Donkeys, canoes and upcycling

Those of us who have made the move to a new country bring a variety of skills and life experiences to a very different type of community.

It is, if you like, up-scaling for people-skills.

It's a long and windy road to explain why the picture shows canoes crammed into a horse-box.
It's a tale of integration. Integration doesn't have to mean only ever speaking French.

Ready?

We bought a house with more land than we would have got in the UK. To me the 'spare' field screamed, 'Donkeys'.
So we have donkeys and a reputation as a soft touch.
Donkeys are, in themselves, life-changers (for us!).

We're still in contact with vendors for whom we took the instruction to sell their property several years ago.
They next bought on a river, and became donkey owners.
Life is changing for them once again, and we agreed to re-home their two Baudet de Poitou (there is another story to come in that specific regard!!)

We had to transport the donkeys, so what do you do? Obviously you get help from the BVI Customer Support Team - one of whom is a fully qualified racehorse trainer.
We're an eclectic bunch.

In the course of collecting the animals, conversation turned to the canoes perched in the roof of a barn.

It turned out these had been left by a previous owner, and were surplus to current and anticipated needs.
Now, Jenny from the BVI Customer Support Team had bought a house (with BVI) on a river ............ and was delighted to re-home said canoes........

Lots of wins.

There is much about this story that wasn't in my thinking when we watched from the ferry the white cliffs of Dover fade into the background all those years ago!
It is still as fresh and exciting as it was back then.