Seems as though it might be the last nice day for a little while and Matt is keen to get going. I managed to refrain for another hour and relax – it is Sunday after all!

When I do get downstairs, I find Matt ticking off one of the things on my ‘other list’ (the one full of those priorities which aren’t actually working on the house itself). Checking, servicing and, where possible fixing, the bones of what was left to service the garden.

Also on the ‘other list’ is the vegetable garden. It gives me a lovely opportunity to spend some time digging my hands into the dirt, relaxing and letting my mind wander. I had so many inner dialogues to work through, and it now takes twice as long as I tend to hear them in English and try to translate to French for my non-existent audience. After all, the house will still be there tomorrow. We don’t need to rush. Also, any good renovation considers the outside as much as the in.

I’m kind of pleased that we have such nice, rich, clay soil. Our London garden is clay. In fact, I once proved it to Matt by digging out a piece, making a really awful heart shape and letting it bake in the sun for a day. It was solid as a rock. Not as good as a fine loam of course but better, in my mind, than chalk or sand as it’s very rich in nutrients.

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After we finish we go to get the card out of the wildlife camera and see the neighbours cat. I went and got the rind of the cheese and it seemed to work a treat. Matt and the cat were best friends in no time.

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Since we have heard other locals using their chainsaws etc at ‘un-official hours on a Sunday’, I think we should go for a walk. We were a bit later than I had hoped but we met – the husband of the blond girl that works at the Marie (and his daughter, son and father – from Toulouse); we then met another, older chap who has a new house near here, he was nice enough but I didn’t understand much of what he was saying to me. Just as we got back we spotted some deer just across the road. I think there was about 5 or 6 of them in total.

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Now that Matt has got one of the strimmers working he’s gone to work on the stinging nettles in the walled garden. It needs to be done before we get into spring and they start to flower and self seed even further. It will take regular work to keep on cutting/mowing them back but should kill them off in time. It also now looks much better and is easier to walk around without the risk of stings.

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Finished removing the grass and weeds in the second plot. At least this one has been done properly. It will still need to be dug down deeper and turned over but the hardest bit is done.

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Time to head back to the kitchen to take out the remaining worktop and the sink. It’s far too heavy to move as one piece and, since it is of course re-enforced, Matt had to take the angle grinder to it.

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Since we now have no kitchen sink we have had to improvise. We have set up the main sink in the basement which we will need to wash the larger pots and pans. It’s not exactly ideal though due to the massive stone block across the front. There are two choices of sink yoga positions to choose from: prostrate or downward dishes. Neither are very comfortable.

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Matt can now finish off the corner piece of the ceiling while I get to work on dinner.

While I make a start on dinner – no prizes for guessing what it is…

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We’ve also set up a temporary drying rack for dishes in the hallway so that we can wash the smaller dishes and cups etc in the ground floor bathroom. We figured this was probably a better and more hygienic location than drying them next to the toilet!

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[7 February 2021]