain and sleet to contend with. There we were, in our fleeces and waterproofs, putting metal here, plastic there, electrical goods somewhere else, wood in one container, dirty wood in another container, whilst contending with the driving sleet in our faces. Let me tell you it was a joy! Luckily we had the dechetterie controller ‘Stig’, as he likes to be known (a la ‘Stig Of The Dump’) to help us. By the time we got home with the rain and snow still driving into our faces and soaked through despite the waterproofs, snd we decided to call it a day.

    RD cleared out the cellar weeks ago, but he isn’t as definitive as me when it comes to making decisions to let things go, and asked me for help. I knew this meant that he wanted me to go with him and boss him around. So yesterday I did just that and the cellar was sorted into a pile for the dechetterie (yep here we go again) and the rest was loaded into the van and taken to our friends, who have kindly let us store our worldly goods in their outbuildings. It was all done in an hour. I am very methodical with things like that.

    So having said that I have to go to pack up some more, and sort out our paperwork, which will be complicated because I need to ensure we have the basics to start our new life in Ireland, on our initial trip, because the rest will have to remain here until we can collect it in a few months time. We cannot take it all, not with two Welsh Terriers, and two cats, and clothes, food, and so much more, the van can only carry so much.

    But before I go the cold weather has provided us (because I know my readers like them too) with some fabulous sunrises and sunsets. Here are some to enjoy…

    Rosie

    French Sunrise from my
    garden December 2020
    French Sunset from my Garden December 2020

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    Diary Of A Move: The Boat’s Booked

    01 Tuesday Dec 2020

    Posted by RosieJoseph in Change is a coming, For the live of dogs, Friends, Goodbyes, Learning and Evolving, new adventures, New Paths, poignancy, Saying Goodbye, sunrises and sunsets, The continuing adventure

    ≈ 2 Comments

    Tags

    adventures, cats, Change, Dogs, French Sunrises, French sunsets, Friends, Goodbyes, letting go, LIfe, life shows the way, Love of dogs, memories, Moving on, new adventures, Poignant, Sunrises, understanding, Welsh Terriers, Welshies

    November Sunrise over the French Vallees

    Yesterday I booked our boat to Ireland. It’s no mean feat when your booking two Welsh terriers into heated dog lodges, arranging for two cats to remain safely and warmly in the van, and booking a cabin for yourselves for the eighteen and a half hour crossing!

    It was weird because I felt very excited about going to Ireland, as did RD . But last night as we sat in our dismantled living room we both agreed that whilst excited we still felt a little sad. It’s part of the process folks, I have learned that now: part of the process of letting things go is to allow yourselves to feel the poignancy as one chapter of your life closes and another opens. We don’t always have to put our chins up and pretend that we’re not sad, or ignore our feelings and just look to the future (which we are incredibly excited about). I believe that we should allow that feeling of poignancy wash over us, and then keep going. Too many people try and have a ‘stiff upper lip’, when, really, they don’t need to. It’s just what it is.

    Yesterday one of my best friends (thirty three years and counting) put a beautiful comment on my last post asking me to hug our house for her, because it had healed her at a time she needed it, just as it has healed us enough to go back into the ‘throng’. I have evolved from living here, so much so that I am ready to go back out there, albeit a different Rosie sometimes.

    Making Our Home December 2015

    Last night we took down my big decorative mirror that was one of the first things we hung above the fireplace. As RD carried it out he stopped and we both just looked at each other, remembering when we hung it in December 2015.

    Moving on December 2020

    As always life has shown me the way, you know how it does: like little pieces of jigsaw being placed like a path showing you where to go. (I have really learned to listen now.) We are juggling money, with each week mapped out as to what I have to pay. But when I spoke to the lovely lady at the cattery she doesn’t want the deposit until we arrive with the cats; and when I tried to pay for our accommodation in Ireland the money doesn’t come out until the 28th, freeing up enough money this week to book our boat. Moving from country to country is a complicated and expensive business. We were going to sail to Ireland on the 3rd of January 2021, but I couldn’t get the dogs booked into their dog lodges for that date, however I could get everything I needed for the 30th. Life clearly thought we should be starting the new year in a new country. So we will be as I write this we have twenty nine days left in France…….

