2012 reflections

Sitting here in front of the TV watching the Prince of Persia I am thinking back to the last year and trying to balance the negative with the positive aspects of it.

I end the year on a high with a grand total of 2 euro in my bank and no party to go to.  Usually we go to a lovely party that is full of fun and laughter and have a great time.  This year the lady who usually holds the party is in the UK so we are without celebrations this year.

We have three dogs staying now, several have already gone home.  Each with their own needs and personalities, we juggle their needs to fit in with our own ever growing collection of animals.

Looking back at last year I had good and bad news outweighing each other so  leaving me in the same place! I managed to get Barclaycard to agree that the purchase of a car was done by someone else and not me and so after two years of fighting they removed the debt which had risen to over £6000 and restored my credit rating only to have the French Authorities say they had paid me too much and I now owe them 5500 euro win some lose some!  Then they changed my business and gave me a new Siret No and now my health care doesn't work so I can't get sick.  My son is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and is having treatment so cannot work.  My daughter had her heart broken by a boy and then mended with a new boy! My car cost me more than it did to buy it and some parts of it are held together with duct tape.  My heating, yet again, isn't working for the winter so we are surviving with just a little wood burner in one room.  I am hoping that the temperature doesn't get as low as -21 as it did last year.

On a positive note we rescued 6 kittens, we all made it through the year, my bronchitis wasn't too bad this year only lasted 3 weeks and I took up my beloved drawing again.  I discovered Audible which is wonderful as I do a lot of driving around France and having a good book to listen to on my journey is brilliant. I've stopping worrying, caring and taking time on people who really wouldn't be bothered with me which has cleared my mind for other things.  I am having a website designed for my drawing business and I am writing my book again.

I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends in my life, I have friends that have been with me for many years, ones who have just arrived in my life, wonderful online friends, friends here in France and many friends all around the world.  I am happy to still have my father in my life and so glad to be able to care for him.  I am so grateful to have the memories of my mother who was the light in our lives, who put the fun in the day the laughter in the week and made the year worth remembering.  I am happy to have food on the table, a roof over my head (albeit leaking), a car to get from A to B, my family around me, my little animals and my clients who trust me to care for their animals.

So here we are another year over, I blinked and 2012 had gone!  I'm making plans to improve our 2013, life is hard and it can get on top of you but there are always things to be thankful for.

HAPPY NEW YEAR WORLD

3 am Breakfasts & Barking

Well the run up to Christmas in France is about the same as any other day in the year.  The traffic increases by a few cars and they have an 'open exceptional' which means the shops stay open for a few hours on a Sunday! There is the Christmas Red Cross wrapping service and a Papa Noel sitting on a red chair surrounded by white twigs and fake snow.

At home we have a real Christmas tree this year as someone we know chopped down their tree and offered us the top.  This was great although we had to cut off most of it to wedge it into out house it is now in place with the sad little baubles and tinsel with a few little twinkling lights.

Christmas is a time when many of the English people rush back to the UK to be with family and so my business of looking after pets becomes very busy.

So a few days ago I took charge of a few dogs and cats, some of which were with me for 2 days, some for a weeks, some for just a few hours.  After spending a bit of time sorting them out and getting them in the right places so they have the best stay.

Well having so many dogs in the house is a noisy affair as they bark at any little thing and it only takes one to set them all off.

So This morning I went into see my Dad in his part of the house and he greets me with 'Oh yours back'!  I said back from where Dad?  He said the Christmas Markets, I see you went off at 3am so I got up and had breakfast and waited for you to come home.  I panicked thinking my car must be stolen, jumping to the window looking out to my relief the car was still there.  So I said the car is still there, he said well you said you were going out so I just knew you were gone!!

So what with out door dogs barking, indoor dogs barking, cats meowing, chickens crowing, fathers breakfasting in the middle of the night its a mad house most of the time! Im just hoping that the 3am breakfast is a one off and doesn't become a regular thing.

The Christmas pet sitting rush will soon be over and all the dogs will be back in their rightful homes and peace will resume on the funny farm.

Just want to wish all my readers a very healthy and happy 2013 and meet you again in the new year with more fun and laughter from the funny farm x

The Reality of Rural France

As you drive past all the wonderful stone buildings the lush green fields and the 40 degrees sun thinking wouldn't it be nice to live here such an idyllic place, well before you do let me share a few secrets.

Winters are a survival game of the highest proportions.  Yes you can dress it up saying that you have a wonderful wood burner and an electric blanket but that's just the facade, a covering for the world to think how lovely.  The reality is rooms where you can see you breath, water running down the walls, ice on the inside of the windows, duvets nailed to the doors, plastic duct taped to the windows and towels to stop the rain coming in.

Having a wood burner is wonderful, don't get me wrong, but the romance of the naked flame vanishes when you realise you have to chop the wood and drag it around the farm to the shed, bring it in every night. To keep warm you have to clear out the fire ever day and relight it before one room gets warm enough to sit in.

Taking a shower is an excruciating experience.  The bath itself is like a block of ice and standing anywhere other than under the thin shower of hot water is a painful experience.  The shower gel has to be coaxed out of the bottle due to the near frozen constituency and the blob that finally lands of your scrubby rolls straight off unless you are quick to capture it and hold it in your hands until it is pliant enough to froth up and clean you body.  Towels are always damp and do a sad job of drying.  The dash from bathroom to bedroom is like diving down the piste on your stomach naked and the dressing experience is now perfected to half a minute.

