Well, despite the fact that I did the last entry, and indeed, have done around 20 more entries than Matt, it’s my turn again this week. The reason for this is largely work-related. We’ve tend to have spurts of being very busy and at other times having little to do, but often it seems that these spurts occur at different times for us. I have had a busy run, doing most of the work on the Vortex sites as well as a few other wee projects, but just at the mo, I am at a loose end. Matt on the other hand is facing a bit of a backlog of things that need his attention all at the same time, so has delegated blogging duties.
So, to get the work stuff out of the way: when Mum and Dad were over, we discussed some changes Dad wanted making to his site. The idea is to change the focus primarily towards the wood carving side of his business, and to make the process of ordering easier for customers. Despite the fact that he has gifted us numerous items of bespoke wooden furniture worth hundreds of pounds, he insisted on paying us for the work, so once they’d left, I turned my attention to that. Now, all my parts are done and it’s over to Matt to make my pretty new order form actually work.
Unfortunately, also on his plate at the same time is a time-sensitive project that has come to us thanks to my friend Anna. She works for a community interest organisation in Milton Keynes called Make a Difference, or MAD. They have 2 sites, one for their main business, and a separate one that is more commercial and complicated, with a database and user registration system. For some time now, they’ve been frustrated at the original designer’s unresponsiveness and unhelpfulness, so came to us after shopping around for a new company to manage the sites. We’re of course delighted to get the business – yet another site we have won as a result of a client’s dissatisfaction with their original designer!
The first job was to get copies of all the files for both sites, which wasn’t easy as the original designer was somewhat prickly and kept dragging his feet (what is it about web designers??). Once we had those, the sites needed converting to a different language as they’d been written in a Microsoft language which makes them hard to update and to host. This is a job for Matt and unfortunately, the original designer has arbitrarily announced he will simply delete the current sites at the end of the month, so time is a-ticking. A further development in the feast-or-famine theme that is our workload: Matt has just been approached to work on a project by an ex-colleague from Channel 4. It’s the sort of work he can do easily enough, pays well and they seem keen, even though he told them he’s unable to start for a few weeks. He’s got a call on Monday to discuss the project.
For me, I had one other largish bit of work recently. There is a giant, global expat network called Anglo Info, which covers most countries on Earth, France included. Our Vortex clients pay for advertising on several of their French sites, and were asked by Anglo Info to supply some images to enhance their listings. I was passed this job and did so. A few days later, I got a call from Anglo Info asking if I was available to provide banner ads of various sizes and types for other clients of theirs on a regular basis. This represents some excellent potential regular work, so I readily agreed. A week or so later, I got my first brief and was a bit concerned as one of the image formats they require (.swf files) is one that I am far from familiar with and don’t really have the tools to produce. The official software is deemed by its makers (Adobe) to be worth several hundred pounds, but this isn’t a view I share so I have to make to with free online solutions, all of which are flawed in one way or the other.
The turnaround time for these projects is 5 days so on day 4, I submitted everything I had done. I was worried none of it would be up to scratch but she was pleased with everything. Everything, that is, apart from the .swfs, which she could not open. I spent most of yesterday trying to come up with a way to get these to her, and in the end, gave up in frustration. I have yet to hear back from her, so don’t know how it will end up. If she is prepared to go with what I have done leaving the .swfs aside, there’s a nice wee chunk of money in it for me, not to mention the promise of more work in the future too. Otherwise, I’ve wasted two days and a good opportunity. Hey ho…
Right, enough of work and on to more fun things. Friday was curry night for Milhac, so we ordered as usual but didn’t have it that night as we had dinner plans. Carol & Bryan came over along with Lucien and Mauricette. Matt served up a shepherd’s pie made with chicken, with chocolate cupcakes for dessert. Carol’s French is coming along well, as L&M remarked, but otherwise, lots of interpretation is needed on these nights. Luckily for me, Matt can do so just as ably as me, so we can share the task. B&C have since headed back to the UK for a couple weeks to see the family. I hope the weather has been good for them because the day they left (Sunday), it was 25 degrees out here and has been largely warm and pleasant ever since.
