Nice start to the day. Cool, with heavy showers in the afternoon and a lovely evening.
Jst got back from Paris last night following an uneventful 4 hour train journey. Ilka & I had a lovely time in Paris (surprise) and didn’t overdo the tourism but instead just meandered through the streets and came across things.
Paris was a lovely break but the noise and rush of the city is such a contrast to the back-of-beyond existence I have here in the Dordogne. We had to buy earplugs for our cheapo hotel room because it didn’t have double glazing or windows that really closed properly. Back here, I slept for 10 hours last night in a sensory depravation stupor that just couldn’t exist anywhere in a big bad city.
Today I went and saw the bank manager first thing. It wasn’t my bank manager but one at the bank where Jenny had an account, and where I wanted to finally sort out the last of her affairs here. I arrived promptly but he wasn’t there and I was asked to wait. I wasn’t impressed and I told them that after waiting three weeks for this meeting I wasn’t going to wait any longer and so was off to do some shopping and I’d be back later. They hurrumphed, and I felt a small amount of satisfaction in returning after shopping and emailing to at last find him waiting for me.
Meeting done, I came home and did some little bits and pieces around the house. I wasn’t in the mood for starting any large projects, so I installed a shelf under the kitchen workshop, and put the old sink outside on a pedestal to make a useful outside wash area and/or somewhere to put my plants when I buy some.
I wanted to finish clearing the weeds on the driveway and that meant moving the old van (a.k.a. Toolshed), which meant starting her up. Unfortunately the battery was flat, but that’s not surprising after 2 years, so I put it on charge for the rest of the day. I thought that if I move the van out on the road tomorrow then I should really give it a clean because it was very mildewy. So I hosed it down to its original white/rust sheen and it looks so much better for it.
This evening I cooked another gourmet meal which once again proved the versatility of potatoes and leeks and baked beans. Then I wrote a list on the whiteboard of things that I want to get done over the coming months. It reads (in no particular order):-
- Fix barn door
- Render wall under stairs
- Tile basin and worktops
- Do cladding around worktops and make doors
- Paint a picture
- Fix leaky toilet
- Knock out wall for new window
- Learn German
- Paint bedroom walls
- Remove bathroom ceiling and make good
- Paint railings and gate
- Make understairs door
- Do some tourism
- Clean oak beams and treat
- Get rid of weeds in driveway
- Finish and publish website
- Start own business
- Point internal walls
- Re-wire upstairs
- Find bits for fireplace and finish
- Have holiday in Cornwall
- Tile around shower
- Apply woodworm fluid to cladding downstairs
- Find roofer
- Find somewhere to live in Angleterre
- Get married
- Service boiler and heating
… some of which will take longer than others I suspect!
Animal news: Today’s animal news is largely bird-orientated. I had the windows open today as usual, and a wagtail flew into the living room. I sat and watched it for a while as it wagged its tail (what else?) while sitting on the one of the wires that stretch across the ceiling. When I got up to usher it out it flew off out the door. Then, one minute later a wren flew in and flapped around in a flutter. When I got up to usher it out it got stuck in the fly paper and couldn’t escape. I carefully removed it and placed it on the window ledge where it sat for a while recovering. Then it flew off and rested on the barn roof, chirping as if nothing had happened. All very odd, as I’ve never known the birds to come into the house before. Today I also saw a pair of green woodpeckers in the field outside, and a couple of herons flew by. There was also a large bird of prey, preying in the valley for most of the day. In the barn, the bats are back in volumes. I think they’ve returned because all was quiet while I was away in Paris, and there must be about 20 in there now. They flap around when you go in there, but they don’t like the commotion and I think they’ll move back to the lower barn now because I don’t go in there much. I tried to take some pictures of them but they don’t let you get too close. Ugly blighters mind!
This evening was lovely so I went for a bike ride to watch the sun set. It was quite an easy ride because I followed the road on the hilltop as much as possible. It’s amazing that I rode for about 8 kilometres without seeing a soul or coming across a car. And you can’t even hear any cars up here, it’s so tranquil. That’s one reason why I’m here.