The wonderful tiled floors are blocks of ice and chilblains appear before you even slip your left slipper on.    the shutters are wonderful and do help to draft proof to some extent, but it mean the whole house is plunged into a darkness where you need to lights on just to see to open them.  In the morning you stumble around in the dark trying to find enough coverings to be able to function without bits freezing and dropping off, just to you can fling open the windows, letting out the tiny heat you may have built up in the night, just to open the shutters so light can flood in.  There have been occasions when the damp has swollen the windows and after flinging them open and folding the shutter back the window then refused to shut leaving you with the dilemma of whether to force the window and risk breaking the already rotting wood or leaving it ajar and letting in the sub zero temperatures.

The only saving grace is summer, a few wonderful months when the pains of winter fade and we bask in the sun and visitors arrive and say what a wonderful place you live in you are so lucky its magnificent!!! .

Rescue Me!

As I drove down the tiny path from our farm to the country road, the weather was cold wet and windy, i could see two tiny white blobs on the path in front of me.  As I drove closer they didn't move and I could see they were kittens.  I phoned my daughter to get the wire basket and come to meet me on the path.

The path

As we approached these tiny kittens they cried out.  We expected them to run away but they just sat there in the path crying and waiting to be picked up.  We gathered them up put them in the basket and took them home.  

When inside we examined them, they were filthy, cold, thin, shaking and wet.  We gave them both a warm bath and it would be no exaggeration to say the water looked like mud at the end of it.  We dried them off and gave them both a bowl of baby cat milk.  We then applied worm treatment on them and checked for fleas.  After all the cleaning, feeding and de worming/flea treatments they settled down in front of the log burner together and went to sleep.  

We have 15 cats now in various stages of kitten hood to old age moggy.  After the initial hissing and sniffing the pack of cats accepted our new little bundles and they are rushing around the house playing and getting into mischief. 

People ask me why I picked them up when I have so many cats and I say how could I leave two tiny little babies cold, wet and hungry - I just couldn't 

Here they are with my daughter and our other newest kitten who is getting quite big now.  He was rescued on the road one day all cold and hungry and is now in our loving household too.

Domestic Violence

I was watching a programme last week where a woman was shot by her husband several times, then hanged himself,  and a few months later her 15 year old son couldn't handle what had happened and hanged himself.  The lady, although had been shot lots of time, survived and was there on the show smiling and saying if she was meant to survive all this violence and grief then she should make the most of ever day and live life to the full.

She was telling the story of how the control, or abuse, started with he husband not letting her wear certain clothes, no make-up and not allowing her to go out for a girls night, never believing anything she said always accusing her of things and becoming violent if he didn't like her answers.

This make me think back to my marriage, when I was first married I was not allowed to wear tight clothes or make-up and gradually all my friends were cut off.  I ended up with no friends and wearing baggy tops and jeans. This control went from what I wore to where I was allowed to go to following me around the house.

I spent many years being told I was useless, ugly, fat.  For anyone going through this kind of abuse its the mental abuse that does an immense amount of damage that is unseen.  It crushes self esteem and makes the person feel like they are worthless and need the abuser to look after them.  This is when the abuser has total control over their victim. When the verbal abuse is not enough it then turns to physical, they feel the need to attack their victims to show who is in control.

Usually a abuser is someone who has low self esteem, feels worthless and quite often have some sort of mental problem themselves so to do this to another person empowers them.

The victim does not realise what is happening until it has gone too far and they are then afraid to leave for fear of being attacked, plus feeling like they cannot survive on their own.

I spent many years feeling worthless, but I had a good job, one I enjoyed and had many good people there who knew me before I met my husband.  My boss had faith in me and encouraged me to take courses and to work my way up the firm.  I went to London gained an HNC and a Degree and became a manager.  I had two lives I had my important life at work, where I felt worthwhile and successful and my life at home where I had to say nothing do as I was told and just get on with household jobs.  My children spent most of their days with my loving parent and this saved them from many of their fathers outburst and violence.

In 2004 I found out that my husband, who had been really difficult for many months, violent and vicious to the children, had been abusing our daughter.  It was then that he lashed out and tried to end my life.  Out of the blue he grabbed my hair thrust my head through the banisters of the stairs and then split my head open on the coffee table and proceeded to try and strangle me.  It was my son who saved my life, he was 12 at the time, and said he had to do something because I was going blue.

The police said that they may lose the case if they went for manslaughter but he would plead guilty to GBH! This went through and he got 3 months for strangling me. He got 6 more counts for the abuse and 3 years for each count so he  should have done 18 years but they ran all counts together so he did 3 years and he finally did 15 months!

For anyone who is being controlled by their partners please take a look at why he would try to control you.  There is no reason for someone to tell you not to wear make-up or certain colours or clothes.  If you find that your friends get cut out of your life one by one due to certain reasons your partner doesn't like about them and your life gets smaller and smaller until you spend most of your time in your house then you need to wonder why.

I know that many people who are in this kind of situation think there is nothing they can do and feel trapped and lonely.  People usually don't feel they can talk to anyone and no one would believe anything they said.  They may feel silly saying oh I'm not allowed to wear make-up or certain clothes but remember this is just the beginning and the start of taking control of you and its just the start of molding you the way they want you.  Watch out for the signs when little things make them lose their temper, it all starts small but it will escalate and before you know it you are in a violent relationship.

This lady on the TV was saying that her relationship started off with the controlling and developed into violence.  He also tried to strangle her, she had no friends and didn't go out.

