After a very long journey towing the tractor we finally arrived at our new home on Sunday 16th May. We travelled with Stu’s Mum - Karen and Sister - Sasha and we were all tired by the time we arrived. We had two car loads and the tractor to unload and dinner to think about, which all seemed too much for me at 5pm having left the UK at 4am and driven straight through with no driver swaps. The tractor started straight away so we had some fun and cut the back field. Stu had the first go of course and it ran like a dream, he dropped his hydraulics at the back lowering the topper to the ground and then selected first gear, gave it some revs and with a few chugs, off he went. Then Sasha had a go, she sat on Stu’s lap and steered Percy up and down the field with a huge grin on her face. It was my turn next, and call me controversial but I just can’t stand all those perfectly straight lines up and down the field, so as soon as Stu stepped away, I twisted and turned all over the field making circles and zig zags everywhere, Stu was shaking his head at me, but I was quite amused! Then Sash had a go on her own, Stu took great pleasure in showing her how everything worked before she zoomed off round the field – enjoying the idea that zig zags are the new straight line. We made it to Macdonalds at 9pm, it was all we could manage.
On Monday we had a Kitten to collect – his name is Marble and we had heard about him through an internet site. These kittens were free to a good home and they had one grey & white one left, which we thought sounded lovely, so we agreed to come and take him off their hands. We arrived at a typical French Farmhouse and a very pretty welcoming lady was outside gardening and waving madly at us. Her name is Jenny and she used to breed Birmans in the UK, unfortunately her beautiful pure bred Birman had it off with the local Farmer’s black and white moggie and she was stuck with a load of kittens to deal with. She welcomed us into her home where we found 4 beautiful kittens curled up on the sofa. Three of them were black and hard to tell apart, the fourth was Marble who stood out with his lovely grey and white coat and piercing blue eyes. Jenny offered us all coffee and we sat and chatted about her life and how she ended up in France; so many stories to hear from so many people searching for something more just like us. Jenny seemed lonely though, she smiled as she chatted about her home, her cats and her friends, but I felt she was missing something in her life. We played with the kittens who had slowly woken up as we chatted – Marble was funny playing with various toys around the sofas and coming up on to our laps every now and then for a cuddle. I had a black kitten in my lap who laid fast asleep for almost the whole time we were there, another kitten stayed curled up on the sofa and didn’t enjoy being picked up. The last kitten was busy playing, being cuddled and looking after his brothers cleaning them. Sash liked him, she said he was a good natured kitten and that it was a good sign he was cleaning the others. He was pure black with white markings underneath that looked like he was wearing a bikini. Needless to say Marble was packed into the cat box with a brother by his side, the kitten temporarily named ‘Kini’ came home with us too and it didn’t take us long to realise that ‘Scamp’ was a much more appropriate name for such a lively inquisitive kitten. The brothers have taken to farmyard life very well; they love the long grass and all the barns to explore. They use the litter tray even though we’ve moved it a couple of times and they sleep all night long snuggled up together in their bed. They entertain us and talk to us and give us lots of cuddles; we love having them as part of our family.
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