Back in the old routine.

Tuesday:  Unexpected heavy rain kept me awake last night so it was a bit of a late start and I wasn't as dynamic as yesterday.  Dashed off to buy some gas for the flame thrower, food and some more wasp killer [because yesterday's didn't work] and rushed home to meet up with the plumber.  He's coming back on Friday to install an external tap as the well has dried up for the time being.......

Afterwards, I had to do some more chores so I decided to have some lunch out, which meant that I would double the number of people that I spoke to today,  The afternoon was spent laying out the area where Darren is due to build steps on Thursday, rearranging the edging stones and killing as many weeds as possible.  I got a little stone trapped in the flame thrower handle which ensured that once the super hot jet was on, I couldn't turn it off.  I had to put it on the lawn, run to the gas bottle and switch off the gas supply there.  Only a small part of the lawn was burnt irretrievably!

By the time I had killed all unwanted weeds [whose descendents will appear within a week] it was time to tackle the wasps again.  This time I was braver and stood on a chair about 2 metres away from the nest.  I still ran like the clappers once I had sprayed.

Wednesday:  Couldn't sleep properly and was watching the sun come up when a mega thunderstorm erupted. It was very dramatic so I stayed in bed to watch it all.  I tried to listen to Today on the radio but it was drowned out by the rain crashing down on the caravan.  I wasn't tempted to get up at all but felt guilty by 9am when the rain had definitely stopped.  The weather was cooler, high 20s, with a light breeze so I had no excuse not to work outside.  So I attempted to move some earth for the steps to be built tomorrow.  After an hour I gave that up and did some some gardening.  Darren came around to discuss the path and steps, which gave me the chance to stand up straight and stop aching for half an hour.  The rest of the day was moving stones, covering 30 metres of hedging with wood chips and handweeding.  Didn't even have time to go shopping.  I finished at 5 but was too knackered to shower and change and go to buy food.  Dinner was tinned vegetables. Then a bit of cheese later, then some quite stale savoury biscuits, well actually a whole box of out-of-date biscuits. 501 calories.  I know that because I spent AGES reading the package.  All washed down with a bottle of rosé.   I really must get a life.

Thursday:  A chilly night and rain first thing.  Wasps seem to have survived my attempts to kill them.  The weather improved enough for Darren to come and start the side path while I went to Veolia to try and get a certificate for the microstation.  No one there! Went back in the afternoon and phoned but no luck.  I didn't do very much in the garden, just couldn't get motivated for some reason.

Friday:  The day got off to a chilly start but I managed to get myself into the garden before 9 in order to do more weedkilling and stone moving.  Temperatures soon rose and I gave up the hard labour,  The plumber came and installed an external tap, to be used if the recuperated water runs out.  The well water has risen again but the pump had given up.  So he had a look at it, shook it and, hey presto, it worked.

One of the dogs at the Poney Club has had puppies and I saw them today, was sorely tempted to kidnap one but that would mean staying here for ever and I miss South Africa.

Darren was meant to return with the template for the steps but he hadn't finished it so emailed to say he'd be there later.  He then phoned to say he'd got car trouble and would be even later but he never got here.  However I went to a restaurant for lunch and then spent a thrilling afternoon comparing the price of grass seed. The evening passed in a frenzy of extricating burrs from my socks.  Exciting stuff, this retirement.  I just didn't think it would be so rural.

I think it's time to go home.............

A break from blogging

We were in the grip of a canicule [heatwave] and there was no chance of doing any work, so time for a holiday.

Despite my dislike of driving in France, I went to Orthez in the Pyrenees foothills to see Steve and Caron, friends from Togo.  I had a great time, slept in a real bed and swam in their pool.

The following day I drove for seven hours to get to Provence to stay with Jane and Ian [friends from college] and their family.  Two more nights in a real bed and two more days in a pool.  Bliss!!

Then a couple of hours drive down to Kate's.  Aix was really hot and, as Nico was in Cannes, I shared Kate's room.  A bit noisy in the town centre but another real bed!  I picked Chris up from Marseille and we went to stay at Nico's parents' house in Cannes so another real bed.  All these nights of comfort were followed by a night on a blow up matress at Kate's, which left us completely exhausted!!  I was more than happy to relinquish the driving to Chris on the journey home.