Please if anyone is in this kind of relationship they need to be strong and get out.  Never think there is no where for you to go and nothing you can do - you are worth while you are smart you are a valuable person you deserve a good life no one had the right to control, abuse and crush you.  Tell people never be afraid to let everyone know what you are going through and what you have to put up with on a daily basis. One Website to get help in the UK is http://www.nationaldomesticviolencehelpline.org.uk/

24-hour National Domestic Violence
Freephone Helpline

            0808 2000 247      

BE STRONG DON'T LEAVE IT UNTIL IT'S TOO LATE xxxxxxxxxx

Life past and present!!

While sitting in a strangers house, after washing and feeding an old lady with no teeth, cleaning up cat vomit, clearing litter trays and lightly toasting a piece of bread for a bird, I think back to times gone past.

My day used to consist of waking at 5am and getting the children up driving them to a friends house for onward transportation to school. Then 2 hours travelling to London.  When there, I would be organising work schedules, production, order creation, outwork and keeping all the clients happy.  I held meetings and spent all day rushing around.  I then spent 2 hours driving home, picking up the children, making dinner and bed ready to do it all again the next day.

Now my days consist of walking dogs, cleaning up poo, talking to parrots, getting chickens up before it's light, cooking boiled eggs for Great Danes, keeping wild cats out, keeping guest cats in, staying in cold houses, creaky houses, big houses, grand houses, spotless houses, at home houses, knocked over by goats, chased by sheep and finding chickens who have forgotten where their home is. There are houses with well water, tap water and bottled water. Electric is a hit or miss thing. the lights dip when the kettle goes on and putting on more than one appliance trips the whole system.

I've swapped my suit for a waterproof coat, court shoes for wellies, briefcase for a wheelbarrow, doing my hair now means teasing straw and hay out of it, running my fingers through it and forcing it into a scrunchie. Making my face up means smiling, having a nice soak means taking the dogs for a walk in the rain and holding a meeting consists of me giving the chickens a good talking to when trudging around in the dark with a torch gathering them up. A dual flush system now means pressing the button twice and watching the trickle of water reluctantly make its way out and try lamely to make its way down the hole, anything more than a wee doesn't usually make it. I spend many hours driving around the french countryside in search of places hidden deep in woodland, out of the way spots, down tiny tracks, some with grand entrances and some with no entrance at all.  Getting lost is an everyday thing even with a SatNav, turn left often leads you across a field, take the next right has been the entrance to a cowshed. Then there's the fog which creeps across in seconds creating a blanket of white making driving impossible above 10kmh.

So while everything was available at the touch of a button I never really appreciated it until now.  There is nothing you can rely on to work here and just a hint of a storm and the power sulks.  Taking the rubbish out now means a 15 minute walk to the end of the road several times. Putting the heating on means chopping the wood bringing it in and lighting the fire. Getting ready for winter means banging nails in and hanging blankets at doors and entrances, duct taping up holes, double glazing means sticking plastic up at the window and laying duvets on the floor in the loft. The luxury of having hot running water is beyond utopia and the immense  happiness at having a 20 year old car that starts first turn of the key makes life worthwhile.  I have definitely realised the real value of life and any materialistic tendencies have fizzled away into the distance.

Life in rural France is definitely different, interesting, eventful, stressful and hard - but that's just life on the funny farm

The Frugal Father

From a very early age I watched my father making sure nothing was wasted and if he could make it he would rather than buy it and if it wasn't possible to make it he would go without.

To give you a few examples, he make my mother sew a patch of lace curtain to the back of his pajama bottoms to cover a hole.  The net curtain was very old, was a piece that hung at one of the windows many years ago and was another item he had folded up and stored in his shed ready for the time he could put it to good use again.  I remember my mother moaning and groaning and saying that there was no one in the world who would be going to bed with a net curtain stuck to his bum.  He just did his usual little grin and ignore routine knowing she would just get on with the job!! My mother told him that every wash day she would hang his lace pajamas on the line with the patch on show for the neighbours to see.  Being a man who didn't care about what other people thought this threat carried no weight and just went over his head.

Another time he bought some really thick rough pants from Russia, these turned up in the post and Mum, in her usual way, opened up the parcel and my sister and I spent an afternoon of crying until our ribs hurt while my mother paraded around the bedroom wearing these massive solid thick rough cream knickers.  Then she hung them on the line for the neighbours to see and wished him luck going to work in the school wearing sandpaper.

He was the sort of man who pushed the car out of the garage and started it up in the street to save fuel, he retrieved a bean tin our of the bin because mum had left a bean or two in the bottom and that was a waste.  His writing was so small you needed a magnifying glass to read it and always infuriated mum by writing a shopping list on a postage stamp!

My mum used to go mad with his attempts to 'save money' and was often plunged into darkness as he flipped the light switch off while she was still in the room, he turned films of before they ended and mended broken umbrellas with other umbrella parts.

Mums other pet hate was the splitting of the toilet paper.  He use to split the ply of the papers and used each piece of ply twice.  I remember mum sitting on the floor covered by toilet paper while he had her counting the sheets and calculating size x amount and making notes on the best buy.  I remember the day he hid the toilet paper from mum and left her three sheets hanging in the bathroom, his reasoning was he was trying to educate mum and get her to use less!!! You can imagine the uproar from my mum who was not backward in coming forward and was outraged by this.  This 'education' backfired as she made sure she used more than usual.

I could go on and on, the stories are endless.  Now, at 83, he is still frugal and trying to save money.  The only difference now is that he doesn't have lots of money like he did in the past.  As you can imagine our shock when he handed over hundreds of thousands of hard earned saved up money to a relative stranger to carry our all the work on the house we now live in.  My mum was speechless and said he never gave me anything like that! This con man sweet talked my very tight father into parting with all his savings with a dream of things that could be only to find this man had squandered it all and disappear.

