Before we move on to what happened after Matt’s return, there was also some exciting news from London. Matt won the London AWS summit DeepRacer competition – machine learning self-driving car racing. It seems that since his win in 2019 they have fixed the problem with the winners cup, and now you can indeed drink champagne out of it.

[27 April 2022]

Saturday

Yay, it’s brilliant Matt being back. The selection of food has improved quickly as he’s made me bacon and eggs for breakfast. Can’t say much fairer than that.

Or apparently you can, as he’s insistent that the next job is to take down the old doors (or whatever they are) that are nailed up in the roof of the freshly cleaned garage. Before we could do that however we had to clear all the junk out that had been stored on top of them, masks definitely required for this one as we had no idea what was up there!

I potted up my sunflowers that were looking a bit sad and a few other bits and pieces, while Matt started on the frame for the new workbench in shed 3.

Finally it was really time to finish and Matt made some rather delicious ribs for dinner, we were both exhausted after the London trip and shed clearance.

[30 April 2022]

Sunday

Good start to the day. Matt got up before me so that he could mow the lawn. I lay in bed for a bit to watch the ‘Good Doctor’ and because it is 10am on a Sunday, but he’s hungry again so he has to get up.

It seems that today’s job is getting the stuff built for Matt’s new shed. It wasn’t a great deal of fun to be honest but I built a big shelving unit while Matt was building his new work bench.

I had more fun collecting hollyhock seeds. Not sure what I’d do with this many hollyhocks or where I would put them but it was satisfying. We also got a couple of the bits of the makeshift roof down. It was pretty filthy and could do with a good pressure wash, that was even more pleasing. I suspect that most of it is old oak which is pretty nice and will make a very fancy worktop for the workshop.

Jonny arrived just in time to save us from more work in the shed which was nice and he bought the boys with him. They love coming to visit and were quickly out the car and investigating the garden. Basil is hilarious, when running full tilt he looks like a deer moving with leaps and bounds over shrubs etc. Woody has Matt well trained, after a little barking and some throwing of various sticks we soon weren’t sure who was fetching the stick. After each throw Woody would get the stick but then drop it off somewhere else and demand Matt went to collect it and throw it again.

It was good to catch up and a nice break but the dogs had to be fed and I had to get dinner on. It seems that Cress may be delayed longer in the UK so will have to wait and see but we could be asked to provide a couple of days doggy daycare so Jonny can go back and join her. That would be fun, the boys seem very happy here and would be good practice for us before we get one of our own.

Now that there’s some space in the shed it seems to have inspired Matt to have a bit of a tidy up in the basement too which is music to my ears. It really frustrates me how much of a mess it is down there, no wonder he couldn’t find the set squares he’s been looking for, you couldn’t find anything in that mess. I hope that with a whole load more space he’ll be able to keep them both tidy!

Time for dinner. Annoyingly the meat thermometer wasn’t working so seems that the pork was a little over, however there’s plenty of gravy and homemade apple sauce which made up for it and it was pretty tasty. Lots of left overs too, I never make only enough for one meal it’s just a waste of effort and definitely not the way that my mother cooks either, she could feed the 5,000 with most of her meals. Also some pink champagne to celebrate Matt’s return and it being a bank holiday.

I remembered that it was the 1st today so got my invoicing done and then cracked on with updating the blog before bed.

[1 May 2022]

Monday – May Day Bank Holiday

It’s a bank holiday. So more work, just this time it’s back to the sheds. It’s like a holiday from work when you’re renovating, at work you go back to a million emails, when renovating there’s just another urgent job because you spent 5 minutes with friends. So back to the sheds, again.

So much for the good weather. It’s pretty overcast today and was raining last night but at least that has stopped now. Matt is out putting up more brackets in the shed and seems that my suggestions of how he might do it weren’t appreciated so I figured I’d go and make a cup of tea, watch another episode of the Good Doctor and get a bit more of the blog updated. We’re a long way behind with some big gaps that haven’t been written yet but it’s nice to write during the day for once.

I have to say that I’m not overly convinced by the way that he’s organised it and that he’s going to quickly be able to find everything when he needs it but if that’s the way he wants it we’ll have to wait and see. There is however this interesting cabinet, clearly it is intended to go in a corner as one end is wood, the back is mirrored, the other end is glass and also isn’t square. It could make a good spirits cabinet, with a bit of work and when we can find some time.. I also managed to grab some nice old hooks from shed 2 for my potting shed (4), perfect to get some of my items off the floor and out of the way.