Anyway once we were back home, work recommenced with a vengeance.  Chris spent 2 days emptying the old, damp, smelly insulation from the loft.  Stuart came in to help him which was generally helpful, apart from the fact that he put his foot through the shower ceiling and the kitchen ceiling.  We worked really hard, sometimes late into the evenings, almost falling asleep before we got to bed.

We planted 40 metres of hedging and watered it so well that our well ran out of water!  The water recupation system has only just been installed and so it's not very full but those bad boys have got to be watered every day.   I just hope that I don't have to resort to carrying buckets of water to the extremities of the plot every day til it rains.

Chris left yesterday, exhausted I think as he had worked hard all week.  Today I was a little dynamo and got lots of jobs done before it got too hot, at which point I retired to my trusty hammock.  After my watering routine, I tried to kill a wasps nest with some stuff I bought from the local brico.  It is supposed to work from a distance of 6 metres so I sprayed and ran.  Don't know how the wasps feel but it's made me very sniffy!

So it's back in the old routine and just 40 days til Chris comes back for the final time this year.

Summer's definitely here

Another baking day.  I managed to do a bit of early weeding in the orchard then retired to the hammock [thanks Selwyn] to research the benefits of liquid seaweed.

An old chap, actually a very old chap with not many teeth, arrived in his sans permis to sell me some fruit and veg, athough I didn't need much.  These sans permis are increasingly popular it seems.  They are tiny cars for which you don't need a licence and are much used by those who have lost their licence and old ladies and they don't go very fast at all.  Nightmare to get stuck bethind one on a country road! 

Considered a dip in the pool [thanks Tom] but I didn't want to frighten Darren off, now that he's finally here.  I received a cheque from Jardiland for the strimmer which never worked. Yay!!  Opened a small bottle of beer at 3.30 to celebrate.  Well, it's too hot to do any work so why not?  Darren has chosen the worst time to do the path and he is dripping all over the place.  Still, it's getting done so I can't complain.  I enjoyed the pool in the early evening and then did a bit of pottering in the garden.

The forecast is for more hot weather, I don't think I'll be getting much done in the near future.  Darren is working on the front path and Ian. 'Still at least I can oversee others working'  Famous last words!!
Halfway through this morning, Darren received a phone call to say his daughter's broken her leg and he rushed off to take her to hospital.  It was at least 36C today but maybe even hotter so I spent some of the afternoon in the pool and some in the hammock.  Even the evening it was too hot to work.  I had 2 showers and 4 beers but still couldn't sleep well.

I was in the garden by 7.30 on Saturday morning, shovelling pebbles around the raised beds.  After 2 hours, things were looking pretty good [even if I say so myself]. 

Veggies bought by Lynne but I've managed to keep them alive!

So, as I had a cuppa, I indulged in my daily torture of looking at the weather forecast.  A predicted 34 again, my heart couldn't sink much lower.  Then - yippee - all of a sudden a thick mist descended, cool and lovely.  Lasted hours, I could do plenty of work in the orchard.  Yay! 

Darren arrived about 11, exhausted after yesterday taking his daughter to various hopsitals, and he managed to get the cementing of the path finished.  I didn't get as much work done as hoped as Darren's wheelbarrow gave up the ghost so I lent him mine.  About lunchtime the sun returned and it quickly got hot so I took myself off to the shops to buy some food.  The weather that afternoon was a bit spooky, very heavy and humid with odd bursts of wind.  So made some lunch, had a drink and enjoyed reading some restoration magazines.

So, overall, some work done but not as much as anticipated.  Par for the course really.

Snow in Africa and a birthday in France

Yesterday it snowed in South Africa!

Can't believe it!  It is mid to high 30s here!

Today I went to visit Henriette and Jackie, the parents of the student with whom Chris did his exchange.  The first exchange was 40 years ago and the relationship continues.  They live just over an hour away from us and, although the temperatures are very high indeed, I wanted to go and deliver a present and card for Henriette's 80th today.

I arrived around 11am and was invited to stay for lunch [the usual 8 courses!] and it would have been rude to refuse.  They took badly to the fact that I wouldn't drink because I was driving and seemed to think it was a personal affront to them, but I had to stick to my guns with that one. 

Consequently when I got home around 3.30 it was too hot to work so I fell asleep on the hammock and didn't wake til 6.  Feeling guilty, I decided to clear the area near the cuve so that all the plants we have painstakingly put there can grow.  An hour and a half later I am covered in stings and cuts and I don't smell good, but at least I don't feel so guilty.