My father now have no money and at 83 is still tight but with a need to be now. He sits in his room with little heat, he now has running water which is great but he ends his life with nothing.  Its strange to think that someone could talk the talk and manage to crack open the safe of my father.  We are still wondering how this happened.  Even my father sits and shakes his head saying how stupid he was and he regrets what he did so much.

He is still a happy chappy and as he says life goes on can't keep looking back but one thing is for sure he will  always be tight, frugal and watching every penny!!

Walk along the river

This is the river that runs through Parthenay.  A town close to where I live.  We often walk along this river with the dogs.  In the summer they can go for a swim, chase sticks and ducks and cool down.

as I have many dogs who stay with me while their families are on holiday this is a brilliant place to take them for some fun and exercise.  Today was a lovely autumn day and it was really quite warm too.

This is a perfect house on the river and I pass it with a sigh and wishing that it was my lovely house!! It is so pretty and has wonderful views.

Sometimes life takes over and we become consumed with problems and issues that we can forget to look around and see the beauty.  This is so pretty and when you are worrying you can walk along it and not see how pretty it is.  I realised this the other day when walking and just thinking about everything that was going wrong I suddenly saw my pretty house and stopped.  This is why I took all these pictures so I could take a second look.

Sometimes in life you just have to take a second look and actually see what is around you.  Don't let lifes painful problems cloud your vision there are lovely places about, just take a deep breath in, open your eyes, stop worrying and take a look at the beauty.

My Friend Michael Hobster

This is my rendition of my friend Michael or Mick as I like to call him.  He is an old friend who I worked with many years ago in the printing industry.  A man who worked like no other putting his all into every job.  Believing and encouraging the best in every employee.  He has a brilliant sense of humour and has had me laughing until my ribs hurt. He has been there for me through thick and thin always there online to put a smile on my face, congratulate me, listen to me, advise me, give honest opinions and just be a wonderful friend.  He has just retired and he deserves a long healthy happy retirement.  This drawing is my retirement present to him.  I wish him all the best always.

Over a Million Euros Later

Well today I am sitting in the dark at 1am in the morning thinking about my immense stupidity. How easily I allowed someone, I hardly knew, to wipe me clean of 30 years working all hours and saving hard.  Any assets I had gone in 2 years! A moments weakness, a short period of fuzzy clouds, a spot in your life when you are not on top of your game and BOOM its all gone. As for my father it was over 50 years of working, saving, being careful that was just blown out of his hands in a second of believing something, some idea someone puts in your head and creates an illusion so wonderful you are totally on board and before you know it BOOM everything you every had is all gone.

It takes a clever person to whip up an idea, create a dream, paint a picture and then scoop all your victims up into your imaginary vision until everyone you need to make it happen is safely trapped inside your evil bubble.  Once inside the bubble your victims have no way out they only see what you want them to see and you continue with your lies, deceit and your imaginary reasons for all the money you need to take from your victims to feed your inferiority complex, your need to feel important and your need to have bigger and better than anyone else.

Once your victims are trapped they become so heavily embroiled in your web of lies and deceit that they do not see a way out.  By this time you have made them feel like they have no choices anymore, will never be able to live without you and need your approval just to breath.

Once you have sucked your victims dry of all money, personality, life and future you vanish in a cloud of lies never to be seen again.

This is what a con artist does.  They create an imaginary life and whoever's life they touch will become involved in this dream world and once in its very hard to get out.  After they have left and you begin to recover and gradually regain the person you were before they seeped into your life, you realise how stupid you were and the feeling of being set free is immense.

I say all this because I wouldn't want anyone to go through what we have and if I can spread the word and help just one person then its worth it.

My father sits, eats and sleeps in one room now.  His kitchen leaks when it rains he has no heating in the bathroom and kitchen there is a hole in the kitchen window where I have tried to cover it with cardboard.  The rain comes in the chimney where the wood burner is and the electrics need sorting out.

The police worked out that David Hitchcock 'The Australian' spent over a million euros of mine and my fathers money.  I was so shocked when they told me that I had to see how they had come up with that figure but sure enough they were right!! From having his name put on my house for nothing to spending all the money from the sale of my house, to spending my daughters criminal injuries compensation and my criminal injuries compensation, plus my Barlcays Shares, plus the money from the sale of my car.  Then there was the money from my fathers house which was around 200,000 euro, the loan for the plane, plus the sale of his car plus all his savings and my mothers savings. We also paid off all his debts and loans and having his name on the farm deeds.  When added up it came to over a million Euros!!

Shocking I know, but the most shocking thing is that I cannot get his name off the house papers.  It takes lots of money, something I do not have anymore.  Plus I found out there is a clause that say if I die he gets the whole farm and he can throw my family out and live in the farm himself.

I do not think I am being mean when I say I do not want to give him anymore money but if I do have his name taken off the house papers I will have to give him half the value of the house.  I feel this is just too much and that he does not deserve a penny more of my families money.  Now I am usually someone who would help anyone out give anyone my last anything but on this occasion I feel so strongly that there is no way I want him to have another cent.

I have yet to find a way to rectify this problem and this is my last task to get him out of my life forever and close the chapter on this really sad stupid pathetic mistake I made. Regret?  Yes I have regret very much so but that is something you cannot live with.  So I made the biggest mistake of my life, but I was suffering from a head injury, going through a court case, a divorce, I was stressed, ill, not thinking straight.  It was the darkest time of my life and so I can't beat myself up too much about it.  I just hope that he doesn't do it to anyone else.

