Instagram mourning phase 3. Apathy. Who needs Instagram anyway. I wasn’t running a business, I sure as hell wasn’t an influencer, what was the point of all that time and effort really?

Friends was the point. Community was the point. Human connection was the point. In a country where my language skills are still shameful, and an isolated rural home, it was the interaction that I needed. 8300 penpals. It’ll be interesting to see which friends come looking for me though….. I’ve set up a placeholder Instagram page (rosbif.blog) to tell those that were wondering where I’ve gone what’s happening and where they can find me. Not planning to post on it, not until I know the other account is gone at least. Sooo, we continue to wait…..

I bled some radiators this week! I know. I’m basically just killing time until the new series of Line of Duty. But, it’s one of those things that makes me feel really grown up. Like checking the oil on the ride on mower, or building a fire outside.

In the interests of continuing to try and adult, we’re in the no-mans land between realising we need a new fosse septique, and getting a new fosse septique. Septic tank, to the uninitiated. Without going into too much detail, if you use the loo before then taking a shower, you have an interesting aromatherapy spa experience. That’s the trade off though, mains drains and living in a village/town with neighbours, or rural bliss with stink shower. Stink shower please! This teamed with my brilliant idea to put in a black countertop sink in the bathroom, that is is used for brushing teeth (white toothpaste) but can drain slowly due to said ancient fosse… Well as you imagine, it can grate on one a bit.

Don’t get me wrong, we knew we needed a new one from the off, but we’ve managed to wing it for the best part of 5 years, it’s just a very non exciting way to spend money. Like spending £40 in M&S on tights. A prolonged period of rain on the long range weather forecast is always a cause for concern as that seems to be the thing it dislikes most. Since we had a situation before xmas where the shower tray would fill up to the brim, along with the toilet and the bathroom sink, we had to call the special man with the truck to come and empty the tank. He did a great job, and left us with a 2021 calendar. Yes folks, we have a 2021 shit-sucker truck calendar! It’s filed next to the one the Pompiers (Fire Brigade) leave you at Christmas. The one that alternates between pictures of road traffic accidents, barn fires, and their annual moules frites day group photos. Receiving this has become a highlight of our festive season.

I’ve done some reading, and my beautiful lemon tree cannot be planted outside. It needs temps of no lower than 10 degrees overnight year round, and that’s not a thing we can guarantee. So our living room will now contain a 5ft lemon tree. Lemon count is now 13, after one went into pasta sauce last week, and 4 went into making lemon curd this afternoon. A new massive pot, saucer, trivet thing with wheels, and citrus feed was also purchased today. I’m terrified that I’ll kill it, but I’m going to try extremely hard not to.

This doesn’t resolve however, where the ashes of our beloved old dog Cleo will go, our plan was to bury them under a lovely new tree, but it’ll have to be another lovely new tree I guess.

Laters…….. V