The French Renovation

The slow tide of the terrace continues to treacle onwards. You think YOU'RE sick of it? I simply HAVE to get up and get on with it every day, and one day, the world will rejoice! This corner is quite a deep one, and not many of my current rocks are that deep, so I've had to transport lots of hard core chunks from behind the pottery*. Digging into a massive bag of hardcore with a trowel is surprisingly tiring and frustrating, a fierce plunge often being met with a solid wall of resistance. The next step is placing the rocks on the layer of hard core. The process of building a fairly level terrace is tiresome, yet absolutely necessary. I use an old French spirit level that Alain lent me, and a strip of wall metal, but both items have let me down in the past. A wet and icy winter caused puddles on slightly lower parts of the terrace, and when we returned in the Spring, there was ice damage to my lime mix. Once the rocks are satisfactorily positioned and levelled, I make a whe...

At last, the rain has stopped, and Farmer Joel has managed to gather in the hay! The wonderful thing about this operation is that Farmer Joel sees it as us doing him a favour, and we see it the other way round! A perfect partnership.    Day 1: The cutting begins...   Day 2: A flip of the cut grass to aid drying... Day 3: On the third day, he rode again... Day 4: Action!   A nd they were gone!

I'm resorting to blogging in an attempt to divert my attention away from the Japan Scotland game. Games that actually matter to me make me feel sick with tension. Japan have just scored the first goal, and it's almost unbearable. Scotland were put off their stride by an offside call that wasn't. At least the Scottish national anthem was beautiful. The rain has continued here in the sometimes sultry south west corner of France; there have been a couple of warm sunny days, but not enough to get my legs brown. The brownness of my legs is my gauge of a good summer. They're very pale at the moment. With bruises. My main activity this week has been weeding the top vegetable plot. I've been out in the rain wearing wellies, waterproof trousers, jacket and hat, all day, every day. You might think this would make me feel even more Eeyore than usual, but, to be honest, I couldn't have been happier. I do love donkey work; it offers a chance for self indulgent daydreaming....