By -


                                                    

                                     Leaky waders- not helpful!

 

What are we doing at the moment?

Tim has spent a lot of time in his waders this week- not a good look it has to be said but they are very effective even if they do have a small leak. We are replacing the decking by the lake and as ever, everything turns into a much bigger job than you expect. The concrete supports that hold the whole thing up had come loose so straps were attached to the car to pull them level again. 

What are the French doing?

Although the French get a lot of bank holidays (14 days per year) if they fall on a weekend then that is 'tant pis!' (too bad) whereas the UK has only 7(1 extra for the Coronation this year). The French love May as they get lots of bank holidays this month. Ascension day is on the 18th of May which falls on a Thursday this year, so on Friday the 19th they will 'faire le pont' - doing the bridge. This is where they take a Monday or a Friday off if a bank holiday occurs on a Tuesday or Thursday.They also 'faire le viaduc' (do the viaduct- take two days) if a bank holiday falls on a Wednesday so that they are on holiday the rest of the week.

Where we've been. 

Tim and I went on a fabulous trip to Italy, we visited Florence, Cinque Terre, Verona and Milan. We took in lots of art and even more pizza and pasta. It was weird arriving at Pisa airport as we did not have to show our passports (as we had flown in from Paris) I expected to be taken down by security. However lovely Italy is, it was great to get back to normandity (do you see what I did there?) even though it has been cold and wet ever since we got back. 

Also managed to get to the UK. Mick gave me a lift as he was going over at the same time. I have been using the ferries as the train has got a lot more expensive but I forgot how easy and quick the train is especially if you are going that side of the UK.

I had to do that thing called ‘going into the office’ (reminded me of Ab Fab). Whilst sitting at my desk in the office, I was distracted by the noise- people were talking!, how dare they! I felt like turning round and shouting “can you keep it down some of us are working!”. I’ve got used to working in the quiet with no one around except the cat and Tim who walks past the window every now and then with various gardening equipment.

It's not all glitz and glamour here. We had to go to Castorama yesterday to get the decking and as we got out of the car the heavens opened and it takes a while to get 58 decking boards into the back of a trailer. Needless to say we were very damp and cold by the end of it. 

 

                                          I bet he wouldn't complain about putting the bins out.

                       

                                         


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

By -
Image
Don’t mind if I do!     What’s bugging me this month   J'en ai mar! Great french expression which means that you've had enough/fed up! And the reason I feel like this is because we are still without internet- 2 months now!   In desperation (and the fact that I am trying to work and I can’t keep going to McDonalds) we have invested in Starlink which was very simple to install and is very quick. It is ideal if you are like us and live in a rural area, plus I cannot get Orange to put in fibre optic even though I have begged them -I literally got down on my knees in the local store.   Talking of Mc Donalds, I have be visiting our local one to access their free Wi-Fi and of course I buy a coffee (can’t really sit there all day if I don’t). They open at 10.00 and silly me thinking I could get a coffee then, they told me that they would not be ready to serve till 10.30! but at least they bring it to your table on a nice tray - in the UK it’s just chucked ...
Read more

Is it a type of shoe?

By -
Image
                          Who puts a middle-aged woman in acrylic when it’s 36 degrees!   I spent 7 days working as a volunteer in Paris for the Olympics. I was a driver for the fleet of cars that were taking officials and guests around Paris. I visited Versailles, The Olympic Village, Roland Garros, the Aquatic Centre, plus lots of hotels and train stations but I didn’t get to see inside of any of them as I was just dropping and picking people up. We were based at one of the Hippodromes to the West of Paris and in the middle was a rugby pitch and a football pitch which were full of cars.  Paris had a target to cut emission by 50% on the London 2012 Olympics, so all the cars were either electric hybrids or hydrogen. I was reluctant to use the aircon in case I had to recharge the car (should have payed more attention in the training). My only gripe was the complete lack of toilets for the volunteer...
Read more
By -
Image
  What has been going on in Normandy? Our friends were married recently at a local Mairie. The service was lovely and the Maire was delighted as not only was it the first wedding he had performed that year but the first one ever for a British couple -don't worry Monsieur le maire there will be more coming!! We then had three days at a stunning local chateau, where we were provided with copious amounts of food and drink, a falconry demonstration and a helicopter flight (just the bride and best man- it couldn't take all of us) a good time was had by all.  It seems that I go to more funerals than weddings these days, so I was delighted to be invited to be one of my friend’s bridesmaids and to wear a very posh dress.  Scallops anyone? Last weekend we visited Port en Bessin- Huppain for the scallop (Coquille St-Jacques) festival. The scallop season runs from October to May and we took a boat trip where a retired fisherman told us all about it. They  are subjected to ...
Read more