Now however he needs my help to start pulling the massive doors down from the ceiling. They aren’t light and it wasn’t overly easy but the first one was out. Of course with the size of it we don’t actually have anywhere to put it. It’s started to rain and so the only thing we can do for now is to pop a tarp over it. Not much point messing about outside in the rain any longer.

Matt has decided that he needs to get some more big red gains to run the new cables for the sheds when they do the boiler and that they are considerably cheaper in Tarbes. I’m not up for the drive so I decided to stay back and actually get some stuff done.

One of the jobs that was on my list was to remove the plaster to make enough space for the new door for the pink (jack and jill) bathroom. Quickly remembered that the sds drill is pretty damned heavy, particularly trying to do it above your shoulders and with limited angles – plus I don’t actually know how to move the different bits on it so it becomes increasingly difficult as things twist slightly. The sink and plasterboard prevent me from working on one side but it seems that I’ve managed to get enough out to make this work (it’s 800mm and the door with frame is 775mm). Almost as big a job was cleaning up the mess afterwards, pleased to say that it is as clean if not cleaner afterwards though and even took the waste downstairs.

The next thing was to find the tanking stuff. Matt filled the holes where the old pipework for the radiator but it still needs to be sanded and waterproofed. The biggest job was finding the tanking stuff as Matt had no idea where it was, once I remembered what it looked like I was on my way.

With that job done I realised that the house was rather a mess as somebody’s big boots have been scattering mud everywhere. First to take the opportunity to mop the kitchen again so that it’s dry before he comes back. The cat doesn’t like the broom so she hightailed it out, good thing too as she never remembers to wipe her paws. Then on to hoover the salon, dining room (what I can get to), bathroom, halls and stairs before then going round with the mop. I’m just finishing as Matt gets back home.

Time for dinner and then for me to crack on with the blog updates again.

[2 May 2022]

Tuesday

Back to work with a bump and a million things to do and an extra day’s work to squeeze in this week. I also however had an appointment with the sage femme to replace my hormone implant. I made Matt come to watch and hold my hand, he didn’t really need to be there but I felt it was a necessary learning experience for him. Back at home and it was time for cheese and crackers, Meow was pretty interested in the cheese..

[3 May 2022]

Wednesday

Busy day working. I did however get a fantastic care package from my lovely mother. Easter eggs, Gardener’s World magazine, and various clippings of Monty Don 🙂 We also had our first go at making creme Catalan, it was pretty good.

[4 May 2022]

Thursday

Ugh! Now I don’t mind the dentist, but I’m pretty sure that Matt can convey ‘ouch’, ‘no ouch’, on his own but yet I am still being woken up early to go with him. It’s still a one person allowed inside at a time thing (with the exception of us – which did make her look twice and then laugh). It was quickly apparent that Matt’s tooth is entirely broken. The only option is a crown (as we said and knew), she seemed shocked however which was odd. Unfortunately anyone that has had one will know that these things can’t be done quickly so she will let us know if there is a cancellation as it is priority… nothing ground breaking, but he has seen the dentist and has a temporary filling (which is unlikely to last long) but it’s better than nothing. Time to drop in to Lidl to get what Matt wants and of course for me to select a load more plants – after waking up early I’m not going home empty handed, a nice to acer amongst others made me much happier.

Back to work. Oh heaves, I just realised that there is basically only 4 weeks until my launch event and a mountain of work to do. Seems we have another delivery. It’s our new lights for around the pool. So we kind of put one together but will have to test them so we know they work.

Back to work. My arm still aches though. Then dinner, more creme catalan and rest time.

[5 May 2022]

Friday

Been a busy day, as always. Standard start with the Prof Sir Robert (PSR), I like him. Just as I was trying to finish up Matt bursts in to tell me that the pool guys are back – seems he was in the middle of a call too. Once I finished I checked in with them, they’re all good and will let me know when they are done. They’ve clearly dumped a load of salt etc into the pool and set up all the other bits to filter it. Apparently the pool will soon be blue again and all I need to do is flick the switch to auto on Sunday. I can also call if I have any questions. That’s the pool complete and last payment to be made. They will be back to do the margelles and terrace, hopefully from 16th, so long as the tiles arrive on time and will complete the water and power at the same time.

