Ste Désiré
Another public holiday here in France, and there's to be another next Monday too.
Jon has finally managed to get some of the rubbish burned from the tree cutting and scrub clearing sessions he has been busy at. Meanwhile I was being very boring and doing the housework.
We have crossed a few items off this weeks' list but with the holiday today all public offices were closed - usually French people will 'bridge' by taking tomorrow off as well, so everywhere will be understaffed. It makes a nice long weekend for people over here but frustrating if you want to get anything done.
We've been watching the BBC Young Musician of the Year this week. Whatever happened to that? The format this year is appalling. We don't want to know how these kids have got to know each other and whether or not they are chatting on Facebook or MySpace - we want to know wether they can play their instruments and how well. Apparently we can see their full performances for the semi-finals on the internet - but setting up a decent sound quality isn't easy.
It's enough to make me want to write to Points of View.
Why, oh, why BBC?
Thursday, 8 May 2008
Wednesday, 7 May 2008
Slugs and snails and puppy dog tails
Ste Gisèle
The wildlife count has gone up recently and today has been especially busy.
It started when Jon got up this morning to make some tea and found a lizard in the living room. He went to pick it up and as I was saying 'It's tail will come off!' it ran under the cupboard and hasn't been seen since. We don't know how it got in, except that my theory is that it came in through the roof and ended up in the living room - bearing in mind the fact that the loft roof isn't insulated and is open to all sorts of creatures climbing under the tiles at the moment.
The house fly and bluebottle population is high at the moment. Luckily our new fly screens, fitted last September and never really put to the test, are keeping most of them out. Those that we do find indoors we also suspect of getting in through the roof. It's a good job those bees are still in the chimney and don't find their way down through the roof too.
When I pulled back the pool cover this morning I found the largest frog I've seen around these parts on the margelles. It hid its face from me in the manner of 'I can't see you, therefore you can't see me' and crawled into the grass. I called Jon over to see him, keeping a close eye on The Little Bar Steward who was mouse hunting close by and he put him safely into longer undergrowth.
Speaking of the Little Bar Steward, we were very upset the other day when he brought home a red squirrel in his jaws. Whether he found it or caught it I wouldn't like to say but I suspect the latter. He was suitably scolded and deprived of his prey which we disposed of in a neighbour's field (Sorry!).
Finally, Martin from the pool company discovered our well the other day and went down the little steps to investigate. He tells us that the water must be just perfect down there as there are several salamanders living there.
Hmmmm.
The wildlife count has gone up recently and today has been especially busy.
It started when Jon got up this morning to make some tea and found a lizard in the living room. He went to pick it up and as I was saying 'It's tail will come off!' it ran under the cupboard and hasn't been seen since. We don't know how it got in, except that my theory is that it came in through the roof and ended up in the living room - bearing in mind the fact that the loft roof isn't insulated and is open to all sorts of creatures climbing under the tiles at the moment.
The house fly and bluebottle population is high at the moment. Luckily our new fly screens, fitted last September and never really put to the test, are keeping most of them out. Those that we do find indoors we also suspect of getting in through the roof. It's a good job those bees are still in the chimney and don't find their way down through the roof too.
When I pulled back the pool cover this morning I found the largest frog I've seen around these parts on the margelles. It hid its face from me in the manner of 'I can't see you, therefore you can't see me' and crawled into the grass. I called Jon over to see him, keeping a close eye on The Little Bar Steward who was mouse hunting close by and he put him safely into longer undergrowth.
Speaking of the Little Bar Steward, we were very upset the other day when he brought home a red squirrel in his jaws. Whether he found it or caught it I wouldn't like to say but I suspect the latter. He was suitably scolded and deprived of his prey which we disposed of in a neighbour's field (Sorry!).
Finally, Martin from the pool company discovered our well the other day and went down the little steps to investigate. He tells us that the water must be just perfect down there as there are several salamanders living there.
Hmmmm.
