Our yoga teacher Amandine has organised a summer of evening yoga sessions in a nearby beauty spot.

It is at La Bastides-des-Jourdans in a gorgeous holiday let in the middle of an olive orchard complete with 25 metre swimming pool.

The views were amazing. The yoga was fun too – even if I need to improve my ability to balance on one leg.

Afterwards we were treated to an apéro of local beer and wine.

And we all left with a mini-bottle of olive oil.

I can’t imagine many better locations for an hour of yoga.

We have once again got some unwelcome visitors chez nous.

It started a week ago when we heard something running along the inside of the walls.

What was it? A bird or a mouse or a rat?

We then heard something – or somethings running across the ceiling of our bedroom. Ula was very good at alerting us to any new noise.

A call to the landlord was in order while we decamped to another bedroom – not the first time les nuisibles have forced us to do that.

The next day our regular Mr Fixit, M Martinez, came round to investigate.

He went up into les combles to have a look and then told us it was full of crottes.

Lovely.

He put down some poison that he said was très efficace and said he would be back later in the week to see if the rongeurs had taken the bait.

I told him we had had mice in our apartment in Lyon.

C’est la campagne ici, he said as he left.

I have just finished reading an amazing book.

Les Guerriers de l’Hiver by Olivier Norek. It is amazing.

I read another book by Olivier last year – the Times crime book of the year – Entre deux mondes. As a former police officer his polars books are great and I have since learnt he was a writer on the very popular French crime series Engrenages – Spiral in English.

But this one is an historical account of Finland’s winter war with The Soviet Union.

In particular it tells the story of Simo Hayha – Finland’s star sniper who was known as le mort blanc.

I almost didn’t buy it because the cover and length were a bit off-putting.

But you know what they say – l’habit ne fait pas le moine.

Eh?

Earlier this year I received a push notification from The Economist about Europe’s most walkable cities.

Lyon was in fifth place.

Then today I got another news alert to this piece in the Mirror.

I guess it’s the same story as Lyon was France’s most walkable city for The Economist too.

But it’s nice to see Lyon getting some attention. Well worth a weekend break. It is gorgeous and the food ain’t half bad.

Cath spotted a recommended walk in our excellent local paper La Provence.

It was at a place called la Source de l’Infernet.

We tried to go a week ago but torrential rain broke out five minutes into our walk so we reattempted it this weekend.

And I’m glad we did. The red rocks gave it all a Martian feeling.

Compared to the nearby Mt St Victoire which has a lunar landscape it felt like we were on a very different planet.

We went for an apéro in nearby Le Puy St Reparade.

I was struck by how typically Provençale it was.

I felt like we were in Jean de Florette, having a drink with the Soubeyrans.

I saw my first ever Roller 365 days ago.

A blue and orange crow-sized bird.

I’ve seen one or two since but, in a strange coincidence, today Cath spotted one flying off.

They really are striking, exotic- looking birds.

I couldn’t get a photo as I was driving so here is last year’s one.

Today marks one year since we moved into this house on the outskirts of Venelles.

With a nod to the late, great Peter Mayle our year has been more about learning how to clean a swimming pool, dealing with the unemployment office France Travail, trying to get a visa changed and regular catch ups with French great nieces rather than discovering amazing food in the little backstreets of towns, dealing with visitors from the UK or overseeing house renovations including marble tops for tables.

It’s hard to beat the restaurants of Lyon so while the food we’ve eaten en Provence has, by and large, been great, we were already spoilt in that regard.

But we have, like Peter, visited a lot of the south of France and discovered delights like Lourmarin and Moustiers-Sainte-Marie and St Raphael.

We also agree with Mr Mayle that Aix-en-Provence is unmissable.

We have also now passed the three year mark en France. Two more and we can apply to become French citizens. Just need to brush up on the number of départements.

I stumbled across this post on a Facebook group for foreign entrepreneurs in Aix.

So I thought I’d go along and say hello. I was particularly interested to hear if anyone else had any visa issues or tax advice.

Café Lille is a lovely spot in Aix with nice coffee and it was a nice opportunity to meet a few people in the same boat.

There were about 15 of us altogether ranging from tour guides to wine tasting specialists, from wellness experts to web developers and designers.

It was really interesting to hear how everyone was making a living.

And there was some good advice re taxes. You have three years to correct mistakes apparently so it can wait til I have my visa.

On that front, I emailed la direction générale des étrangers en France to ask how long the visa change might take.

They replied to say there is currently no time-frame and that I should get an email after each stage.

I’m am yet to be contacted about any stage!!!

Eeek!

This morning I heard a cuckoo near our garden. Its onomatopoeiac call rang round the kitchen.

I went out into the garden and could hear it had moved further away.

I had never heard a cuckoo in France – actually that’s not true – I saw one in Guadeloupe, technically France. But that was a Mangrove cuckoo. This one was a common one.

And then I thought – I wonder what the French call a cuckoo? In the UK it is named for its song. But I bet the French have some weird name for it – like the noisy fool we saw in our garden – un bruyant fou!

I dashed to the dictionary to look it up.

C’est un coucou, évidemment!