Thursday

Whoop whoop – The weekend has arrived early for the UK, for us this means that we have an extra-ordinary opportunity to get work done on the house. I also leant this apparently common term ‘Platy Joobs’ which I am now super committed to using as I haven’t had the exposure to it at home every day unlike the UK contingent, for the rest of you I hope you find it as fun as I do.

Of course a long weekend for me meant getting an early look at the Garden, this first lily I give to Vicky as it’s her favourite colour – although better in real life.

Our next job however is to start clearing the back of the house, not least so that we can fill it up again. Time for a big dechetterie clear up. Also on the list for the day is recycling. Apparently we are either really lax or really good at this, or maybe the king of the mountain (of s**t)

Next job for me is to paint the ceiling in the ensuite. I am a fan of painting, generally it’s quite satisfying as you can quickly see the difference you are making. However, ceilings suck. They’re harder, you get paint all over your face and it’s generally less fun.

Meanwhile Lionel was in the pool doing his thing and Matt was making dinner. Was nice that the weather was good. We also had a quick walk around the garden to see what was happening.

[2 June 2022]

Friday

Glad that we have time for a break, although it doesn’t feel much like that. The first big job of the day was to finish clearing the area at the back of the house. As you probably know by now this requires us to separate all the different materials into separate lots to go to the dechetterie so is a much bigger job than it may look. Of course however the house is full of magic cleaning fairies who love to run around and do it all, which is a relief since even this small pile took longer than expected.

I’m pretty pleased with myself though as I think it looks pretty good. The next job is to work the same magic on the chicken coop. This included sorting out the old above ground pool and packing it up. Even Matt had to get involved in this one so apparently the fairies must have been on a break or clocked off. I’m starting to think however that the cat is a bit of a narcissist. I also enjoyed a bit of walk around the garden, the cat on the other hand thought it would be fun to pretend that the old BBQ cover is a fort. I do like a good fort so I could definitely understand her point.

We’d already watched the best Glastonbury had to offer, it was Crowded House, the rest sadly was pretty poor. So rather than having a garden Glasto we settled for drinks round the pool.

[3 June 2022]

Saturday

Today it’s time for a much more enjoyable job, I’m off to the vegetable garden to go and plant up the first batch of chilli plants. This is much more fun. They look so little buried into the mulch though I wonder if it’s too early, but they can’t stay where they are in pots as I don’t have space and the mulch should help to conserve water as well as helping add nutrients etc to the soil. I also popped in the new globe artichoke that we bought at the market with Jonny, Matt tells me they have the most awesome flowers. Next up time for the other flowers that I’ve started although this year most of them are now for the pots around the pool. Of course I didn’t know this when I planted them so I don’t have anywhere near enough of anything. I promise next year to plant hundreds more.

Meanwhile Matt has been in the workshop to build the frame for the new sink unit. He’s very clever like that and has been doing a super job. I obviously had to help hold things here and there but it’s all him really and it’s looking pretty sturdy. It’s going to need to be, not just to face the weather we have but also the pure weight of the sink itself.

So now onto the big job of the day, setting up my new water cube and outside sink, Monty says you should wash your pots etc each year to ensure that you don’t transfer bacteria and potential diseases; plus Matt wants one to wash out the paint brushes etc when working on the house. Different strokes but same need. We also have the perfect sink thanks to the lovely Hutchinsons. Good thing too as Matt has been wondering for quite a while what I wanted this huge big heavy sink for, and now I have found it. It also helpfully has plenty of space on either side to put things to wash/drain. As I said, Perfect! Thanks Tim and Elvina. 🙂

The one problem with this indestructible sink is that it is bloody heavy, and it feels even more so when as you’re dropping it into the perfectly sized hole it traps the end of your finger. There were definitely tears before bedtime today. Definitely time to give up and have some recovery wine – I’m pretty sure it’s a French prescription. It was so painful even the cat couldn’t face looking at it. There was also a pretty epic storm this evening that even clocked out the power for a few seconds, thankfully that didn’t take long as I think it may have struck the house. Best for sleepy cat to stay inside tonight.

[4 June 2022]

Sunday

Obviously it is Sunday, so means I’m clearly sleeping in. I really don’t think Matt has the same appreciation for the Sunday day of rest idea that I do. Anyway, despite the rather ominous looking weather, it seems that he has been very productive. He’s managed to fit the new lock onto the back door and it works beautifully. We finally now have two ways to enter the house and they are both fully secure. Who knows when we’ll ever be able to use the front door without being home but it’s got one hell of a bar holding it in place when we’re out.

While I was pottering about upstairs changing the bedsheets etc however I happened to look out the window and saw something swimming in the pool so came to check what it was. And look what I found, a large common toad. I’m not sure if he was just doing his laps but thought it best to pull him out as although there is the skimmer (or Toad Sushi train as we refer to it) that is at the other end of the pool so it’s a long way away when you’re that small. I have also had a look at getting one of those animal escape ramps too. Delivery is going to take a while but might be a good idea.

My next sowing of sweetcorn seems to be doing well with a number of them poking their heads up and needing some repotting. I lost one of them but the rest seemed to go ok. Time also to get the tomatoes in and some of the flowers. I’m keen to get as much in the ground as possible before I leave next week so that Matt can just turn on the automatic watering. Good to also see the potatoes starting to come up, I have no idea when they will be ready, or really what I planted so will just wait and see.

With those jobs done and the weather not at it’s best it’s time for a quick walk around the garden before calling mum and then going to pack for the trip back to London tomorrow. It’s been a busy weekend.

[5 June 2022]