I’ve had a lovely Christmas peeps.

A very different but nonetheless, very lovely Christmas. The mild sunny weather has meant it didn’t always feel particularly festive, but the blue skies and frosty mornings have made up for any lack of Dickensian looking snow.

It was warm enough on Xmas day to sit outside with a coffee and the thermometer on the side of our barn read a positively balmy 16 degrees.

I’m very much looking forward to trying out my tiny nano chainsaw, it has a mighty 6.1/2cm blade but should do 99% of the things I need it to, mainly pruning, but some smaller diy projects too. It’s charging as we speak.

We tried a different walk with the dogs on Boxing Day, 4.1/2km or so. With the exception of a couple of tiny hamlets, just rolling hills and forests to the mountains, just love it.

Yesterday we spent a chunk of the afternoon in the garden. Mainly strimming the veg patch to remove as much of the brambles as possible, and we had a small fire to get rid of some of the detritus. I stood by the fire late afternoon, watching the last of the sun dipping down behind the house. Not a sound except the distant moo of a cow, and buzz of a chainsaw, birds singing, fire lightly crackling as I let it die down. Feeling, quite frankly, like king of the world. I don’t even need to close my eyes to visualise how it’ll all be when it’s finished. The clock is ticking though, so much to plant in the new year and nowhere yet to plant it. I’d better get a wriggle on.

EDF are expected today to switch our electricity supply from triple to monophase, so fingers crossed they turn up. So, super busy both inside and outside once the rewire is finished.

We also need to start the fun-filled road to applying for our residency permit, to future proof against any Brexit related pain. Not massively looking forward to this, but there will be some relief when we have those cards in our hands.

Hope you’re all enjoying the period of no mans land between Xmas and new year. It’s our 6th wedding anniversary tomorrow, so I think we might pop into Limoges and wander round the Xmas market, possibly a spot of lunch too maybe. Heaven knows where those 6 years have gone, but here’s to the next 60!.

TTFN xx