After a quiet Saturday of work during the day and delayed curry in the evening, it was back to socialising on Sunday. We made the most of the sun by throwing a BBQ. We invited Francoise and Phillipe and also Sophie and Dominique. The latter, the astute reader may remember, invited us to theirs for a meal earlier this year when their foster son, Phillipe met Matt one of the job centre meetings. We really enjoyed their company, but what with one thing and another, hadn’t made any effort to see them since. When Matt rang to invite them, Sophie was overjoyed and readily accepted. We didnt realise, but they didn’t have our number and had even driven around Mazeroux looking for us in vain, so were chuffed we’d made contact. We suspected the 2 French couples would get on well and indeed they did. Our first hot day of the year, we spent it all outside, kicking proceedings off with a margarita, then lunch out in the front garden. Afterwards, we ended up playing a few games of boules that lasted till the late afternoon, when Sophie and Dominique headed back home. By this time, we were all fairly tipsy (not to mention sunburnt) but it was so enjoyable being outside in t-shirts at night that Francoise and Phillipe ended up staying for a light dinner too. Once Phillipe gets started on the voddie, it’s hard to get him to stop, but Francoise did eventually succeed and they left us around 10 ish.
Despite a fuzzy start to the week, we managed to be productive and both worked away on our respective projects. Matt met Vortex on the Wednesday to discuss IT solutions for their business processes and now has the green light to draw up some proposals for them. This too will obviously have to wait for the timebeing but good they’re on board and will keep us occupied on an ongoing basis.
Wednesday was our second very hot day, hitting 27 in Mazeroux. The recent heat has led to an explosion of activity in the garden. The magnolia is suddenly in full bloom, the Wysteria is budding, the fruit trees are all in bloom and all the onions and garlic that dad planted are sprouting in the veggie plot. The seedlings I got started in the house are doing well in some cases – courgettes, squash, a pepper and 2 of our ‘other’ seeds have started.
Nothing else has materialised though, but some of the seeds were quite old so not a big surprise really. The lawn has also gone nuclear and needs cutting yet again having just been done a week ago. The other big garden task looming is to trim the hedges, an annual chore that last year saw me curse moan and swear so isn’t one I am looking forward to. Actually, my issue last year was that I was using Sharon’s hedge trimmer (and not chain saw, as she thought when she bought it) that she lent us, and it was a cheap bit of kit that refused to start 90% of the time, hence my raging. Jenny at the equestrian centre is lending us hers this year – I am going to collect it in a bit – so fingers crossed, it should go smoother this year.
I shall end with a note about our beloved puddies. After a long, long winter, they are celebrating the return of spring in style. Even the nocturnal Louis has been spending all day outside, to the great detriment of the local birds, mice, lizards and moles. For the last several nights, we have had one or both pusses on the bed with us all night, which makes it hard to sleep. We’ve also had several mornings of being woken at 6 by the sounds of bone crunching outside our room, with only a wee stomach or a few stray feathers remaining by the time we get up. Well, that is until Louis threw up one of his kills on the duvet the other day. Mercifully we’d gotten up already, but still, it wasn’t too fun to clear up.
The downside to the return of spring is that the cats now expect every day to be hot and sunny. On days like today where it’s slightly overcast and only due to reach 13, they decide it’s too cold and act up in the house, as the Smoo is doing at present. The other downside is the return of the ticks. I’ve already removed 4 from Louis and a couple from the Smoo. I hate to use that Frontline stuff as it sounds really evil, but we caved in this week: it’s the lesser of 2 evils.
Right, that’s all from me. I am off to borrow a hedge trimmer. The advantage of being a foreigner is that one can swear with impunity in one’s garden without offending the neighbours, but here’s hoping I won’t need to this year. A bientot.