There has been slow progress on the path today.  I will be here tomorrow to crack the whip

Home Alone Again

The first couple of days back were hot but not unpleasantly so.  The grass had stopped growing but not the weeds so it all looks a bit off kilter.  Saturday dawned cloudy but very humid, it was difficult to keep myself motivated.  I went to the market and the laundrette and then drove 25 kms to find some gas for the flame thrower, did a bit of shopping and then a couple of hours of weeding.  Despite not spending very much time in the garden, I have got a few very nasty bites on my arms and legs, which have done nothing to cheer me up.

Finding it hard to keep going at the moment.  An early night, out of boredom as much as anything.  It rained overnight and Sunday morning, a grey drizzle.  So I went to a brocante at Gensac and then the supermarket.  Too damp to work on the orchard, the rain too noisy on the caravan for me to hear the radio, the day stretched sadly before me........

It's a bit like being in prison but without the company or cooked meals and television.   Ate comfort food and drank wine so I suppose it's better than prison!!!

Monday was humid with occasional heavy downpours - another day when not much got done.  I couldn't go out as Darren had said he would be around to finish off the path.  He didn't turn up, quelle surprise!

Tuesday brought a genuine surprise with Darren's arrival.  I was out shopping when he got there.  Anyway we had a talk and sorted a few things out and he will be here for the next 3 days.  I hand-weeded swathes of ground in the 'one-day-soon-to-be orchard' but it didn't look much different afterwards.  I attached plastic bags full of strong weedkiller to some of the brambles growing in the pyracantha but retired injured after half an hour - too many scratches.  I planted more brambles in pots so that I can transplant them where I want them.  The main area of brambles will be left intact until after the harvest, or whatever the word is, then razed to the ground to make more room for fruit trees.

Well, I picked my first courgettes today, my own organic veg!!  Worth a photo I think!!

By the end of the day Darren has set out the borders for the new path so here are some photos for Chris

I'll send more tomorrow or Thursday, whenever it's finished.  Can't wait for it to be over, it's gone on far too long!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Second half of July

Sunday 22nd saw Chris head for the airport and Lew arrive.  For half an hour we sat and chatted and had a beer and then Chris headed home [allegedly, but in fact he headed off to Paris where he spent the next 24 hours waiting for his plane to be repaired, poor chap].

The week with Lew passed slowly in some ways and whizzed past in others.  Some visiting to admire the local architecture, a lovely lunch with Tim and Teresa but mainly sitting in the garden marvelling at just how hot 38C can be!!

I threw my toys out of the pram in Jardiland and got a refund for the strimmer which they had had for 6 weeks for repair, only to find that it still didn't work.  Ian did some work in the garden.  Lew repaired the shower tray with some stuff that looks like someone did something disgusting in it.  Now I've just got to make sure Chris has very quick showers so he doesn't weigh it down til it cracks again.

The plumbing thingy got carried away, as always, and I splashed out on new taps and shower for the bathroom, they also repaired both leaking taps in the caravan.  It all feels incredibly luxurious, things work properly now.

After a lot of begging from me, the chap from Veolia finally agreed to sign off the microstation if Darren makes a few changes.  Darren was supposed to come Thursday afternoon but didn't and then he said he'd come Friday morning but still hadn't turned up by the time we left for the airport.


We left the house after a storm and there was still rain to come but by the time we had got to Le Mouchic, a couple of hours away, the weather was glorious.  Lew and I had a very long, lazy lunch overlooking the lake and then headed back to the airport.  The traffic was horrendous - Friday afternoon - and some of the worst driving I've seen for a while knocked my confidence somewhat.  Despite a couple of wrong turns and driving 3 times around LeClerc's car park trying to find the exit, we managed to have quite a fun time [although Lew might say different].

Anyway I finally made it to the airport and dropped Lew off.  I had booked into a surprisingly nice [for the price] hotel

Twenty four hours later I flew to Gatwick to be met by Glynn in his new car.  I spent a short time with Kerry and Beth while Glynn was in the States and had a wonderful rest.  I managed to buy loads more green manure and even a bottle of something which assures me that it will kill brambles and ivy- we'll see.

Meeting Beth from nursery - she's practically galloping along now!

The journey home should have been glorious, the sunset was fantastic but unfortunately there was a long detour due to road works so it was dark by the time I got home and fell into bed.  I'll be alone for two weeks and actually looking forward to it!