Tuesday, 6 May 2008
Setting targets
Ste Prudence
Setting targets. Lord, that sounds far too much like being back at work but we need to get certain things organised before our round of visitors begins. We are really looking forward to having No 1 daughter and grand-daughter over for a week, followed by my mother, followed by friends, more friends, and so on. But things need doing first so:
- Lay the garden paths
Sublist - order the castines (limestone chippings) then dread the delivery of 15 tonnes of the stuff which will have to be shifted by wheelbarrow! - Dig and plant the potager - veggie garden
Sublist - buy compost, dig, dig again and keep digging until the soil resembles soil and not mud clumps.
Then - plant courgettes which are already looking too big for their pots, peppers, beans and scatter them with marigolds to keep away the bugs - Get tax forms and fill in - must be returned by the end of May
Sublist - find out how to claim back the credit for having new windows fitted last year. - Get French driving licence forms completed and down to the prefecture - it's about time you got legal!
- Go to vets for new supply of Frontine for the cats – nasty ticks around again
- Do the filing, it’s taking over the house!
- Check the pool daily for chlorine and pH levels. Clean it too.
- Make fly screen door for the pool house.
- Re-make steps for the pool house, the pool guys gave them a hard time when they were here.
- Make curtains for the pool house – it faces east and our guests (or ourselves) won’t want to be woken that early. Hang on, I’m already woken at dawn every day by the Little Bar Steward knocking on the door to be let out. Maybe I should move into the pool house permanently and leave him indoors with the guests. Well, it’s a thought!
- Remember, you are retired so don’t get stressed. Ha!!
Monday, 5 May 2008
Trying to buy 'stuff'
St Judith
After a glorious weekend, the weather has been ghastly today so we went shopping this morning to buy the rest of the edging for the garden paths. We are inundated every Tuesday or Wednesday with leaflets from the local supermarkets and hypermarkets letting us know what their special offers are for this week. The garden and agricultural shops let us know once a month and we were pleased to see that one of them was doing a special offer on the edging we have been using.
The offer started on 1 May so Jon jumped at the opportunity and went on Friday (shops being closed on 1 May for the public holiday), to collect as many as he could find. Unfortunately they had none. Whether they had just not yet stocked up, or whether they were ignoring what was advertised in their leaflet we just don't know.
There's another branch of the same shop in Cahors so we decided to pop down there this morning to collect what they might have in stock. Unfortunately this branch has the smallest parking area and it was not only full but four cars were trying to shuffle themselves to and fro into the tiniest spaces they could find.
We gave it a miss and pottered along to the nearest DIY (with a large car park) just to see if, on the off chance they were stocking the same thing. They were, so we piled 26 rolls of log edging onto a trolley. Of course some of them fell off but we managed to retrieve them without causing ourselves too much embarassement. While we were there we checked the stock of the floorboards we want for the loft. They have almost sold out and filled the space with something else, so we guess we won't be able to get the boards there and it will mean us going further afield.
Once again we are faced with a familiar frustration - if you don't buy what you see when you first see it, it won't be available when you go back. Unfortuantely we can't buy them when we see them as 55 square metres of floor boards will not fit into one Peugeot 106. So we want to plan a date when we can hire a van to make a trip specially for them.
Now we will have to do another recce to another DIY store to see if they have what we require and then organise the van quickly and go back for them the next day.
We've decided to forget about the loft for a week or so and concentrate on the garden paths instead. Naturally, whoever is against us has forseen this and it is now pouring with rain AGAIN, the garden is once more full of mud and we can't get on with any tidying up.
AND I won't be able to swim today!!!!
After a glorious weekend, the weather has been ghastly today so we went shopping this morning to buy the rest of the edging for the garden paths. We are inundated every Tuesday or Wednesday with leaflets from the local supermarkets and hypermarkets letting us know what their special offers are for this week. The garden and agricultural shops let us know once a month and we were pleased to see that one of them was doing a special offer on the edging we have been using.
The offer started on 1 May so Jon jumped at the opportunity and went on Friday (shops being closed on 1 May for the public holiday), to collect as many as he could find. Unfortunately they had none. Whether they had just not yet stocked up, or whether they were ignoring what was advertised in their leaflet we just don't know.
There's another branch of the same shop in Cahors so we decided to pop down there this morning to collect what they might have in stock. Unfortunately this branch has the smallest parking area and it was not only full but four cars were trying to shuffle themselves to and fro into the tiniest spaces they could find.