Yearly trip to the Drs

So here I am Wednesday afternoon sitting zombie like on the sofa.  Yesterday I plucked up the courage and went to my Drs.  He is a lovely man very nice looking, kind, caring and bonus on bonus her speaks a bit of English.  well I did my usual 1 to 10 list of ailments and checkups required and yearly tests needed all translated into french with pictures of various parts of the body strategically pasted and saved by the relevant number and armed with my trustee English/French French/English book of medical terms I drove to his office.

The French Drs is nothing like the ones we have in the UK.  You go into a tiny square which is the waiting room 5 chairs and a boxed off toilet with no washing facilities in the corner.  There is no receptionist or flashing light system or number calling you just go in and you then see who is before you and you go in in turn.  In the UK you would definitely get fights breaking out over who was there first and accusations of pushing in! But in France it is a civilized and polite affair and everyone takes their turn.

So there I sit on the noisy stained chair with a couple of families.  One with a boy that obviously had a stomach problem & kept visiting the toilet, the one without a basin and water!  The other with 5 children who where all screaming.

Waiting patiently for my turn I sat reading my English book with one mind on what I had to say to the Dr.  Eventually it was my turn I walked in the room, a small box with very little equipment in it a desk sink and examining bed.  I dutifully gave him a sheet of paper with 1 to 10 and pictures and he gave me his usual smile and read through everything. Telling me then to lie on the bed he took my blood pressure and said 'Bon' then went over to make a prescription out.

So after buying the many boxes of pills and coming home I have spent most of today trying to work out when and why I have to take so many.  I have decided one is an antibiotic one was a sleeping pill one was a relaxant. Well I took the sleeping pill last night and laid awake until 3am.  Then I took the relaxant and have done nothing but sleep today so Im wondering if I have got them muddled up!!

Also in France when you have to have your regular check ups and test for things you have to make the appointments, buy the things needed for it and off you go! Its all very stressful hahahaha

The joys of living in a foreign country

Updated Don't get caught by the 'Gift of the Gab' Part 2

Carrying on from the previous story.  My parents lived in a lovely 5 bedroom house, it was the house I had been born in and we all grew up in this house including my children.

My father built the extension with the help of mum, my sister and me.  Ive never felt so wonderful at 11 when I finally moved into my big bedroom it was a dream come true! This was the house that 'The Australian' persuaded my parents to sell to buy this massive farm in France, and even though they wanted just my name on the deeds he talked them into adding his name saying he would not do any of the renovations unless his name was added.  I also found among his papers he left behind a file where he had applied for a mortgage to buy my parents house and using my house as collateral to secure the balance of the value.  This we knew nothing about.

The plane he forced my father to buy was a Cherokee 4 seater which was supposed to be for joy flights around the area.  Just before he left France never to return he flew the plane to the UK, back to the man who he bought it from and spent many hours talking this decent man into the ground convincing him that he really wanted to own one of the Bently cars this man collected.  This man ended up agreeing to swapping the plane for one of his cars. When he arrived back in France driving the Bently he told my father that someone owed him money and he had taken the car as payment.  He then drove back the UK with the car and returned by train.  We found out he had sold the car for over £5000 and kept the money.  The man who had swapped the car contacted me sometime after and said he was sitting on the toilet one morning reading through his car magazine and was shocked to see his car for sale and completely saddened that he had been taken in by 'the Australian' and realised he was just another one of David's victim.  My father still had two years to pay on the loan for the plane, at £297 per month from his pension, that now belonged to someone else. My father finished paying the the plane end of last year and the total paid was over £18,000. The red van in the picture was also on loan when I met David and he paid it off with the sale of my house another £14,000. It is now roaming around the UK.

The plane (4 seater)

The Bently

The sale of my house paid for all his other toys like jetski, many quad bikes, metal guillotine, lathe, router, forklift, spray painting system etc etc many thousands of euros.  He still has the plane he bought with my money, I did try to get that back but without money for legal costs I had no chance.  I remember him flying it back from the UK when he didn't have the required ratings to fly in the bad weather.  He nearly missed the runway at Poitiers Airport in France and had to have several tries to land.  They sent a letter regarding the danger and there was an inquiry. I had been on the phone to him before he left the UK saying that the cloud was low there was fog and you couldn't see the wind turbines.  He took no notice of me and still took off.  When replying to the official letter he lied in the whole thing making up a plausible story and go away with it like always.  He said he did it as if he had been charged they would have fined him and I would have to pay! He told me that he nearly died on that day as he was close to crashing - not telling who he might have killed if he hadn't made in down safely.

The 6 seater plane bought with the money from my house

All singing all dancing wood machine

Spray unit 

He kept us imprisoned on the farm not allowing us to go out unless absolutely necessary.  If anyone came to visit we would be questioned and interrogated for hours afterwards to make sure we had not told them anything he was doing and they had not spoken about him.  One night he held me in his conversation until 3am in the morning until I was so tired I just agreed to everything he said.  He was the most frightening person you could imagine.  He used his religion to frighten us.  My dear old mum was scared of him and if she saw him coming up to her house she would turn off the fire and panic.  She was disabled and couldn't walk very well but he still gave her lectures shouting at her the her house was filthy and she was just a lazy dirty old lady!! He regularly had us all in tears unable to live up to his standards and expectations.  

