This morning, organic bread, local cheese, eggs and a fresh chicken from the farmers market... Today after finally getting planning permission to put veluxes in the attic of our French house.. We are clearing out the attic.. Exhausting work in this heat and finding all sorts of things that have been here since and we bought the house in 2002..lots of head scratching by mme.. And not just because of all the dust.. We are masked up in our own house.. Then tomorrow we combine the dentist with the tip and the recycling centre...
For those who might have wished to say something and couldn't, it looks as though the server went down about 5.30 pm and has only just come back on stream again.
Morning all. I just returned from my evening watering session last night when it started to rain. Nothing heavy, and it only lasted an hour, but it was enough to make the road damp. I discovered that one of my water butts was leaking around the tap, so I had to transfer the 100 litres or so that were in there into an empty butt. Next job is to lay the butt down and crawl inside to carry out leak management control. Still much cooler today which is a relief, but the forecast hasn't changed much from predicting thunderstorms. I really would like a 24 hour period of steady non-stop rain, but that doesn't look likely. Have a good day whatever you might be doing.
Wetter here.. Just a few kilometres east and up hill from Frenchie.. Just had a successful root canal filling.. So should be pain free now.. But will any uk dentist fit me a crown.. Who knows with the current restrictions... Combined the trip with the déchetterie and the notaire. Or so we thought.. Déchetterie (the recycling centre) is closed Thursday and the notaire ( state solicitors) will only make phone appointments.. We had to laugh at the set up in France.. Where of course we should have expected nothing to go smoothly.. Meanwhile the lady from the bread van left our pastries on our doorstep..pay next time... Time for coffee.. Have a good one..
Morning all. Grey and damp which suits me perfectly. A few very heavy downpours yesterday, but they didn't last very long so I guess that the waterbutts will still have plenty of empty space in them. Waiting for La Poste to turn up with my package which is "out for delivery", then a trip into town for the shops and see where the bargains are in the cave. Many wine producers have been left with too many bottles because of the virus, so there is an effort to move some before the next grape harvest. Doubt that I will enjoy my everyday plonk when the offers stop. Have a good day whatever you must do.
Good morning.. All quiet on the wasp front... Ready to receive visitors! Edit: spoke too soon.. Wasps still exiting the nest
Morning all. Bright blue sky and a comfortable temperature at the moment although it is expected to get warm as the day goes on. Another public holiday today, and under normal circumstances it would have been our fete day. So no large petanque competition, no dodgems, no aging rockstar and no massive fireworks display. Even in the years when there was a worry over the fireworks setting fire to the drought stricken countryside it went ahead after water was pumped onto the fields and sprayed onto the hedgerows. This year of course is different because the enemy cannot be seen, and it just would not have been possible to have distanced 7-8,000 people in a confined space. Never mind, there is always next year. Have a good day whatever you might not be doing.
Had our neighbours francais round for a repas and lots of vin.... They have given us a proven mixture for our traps and some expansion filler to put in the entrance of the nest.. Will try again tonight
Good morning.. Filled the hole up with expansion foam last night... This morning looking a real mess... Will have to do reparations with our neighbour methinks.. Not dared look for wasps yet!
Morning all. A day of sunshine and showers they say and looking at the half blue and half black sky I would think it quite likely. Mme tells me there was a storm overnight with thunder and heavy rain, but it didn't wake me. Just seen Victor the vole making a dash for cover in our dining room. Although we have fly screens up to stop the insects getting in a determined little creature like him can push his way in. Having doors and windows open does invite them in, but usually if you leave them alone they find their way out again. Have a good day whatever you are doing.
We had a massive overhead thunder clap last night, out of the blue, no hint of it coming, electricity went out in the village.. And then we were treated to an hour long thunderstorm. I had just stepped off the terrace in the dark while pointing my torch at the wasp nest, and have a nasty bruised back..... Had an ice pack on it all night... So all in all not a good night here.. Enjoy!
After the Sun's latest offensive headline - labelling the Stonehaven train derailment last week 'Death Express' - there are moves afoot in Stonehaven and Aberdeen to follow Liverpool's lead and have the paper banned. Hopefully, it will spread further afield...
Morning all. Quite breezy out there this morning, so the sky is constantly changing from clear to overcast. Showers were predicted to fall on us yesterday, but they never arrived, so with a comfortable temperature I made some real progress on trying to get the veggie plot back into something like order. After the overnight rain I had collected about 10 cm of water in an empty butt, however although the soil looked damp it was still bone dry just below the surface. My first row of haricot vert produced almost nothing despite having a mass of flower, while the second row put in a couple of weeks later is producing a huge crop. My efforts yesterday were watched by an almost black red squirrel. They really do vary in colour between bright sandy red and very dull ones. We have one who makes regular visits to the garden and plants walnuts into Mme's containers. See a human however and they are off. Have a good day whatever the weather.
Morning all. Sunshine and showers again forecast for today, and once more the sky is constantly changing. The Parisians have closed up their house again and left for the city, but an English couple who jointly own one of the other houses in the village have returned, so the population numbers are stable. Looking at some population numbers in the rural areas I have noticed a small increase in many of the communes, but they are still very small compared to pre-WWI. With the mechanisation of so much of agriculture there is not the work for the labourers or people such as the blacksmith who were associated with the industry. Where there is still labour required in numbers during various seasonal picking, like the UK it is provided by travelling workers who follow the weather, although many things are now grown in controlled conditions inside polytunnels. There do however seem to be quite a lot of market gardens that are producing organically grown foods, and a shop has just opened in town that only sells food from such sources. I will watch to see how well it survives. Have a good day whatever you are doing.
Good morning all.. Sunny start here.. And looking forward to lunch with a fellow Hornet today.. Just hoping his satnav is set for the right village.. There are three in this region with our name!
Morning all. The man from the Météo tells me that it will be a day of sunshine and showers, but that the temperature will start to rise again. Yesterday there were only short flurries of rain, but enough to water the plants for me. I think that some of my neighbours must arrive at the supermarkets in town just as the doors open about 8.00 am, as shortly after 9.00 am they are back unloading the boots of their shopping. Our normal tactic is go at midday when most of the locals are "at table" as they say in these parts, so it can be quite quiet. We are thought to be strange having our main meal in the evening, but trying to do much work on a full stomach is not the best way to get things done. Have a good day whatever you will be doing.
Morning all.. Lovely meal with fellow Hornet yesterday. Not looking forward to the next few days of players leaving rumours..... Have a good day
Morning all. Bright and breezy in this part of rural France, but the forecast says 33°C feeling higher this afternoon. Back into the working clothes today after a splendid day off yesterday, and I was struck with the fact that they really do smell a bit of horse manure. I have several pairs of jeans that have patches on top of the patches that I use for work trousers, but apart from those running repairs they are still perfectly good. I really cannot understand why people would want to pay €100 and more to buy a pair that already have tears and slits in the legs before they leave the shop. Right, better go and see what watering is required. Have a good day whatever you are planning.