We gave it a miss and pottered along to the nearest DIY (with a large car park) just to see if, on the off chance they were stocking the same thing. They were, so we piled 26 rolls of log edging onto a trolley. Of course some of them fell off but we managed to retrieve them without causing ourselves too much embarassement. While we were there we checked the stock of the floorboards we want for the loft. They have almost sold out and filled the space with something else, so we guess we won't be able to get the boards there and it will mean us going further afield.
Once again we are faced with a familiar frustration - if you don't buy what you see when you first see it, it won't be available when you go back. Unfortuantely we can't buy them when we see them as 55 square metres of floor boards will not fit into one Peugeot 106. So we want to plan a date when we can hire a van to make a trip specially for them.
Now we will have to do another recce to another DIY store to see if they have what we require and then organise the van quickly and go back for them the next day.
We've decided to forget about the loft for a week or so and concentrate on the garden paths instead. Naturally, whoever is against us has forseen this and it is now pouring with rain AGAIN, the garden is once more full of mud and we can't get on with any tidying up.
AND I won't be able to swim today!!!!
Sunday, 4 May 2008
Weekend
St Silvain
Sorry you didn't get a 'silent Saturday' this week we were far tooo preoccupied using the pool for the first time.
It heated up nicely on Saturday and we spent a very pleasant afternoon and evening around the pool and pool house. We were especially impressed with the pool light which makes it a beautiful colour after dark.
So we sat and admired, listening to a little smooth jazz on the CD player, sitting on the pool house veranda watching the distant lights of the metropolis that is our village (population 293).
Today we have been busy doing nothing - catching up on our rather late reading for April and getting ahead with May, cleaning the pool (an excuse for an hour in the sun in the morning) and generally pottering about (Jon actually was being pretty energetic this morning chopping more wood from the trees we've taken down but I soon put a stop to that sort of activity).
We have a very busy week ahead of us, we have to collect the forms for our first tax return, sort out our French driving licences, see the chimney people again about the fitting, and progress further on our hunt for the loft floor.
Now, where's that glass of wine?
Sorry you didn't get a 'silent Saturday' this week we were far tooo preoccupied using the pool for the first time.
It heated up nicely on Saturday and we spent a very pleasant afternoon and evening around the pool and pool house. We were especially impressed with the pool light which makes it a beautiful colour after dark.
So we sat and admired, listening to a little smooth jazz on the CD player, sitting on the pool house veranda watching the distant lights of the metropolis that is our village (population 293).
Today we have been busy doing nothing - catching up on our rather late reading for April and getting ahead with May, cleaning the pool (an excuse for an hour in the sun in the morning) and generally pottering about (Jon actually was being pretty energetic this morning chopping more wood from the trees we've taken down but I soon put a stop to that sort of activity).
We have a very busy week ahead of us, we have to collect the forms for our first tax return, sort out our French driving licences, see the chimney people again about the fitting, and progress further on our hunt for the loft floor.
Now, where's that glass of wine?
Friday, 2 May 2008
In at the deep end
St Boris
Coo, look at that. St Boris's Day - anyone living in the UK and more especially, London, will be watching the results of the Mayoral elections today with interest.
Good luck, Londoners, whatever happens.
I did complain this morning about the heater not working and the fact that we just seem to be throwing money at EDF for no heat. J-J came round to take a look, stopped the heater, started it, stopped it again, restarted and declared that he believed it was working.
At that point an extremely good looking young man came round to measure my chimney (no euphamism intended). He noticed the bees in the chimney, which I had 'accidentally' forgotten about, and said that they will clean the chimney when they come to fit the log burner. They will also cap the chimney for us and he looks forward to seeing me again soon. Me too. (Jon was out this morning while I was surrounded by these nice French chaps!).
By the time I had finished having my chimney measured, J-J had left and I was under instruction to call the office at 3pm if nothing had changed. However, Andy and Chris, the company bosses called at midday to say that they would come over to look at the heater.