    Rosie

    November Sunset From My French Home

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    New Horizons Are On Their Way

    24 Tuesday Nov 2020

    Posted by RosieJoseph in Change is a coming, Goodbyes, My home, new adventures, New Paths, People, Saying Goodbye, sunrises and sunsets, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure

    ≈ 5 Comments

    Tags

    adventures, being grateful, Change, Changes, French Sunrises, life shows the way, Moving on, Rural France, Selling houses, Sunrises

    Sunrise in Ambrieres 24 November 2020

    It’s official: we hand the keys over to the new owners of our house just before Christmas .

    So Christmas as we know it is cancelled this year, no decorations (the one thing I love about Christmas). But there is a chance our son will come to visit with his friend so we will all be in a gite together, and it will be a an alternative Christmas, which will be good, not least because it will be different.

    One of our lessons from living here has been to to simplify, to realise that we don’t need ‘stuff’ we just need good people around us. I read the linked post before I linked it, and it made me cry.

    I have changed so much from this adventure, isn’t that what stepping outside of your comfort zone is about, to change and evolve?

    So it’s busy, busy, busy. Rich is working I am packing up, and the poor animals are stressed to the max.

    A new day is dawning…

    Rosie

    Today’s sunrise no wonder this house healed me …

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    Here and Now: The Small Things I Love

    16 Monday Nov 2020

    Posted by RosieJoseph in Change is a coming, For the live of dogs, My family and other furry creatures, new adventures, New Paths, Simple things, sunrises and sunsets, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure

    ≈ 3 Comments

    Tags

    adventures, being grateful, Blessings, Change, Contentment, counting your blessings, Dogs, Happiness, LIfe, Love, Simple things, Welsh Terriers, Welshies

    Anyone who follows this blog knows that I have always loved the sunrises over the valley. I have shared them often with you, the photo above is todays sunrise and I promised more in one of my recent posts, I hadn’t forgotten.

    At this time of year the winds can whip up quickly in the valleys, but despite their ferocity at times I have always loved laying in bed with my beloved husband and Welshies and listen to them whooshing around the house. and more than anything I love to hear the rain hitting the drawn down shutters. I lay in bed with all my blessings around me and I listen to that rain and I feel safe, and blessed to have shelter. It is a small thing to some, but living here listening to that calming sound has made me understand that it’s not a small thing, it’s the thing that people search for: a home, safety, love.

    This week we were reminded again, to live in the here and now. Harley has been a little off colour over the past few weeks, and I noticed he was drinking more, and he had some accidents in the house. On Friday he literally wet himself in front of us, so I took him to the vet on Saturday morning. The outcome was that they wanted to test him for ‘Cushings’ disease. Of course I had already looked up possibilities of what could be wrong with him, and I knew that this possible outcome was not good. Harley is nine now, and I want him to live forever (tears in my eyes now.)

    We booked the test for today, and we cried all day on Saturday, and I just kept saying my mantra ‘here and now, here and now’ over and over again.

    I joined numerous Facebook groups to ask for advice. The outpouring of support from those sites, and our wonder Welsh Terrier Fan Club site was overwhelming. In these difficult times it was a joy to know that people are still good people, it appears thats especially where our beloved animals are concerned.

    Our vet is a lovely vet, but he is an agricultural vet primarily and after much discussion, taking into account that many people who have had to deal with this disease advised to have his urine tested in a lab and a culture grown, that we are moving to Ireland in ten weeks approx, the complexity of dealing with the disease (if he has it) and the complexity of diagnosis (get it wrong and give him the meds with terrible side effects and it could kill him), and that he would have to be monitored we decided not to go ahead with the test. We feel that for now we have made the right choice. It would appear that Harley does too, as he has stopped drinking as much and has perked right up.

    So that will be something to keep my eye on, because we have approximately forty days before we have to leave this house, and there is still so much to do.

    A bientot.

