for me that is fantastic and probably well deserved.

Spring is most definitely in full bloom and whist working in the allotment I was just nailed to the ground and forced to wonder at nature’s way and the promise of fruit through flowers. It is rare that we look from this angle of the garden so now I am planning a sitting place in the allotment so we can just sit and look, but not with  a glass of wine.... and I will tell you about that later

 

 

 

 

The raised beds are going well and we are now ready to set about number 4. We need to have a huge bonfire soon and the moment the wind is in the right direction we can play November  5^th and rid ourselves of all this tree rubbish. We are having the area in front of the barn scraped to lay a hard standing and that will give us the soil to fill these beds but we are going to have to loam the pile first and have lovely relaxed soil for next season.

We finally got the man around to investigate our problem with a fire not drawing well and Mike struggling with a migraine headache as soon as the fire is lit and it appears that the tube had collapsed in the chimney and it needed to come out. Whilst our man was dealing with the tube and had the kitchen covered in plastic sheeting he did a 300 Euro chimney sweep and at the first thought you might wonder why so much, but I witnessed the apprentice with his head stuck up my chimney behind plastic sheeting pushing his little machine, up the chimney to scrape years of burnt on soot and then vac it all out.  There was outcry to stop little boys being sent up chimneys in the 1700’s, well I can honestly say that this young apprentice worked just as hard. He was very polite and happy to be working, with his black face, grubby clothing and not singing chimchimeny …….thank goodness

 

 

 

You would not think that his could cause so much anguish and cost so much to replace and put right , the invoice rolled in at 1 300 Euro but now it is done and we have the factures to prove it was done properly this time, if we ever get around to moving on and moving out we will need that bit of paper......

 

 

 
 
 

We did it again ……we visited  the gravel pit to look at prices and gravel  size, we  only went there to suss out a project and  mull over the logistics of it all  but before we knew it we had a 14 ton lorry load of 0/20 ballast being delivered.  Every year we have had a lorry deliver either gravel or ballast for some project or other but this pile felt like the smallest ever delivered and we can only guess that we have got blasé but I find this so very exciting.  Gravel or ballast is the start of something big and today we started digging out from the front of the barn, extending the top car park and moving non interesting mounds of soil to give us fillers for the raised gardens in the allotment

 Dean came with his digger and also brought his dumper so Mike took the role of labourer and between them they moved an astonishing volume of soil to the top carpark. They also flattened out an area in from of the patio to put the swimming pool on this year and then they attacked the top car park and moved a mound and pulled down three huge trees so that wecould double the size of the parking area.  All very good but you can never imagine just how much soil a day’s work can produce

 

 

 

 

We have more than enough soil to fill the raised beds, but cast your eye on the massive pile in the next garden there is tons of it and we will have to come up with yet another cunning plan to deal with it……laters

 

 

 

 

 

Dean has offered to leave the dumper here for a couple of days to help with moving of the gravel and the rest of the soil, we have a bobcat coming on Monday, Mike driving, so we do not have to use wheel barrows to shift the ballast but with the dumper as well we are well equipped in hard ware but where we find the energy and motivation is any ones guess

 

 

Mike is now much better and is having physio which if nothing else makes us both stop and relax for  45 mins twice a week. Mike’s physio lives in Brevands and I have been very happy to sit and  chat in French whilst he pummels away on Mikes back.

I had another session with my ears nose and throat specialist and he is stumped as to why I still have a sore throat after 9 months and why my hearing has not put itself right either……I could do his job I'm sure…….! but we are now at the point of very drastic measures and I have been forbidden to drink alcohol, caffeine and eat anything that I know throws my digestion into a temper. It is day three and I feel like I am coming off drugs, it is not funny and I am not having a good time but Mike is having a hoot dumper truck driving and is in full control of all the current projects so I can have a few days off and for me that is fantastic and probably well deserved.