Lots more work. Matt finally however finished his calls and it was time to scoff down some quick pasta boxes before we headed off. First stop was Isosol to see if our tiles had finally arrived. They’d said they had part of the order so some would be better than none. After a reasonable wait it seems that all of it was there, and his English was better than my French sadly. Car loaded up and a quick drop into Action for some more plant pots and Matt wanted some Matt stuff.

Managed to get home just before my very important call – thank god. Obviously I nailed it, with the support of PSR. Lots more follow up work to do though and late meetings. Who even organises meetings at 5pm on a Friday?! Anyway, they do.

Matt is making a lot of noise but not sure why, seems he’s decided to pressure wash the floor of the ‘new’ boiler room (shed 2). Not a bad plan before the plant goes in and can’t be moved ever again.

Time for me to take a walk around the garden. Mostly good, the irises and aqualegia look like a Monet painting (Irises obviously), but then blow me, I’m furious as my hosta has been mostly eaten. I can only assume that deer have got to it. They never touched it before in it’s previous location. It looks like it may recover but it’s going to need protection and I’m fighting back. It’s not pretty but sod those deer. I also then took Matt back round the garden to show him what I found.

It’s starting to rain so we quickly packed up and went inside. I’ve got more work to do and Matt is hungry. Also then realised that I had to do the company VAT returns – joy! I hate accounting (not accountants – Jeff is the best – just actually doing my company accounts). By 9pm I was well over it but finally got it done, didn’t really have a choice as it has to be submitted by tomorrow.

Time for dinner and relaxation. I’ve been looking at wedding flowers, I was thinking about it earlier. A quick call with Dodd for his birthday and then chat with Tonia and finally getting you all updated but it is now time for bed.

[6 May 2022]

Saturday

Yay! It’s flower day! Still managed to get a lie in which was nice and then cleaned up the kitchen.

Out in the garden and realised that the job I have been constantly putting off is moving the lavender. Probably not the best time to move it but it has to happen as I need those beds. The plan therefore is to push them right up near the fence with the rationale that the smell will help repel bad things before they enter the patch, and if I do put another bay in that they are far enough away not to be disturbed.

I only got one done but it is one more than yesterday. As well as the stones there was a lot of leaves put underneath so hopefully the drainage will be sufficient – they don’t like wet feet and in fact our clay soil is almost the opposite of what they want. Good to see however that the irises are doing exceptionally well this year.

Time for a quick lunch. Meow pretended she was interested in the flowers but we know better…

Lunch over we were off to pick up Jonny, time for the ‘fete des plantes’ (plant festival) up at Huos. It was a bit mad. But there were live singers, old men playing accordions, plants on sale (of course), sweet things (cakes and stuff) and confiture (jam) stands, and a plant identification game. Oh and a bar. The plant identification game was initially very fun but increasingly difficult as we got into the names that we didn’t know and couldn’t easily translate. I think we should get extra points for spending a crazy amount of time just trying to translate some of the names into English to know what we were looking for. I still have no idea for example what a Chyotte is – I do now know however that it is a climber, like a cucumber (maybe) that can be trained vertically and it is white.

I enjoyed it. They could have had a lot more plants, I’m already growing about 50% of the ones they had on offer. I also don’t need a lot of tomatoes, apparently. The identification game definitely made it awesome however. I almost learnt some new words, but forgot most of them straightaway. But it was different, made us work as a team and I got to write down the answers – always the best bit. Plus I got some seeds as a gift – I do like myostis (forget me nots) but need somewhere to put them.

Back to Jonny’s. Time to drink wine and play with the dogs. ‘We’ have however been set a task to clear the space at the end of the pool ready for the pergola. So it’s back to work for us. While Jonny directs and Matt does the cutting my job is to get rid of the branches. Not sure I put them in the right place but I think it’s ok. They aren’t in the way of the pool, you can’t obviously see them from the house, they don’t block the water butt and they’re only in front of wild flowers. Once the tree was cut back Matt set about reducing the offcuts so they were easily manageable.

