Ste Reine
Yesterday's weather: Sunny, cool
September 7th, 1974. It was a day with mixed weather, a bit of rain in the morning, sunny and windy in the afternoon. The family home was buzzing with activity, family arriving with parcels, coming and going. It was our wedding day.
Here we are, 33 years later. It'll never last!! ;)
- - - - - - -
Jon spent nearly all of yesterday putting up the roof on the chalet. I didn't count how many slats there were in the end, but I believe he used up a small steel works in nails. There is just the roof covering to put on ('Just!' I can hear him echoing!) and the veranda piece to attach. It will make a great little pool house next year when the pool is built, and will be used as a spare guest room from time to time. It's such a shame that the company let us down with such a slow delivery, then losing the floor and only delivering that two and a half weeks later than the six weeks late for the main parts. If they had been on time, it would have had good use this summer too.
We're taking a day off today to let Jon's aches and pains heal, and to celebrate our anniversary.
Figgy (I am refusing to call him 'the kitten' any more because he is a year old now and must be old enough to know better), had me up at 6 again this morning. If anyone knows a cure for cats scratching on doors and waking the household I will be pleased to hear it. At the moment he is getting water sprayed at him when he does it and I refuse to let him out until I want him to go. He hates it when I spray water at him but it doesn't stop him from scratching the door.
Anyway, what I was going to say is that when I woke up I could see a bright light outside. I've just looked it up and discovered that it is Venus, which is apparently visible low in the east between 5 and 6am early this month. If you have a clear sky and a good view it is stunning. Apparently there are more meteor showers due on Sunday, so we will hope for a clear sky and a good viewing.
Friday, 7 September 2007
Thursday, 6 September 2007
Sad news
St Bertrand
Yesterday's weather: Sunny, coolish. Perfect for chalet building
We woke up this morning to the sad news of Pavarotti's death from pancreatic cancer. Although he was already a huge (in more ways than one) success on the operatic circuit, he should be credited with popularising classical music amongst a new generation and a new audience of soccer lovers because of his getting together with Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras to sing at the World Cup Finals in 1990 in Italy. Although my personal favourite is Domingo, Pav's rendition of 'E lucevan le stelle' from Tosca always had me reaching for my Kleenex. I'm sure there will be many tributes and concerts in his memory over the coming days.
The chalet is coming along nicely. We have put in place the floor, walls and roof beams. Today we will be putting the roof on and covering it, and putting up the veranda. Must push on, there's a hammer with my name on it somewhere in the garden!
Yesterday's weather: Sunny, coolish. Perfect for chalet building
We woke up this morning to the sad news of Pavarotti's death from pancreatic cancer. Although he was already a huge (in more ways than one) success on the operatic circuit, he should be credited with popularising classical music amongst a new generation and a new audience of soccer lovers because of his getting together with Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras to sing at the World Cup Finals in 1990 in Italy. Although my personal favourite is Domingo, Pav's rendition of 'E lucevan le stelle' from Tosca always had me reaching for my Kleenex. I'm sure there will be many tributes and concerts in his memory over the coming days.
The chalet is coming along nicely. We have put in place the floor, walls and roof beams. Today we will be putting the roof on and covering it, and putting up the veranda. Must push on, there's a hammer with my name on it somewhere in the garden!
Wednesday, 5 September 2007
Back to normal?
Ste Raïssa
Yesterday's weather: Warm, sunny, cool breeze
Yesterday's weather: Warm, sunny, cool breeze
Happy Birthday to Jack. 6 years old today. Lots of love to you xxxxx
Crikey! I'll need to keep an eye on the garden if this keeps up. It's only 2 degrees above freezing this morning. The figs on the tree outside our kitchen window look rather shocked, but it is warming up quickly now that the sun has popped his head over the hillside, so I hope they will soon recover and continue ripening.
The best news is that, finally, the chalet floor arrived yesterday afternoon only six weeks late. Unfortunately it didn't arrive in time for us to erect the chalet for our visitors to sleep in as planned. However, it will be ready for next summer. Actually we hope it will be all erected before this weekend as we plan to get going on it today. We need to get all the wood off the grass before it gets damaged by water or frost(!).
It feels rather odd now that our little flurry of visitors have left. The cats are looking round to see who is sleeping where and finding no-one. I spotted Figgy wandering into the tent this morning to see if he could wake Joe up. No-one is expected now until the end of October (unless you know differently) but at least it will give us the chance to get on with some decorating. That is assuming the replacement windows turn up in the next 10 days or so - but I should really know better than to assume anything here now.
Tuesday, 4 September 2007
Is it, or isn't it?
Ste Rosalie
Yesterday's weather: Warm, mostly sunny 26 degrees
Yesterday's weather: Warm, mostly sunny 26 degrees
We had a lovely day out yesterday, showing off the local beauty spots to my brother and his family. The weather has been very kind and even last night was mild.
