Morning all. Some sunshine and some cloud, but still chilly. Dug up a sapling from one of Mme's flower pots in the garden expecting to find that the squirrel had buried a walnut in it again. Quite surprised to find that it was not a walnut, but a conker that had been placed in there. It has been potted up and will be found a nice spot to grow when it becomes a little larger. Have a good day everyone.
We did a three week tour: Tokyo, Kyoto, Koya, Takayama, Kanazawa, Nagasaki, Tokyo as our bases. Stayed in a monastery in the mountains at Koya and a ryokan at Takayama. Didn't see enough of Kyoto alas, our return will be a week in Tokyo and a week in Kyoto. We did a whole day at the Basho though, best sporting day out ever*, brilliant experience. *emotional experience of play off wins excepted.
Morning all. Quite a decent day to get outside even if it is a bit chilly still. The forecast suggests that by Wednesday it will have warmed up and be Spring like again. Our incidence of covid is still low here, so no further restrictions have been placed on us, in fact our evening curfew is now 7.00 pm rather than 6.00 pm. The large supermarkets have changed their opening hours accordingly, but that makes little difference to us as we do our shopping midday when many people are at home to have a meal, so it is very quiet. I just hope that the garden centre stays open midday. They used to shut between 12 and 2, but changed that when they had to close by six. It was a pain to find that they were shuttered when you wanted some seed compost. It will all sort itself out one day I hope. Have a good day whatever you are doing.
Morning all. Blue sky and still that chilly breeze. Not bad for gardening, however my light coat didn't come off when the first row of haricot vert were sown under cloches yesterday. A few years ago I took some garden waste down to the field and must have dropped a muscari bulb just inside the entrance. Each year since I have had an ever expanding number of flowers popping up all over the place. The bees were having a grand time going from clump to clump, a good sign that they are about when the beans come into flower. Have a good day everyone.
A rather sad sight in the newspaper. A large male wolf was killed by a train on the Poitiers - Limoges line last week not far from here. It seems that they use the tracks to cover large distances quite quickly. It is only in the last two or three years that they have been sighted in the area, but it is thought that this is a route that many are taking as they search to set up a territory. There have been regular sightings lately, while the last ones previously had not been seen in this area since 1925. The Obervatoire du loup believe that during the Spring young wolves will travel to take over an area that has been left by an adult such as this one.
Yes.. Like urban foxes.. Human traffic will be the death of many.. I do hope they manage to survive as a population.. I imagine the chasseurs will be on to them?
I'm sure I've been on that stretch of line in the dim and distant past travelling from Paris to Soulac sur Mer? A group of nuns made the ferry late and I missed my connection in Paris, meaning I had to sleep rough overnight in Royan before getting the ferry over the Gironde estuary to Soulac. Took me about three days to get over the journey which took 30hours from point to point.
I can tell you a story about that ferry. We were on it a few years ago -and it was a bit rough. The extraordinary thing though is that the sides fold down to let cars off/on. They aren't very high when 'up' and water can slosh over the car deck.. Anyway, all the passengers stay above the cars. Except... a child dropped his ball over the rail into the car deck. He simply went down to find it wandering about the car deck , with absolutely no protection from the water, the rolling boat, and no interest from the crew. Another example of the French attitude to the law 'It's entirely up to you if you want to break the law - no criticism from us. But of course if anything goes wrong it's your fault.'
Morning all. Lovely bright blue sky and the breeze has moved from the north-east round to the west meaning it is much warmer. I have noticed over the past few days that vapour trails are reappearing suggesting that some people are on the move again. No idea where they have come from, or where they are going, but I don't fancy sitting in an aircraft still. Visited two garden centres yesterday and they were both busy now that the vegetable plants are available. The second one has a man standing at the entrance spraying the trollies with sanitizer, clearly defined routes around the plants and a cashier in a plastic box. It seemed that the supermarket next door was operating a similar system, whereas my local supermarket leaves you to spray and wipe down your own chariot. Lots to do today including planting out my new strawberries. Have a good day whatever you must do.
