Snow, snow and French medical system

Well the snow that had been promised for the 29th came on the 1st. The bitter chill that proceeded it brought sleet and cancellation of football training for our eldest and the boys' school x-country skiing trip. It was decided that it wouldn't be much fun for the kids in such bitter conditions. A good decision it turned out because by the time the Friday came around, there was about 5cm of snow with us and lots of small roads were impassible. We braved (well in all honesty 'coz I can't drive - my husband braved!) the ice and snow to get the kids to school Thursday and Friday only to find that most of the kids and 50% of the teachers had not!

The boys loved the snowy conditions and spent hours creating their own version of Mont Blanc and tunnel as well as sliding down any slope they could find. The snow got heavier and the sledges came out! As the road was deep in snow and knowing so many never made it in the previous week we decided to have another snow day on Monday - much to the boys' enjoyment!

The one benefit of my knackered ACL is that my husband and I had longer to discuss an offer on a house that we have found. We decided that we should go for it and see if we could make our French dream a reality. So offer went in and after a nervous couple of days it was accepted! So now the daunting task of getting all the required pieces of paper together and all the i's dotted and t's crossed and monies in the correct place at the correct time! To add to the stress of course is the need to get the gites that come with the house up and running and advertised in time for summer bookings. Oh and find a school for the boys from September.

This week not only brought the snow but my appointment with the knee surgeon. He did a very quick yank and twist of the knee and nodded sagely agreeing with my diagnosis that I had torn my ligament. He needed it confirmed though with and MRI so we hobbled down to the Radio department and made an appointment then back up to orthopedics to make an appointment to see the surgeon again after the MRI. So no definite date for the op but have an MRI to look forward to on 29th Feb and then back to the surgeon on 7th Mar.  It is a lot quicker than the NHS system which is good, however, we had not yet fully registered with the french system as paperwork takes it time and therefore we will have to hope that the EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) does what it says it does - offer reciprocal cover to UK NHS whilst abroad. This should mean that I give them the details of how much we've spent and they then pay us back. We shall see how smooth and effective this system is!

In the meantime it is the February holidays. All schools in France have 2 weeks for skiing with the large school areas divided into zones to help avoid chaos at airports and ski resorts. We fall into the Toulouse area and Zone A so we're on holiday until 27th Feb. I had thought we could investigate the area and go for lovely walks but am having to re-think that!