Our young nephew has been enjoying our cats and spotting the local wildlife, particularly lizards. Whilst his parents and Jon were browsing a shop yesterday I sat outside with Joe as he had an ice cream. Suddenly a lizard fell from nowhere and landed a couple of feet from us. Joe was very concerned as we watched it for signs of life. Joe was convinced it was dead but wanted to check, he gently rolled a small pebble towards the lizard. Not a sign of movement. He moved closer, still nothing. 'It's dead.' he said, looking more worried. After all, we hadn't known where it had fallen from, there were no plants around and the nearest wall was several feet away.
Joe gently moved towards the lizard with a small stick in the hand that wasn't clutching his ice cream (caramel flavoured, in case you are interested). 'It's definitely dead, Aunty Sue' he claimed, bending down to take a closer look. Suddenly the lizard had had enough, leapt to life and disappeared through a gateway. Joe was so surprised he almost dropped the rest of his ice cream. It was a close shave.
Oh, Joe.
Monday, 3 September 2007
Season of mists...
St Grégoire
Yesterday's weather: Lovely, sunny, warm
In previous years we would have just finished our holiday and returned to the UK ready to go back to work. We would have the feeling that summer was over and it is time to think about Christmas shopping and turning on the central heating. Sometimes we were lucky and the warm weather returned to give us a lovely long Indian summer, but that was fairly rare.
With the arrival of September this year we had the same sort of feeling (without the going back to work bit). The majority of tourists have gone home. The supermarket is noticably quieter and we can drive into the local town without getting caught up in traffic queueing at the one roundabout. The baker has shut for three weeks holiday and the butcher has bread for sale so that we don't have to go too far to collect it. The children are buying their last pencils and notebooks ready for the new term, people are returning to work after their long summer break.
This morning there is a mist in the valley and a chill in the air but we are promised a sunny week (at last) and that is a huge bonus. There are blackberries in the hedgrows, walnuts ripening on the trees and soon the cats will find it uncomfortable to walk under the horse chestnut tree because of the conker casings.
Not much different from living in the UK really. Oh, except that we don't have to sit in a six mile queue of traffic to get to work, we can profit from the free food in the hedgerows and wild mushrooms in the woods, and our supermarkets are much quieter than Guildford Tesco or Sainsburys. Do we miss it? Nah!
Yesterday's weather: Lovely, sunny, warm
In previous years we would have just finished our holiday and returned to the UK ready to go back to work. We would have the feeling that summer was over and it is time to think about Christmas shopping and turning on the central heating. Sometimes we were lucky and the warm weather returned to give us a lovely long Indian summer, but that was fairly rare.
With the arrival of September this year we had the same sort of feeling (without the going back to work bit). The majority of tourists have gone home. The supermarket is noticably quieter and we can drive into the local town without getting caught up in traffic queueing at the one roundabout. The baker has shut for three weeks holiday and the butcher has bread for sale so that we don't have to go too far to collect it. The children are buying their last pencils and notebooks ready for the new term, people are returning to work after their long summer break.
This morning there is a mist in the valley and a chill in the air but we are promised a sunny week (at last) and that is a huge bonus. There are blackberries in the hedgrows, walnuts ripening on the trees and soon the cats will find it uncomfortable to walk under the horse chestnut tree because of the conker casings.
Not much different from living in the UK really. Oh, except that we don't have to sit in a six mile queue of traffic to get to work, we can profit from the free food in the hedgerows and wild mushrooms in the woods, and our supermarkets are much quieter than Guildford Tesco or Sainsburys. Do we miss it? Nah!
Sunday, 2 September 2007
Toad Hall
Ste Ingrid
Yesterday's weather: warmish, sunny. 23 degrees.
We have a toad living with us. I haven't seen him yet but Jon keeps running into him (and over him - more of that later).
He seems to have taken up residence in the wood pile that will be the chalet just as soon as the floor arrives. Don't even get me started on Castorama and their delivery policy.....
Jon found him first and put him over safely into the wild area (code for we haven't yet cleared the bambles and nettles) out of reach of the cats. He his quite a chunky toad, nicknamed Teddy. The next morning he was back under the chalet roof parts, still lying forlornly on the lawn. Jon moved him again safely away from the cats.
The next morning Jon decided to mow (no, you don't need to look away). Later on, he found Teddy just where he had spotted him on the previous two days having already mown that area and walked over it several times. Teddy had created himself a dug out - maybe something he learned from his great great grandfather who was, no doubt in the trenches of the Somme. Jon put him kindly but firmly once more into the undergrowth.
He probably got totally fed up at this point as we haven't seen him since. Good luck, Teddy. Happy hunting for a new home.