You have no idea the relief we all felt when he went and never came back! It was like we had been let out of a nasty bubble.  You do not realise how these people gradually pull you in to their evil life making and molding you into what they want so they can use you for what they want and when they have taken all they can they move on to their next victim.  We were all just shells when he left, drained and tired.  For 3 months I just sat in my Pjs hardly able to breath not knowing what to do I had no money, no job, massive debts and a unfinished house.  

One day I woke up and something inside me said I cannot be like this I have people relying on me to motivate them and get the world moving again for us all.  So I started a business, got registered and got going again.  For the first time in my life I started claiming benefits which I felt really bad about as I had never claimed anything in my life in the UK and now I was in another country I was having to.  My mother was really sick so I had to look after her day and night and did so until she died.  We gradually got ourselves back on the map, selling all the toys he bought and finding our feet.

See it is possible to start again and work your way up.  No matter how bad things seem there is always a glimmer of light in the distance that you can work towards and one day all the problems will be in the past.  Although Im still working though mine but I know it will be over one day.  My biggest problem is still having his name on the deeds of the house this must be rectified one day as I don't feel he deserves any more money from my family. 

Beware don't get caught by the 'Gift of the Gab'

I was laying in bed this morning deep in thought when it dawned on me that I have around 20-30  years left to live (if I'm lucky) and that I will never raise the kind of inheritance again to pass on to my children.  at the age of 40 I had a beautiful house in the UK in a lovely village (the house on the left)

 My beautiful house in the UK

The minute I walked into this house I knew it was home.  I had a wonderful job working in the printing industry, I had a good car and life was ok.  I loved my job I had been in the printing industry for 23 years had an HNC in print technology and a degree in Print Media & Management. I held a bank of international clients, I held monthly meetings with clients, worked on service level agreements, shareholder value and monthly performance reporting.  I just loved my job.  It was in the year of 2004 that my husband told me I had to leave my job as I wasn't getting home early enough to cook his dinner and he wanted me to get a job closer.  I was, at the time, working in Battersea and it was taking me 2 hours to travel to work and 2 hours home, plus I was on call 24/7 .  I managed to get a job locally with a large drop in salary.  I lost my company car, phone & laptop and many thousands is income just to be able to cook him a meal at 7am. I didn't like my new job, it was owned by a man who had built it up from nothing and wouldn't let anyone do their job he wanted control & the last say.  I think I was not really needed and I fought everyday just to keep my head above water and on top of things.  Well In October 2004, just 2 months after starting my new job, my husband attacked me put my head through the banisters of the stairs dragged me through to the living room smashed my head on the coffee table and then proceeded to strangle me.  If my son hadn't jumped on his back I would not her here now.

My Son

My daughter

I spent several weeks with concussion and in bed unable to lift my head off the pillow. I then had to go through a terribly harrowing court case which put my husband in jail and then the divorce which took months and thousands and which he fought all the way ended in court.  I then contracted a really bad case of pneumonia which lasted 2 months and I lost my job.  Can't blame them really as I had been unwell, stressed and unable to function almost all the time I had been there.  This lead me to be without a job no money due to the divorce and a bad case of depression. I then picked myself up and got a job in the Drs surgery cleaning.    They were lovely people and it was a job where I could recover from my stress, head in injury and have a good laugh.  It was at this point a man walked into my life and totally took over.  He pretended to be very religious and God fearing and understanding to my past.  He knew all about what had happened and on his first knock at the door wanted to know if the speed boat outside my house was for sale as he said he did things up and sold them.  Well I wasn't even thinking he could be interested in me but he kept popping around nearly every day.  One time he knocked on my door saying he had had a bad day and wanted to do something nice for me.  Well there he was standing there with a tumble drying in front of him,  he came in and fitted it.  All my friends said he likes me, but I just dismissed the idea as I didn't think I was desirable.  Anyway after he had taken the speed boat, making the arrangement to paint my bathroom for me in return, he then asked me if he could look around in the garage.  I had never met anyone so lovely he couldn't do enough and was going over and above the call of duty for me and my family.  He was a painter and decorator and was originally from Australia.  He said he had married an English girl was had treated him so badly and broke his heart.  He knew (somehow) that I had old british bikes and lots of tools in the garage, it was in fact packed out.

The Australian

he made short work of clearing out the garage with all my ex husbands things, who was in prison at the time, he left a few bits but made sure he got most of it.  In return he said he would paint my house.  He did do some of the work but he never really finished off anything.  By this time he had wormed his way into my parents lives, taking my mum to hospital appointments, when I was unable to.  Taking my dad to town and generally being there for everything.  He told me that anything I wanted to do I had to ask him first and he will sort it or deal with it for me I didn't need think anymore.  Well at the time I was totally in his spell as I was still recovering and have fainting attacks, all due to stress so I found out later, and was told not to drive until they had found out what was causing them.  I was given some strong pills from the Dr for the headaches I was getting,  I didn't realise but I had a reaction them them.  They made me disorientated and dizzy unable to think straight.  He took me to hospital saying I had taken an overdose and he was unable to look after me and that they should keep me in.  They did and found nothing wrong with me as when the pills wore off I was ok. He took all my pills away and told the children I was a drug addict and I had to ask him if I wanted a headache pill as I couldn't be trusted and may take another overdose!! Telling my parents a story and worrying them everyone thought I was on drugs which I wasn't.  He was then taking about maybe we should split my house into two and he could give me half the value of my house move in downstairs move me and my children upstairs and I would have enough money to live on.  I agreed (like an idiot) and put his name on my house for £1 and waited for the money for half the value of the house. It never came.  All his friends wondered why I was still in debt as he had told them all that he had given me half the value and saved a poor single mother and was trying to help me out as much as possible.  He had told me that he would build a couple of rooms in the loft for us but never did so my son had a pull out bed in the kitchen and my bedroom was the living room as well we were totally cramped and broke.  He had us all totally under his control, spell and we were unaware of his ideas and terrible plan.  My mother, thinking he was in love with me and we were going to be together one day, suggested that we all sell our houses and buy a big house in the South of England so in their old age we would be there for them.  As soon as he heard about this he had found a place in France which had two run ways, he was a pilot.  He persuaded my parents that it would be a great idea he would do all the work making a holiday business for us all and we put the money in.  He then remortgaged my house and with the  money he bought a plane, a lorry, quad bikes paid off his debts (which I didnt know he had) his credit cards and loans.  He used £70,000 in a space of a few months.  He then transferred £24,000 to his personal account and when questioned shouted at me that I was mental and didnt know what I was doing and if I cant get sorted he will leave us all.  At the time he had made me feel like I was mental and going mad and on drugs and everything else he could put into my head.  