    Rosie

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    Living In The Moment: sunny Autumn Days

    23 Friday Oct 2020

    Posted by RosieJoseph in For the live of dogs, My home, poignancy, Reflections, Saying Goodbye, Simple things, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure, The seasons

    ≈ Leave a comment

    Tags

    a dogs love, a little place to sit, a moment in time, a place for reflection, accepting change, adventures, as I sit here, At peace, autumn, Autumn day, Autumn gardens, autumn in France, Autumn leaves, Autumn sunshine

    I have made myself a promise, in this insane world, to give myself a little silence every day.

    Here in France it is a beautiful autumn day, the sun is bright and warm, with just the occasional cloud blowing by.

    So I took the time, from my what can be stressful days at the moment, and I had my tea and toast outside with the Welshies.

    As I sat listening to the birds singing, and the trees sighing with resignation as the breeze took more of their leaves from them, I thought back to my first autumn here. I can remember how I would stand by my washing line and look around me in amazement that I owned the land where the huge oak trees loomed over me, and the crab apple dropped her apples loudly onto the goat shed roof. I remember walking up the chemin that was covered with a carpet of acorns and cob nuts crunching underfoot, and thinking this is mine.

    But it was never mine, I never owned it, I borrowed it when I needed to heal, and it did it’s job. Now it’s time to let it go, and let someone else sit as the leaves blow by. Let someone else look down in wonder at the carpet of walnuts hiding amongst the leaves. Most years there are well over three thousand, we have given up trying to pick them all up, and we giggled the other day when we took the dogs for a walk down the lane and realised we were following a trail of walnut shells left by the squirrels. .

    I will ask my neighbours if they want to collect some. If not the squirrels will be fed for the winter.

    I will never tire of this view.

    But one of my lessons has been it’s a view, that’s all. There will be more views.

    Rosie

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    So Here We Are

    28 Friday Aug 2020

    Posted by RosieJoseph in Change is a coming, My home, new adventures, New Paths, poignancy, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure

    ≈ 5 Comments

    Tags

    adventures, believe, Change, Changes, coming home, Contentment, enjoying the here and now, Goodbyes, Happiness, home, Hope, LIfe, looking forward, Moving on, remembering, Tears, vintage French statues

    So here we are, having a glass of wine and a beer in our home. I am back in France.

    We have just signed the documents agreeing to sell our home. It’s time to move on.

    I have shed a little tear, I am sure there will be more to come. But for now, despite the stormy weather, it is good to be back in my ‘for now’ home.

    Tomorrow we are having a BBQ for all our fabulous French friends and neighbours, and two English friends that we didn’t realise were there, all the time. Here is to a party to celebrate the last five years.

    Just a little teaser, I used to swim in this river, right by the bridge.

    And I spent many hours under a bridge just like this catching tiddlers in the glen that flowed down from the mountain.

    Ireland has so much to look forward to.

    Exciting times. But right now, I am going to enjoy the hear and now.

    Rosie

    Oh! Just to make you giggle our buyers thought we are religious! I think it may be my vintage bleeding heart statue of Jesus.

    You can call us many things but religious is not one of them.

    😉

    Rosie

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    Bittersweet…..it’s sold

    23 Sunday Aug 2020

    Posted by RosieJoseph in My home, new adventures, New Adventures, New Paths, poignancy, Reflections, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure

    ≈ 12 Comments

    Tags

    a house is.not a home, a house once loved, a moment in time, accepting change, adventures, apprehension, bittersweet, excitement, leaving, life shows us the way, Moving on, sadness, selling up

    Nearly three years ago I wrote this post in which I said how I come to realise how much our home had replenished me. How a house is not a home, it us the people in it. I will need to remind myself of this in the next three hectic months, because we have sold our house. Only the second viewers have placed an offer that cannot be refused.

    Life really has shown us the way as we had always said it would. It is time to move on.

    The feeling is bittersweet.

    RD and I were talking the other day and we both cried. I said how I had realised now, how we had struggled for so long living here that at times we had failed to see what we really had. But then I look back over my old posts and I know that is not the case. There has been do much positivity, and we have truly learned to value the simple things.

    The opportunity to move on, given to us so quickly is bittersweet because we had yearned to live in France for so long, it was our dream and now our dream has ended.

    But time to start a new adventure.

    I cannot wait to go home on Friday and sit in my garden with those I love.

    Thank you all for your kind and wonderful comments.

    Rosie

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