Brrrr

It's so cold it's unbelievable. We've got the fire going as I type, and it was snowing yesterday. It was 30 degrees last week and this week winter's come back. My parents took all my warm clothes back when they came to visit, so I've had to borrow some of Jan's clothes so stay warm. It's really annoying because this area is all about outdoor activities and the countryside, but we haven't been able to get out for a couple of days now. I've been looking forward to going on a sculpture trail in the mountains, but I don't know if we'll be able to do it if the weather doesn't improve. So we've been working in the house in the morning and chilling out in the living room in the afternoon. I've been reading loads, doing translating work and researching the region of Provence, which is where I'll be going on my days off at the end of May. We've been eating soups and drinking lots of tea and hot chocolate.
I've made a huge improvement in the garden, levelling the earth, weeding, digging flat stone slabs into the earth, putting permeable black plastic on the ground, and finally covering it with pink gravel, which turns dark red when it rains. Jan's really happy with it, and it's nice to have left my mark here. I think I've done pretty well with jobs here - she made me a list of things to get done before the next helper got here, and I've managed to get everything done, plus I've put in extra time to do the translation work. It'll be good to go to her website and look over the work I've done. The new helper got here on Sunday. She's Australian, 28 and works in IT, as a website manager - so Jan is really glad to have her here so she can help with her new website. But apparently it's proving pretty hard due to software or something... It's nice to have someone else here, we went for a walk on Monday and had a couple of glasses of wine by the abbey at St Hilaire. It;s been pretty sociable here this week since we had guests from Holland staying for 3 nights and some guests from the UK just arrived today. So, the jobs have been more guest-oriented: preparing breakfasts, clearing up, cleaning rooms - it makes a nice change. We get to eat what's been left over (this is better than it sounds), so I've been having pain au chocolat for breakfast, which is like the best thing in the world.
I was gonna leave for the new place on Friday but it looks like it'll be Sat or Sun now because my next hosts are out Fri night. This suits me fine, I really like it here and Jan and I get on really well. Also, I'd forgotten that the next place is a quote "working farm", and helpers are expected to put in 7 hours of work a day. I don;t really know what work I'll be doing since the vines should already be attached by now. But I'll have to wait and see. Their farm is called Chateau Brandeau and it's in Castillon, near Bordeaux, at the opposite end of the country! They've said "bring warm clothes", so I'm guessing it's not all that warm over there either.
So that's it for now.. Going wine tasting on Friday, to a proper wine school. I think they're gonna teach me how to taste it properly, and not just down it, as was the case at uni wine tasting sessions... Good times!