Morning all. There have been a few glimpses of the sun, but it is overcast now, although dry. This afternoon I will be taking Mme's car for its MOT test. In the two years since the last one, she has driven just under 1000 miles, which I think is less than 10 miles a day. The longest run the car makes is a visit to town when it needs petrol, which is not very often. The last visit to the test centre only remarked that it needed new wiper blades, which it has, but I am hoping that nothing much can have gone wrong with it seeing it hasn't been very far. Have a good day everyone.
My car has been in the garage for it's pre-MOT check and MOT since Monday morning. I dread to think what they have found...
Hope all is well BB. Mme has another 2 years use of her car. Minor defects only, the same ones they have been reporting for the last 10 years.
Morning all. Grey and damp, but it is expected that it will dry up later. The strikes against the pension reforms are still going on here, and beginning to have an effect in this sleepy rural area. There are two petrol stations in town at the largest supermarkets, one had no fuel yesterday afternoon, and the other had a limit of €20 on the amount you could buy. Most of the small village stations that used to sell fuel have long closed as they didn't sell enough to economically supply them. Butchers, bakers, and a general store used to have mobile shops that stopped in the village several times a week, but no longer. Having your own transport is vital seeing as there is no bus service either. It is little wonder that companies such as Amazon are doing so well delivering to outlying rural areas. Have a good day everyone.
Morning all from a bright and breezy rural France. Each year I plant some prepared hyacinth bulbs that with a bit of luck flower indoors at Christmas. After they have died off, I plant the bulbs at random in our small garden attached to the house. Now there are flowers from 10-year-old bulbs, yellow, pink, blue, white and almost red, all in flower, and still giving off their scent. Along with other bulbs, you feel that Spring has arrived. Have a good day everyone.
Morning all. Bright, but still quite a strong breeze. Glad I am not crossing the Channel today, where the very strong wind is disrupting sailings. Our supermarkets have plenty of fuel again, so restrictions on the amount you could buy have been lifted. There were plenty of people buying some, just in case the situation worsens again. An entertaining game in Paris last night between France and Holland. Some great goals and fabulous build up to them, but it was all over by half-time, with Holland looking like a second rate side. Perhaps some of the Watford forwards could learn how to score by watching the video of the game. Have a good day everyone.
Morning Folks. A cheeky getaway into the Herefordshire countryside this weekend for the first R&R of the year. Eggs Royale for brekkie and just had a swim and 15 minutes in the sauna. Archery this afternoon. Might have another swim later: I tore a rotator cuff on holiday in August and this has been my first pain free swim since. Still not got all of my movement back, scar tissue no doubt, but exponentially better than it was at Xmas. Have a good day, Y'all!
Wouldn't like to take any of the gloss away from the French performance Frenchie but the Dutch squad was hit by a sudden illness which they blamed on a chicken curry. Frenkie de Jong was out anyway but Matthis de Ligt, Gakpo and three others all got ill on the eve of the match which threw their preparations into turmoil. Not a good first game back in charge for Ronald Koemann.
Morning all. Bright mostly and forecast to remain dry for the next couple of days. There is still a lot of standing water along the green lanes, and the rivers are high after all the rain we have received over the past week. Still, I have managed with some pea and bean sowing, and the soil beneath the cloches felt quite warm. Mme has found some potatoes at the bottom of her bag that are shooting, so although I have poor returns, I will stick a few in the ground and see what happens. Have a good day everyone.
Good day to you...back in Leeds now..... working at the allotment today planting the chitted first earlies.... and getting ready for a big brithday bask next week up in Swaledale..... busy year this one......
Morning all. At 8.00 am there wax not a cloud in the sky, but how quickly it has changed. It is now totally overcast, but the météo suggest that the cloud will disappear in the next hour or so. According to French news reports, a website has been set up where people are selling petrol and diesel down in the south where there are shortages. A warning has been given that if you take your cans along you don't know exactly what you are buying, and a fuel that has had an additive to make it go further could seriously damage some modern engines. It seems that wherever there is a chance to make money, someone, somewhere will seize it. Have a good day everyone.
Morning all. Sunshine one minute, followed by cloud cover the next, but it is very mild, with a temperature of 23°C expected this afternoon. Talking to my friend on the telephone last night, his chemo is not going well, leading to all sorts of unpleasant side effects. To make matters worse, one of his two dogs will have to be put down today as the back problem she has is treatable, with a 60% chance of success, but the cost of £10,000 is way beyond his means. I suspect that although I would love having a dog around again, this final parting puts me off, having been there several times before. Have a good day everyone.
3 more days of shirk, then 2 weeks off. Come on Easter, I am here for you, let me embrace you! aajaajjaja
Morning all. Mixed today, with a breeze that has a nip to it after the warmth of yesterday. There are days in our hamlet when you might not see another person. Today the post lady came round and popped a letter in our box, but apart from her not a car, bike, or person on foot has been seen. Of course, Mme is excluded from this observation as she keeps finding little things that need attention. I need to go to the fields before I get something else to do. Have a good day everyone.
Morning all. Lots of flashing and banging up above, with monsoon amounts of rain that only last a few minutes before the sun comes out again. We have a mystery yellow tulip in flower outside the house. Where it has come from is unknown, as we do not have tulips of any colour in the garden. We do have walnut trees popping up from time to time, the result of a red squirrel doing some nut hiding. The best guess is that he mistook a bulb for a nut, and dug a suitable hole to put it in. Have a good day everyone.
Morning all. Sunshine and very heavy showers today. I have signed in to Hive, so hope that it works today, and will not have a stanchion in the line of sight. We will find out shortly which team will be sent out to restore some pride. Have a good day everyone.
Morning all. Overcast, but dry and no breeze to dry things up a bit. Mme doesn't have any physio for a couple of weeks as her man is going back home to Poland for a holiday. When she first started with him, she said he has a very funny French accent, and it was only when she found out where he came from, that she understood why. With her English one conversation could be difficult, but they seem to get along fine. Have a good day everyone.
Morning all. A lovely sunny start to the day, but a chilly breeze. Off to the bank again to try and sort out why Mme is unable to access her accounts for her association. Despite countless e-mails between them and us, the tab on the website that she needs to click on just isn't there. It took the bank a month to issue her with a card that worked when she went to pay some money in to the new all singing dancing machine. The technology is fragile as half the time it is out of service, and you are advised to go back again the next day when it should be working. At least when you spoke to a person and handed over your money, they didn't have frequent "hors service" notices strapped to their front. Have a good day everyone.
Morning all. A clear blue sky, and no wind, so it feels pleasant when you are out of the shade. The trip to the bank yesterday was not productive. The nice lady who had been telling me what I should be doing tried it out herself, with the same result that I had been getting. The cursor moved up and down the screen looking for the non-existent tab I was supposed to click on. A colleague was called in, and he was no help either. By this time I was in "I told you so" mode, but didn't actually say it. So we left half an hour later, no further forward, just the promise that Mme would receive new passwords by post sometime in the future. I could have been gardening. Have a good day everyone.
