I started this a couple of weeks ago, so apologies for it being a game of two halves as it were. I really must finish things when I start them….

Part 1…..Morning lovely peeps. Up early-ish with the bulldog and out into the dark, it’s blowing a gale and the wind is lashing down, but I’m safely back inside with a coffee and (after another dark blustery dash to the woodshed) a roaring fire is in progress.

I thought I should check in to let you know I’m still here, I’ve not written anything since Mum’s funeral and to be honest I’ve not much felt like it. In fact the melancholy is coming in waves with every new flower that bursts into life outside. She was always the person I’d tell about the first crocus, or snowdrop. Now I have all the new bulbs I planted in the Autumn springing in to life and it feels like no-one really cares about that but me. The crocuses became something she’d ask about every time we spoke, and now they’re a reminder that the last time they flowered she was here and this time she’s not. I like them a little less for it.

This being said, the first conjoined period of warm sunny weather has meant plenty of outside time, (much to the neglect of housework as per usual), and it’s the only thing that seems to quiet the noise. I’m embarking on a quite ambitious project to set up an outside kitchen in our old lean to, which is currently full of the tops of a decades worth of pollarded trees, old tiles, bricks, fenceposts, a mattress, a TV arial, and all the old guttering that we had replaced last year. I’ve cleared a chunk of this already, separating the tiles in good condition and stacking them neatly in the root cellar, all the broken ones went to the dechetterie at the weekend. I really need the husband and his chainsaw skills to cut some of the logs we have in there into moveable chunks, but he’s struggling with a flu bug and has been away a bit for work so that’ll have to wait.

We’re having 3 trees taken down this month as well, so I’m very conscious that we need to stack this wood somewhere sensible, but I have no clue currently as to where. Theres a section of corrugated metal that blew off the roof in last years storm so maybe I’ll build a makeshift log store, with roof in advance. That seems like the sort of thing an adult would do.

Meanwhile, once again ivy is trying to take over, so spent a big old chunk of time trying to get it down to the ground. It’s almost impossible to kill it entirely, but the best thing I’ve found is using ash from the fire. If I can get the stem as close to the ground as possible and smother what remains with a thick layer of ash then it seems to not come back. Don’t like to use any sort of weedkiller, I did try an eco-friendly version of Roundup, but to be honest, it does nothing.

We’ve also had a quote for new windows for the whole house. We have original single pane French windows upstairs, and white UPVC double glazed units downstairs that were here when we bought the house. Really would like the whole house to be uniform and preferably look like they are wooden frames. These would be triple glazed and with integral fly screens which I think would be game changing for us. We have lots to consider because it means losing our shutters (too complicated to fully explain), and probably a trip to the Maire’s to make sure we don’t need permission to make an external change to the house. Never mind the not inconsiderable cost, but it’s a thing we need to do and should make the house cooler in summer and warmer in winter which is always the goal right?

Part 2… I really must stop writing stuff and just letting it sit in drafts…. Morning again. We had surprise snow over the weekend, which was a delight. I watch the forecast generally like a hawk but there was no sign of this, then bam! a yellow weather warning for Creuse for snow and ice out of nowhere. It snowed solidly for hours, but it just wasn’t cold enough for it to stick properly and by the evening of Sunday it was all gone. It did lead to a very very lovely weekend though. The sort of weekend where you don’t really do that much but it was just perfect. We went into our local town centre for an appointment which I’m not going to share the reasons for just yet, but it was exciting and interesting and fun. The snow was really coming down and Zizim tower, (our local medieval prison obvs), looked magical. We walked down to our favourite bakery, and ate pain au chocolates walking back through the blizzard. A quick dash to the supermarket where we did what has been previously referred to as a toddler shop. Was mainly booze, snacks and if memory serves some celery (inserts shrugged shoulders emoji). The weekend was full of 6 Nations Rugby which I’m already missing, and yes Wales were terrible, but it was to be expected and still some amazing rugby. Thoroughly enjoyed all of it. Lit a roaring fire, listened to some podcasts while the snow came down.

Sunday, up early and left the hubs in bed while I went for a lovely snowy walk at about 7.00am. Birds singing, snow everywhere, forest looking like Narnia and didn’t see another soul. Arrived back at home with cheeks stinging and emotional battery refilled.

We had brunch/late breakfast of spam, eggs, hash browns and beans with toast, and consequentially didn’t want the full roast chicken and trimmings that I had planned for the afternoon, so instead we had hot roast chicken and stuffing sandwiches on buttered bread, and that’ll do pig, that’ll do.

In other news, we have a septic tank issue which means we have a trickle of unpleasantness flowing down the garden. Steve, our fosse man has visited, and concluded that a power outage had stopped one of the pumps that aerates the waste and caused the main body of the tank to rise above the level it should. This in turn has sent solid waste into the drainage trench which should only really receive liquids. Awaiting a date for him to come and try to jet flush this pipe out, but if that fails it’s a dig up the garden situation, so thoughts and prayers please. Towards the end of the week (weather permitting), the tree guy is coming to take down 3 trees which are leaning on each other and the barn roof. So then we’ll have a lot of wood to move and stack. Yay. It sometimes does feel like it’s never ending. Oh, and, no reply from the Maire’s office re the windows permissions, so I guess it’s a trip down there for a chat. Living here definitely does make you more patient, more tolerant and lower your expectations re customer service. If you can’t be relaxed about no-one ever doing what they say they’re going to, well, this isn’t the place for you. For example still awaiting Orange to come and sort out the broken fibre situation, it has been months……

TTFN x