The lorry

the plane bought with my house money

Cutting a very long story short he had a scary temper used to frighten the kids with talk about the devil coming to get them and if he didn't get his own way would thrash out.  Over the  next few years he spent every penny of mine, my fathers, the childrens.  To the extent that he persuaded my father to buy him a 4 seater plane for client joy flights, my father took out a loan, telling the bank as he ordered him to, that it was for home decorations.  He told my father he would pay the monthly repayments of £297 but paid only one month the rest was paid for by my father and being an honest man was frightened to make a fuss and so ended up paying £18,000 over 4 years out of his pension.  He bought a Chrysler voyager and persuaded my dad to part exchange his new car he had just bought for it and asked dad for a cheque for £3500 for the balance.  He then took my credit card and signed my name for the balance and banked the cheque into his account.  These are just a few account of many that he did over the 3 years he was in our lives.  In September 2009 he left saying he was going to the UK for 3 days work would come back and would send any month he makes back.  He left my parents with no running water as he had cut off their water before he left as there was a leak but didn't fix it.  He had changed all their plugs to UK plugs so when my mother was dying she couldn't have her oxygen plugged in.  We had no heating as all his pipe work had broken.  He had left us with massive bills one for 3 months electric was for 1700 euro.

Mum and dad - last picture before mum came home to be with her family before she died

He told us he was living in the back of his van in the UK, the van which was paid for by the sale of my house.  He told us he had no work he had no money.  We found out from the police that he was living in a flat had remarried and I also found out he owed the tax man around £6000 for that year.  Something you don't get to owe if you have no work.  

A lesson learnt and I hope by telling a short version of my story that it might help other people who might be in a very dark place and have a 'Knight in shining Armour' come into their lives and see too good to be true, well they probably are. Much of what he told us was untrue and even his ex wife contacted me afterwards saying she knew he would do this to us but knew she couldn't warn us as he was so good at talking his way into and out of a paper bag he would twist it around and we wouldn't believe her. 

Since his departure I have started up my own business, caring for animals and houses and portrait drawing.  I lost my mother in July 2010 she died living in one room no heating or running water no money or home comforts but she had her family around her.  I have fought to keep our heads above water and kept optimistic and moving forward.  

Just remember there are impostors out there people pretending to be religious, kind and caring but they are just a shell there is nothing inside no conscience and they are out for all they can get.  People who pray on unfortunate people who are in a bad place they don't care who they hurt, they have the gift of the gab and we feel that we were put under his spell unable to see outside the bubble.  After he left and the shock of what had happened to us over the last three years sunk in we suddenly felt set free and not under control.  

His name is David Hitchcock and he might knock on your door one day please don't fall for his charm.

If anyone feels they are going through the same thing or in a dark place please contact me sometimes its good to talk to someone who understands.

John Lennon

I remember that morning lying in bed in the dark with a little light on radio one playing while I forced myself to wake up.  I used to turn my radio on and put my make up on before I got up as it gave me an extra 10 minutes in bed.   This particular morning I remember hearing the announcement that John Lennon has been shot dead in New York, a place I could only dream of visiting then.  I had family there but had never visited.  I remember feeling so shocked, mascara brush frozen in mid stroke while the terrible news filtered into my brain.  The radio then played several of his songs, one being imagine my ultimate favourite.  This day is as clear now as it was then and one I will never forget.

Jeff Johnson

Well here is a drawing I did a while ago of the very handsome Jeff Johnson.  He works tirelessly in the US and on a Sunday night hosts a very interesting topical radio show called the intersection.  You can view a live stream of it, phone in and have you say, tweet, facebook and generally get involved.  To listen in and get involved just click the link BLIS.FM/TheIntersection  or catch up with all the things he is doing on twitter @JeffsNation

My first female life drawing

Well I got my first female model - I can't say I was inundated with people wanting their body set in pencil! I'm not totally happy with it but as a first its not too bad but I will be hoping to do more so if anyone is interested please do email me your picture.

My first Life Drawing

This is my first life drawing.  Made a change from drawing portraits to be able to do the whole body.  I am now looking for a lady model to draw.  If any ladies fancy having a drawing of themselves please contact me.

