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.