Monday

Back to work but Matt has a call just as the delivery arrived, thankfully he managed to duck out to carry it in with the driver while I signed the paperwork. The new flooring has now arrived but unfortunately we can’t actually check the colour without undoing it all so is going to be a surprise.

I was working upstairs today but Matt managed to find a little time to fit the last of the plasterboard that we cut yesterday which looks good.

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[26 April 2021]

Tuesday

Decided to finish work an hour early, despite the rain the runner beans and french beans needed to be potted up.

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A couple of hours later I was forced to consider whether I may have gone too far. However, I then remembered that there are a load more seeds in the shed that need to be planted and lots of flower seeds that need to be started for the underplanting. That can wait till tomorrow though as I need to water the existing seeds.

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[27 April 2021]

Wednesday

Finally got the first draft of the Development Directory completed and out to the councils for comment so time to drop down to the garage to see if there is any news on the car. Seems that the part has only just come in, but at least it is here and they are going to work on it tomorrow. He said he’d call but to date that’s been a complete miss so will go back again late tomorrow afternoon.

Popped into Intermarche and found a potted Mint for less than you can buy 4 sprigs so snapped that up. Realised when I got home that it was super root bound but teased out the roots and potted it up into the largest pot we have. Fingers crossed this works as a quick bypass compared to growing from seed and we have a lovely big mint plant in no time…

Lee and Vicky’s wedding today so we cracked open some bubbles and I picked her a bouquet (ok, it wasn’t great, but it was all home grown).

Just as we were settling down for the evening Meow was, well meowing, at the door to the salon. Having assumed it was that the door wasn’t open enough we realised we were overly optimistic. Meow had in fact bought in a mouse only to drop it and watch it run under the fridge where she couldn’t reach. Turns out ‘cat and mouse’ now requires one cat, one mouse and two people to play. I am suspicious that she just wanted us to play with her.

We ended up having to move all the recycling – which was a lot as we are very ecofriendly, and haven’t had a car to get rid of any for about a month or more now. Seems theres also a small gap underneath that allows a field mouse into the electrical and cooling section so Matt had to take off the grill at the back to get to it and try to encourage it out. I was on spotting duty trying to keep track of it and where possible encourage the cat to catch it as Matt flushed it out.

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Eventually Matt was successful in getting it to run out the door. The cat was quickly pushed out afterwards for her part in all this but at least we could finally relax, enjoy our dinner and the yummy eclairs we bought which are now a mouse removal bonus.

[28 April 2021]

Thursday

Interesting to see what the Chinese brand as ‘children’s toy’ in the post this morning but glad it arrived in good time.

A call from the garage and definitely not to say that all is well and the car is fixed so Matt and I are going to have to go down to find out what’s wrong. Was definitely not good news. Another part is needed and this one is ‘tres cher’, almost €700. Thing is we don’t have much choice at this point. They take us in to see the patient and the gearbox is out, front to back pieces of the car on the floor and they show us the rotation and movement which apparently shouldn’t be happening. Seems we won’t be going to Chausson to collect the last of the plasterboard to finish the kitchen tomorrow then.

Having had enough bad news for one day and seen how root bound the runner beans were, I’ve decided to set about potting up the cornichons. I’m very keen that these work as we are constantly buying them and be nice to have a crop of our own. I managed to make time before my conference call to start doing this and to get it finished, partly due to the call being cancelled. Good to get one job done though.

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Since they won’t obviously fit back where they came from I can now use the space for some of the new trays that Matt bought me. We haven’t started any peppers yet and managed to find some seeds in the potting shed. We were a couple short but used a pepper yesterday so borrowed a couple from the recycling tray.

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Also did a little tray of Cosmos as we definitely don’t have enough flowers for underplanting either. Matt however has been testing his new remote shutter system for the kitchen which appears to be working like a dream.

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Nighttime and the cat is being let back in on licence, after yesterday’s shenanigans it’s no surprise. She seems pretty happy about it though and back on her favourite cushion, definitely claimed him as hers.

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Matt tried to pass her over to me for a cuddle when he went for a shower but it wasn’t overly successful, after a few minutes she was off to find him and wouldn’t stop complaining till he came back. Finally he’s back, I have a shower and time for relaxation and blog updates before bed (along with some Holby catch up – damn this show is good! I was oohing and ahhing about what was happening. Nothing like a good BBC drama).

[29 April 2021]