And that will be his first task in the morning…..

You know you have mates when you drop a birthday card off and perhaps angle for a cup of tea and you end up staying around their table for five hours.

It was William’s birthday today.  William and Anna live in Blossville between us and the annual  Montebourg chandeleur weekend where all the local nursery men line the streets selling bare rooted trees and bushes, so we planned to have a nosey around to see what was new on the market then take a tiny detour into Blossville on the way home. We have in the past, spent a lot of money in Montebourg this time of year in order to build up our plant stock but as the years have gone by, we have propagated more and more from our first purchases  and now we are smugly satisfied  to see that the plants we have nurtured  with love and care cost a small fortune on the open market, so an appreciative thank you to the makers of  gardeners world who helped me realise, even I can make baby plants and that they might grow into big ones.  I made William a card and wrapped a jar of home made strawberry jam in a square of cellophane to give it French style but in reality it was like taking coals to Newcastle as Anna is the queen of jams and chutney, I confessed this thought to William who said that other peoples jam always tasted better, but he hasn’t tried mine and I fear he was just being kind. Needless to say when we got to Blossville  our welcome was huge and we were sat at table with cutlery in hand sharing a spontaneous lunch before we could say, thank you.  There is so much to talk about and I do sometime wonder if we will ever exhaust our  enthusiasm to chat and debate. The garden is a good and steady subject and Anna is on the cusp of developing her brand new garden this year and we are thrilled to be able to appreciate her plans and actually have an opinion and dare I say a bit of advice.  When we walked  in at one o’clock a cake came out of the oven and at four thirty it was iced and topped with birthday candles, we took photos and sang the most sung song on earth and had a good afternoon out.

It is bitterly cold at the moment and although we had plans to go on to the park to move a few plants and, oh yes, I forgot to mention that we bought two cultivated bramble bushes to grow over our new antique farm machine, but it was cold and I was feeling relaxed and happy on my spontaneous lunch and cake so we shut the shutters and loaded up the fire box and said maniana to today’s work plan.

As the weather has turned again Mike has decided to do another fat ball run for the birds  and set himself up in the lounge with seeds, fat blocks, large bowl and a sheet covering my precious rug. If he had been a teenager in my home I would have given him a stern talking to about the right place for the right job but he lives here, sometimes vacuum cleans, and that will be his first task in the morning…..Happy birthday to Miranda

I had just struck the deal of the week.

We are most definitely in good form this week and have achieved a huge amount.  I called the Transport company on Tuesday about the delivery plan for our little cabins and was promised that they would call us in the afternoon with a date. I called again on Wednesday and I was informed that the planner was in that morning and they would call us in the afternoon. On Thursday my mind was racing away and I began to develop the concept that we might just be caught up in a complicated and cunning scam so when I rang I was delighted to have the planner himself on the phone who promised that he was planning that day and would call in the afternoon. This morning, Friday,  I called up as Mrs UK Everso Angry and Grumpy, and kindly asked what the dickens was going on. The very sweetly spoken receptionist replied, we will call you with a date and at that mention of “we will call you”  I snapped,  in the most adult and grown up manner but with the tone of a blood thirsty terrier and sent the young lady off to get me a date. When she returned she meekly announced that our delivery is planned for Monday. Now I could have ranted on about it being Friday so when were they planning to let us know but I climbed down from my spike and thanked her for being so efficient and now we know, the vans will come on Monday. Hoo raaa

The septic tank report from ES Etude arrived at lunch time yesterday and took all evening to decipher and  came in the format of a pretty glossy report copied five times with forms to sign and attestations to complete so we set to and went to the office that does, and put our wheels in motion with the lovely Miriam who will let SPANK know that we are  building a septic tank so that they can come and inspect the build and ensure we are following the rules. Now I want you all to say SPANK with a French accent and understand why I am having reservations about this whole process but  Miriam assured us that with the quality of work we have already presented for this project there would be no problems and it will all go to plan . OH GOOD.

To finish off a jolly day as we were planting out our two English Brambly apple trees I suddenly remembered that we were due to be at the wood yard in Perrier to collect twenty wooden garden stakes we had ordered last week. We rushed to finish the planting and dashed out to catch the wood yard  before a possible poets day routine. Pop Off Early Tomorrows Saturday.   Fortunately the yard was in full swing and we went straight to the office to find two dogs on duty. One was on the desk and the other one was on the chair peering at the computer screen. You really do have to take stock of a tableaux like that and wish that you had the foresight to carry a camera but as we backed out of the office the owner came over and asked if the office was empty, well I couldn’t  say no so said that the dogs had suggested we find him. The owner saw the funny side of my response and we started our business with a good laugh. We asked for our order and although he looked a little blank and bewildered for a moment he graciously admitted that the order had not been started but would we like some of those over there at the same price instead. We absolutely jumped at the offer because the stakes he was pointing at were bigger and better than the ones we had ordered.  I asked what he could sell me cheap as chips to make a bench seat and he showed us a fifteen foot plank of Douglas fir and said I could have it for a tenner, euro tenner at that.  The man with the chain saw was called over to cut it in half to fit it in  the car and as we paid  the bill and chatted to him till the cows came home  he picked up another four foot plank and put it on the pile destined for  home.  We were delighted, and the smell of Douglas fir was so intoxicating in the car that I felt quite light headed, or was it that I had  just struck the deal of the week.