Jon and I stood anxiously watching and wondering if we had done something wrong (like buying the heater in the first place) but Andy, with infinite patience, adjusted the flow of water into the heater and we saw immediately that there was a difference in the heat in and the heat out, which continued to rise another degree.
We've watched all afternoon and it has gone up another 2 degrees.
Woo hoo! We might get that swim by the end of the weekend.
While I was cleaning again (still not managed to get all the sand out), Jon decided to clamber in the pool and have a rub at the walls - he declined to immerse himself completely but was up to his waist in rather chilly water.
Sorry. No photo!
Coo, look at that. St Boris's Day - anyone living in the UK and more especially, London, will be watching the results of the Mayoral elections today with interest.
Good luck, Londoners, whatever happens.
I did complain this morning about the heater not working and the fact that we just seem to be throwing money at EDF for no heat. J-J came round to take a look, stopped the heater, started it, stopped it again, restarted and declared that he believed it was working.
At that point an extremely good looking young man came round to measure my chimney (no euphamism intended). He noticed the bees in the chimney, which I had 'accidentally' forgotten about, and said that they will clean the chimney when they come to fit the log burner. They will also cap the chimney for us and he looks forward to seeing me again soon. Me too. (Jon was out this morning while I was surrounded by these nice French chaps!).
By the time I had finished having my chimney measured, J-J had left and I was under instruction to call the office at 3pm if nothing had changed. However, Andy and Chris, the company bosses called at midday to say that they would come over to look at the heater.
Jon and I stood anxiously watching and wondering if we had done something wrong (like buying the heater in the first place) but Andy, with infinite patience, adjusted the flow of water into the heater and we saw immediately that there was a difference in the heat in and the heat out, which continued to rise another degree.
We've watched all afternoon and it has gone up another 2 degrees.
Woo hoo! We might get that swim by the end of the weekend.
While I was cleaning again (still not managed to get all the sand out), Jon decided to clamber in the pool and have a rub at the walls - he declined to immerse himself completely but was up to his waist in rather chilly water.
Sorry. No photo!
Thursday, 1 May 2008
Clearing, tidying and sorting
St Jean-Lou
It's a public holiday here in France - workers unite.
Not here. We've been busy trying to sort the garden. We thought we'd get a head start before the rain - well, it is a holiday. Unfortunately for us, it didn't rain, so we've had a busy day.
Jon has been busy laying the edging for the parking area and starting work on the garden paths. I began digging my potager as my courgettes are far to big for their pots and I have to get them in the ground as soon as possible. I've dug in some manure, compost and the clods of mud are such hard work I dread that they will ever become proper garden soil. We're going to try anyway.
I had another go at cleaning the pool - another pleasant hour in the sun pretending to be busy - I like this sort of work. I didn't feel I could eke it out much longer than an hour though. There is still a lot of muck and sand to come out but every time I clean it stirs up and I have to leave it another 24 hours to settle ready for the next clean (it's a long brush on a hose that plugs into the filter and sucks up the muck, Lizzie).
We aren't convinced the heater is working. The temperature has only gone up by 2 degrees in 30 hours of heating so I'll be complaining on the phone again tomorrow morning. One day, maybe, we'll be running properly!
It's a public holiday here in France - workers unite.
Not here. We've been busy trying to sort the garden. We thought we'd get a head start before the rain - well, it is a holiday. Unfortunately for us, it didn't rain, so we've had a busy day.
Jon has been busy laying the edging for the parking area and starting work on the garden paths. I began digging my potager as my courgettes are far to big for their pots and I have to get them in the ground as soon as possible. I've dug in some manure, compost and the clods of mud are such hard work I dread that they will ever become proper garden soil. We're going to try anyway.
I had another go at cleaning the pool - another pleasant hour in the sun pretending to be busy - I like this sort of work. I didn't feel I could eke it out much longer than an hour though. There is still a lot of muck and sand to come out but every time I clean it stirs up and I have to leave it another 24 hours to settle ready for the next clean (it's a long brush on a hose that plugs into the filter and sucks up the muck, Lizzie).
We aren't convinced the heater is working. The temperature has only gone up by 2 degrees in 30 hours of heating so I'll be complaining on the phone again tomorrow morning. One day, maybe, we'll be running properly!
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