A quick celebratory drink and time to head home – most importantly so that we can get to the shop before it closes. We’ve invited Jonny over for Sunday lunch/dinner so probably should have some food in. Seems we bought a bee home too, I hope he’s not lost and isolated from his hive but not much we can do now. We still have work to do though. Matt went to clean the pool while I went to work on the veranda. I suspect that the new plants have been in a poly tunnel and might need a bit of acclimatising. I’m not happy with the locations of the cold frames anyway so it’s a good move I think.

Dinner is ready. Mine is cold by the time I have finished but it was fine. Time to relax and unwind while opening our post, and exciting post it was – our wedding invite to Lee and Vicky’s wedding!

[7 May 2022]

Sunday

I woke up and started to plan lunch, while laying in bed watching ‘The Good Doctor’. After an episode I got up and ‘dressed’ and bumped into Matt coming to wake me up. It seems that Matt had the same idea as me, his was just a bit more proactive as he’s had bacon and eggs for breakfast, the potatoes are already peeled and in the pot, and he’s made the creme catalan.

Time for me to take over so that Matt can start on the outside job. He’s filled in a bit more of the trenches which have settled down, sorted and moved the large pile of rubbish so that the trucks can move around the house, and re-sorted the wood shed.

I spent my time cooking, and constantly sending messages to Lucy. The baby still isn’t here and I decided that she must be bored in her hospital bed, so provided very constant updates (about every 5-10 minutes) as to what was happening in my kitchen. She seemed to enjoy it, but then Lucy is alway polite and overly accommodating so I can only hope it was a helpful distraction.

Basil scared the hell out of me. I was pottering about, sending Lucy messages when he came bounding in and jumped at at me. Thankfully I wasn’t holding a hot pan of anything. I guess that Matt was round the back somewhere but he appeared a I went out to find Jonny. Woody was very happy, no barking, he knows where he is and who we are when he comes here so as soon as Matt got the gate closed he was allowed off the lead to adventure about.

So time for lunch. It’s not perfect weather but despite clearing the veranda I was insistent that we ate by the pool and the umbrella on hand it worked perfectly. I kept reducing the gravy (almost drinking it), I made about a litre though so 625ml that made it to the table. Everything, apart from the beans and peas being steamed was ready when Jonny arrived so I was pleased with myself. Dinner time and set an extra place. I’ll you decide if it was for you, Lucy, Cress or Basil.

After the boys left I was forced back to work as Matt insists we need to get the last bits out of the shed and my arm is the best it is going to get at this point. It’s a big old piece of wood but at least we now also have them on bricks to stop the bottoms rotting.

We finally found the bit of board that Matt was looking for for ages, I spent half my time searching but with no idea what I was looking for. Eventually we found it though and Matt went to go and put it in the shed ready for the boiler install. My next job was to start moving some of the plants that would otherwise be destroyed when they put the new pipes in. I may not have gone far enough but with everything in bloom I’m reticent to pull things out unnecessarily. I will provide additional guidance tomorrow not to slash through my garden without giving me a chance to move things.

Then time to move the starlink dish, which apparently needs my expert ladder holding technique. Matt has been out in the garden picking some of the rhubarb ready to make some rhubarb gin. It seems that the first 24 hours are just rhubarb and sugar, and only later that you add the gin.

I’m pretty sure that our steps were too wide so they’re now a bit more reasonable, I think you can still get up them with two bags of shopping.

Time to call mum as she’ off to Italy tomorrow. It took rather longer than anticipated as Coline apparently doesn’t read the blog and required a full tour of the house and gardens. Boiler on again as Matt is keen to use up some of the fuel while I put on the washing. Finally time to relax.

Ouch, just moved my dressing gown and seems my steristrips are stuck to it, thankfully Matt hasn’t gone to bed quite yet so is still here to get me out. We removed a couple of the looser ones and then rewrapped it so I don’t wake him up later, plus that really hurt. But life goes on and so does washing so time to get it in the dryer, and explain to Matt which setting actually dried it properly. [I have no idea what most of them are for just that I end up hanging washing around the house which takes forever to dry because it is so cold.]

Matt has made some cheese and cracker snacks and is now off to bed while I finish writing this. All made much more difficult by trying to reach around a certain someone who has finally decided to sit on my lap.

[8 May 2022]