Sorry, no posts but I'm moving house.

Just a quick word to those who read my posts, to excuse myself for not having written anything recently. The reason, of course, is that I am moving house and have been very busy with this process. If you follow me on FaceBook you will have read about this and so will perhaps have guessed why no blog posts.

The village baker's, the one remaining shop that stays open all year.

It became clear to me that I was struggling a bit financially, a situation not helped by Brexit and the resulting falling Pound. As my pension comes from the UK, it has been falling month by month and seems likely to remain weak. And, in spite of adding to my income by renting out my car with Drivy.com and my bedroom with AirBnB and getting some payment from a few gigs, my overdraft at the end of each month seemed to grow like Topsy.
Discussing this with an English friend, Alan, who lives a few hundred meters away, we realised that if we shared a house our overheads would go down: sharing the rent, the heating costs, the internet costs, house insurance, etc and even the food bill. On top of the finances, we were both fed up with the noise we were suffering from, me because of a huge building project on my square and him because his flat is on the High Street and near a kebab restaurant which is the main evening hang out for teenagers with their noisy mopeds.
So, the search was on in earnest, mainly using the website LeBonCoin and we looked at loads of places that were either too expensive or not what we wanted. We were looking for a place where we could work more with AirBnB as well as giving us a room each with a kitchen and living room. So we needed a place with 3 bedrooms.
Then we found the ideal place which not only had those rooms we needed but a bedroom with ensuite bathroom as well as a second bathroom for our use and two extra toilets and a laundry room and garage; the only thing missing is a garden but in fact it looks out onto a small open space where Leo my German Shepherd can hang out (there are no other dogs, very few cars and he loves people) and we have already been offered a patch down by the river where we can have a kitchen garden. The rent was just 30% more than my present flat and the state of the place is immaculate including a superb fitted kitchen. And, another saving, there is a log burning fire which directs warm air around the house and also a heat exchanger and the house has been very well insulated.

The village church which supposedly the villagers were forced to built after being suspected of being Cathar heretics.

So, all has been done paperwork-wise and we move in on Monday with friends giving help and a big van. The move including rubbish clearing and cleaning will take three days then I have a day off, hopefully time to write a post, before the Reggae and Dub festival in nearby Sauveterre along with the arrival of a couple of friends from England. I'll be translating between the festival organisers and the Jamaican musicians as well as enjoying the music and taking photos over the weekend and then spending the rest of the week showing my friends around our region. Then, when they leave, I have four days with writing time before I head off up to Edinburgh to visit my eldest son and his family and to celebrate his wife's birthday and mine. Once back from there, my life will settle down to being much quieter through the winter with more time to continue with my story of Lastwind's tour supporting Hawkwind in 2006.
What I have omitted saying is where our new house is: it is in NAJAC, one of my favourite places on the planet. And, not only that, but it is at the edge of the village, well away from where the tourists gather in summer. Any tourist who ends up in the short street where we are, down below the church and the castle, is well and truly lost. It's almost a small hamlet, set apart from the rest of the village which is up on the ridge whilst we are off the main road and down towards the river with its long and pleasant walks down the gorge. There are only a handful of round the year inhabitants, most of whom I know already and the other houses are mainly owned by Brits who come from time to time.
I won't be walking up the steep hill into the oldest part of the village but we can drive up to the village centre in minutes.

The church and balcony which is several metres up above our little street.

And, AirBnB seem to think we will do well here able to charge more because of the touristy reputation of the village and the fact that our house is neat and tidy and with an ensuite for the guests. And, the final bonus, my youngest son, his wife, and 5 of my grandchildren all live up in the main village!!
And so a new chapter of my life begins. The future is looking rosy.

NAJAC CASTLE, built by the English back in the 13th Century.