Well, here we are, getting down to the usual routine. And what is that at the moment? Well, having spent what seemed like the whole weekend on Skype for Worldcon, followed by writing up summaries of the discussions, and John desperately trying to get the new website for Worldcon finished, we haven't really been getting up to anything much.
The routine is settling down into me digging in the garden for about an hour before the sun gets too warm and then cutting down hedges before starting up the Barbie about 1 p.m. John is usually working in the gite to finish off the kitchen during this time. Remember, we don't do early mornings, so get up about 9ish, and by the time we've had breakfast it's gone 10 before we start work. As an aside: I love having all our meals out in the garden - including breakfast. It's not just the weather makes it easier, but also the physical location - the garden table is right outside the kitchen door and so it.) Then we stop for lunch until about 2-3 p.m. and John gets onto the computer for the rest of the day and evening. Me, well, after playing cards on the computer, and possibly going out and doing some more work in the garden, I'm not sure what I do, so I think I will start today to list exactly what I'm doing.
Today is slightly different since it's raining (pretty spectacular torrential rain we get here). (Note: must check the pigeon in the guttering is OK - yes, appears to be at the moment.) I came in at 12.30, made a coffee and started doing this whilst John is still in the gite kitchen.
God, that rain's really heavy and been going on for over half an hour now - I feel really sorry for that poor pigeon. Still, I have noticed one difference in my reaction now - instead of thinking "Oh bugger" my first thought was "Well, that should help keep the well water topped up!" At the moment we are being very eco because we are only using water from the well in the garden. No, not going each morning to collect a bucket full! There is a pump which takes the water automatically into the gite kitchen from where it is pumped throughout both houses. It means we don't pay any water rates since the waste all went into a septic tank. We have a liability to get the house connected to mains sewage by December, and then we'll obviously have to pay. If/when the well dries up (which I assume it will, because the main river in the town - L'Autise - dries up. When we first came to see the house last September it was completely dry.) we'll have to start using mains water which is again paid for by usage over here.
13.30 Just about ready to start lunch now - listening to Round the Horn on Radio 4 Extra if John's ready. And I can continue playing cards!!
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| Sad News - Tuesday Noticed this morning that the pigeon wasn't in the gutter any more. Then noticed a small dead chick on the patio. What a shame!! Poor mother/father had sat there in the pouring rain and hot sunshine protecting the eggs, for it to all end in tears. Or else the chick was born and the mother/father decided it had had enough and chucked it out! We'll have to get up there some time to get rid of the nest. It'll be interesting to look if the water still pours over the gutter next time it rains. |
Sunday
Yes, well, daily entries was a bit of an optimistic target - but if you don't aim high, you'll end up even lower (or something like that!).
What have we done? - the kitchen, the kitchen, the kitchen, Worldcon, Worldcon, Worldcon. Today due to finish the last of the painting of the kitchen walls, and 'perhaps' do the doors. But the aim is to have a 'finished' kitchen by the end of today. Finished is in inverted commas because the end near all the water filter and softener gear cannot be finished until we have it all looked at by the company that installs it. Until then John's using bottled water in his Ricard because he's not too confident about the quality of the well water.
We've started cleaning out the main bedroom in the gite in readiness for it to be painted since that's where we'll have to live once the electricians start on the main house. That should be 16th September and they anticipate it will take a month to rewire the whole thing. So mid/end October we should be able to start on the main bathroom and hopefully our Christmas present to ourselves will be to be able to live in the main house!!
Went to the Saturday market in Fontenay le Comte yesterday morning - they have a good, though small, covered market which deals mainly in meat & fish, though there are artisanal bakery stalls. Outdoors there are all the veg stalls, and surprisingly a couple of Chinese food stalls. Not something we expected to see in France at all, since Indian and Chinese restaurants are very rare. There is also a British pie maker!!! It was really weird the first time we went there, there I was trying my broken French, and he turned out to be British. Well, I knew the company was - Markey's Pork 'n' Pies! - but that didn't mean the person serving would be. We had a fantastic salmon & asparagus pie from him (though expensive - €6!!) and have now tried one of his pastis - cheese, onion & leek.
Decided to have a bit of a rest and so no major work in the kitchen or the garden. About 7 p.m. there was a knock on the door, and three people were there, asking if they could stay the night, and be given an evening meal! I couldn't quite understand all of it, but there is something going on where people walk around the Vendee doing special exercises. I think it's for charity but I'm not sure. There are two people in a team, and a third person who is the referee to ensure they don't cheat. Anyway, this weekend it was in the Marais Poitevin, and on Saturday finished here in Nieul, so they were all looking for somewhere to stay (about 50 of them, from the numbers we saw down by the Abbaye). We explained that we were in the process of redoing the house and there was no shower, only mattresses on the floor, and they'd have to use the kitchen sink for washing in the morning since the upstairs sink, though working, is disgusting!! They came in and saw we were not joking, and decided that they'd see if they could find somewhere else, but would use us if there was no alternative!
They also asked that we not take anyone else in in the meantime - which we did when another 3 people knocked on the door about 30 mins later. We went out for a walk to the bottle bank, and when we came back found a note saying they'd found somewhere, but could we put up the other three we'd turned away!! They obviously had met up and explained the situation, because when this 2nd three arrived, they said they'd found somewhere where they could have a shower, and an evening meal, but could not sleep there! So we put the mattresses down on the floor and they stayed the night. They said the Mairie was putting on breakfast for all the 'contestants' and the people who put them up, next day, but they did not know where! They had a sealed envelope that they were not allowed to open until 7.15 a.m. on Sunday, which would tell them where they had to go and by when, and what their challenge for the day was. We declined the invitation for breakfast - we don't do 7.30 a.m. unless it's really necessary!!
I woke up just before 7 a.m. and could hear the pump going in the garden (every time some water is used, the pump in the well refills the water reservoir) so they were obviously up. Hope they managed to sleep last night since we had the 'dogs choir' going on until after midnight. I can now see why in the circular from the Mairie, it mentioned not only when you could not use lawnmower's etc because of the noise, but also specifically mentioned dogs shouldn't be allowed to bark in the gardens. We have a collection here, and when one starts, it gets all the others going! I don't know how the owners can put up with the noise, unless it starts because the owners aren't there. We have a noisy Rottweiler opposite our house, but it only barks when someone walks past, which isn't very often. And we found if you used Cesar Millan's advice (the Dog Whisperer) and just ignored him, looking the other way and continuing en route, he shut up!
OK, so that's used up an hour of my time, it's now noon so I'd better get into the kitchen to do the last coat of paint on the walls before we stop for lunch!
Monday, 12th
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