Despite being in the UK, Will still managed to prompt me to do a blog post so here you go. He left midday on Monday via train so I took him to Angouleme and then stopped for supplies on the way home. I took advantage of his absence in the usual manner by purchasing salmon and steak for my dinners. I am having an Asian-theme noodle week: salmon in a hot and sour broth and grilled steak in a Thai curry style. I made enough for the next few nights so have a bit more free time now.
We’ve attended two of the annual events in our area. As Will foretold, we made our annual pilgrimage to the Spring Fair in Brantome the Sunday after we got back. We had nearly made a lap hadn’t found our vineyard but they were just in a different spot. We got a half case each of the ’09 and ’10 and also got half a case for Bryan and Carol so the lady from the chateau was happy to see us. She remembered us and we had a pleasant exchange while we sampled the wares. Last weekend was the Floralie at St Jean de Cole. The weather wasn’t great on Saturday so we went on Sunday instead. Carol had never been and she loves gardening so had a great time ticking things off her list. The weather was better but still not great so it wasn’t at all crowded.
I have been busy working while Will is away so the timing is good in that respect. I’m doing some integration work on an site built five years ago and it’s, um, unique is a good way to put it. Suffice it to say, it’s taken me a few days to figure out how it hangs together but I’m on my way now so hope to show some progress soon. The Mad sites that I put live earlier this month are mostly functioning as the should but I’m still ironing out some bugs. I have received three unrelated calls from clients so have been doing stuff that Will would normally do. It’s nice to be busy but I have other things to do too!
On that front, I have had some gardening to do but the weather hasn’t been cooperative. So far, May has been like April was last year: grey, cloudy and temps in the low-mid teens. Despite this, the grass is still growing at an amazing rate and needs cutting every week. Lucien mentioned to Will that he thought there was something wrong with our mower. I agreed so before I started mowing today, I had a look underneath and sure enough, the screws holding the blade were loose. After tightening them, it’s mowing much better, so much so that it took me 50% longer than usual to do the front. I still have the back yet to do. Lucien also mentioned that we had a hazelnut tree growing amongst our raspberries. It was so well rooted I needed a spade and bent the trowel getting it out.
The other neighbourly gardening help will be from Bryan. He had a mole problem so got a couple of traps from the UK. They are meant to be deadly and I regret having to borrow them but the moles have declared war on Port 80. Since I last mowed ten days ago, there are no fewer than 30 mounds in the back garden as well as some in the front. They are coming up in the veggie plot and I am about to plant. Bryan is going to come help me set the traps and then hopefully, it will bye-bye molies.
We had a few social event last week. On Wednesday, Lee and Richard came over with the friend Glenda who was here visiting. We’ve met her a few times and she is lovely and easy to get along with. The boys marinated some chicken legs, we got sausages and I bbq’d them. This was my third time this season and indeed a charm. I over cooked things on my previous attempts but not this time. I also made a pasta salad and bought a tarte au pomme at Super U so it was nice and easy. The guests left around 11 since Richard had to work the next day. The boys are both well although working a lot on their house too. A gay couple moved into the village not long ago so they’ve been spending time with them.
On Friday, we had Bryan & Carol and Françoise & Phillipe over for curry night. We invited a number of others but no one else could make it. Phillipe was on school holiday and had spent the day making plum eau-de-vie where it is traditional to taste as you go. He hit the vodka from the moment he arrived and was well ahead of everyone by the time we sat down to dinner. He speaks decent English, unfortunately in this case since he had a lot to say about Germany, where Bryan’s mother is from. There was no unpleasantness thankfully. I’m not sure how much Phillipe liked his curry, saying it was all too spicy and no wonder the English like it: so they can’t taste their wine. B&C left around midnight, the others around 2 and the Will and I stayed up for a cleanser so didn’t make it to bed until 4. Very little happened on Saturday.
Will and I are still scheduled to perform at the equestrian centre in a few weeks but it’s not looking too promising. We have one song that sounds ok but still needs work. We have ideas for a few others but very little time to practise. That’s what I will be doing for the next few nights so we’ll see where we are when Will get’s back. Ok, it’s noodle time so I’ll leave you here.