To Judge me or judge me not

Well the last two weeks have been interesting to say the least.  I have had a mad cat lady telling me that concrete is cruel for cats feet and a pretend 'Greek God' telling me when I should get up in the morning and what I should be doing!!  It's coming to something when someone has the cheek to come around your house without an invitation and then vent their 'bad day' on you by screaming in your face about what they think you are doing incorrectly in your life.  I wouldn't mind but I never asked for advice and if I wanted to take to my bed and never get up until the day I died then that would be my business, so one would think! This so called 'Macho Greek God' went on to tell me I spent too much on cakes shouldn't let my kids do horse riding and should  be up before the sun.  I came to the conclusion that he was having a bad day, probably had a row with his wife and had to find someone to offload on to.  Being a marshmallow I didn't say anything back and just let him rant.  I know that was probably not the right thing to do but being a hater of confrontation I occasionally and rather pathetically tried to defend myself with little luck.

Then I had this lady come around telling me she couldn't sleep and was crying the whole time thinking of my cats being cold and no comfort and if I can't take care of them I should give them away.  Let me first tell you that I have many rescued cats whom no one wanted.  A deaf cat, three legged cat, one that pees all the time, one that poos in every corner just to name a few.  Well these cats are outside cats I have a massive room for them that they live in in the winter and in the summer, which is very hot here, they live outside. All are fed and watered and loved. Having tried everything with them this is the best scenario and works well all around.  My deaf cat has to be put on a long lead as he has no direction or balance and would get run over or lost.  Anyway at night they get fed and go into the large concrete rabbit pens to sleep and come out in the morning.    Well to appease this lady we have had to swing into winter mode and put them back into the large insulated room in the shed, much to their disapproval, as in her words 'its far too cold outside for them now' .  Most of the cats I have were wild living in the cold and rough with no on demand food and some would have been put down by now.

Like I said the last two weeks have been interesting and as they say it takes all sorts to make a world.  I think I met most of them without asking! I never judge others or interfere in others lives but obviously not everyone feels the same.  So I now have the words above pinned to my front door with a sign saying 'sorry we are closed' !!!!!  

Music Producer David Breed

Well today was far too hot to be outside so I decided to get on with my to do list of portraits.  This is my latest, the young, very talented music producer David Breed.  If working hard gets you to the top  this young man will be there waving his flag of success very soon.  He works 24/7 helping people, passionate about music, to produce their songs, giving everyone a chance. Here is the link to his production company, take a look when you have a free moment.  http://www.davidbreed.com/

Two dwellings or not two dwellings

Well today we had a little man come round to the farm to see if our house was two dwellings or just one. Someone had put a claim in that we had carried out work last year and changed out maison into two houses.  This being completely wrong and no work had been carried out what so ever we spoke to the Mairie and the l'impot but we still got letters saying that they understand we are two dwellings and that we didnt get permission to do the work and also the Number 1 and Number 2 for our respective dwellings!!! Well the official man drew up battling around 15 chickens 3 dogs 14 cats and my father he diligently went around every room measuring with his little red light and stepped over cat boxes dog beds furniture and people he made a plan of the house and outbuildings.  He then decided that we were just one dwelling and did not understand why anyone would think we were two!! This point we had made many times to various people with no luck.  He then told us that the square metres of the house was actually less than originally documented so we are in line for a small rebate and reduction in future Taxe Fonciere!! Whoooooppppiiiiieeeeee is all I can think of saying!

Pencil Portraits

Well I expect you all know that I do pencil drawings.  Well if you get a chance take a look at my Facebook page.  There is a selection of some of my drawings on there and details about how to commission a drawing for yourself.  I am, believe it or not, taking orders for Christmas already!

Here is my latest drawing a friend of mine Stephen.

http://www.facebook.com/RosiesPencilPortraits

Holly and her favourite horse

This is my daughter Holly with her favourite horse - a Friesian Horse called Ilona - she is a large horse and Holly loves nothing better than to take her out on a sunny day for a hack.

President Barack Obama

Hi everyone, well I've been busy this week and found time to draw a few famous people, this being someone everyone knows (I Think!).  I Thought it was an appropriate subject being that the election is coming up very soon and everyone is talking about Barack Obama and he is flooding the social networks with his promises.  I think I know more about the American election than I did the French one which took place this year! I decided he looked a bit lonely on the page and thought the American Flag would finish the drawing off. I might just send this one to the White House hahahaha .

Lord Sugar

Here is my take on the infamous Lord Sugar.  Some love him some hate him but it has to be said he has made a great career from nothing and is doing very well thank you! He has a wicked sense of humour and entertains many on Twitter on a daily basis. Anyway this is my drawing of him I may just send the original to him I doubt I will ever find out if he likes it, I hope you all do :)

My beautiful Friend Kirsty & her baby

This is my drawing of my lovely friend Kirsty and her wonderful baby.  I have had a little break from drawing lately but have to get back at it again.  My website will be up and running soon and things will be all go go go.  At the moment it is too hot to do anything you step outside to an oven where your feet burn your body roasts and your hair smolders.  Still cant complain going swimming today and another salad as I am on a diet!!

Wind Turbines on the farm

Today was a beautiful day and we took the dogs for a walk on out farm.  We live with wind turbines right on the border to our farm and getting up really close to them you realise the immense size.  They are surprisingly quiet and really quite an awesome sight.  If you look carefully you can see the moon in the background against the striking blue sky.

Bob Marley

This is my rendition of the late great Bob Marley.  I woke up this morning with an artistic breeze rushing through me and knew I had to do a drawing today!  This is the result.  Another one for my soon to be website.

Father and Child

Well this is my second commissioned picture - Its a daddy and his new born baby.  Another hard one to draw and you have to capture the bond between them and the unconditional love.

Sisters

Well here is my first commissioned drawing. I took longer doing this as it was special.  Drawing a new baby with her sister and being able to capture the love and emotion in the picture was something I had to spend some time on.