Wednesday

Busy day of work but had a quick look around the garden. The Zinnias are now starting to come out along with the calendula and capucine (nastertiums).

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I was otherwise busy working trying to catch up on things. Matt however managed to find some time finally to collect up some of the many plums that are incredibly ripe.

One of the trees at the end of the meadow however is teeming with ripe plums, so Matt has decided that today is the day to harvest some of them. We’re going to need to get a good ladder though to get to most of them. He’s also popped down to Intermarche to get the remaining ingredients for [Indian plum chutney?] and of course some umeschu [Japanese plum wine].

Over 2.5kg and that was just the low ones that he could reach.

With a break in work I am feeling mentally exhausted. The only thing for it was to have a walk around the garden which reminded me about the letter from the Marie about getting the trees under the high voltage power lines pollarded. I’m not really sure what they are talking about. There is only one that is even under it and that is no higher than the ones on the other side of the boundary. The guy they asked us to call is on holiday anyway so no matter. We’ll pollard a lot of them in the autumn anyway.

Eventually the plumber turned up with all the right bits, well for two of the toilets at least. We now have 2 working toilets on the first floor. The toilet on the second floor however still needs another piece of pipe, he only had a bend piece and it needs a straight one. [I know it’s just pictures of toilets – the seats are up to show they have water in them – but it is very exciting, believe me, it really is. I can’t wait to pee on the same floor that I sleep on, there are a lot of stairs I could fall down and I’ve missed the bottom one in the dark more times than I can tell you.]

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Back to work until a new mason comes over. Well..

That wasn’t what we had hoped for. In summary, his advice was that:

• Unlike the external walls, the wall in the kitchen is most likely made of all the offcuts from the marble mines and will look rubbish if exposed
• The guttering needs to be fully inspected (and possibly replaced) before we can do the external work at the top of the house
• Do not put in your pool yourself, it is an incredible amount of work and you’re most likely to have to get it replaced or fixed in a year, the best thing would be to get the hole dug and a pool dropped into it – his other half has made him do it and it has been back breaking (and he knows what he’s doing)
• The widening of the door is also not easy or ideal but he will provide a quote, it has to be done so it is what it is

Now I know that all sounds very disheartening, but actually was very refreshing. We largely have little to no idea what we are doing. It’s nice for someone to tell you that it’s a rubbish idea before you spend multiple thousands on it only to come to the same conclusion. We still need a really good plasterer (for skim plastering specifically) if you know anyone that wants to spend a week in France let us know?!

Sausages and mash for dinner this evening, yum. We then had a bit of a marathon of ‘Richard Osmond’s House of Games’ [it’s a TV game show on BBC 2, it’s actually very funny and we enjoyed it, we’re pretty crazy round here.] We did interject it with an episode of University Challenge just to mix things up – I even got two right in a row, twice! The cat however has decided that being carried is far less frightening if she burries her head into his elbow.

Time for bed and just as Matt is brushing up, I decide that I will prepare the bread for tomorrow. It seems however that there has been a mouse in the cupboard and their favourite food is Jammie Wagon Wheels. They ate two thirds of it..

Anyway, that’s enough of that. Ingredients are the maker and timer is set, we will have fresh bread for lunch!

It seems however that as Matt was checking if the cat was out, when opening the door, it magically jumped up into his arms. I mean, it was pretty cute though. So he put her onto my lap and went to bed. It’s no problem though as time to update the blog.

Now we’re done though and it’s time to coax this kitten out of the house and get to bed myself.

[28 July 2021]

Thursday

Busy morning but the sun is shining and is very alluring so spent most of the afternoon working on the veranda.

Apparently the weather wasn’t so good up the road however so invited Jonny and Cressida over for a quick drink and a catch up. Was lovely to see them again and share our little patch of sunshine. Matt was stuck on conference calls most of the time but we did fine without him. I felt sorry for Cress’ son however who she was meant to be talking to at 7 as they didn’t leave till nearly 8.

After they left we had a quick dip in the pool. The cat was in a particularly playful mood so Matt got the lazer out.

[Matt Video]

Finally time for dinner though and to catch up on the Olympic Rugby 7s.

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[29 July 2021]

Friday

Back to back calls all morning from 9am, including an interview for another project with an NHS Trust up North. Of course I smashed it, they were impressed with my experience and would like me on it so that’s another job starting Monday. With this one about to land and a submission due Wednesday I’m going to need to get on top of things so late night working and more to do tomorrow.

A quick look around the garden however showed that a lot of the old trees are struggling. It’s been a particularly wet spring/summer and that has given rise to a lot of plant issues. I suspect that they probably also need some good pruning. [Not had to do that before but when has that stopped us doing anything eh?!]

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Time for Matt to get a little massage before bed. Seems the masseuse was tired a little before he was though.

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[30 July 2021]

Saturday

A little lie in but can’t stay in bed too long as I have work to do. Matt meanwhile has been down in the basement putting together some of the walling for the workshop. He assures me that this will help him to find things, which should double the amount of work we get done around here. [He spends as much time looking for tools etc as he does doing the work.] My job was just to hold things in place while he put the screws in.

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Back to work for me so Matt is off to the Brico. Not really sure what for but it gets him out the house and gives me time to concentrate. By the time he gets back I’ve done about as much as I can without anyone else providing input so time to call it a day.

It’s nearly 5pm but apparently the pool shop up at Montrejeau is open until 7 so time to go see if we can get a quote for someone to actually come and do it all for us. Got some lovely brochures and they are going to give us a call for someone to come round, check the site for access, look at the ground etc.

Then stopped into Gamm Vert, I’d seen some nice plants that I wanted but by the time I circled back around they had gone. Picked up a couple of bits though so this trip has just picked up considerably. On the way back we were about to pass Lidl when I asked if he’d checked the plant section when he went by the Luchon one earlier. Of course he hadn’t. They had some good plants though, and the same ones I was looking at in Gamm Vert but €1 cheaper and 50% larger – Winning!

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It’s been a long day so time to settle in with the cat and a marathon of quiz shows.

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[31 July 2021]

Sunday

Lovely day today so time to make the most of it and get into the veg garden. After all the rain last night it was a shame that none of it was filling the waterbutt so time to get that new guttering fitted. Matt sprayed some water onto the roof and seems to be working so that’s great.

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I spent my time collecting cornichons and french beans and weeding. The plot is coming along well and the onions are looking pretty good for one, Meow wanted to be nearby so she slept in the veg plot while I was working.

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Had a nice wander round the garden. Some lovely [japanese anenomies] coming out. Lucky too as we nearly cleared that lot thinking that they were weeds growing through the driveway. They are beautiful but I do wish they were in the bed.

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Probably time for a dip in the pool. It’s lost a few degrees over the past few days so Matt wasn’t so keen. I was the bravest of all braves, and went first. It was a bit cool but I wasn’t about to tell him that, he knew I was lying but I still convinced him to come join me, and even help to clean it.

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Back in the house and Matt’s decided that he’d like to go for a walk. We walked down to the river and followed the railway lines and then had a bit of an adeventure, generally trying to work out how easy it would be unicycle to Jonny and Cressida’s place. They’re not going to deal with the railway track section but mostly looks manageable.

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Came back via the pub, unfortunately however it was closed which was a bit of a bust. Time for dinner and some relaxation before bed, it’s promising to be a busy week.

[1 August 2021]