Really envious... and especially as we have followed Mmes dream and are now in a flat.... overlooking a park etc.... but no veg patch..... the theory being we would spend a lot of the spring and summer in la France.......
As I understand the regulations that are about to come in, you can travel to see an estate agent to view a possible purchase. That is easy to set up as the house next door to me is for sale. Of course you wouldn't want to buy it and suffer me, but it could be the start of a collection of house details, and as far as I can see that would be quite legal. I am sure that with a bit of effort you could make it last a couple of weeks.
Morning all. Very light rain currently which was not forecast. I have to take Mme's car into town this morning to have its two yearly MOT. The poor guys doing it will be getting dripped on as they explore underneath it. It has only done 900 miles in two years, so you wouldn't expect that much to have changed since last time. It is over twenty years old now, but since new has only done 65,000 miles, so engine wise it is just about run in. The emission tests always come out very good as you might expect from a engine with so few miles behind it. Everything seems fine with it, but then I don't grovel underneath it. We will see. Have a good day whatever you must do.
Phew - all is well and no expense required on Mme"s car. Brought her the good news, and she said she was sure everything would be alright, although I have noticed her noting the prices of cars at the local garages.
Easter week coming up here and going to escape to the Sierra. Will, unfortunately, miss the Sheff Wed game. Have a good Easter break all.
Morning all. Looks like a decent day to be out doing things, but rain forecast for this evening for a little while. The original letter box that we set up outside the house in our early days out here was not to the liking of the post lady. (Long since retired.) We would get notices from her that it didn't comply with the regulation size, too small. Eventually we bought and installed one to her liking, but left the old one still there. Yesterday I noticed that wasps were flying in and out of the drainage holes in the earliest one, and thought to take some wasp spray to them. I was instructed to leave them alone for the time being and only take action if they became a problem. Upon inspection today they appear to have decamped by and large, with just a couple of stragglers left behind. I will continue to watch and see if they return. Have a good day one and all.
Morning all. One minute the sun is blazing down, and the next the clouds roll across to obscure it. Still the forecasters say that we will have a dry day. We had a bit of a battle yesterday afternoon to repot a cherry tree that sits on our patio. The pot that it was in had a nice curve to it, but it was only when we tried to lift it out that we realized quite how narrow it was at the top compared to the middle. After a great deal of huffing and puffing it was out and replanted in the larger container, so we hope that it is happy to spread it's roots now. Have a good day all.
Morning all. A lovely Spring morning and the village is very peaceful. Not sure if some forgot to alter their clocks and are slowly getting out of bed. I much prefer to have lighter evenings and can be outside longer. Not really a morning person unless there is something that has to be done. The sun rises behind the barns and houses here, so even if I were up you cannot see sunrise, but the view across the valley gives us some spectacular evening displays as it goes down behind the trees. So on with vegetable patch clearing ready for sowing and planting. We still have some curly kale and cabbages that have over wintered, so will not starve. Have a good day whatever you are doing.
Morning all. Bright sunshine and it is going to be a warm day much to my delight. Already been into town and back for Mme's blood test. When she phoned for an appointment they said 8.20 am, but despite having to wait longer for her morning cup of tea asked for something later. So 9.00 am was better, as it takes half an hour to get there. Market day just down the road and the roads were busy. People come to it from forty or fifty miles away as it serves the farming community as much as the general public. Normally there are many cars with UK registrations, but not today. Have a good day whatever you must do.
Morning all. It is just like early summer here at the moment. Not the baking hot days that we tend to get in the middle of the season, but warm with a cloudless blue sky. Yesterday I noticed that our Maison de la Presse was shuttered along with the adjoining florist. Very unusual as it is open from early morning till 7.00 pm or later in more normal times. It is a tabac, a newsagent, a gift shop, a stationer, a place to get photocopies, it sells fishing tackle, books, greeting cards and has a cash machine inside that is useful when the one at the bank is not working. All in all a very useful place. According to the notice on the shutter it had been broken into Saturday night, so was closed until Wednesday while the police investigated. There is little crime out in this rural area, so to find this happen comes as quite a shock. I must get and find a local news report to find out more. Have a good trouble free day.