Just a short blog today as I have to get four loaves and a quiche in the oven for lunch, plus all the salads. Beds to make up. What am I doing here at the 'puter???
Yesterday's weather: warmish, sunny. 23 degrees.
We have a toad living with us. I haven't seen him yet but Jon keeps running into him (and over him - more of that later).
He seems to have taken up residence in the wood pile that will be the chalet just as soon as the floor arrives. Don't even get me started on Castorama and their delivery policy.....
Jon found him first and put him over safely into the wild area (code for we haven't yet cleared the bambles and nettles) out of reach of the cats. He his quite a chunky toad, nicknamed Teddy. The next morning he was back under the chalet roof parts, still lying forlornly on the lawn. Jon moved him again safely away from the cats.
The next morning Jon decided to mow (no, you don't need to look away). Later on, he found Teddy just where he had spotted him on the previous two days having already mown that area and walked over it several times. Teddy had created himself a dug out - maybe something he learned from his great great grandfather who was, no doubt in the trenches of the Somme. Jon put him kindly but firmly once more into the undergrowth.
He probably got totally fed up at this point as we haven't seen him since. Good luck, Teddy. Happy hunting for a new home.
Just a short blog today as I have to get four loaves and a quiche in the oven for lunch, plus all the salads. Beds to make up. What am I doing here at the 'puter???
Saturday, 1 September 2007
Turn up the heat
St Gilles
Yesterday's weather: Sunny-ish, cool wind.
The moment we had been dreading arrived yesterday. No, it wasn't the end of BB8, although I admit I am relieved it is over and don't really think I need to go for rehab after all. Well done Brian. And well done me because I accurately predicted the exact order of the last 6 contestants (sad, sad, sad).
It was the envelope handed to me by Mr Postie yesterday lunchtime. I saw the dreaded letters on the top: E D F.
Pause for dramatic music chords ... da, da, daaaaaaaaaa. Cue screaming and pulling out hair by the roots. Cue pouring a whiskey and... no, really it was far to early in the day for alcohol even at this moment in time.
Trembling fingers lifted the corner of the seal.
OK, so I will tell you why we were dreading the electricity bill. It's because we have electric heating in the house. The heaters must have been installed circa 1962, well maybe a bit later because they all work and are pretty efficient. But we moved in on 1st February, there was snow on the ground and we were freezing for weeks in this house with three feet thick walls where the lower floor nestles into bedrock. It was a real struggle to heat the house through even with the help of a portable gas fire. We only get the meter read every six months so at least we were going to get a very accurate idea of just how much it would cost us to keep the place warm all year. The previous reading had been on 29 January, so when it was read last week we reckoned it would be an indication of half a winter.
Back to the plot. I opened the envelope and pulled out the bill from inside. I was trying to hide it from Jon so that I could break the bad news to him gently. The mid-term bill had been just 55 Euros so that had to be added on to this whopper of a bill.
It was for 260 Euros. Jon wondered why I suddenly burst into a hysterical laugh, then he joined in. We had been expecting something around 700 to 800 Euros as people had been telling us just how expensive electricity is here. Less than half price - bargain electricity!
Yesterday's weather: Sunny-ish, cool wind.
The moment we had been dreading arrived yesterday. No, it wasn't the end of BB8, although I admit I am relieved it is over and don't really think I need to go for rehab after all. Well done Brian. And well done me because I accurately predicted the exact order of the last 6 contestants (sad, sad, sad).
It was the envelope handed to me by Mr Postie yesterday lunchtime. I saw the dreaded letters on the top: E D F.
Pause for dramatic music chords ... da, da, daaaaaaaaaa. Cue screaming and pulling out hair by the roots. Cue pouring a whiskey and... no, really it was far to early in the day for alcohol even at this moment in time.
Trembling fingers lifted the corner of the seal.
OK, so I will tell you why we were dreading the electricity bill. It's because we have electric heating in the house. The heaters must have been installed circa 1962, well maybe a bit later because they all work and are pretty efficient. But we moved in on 1st February, there was snow on the ground and we were freezing for weeks in this house with three feet thick walls where the lower floor nestles into bedrock. It was a real struggle to heat the house through even with the help of a portable gas fire. We only get the meter read every six months so at least we were going to get a very accurate idea of just how much it would cost us to keep the place warm all year. The previous reading had been on 29 January, so when it was read last week we reckoned it would be an indication of half a winter.
Back to the plot. I opened the envelope and pulled out the bill from inside. I was trying to hide it from Jon so that I could break the bad news to him gently. The mid-term bill had been just 55 Euros so that had to be added on to this whopper of a bill.
It was for 260 Euros. Jon wondered why I suddenly burst into a hysterical laugh, then he joined in. We had been expecting something around 700 to 800 Euros as people had been telling us just how expensive electricity is here. Less than half price - bargain electricity!
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