1 February, 2016
Winter has been progressing as usual with only a couple of
nights below freezing so far, though more expected soon now we’re in February –
always the month with the coldest days in our limited experience.
We had a great trip to Paris just before Christmas with Samantha, Mike and Elizabeth. We got a bit of Christmas shopping, visited some Christmas markets, went into two of Paris' Marks and Spencer stores (!), visited several of the tourist sights, had a few trips on the Seine and, of course, walked miles. Exhausting. There were good restaurants right by our hotel and here is Jeanne ready for her Rum Baba one relaxing evening with Elizabeth.
Right now there are lots of signs of
spring being very close behind the winter. Our daffodils are starting to bloom – only half
a dozen so far but hundreds putting their heads into the air. There are buds on most of the trees and
catkins on our hazelnut bushes. We’ve had several of the classic sunny days and
a few rainy and windy ones, a few quite stormy but mostly mild and pleasant.
My sciatica has been settling down slowly, and I can move
about and do various jobs quite easily now but I still have problems standing
still even for short times. However I have got the bike out and been for
a short trial ride. I’m being careful about this as cycling set me back a bit
when my back and the sciatica was nearing its worst. All the books say to keep
active but it wasn’t the right thing just then.
Anyway, since recovering somewhat I’ve made shutters in the local vernacular style for the
door from the utility room to the hangar – 2.4metres tall so quite heavy, but
they’re up now and looking good, and they work well. I’ve also, at last, got round to making and
fitting a door for the understairs cupboard in the cloakroom and fitting the
skirtings there, so that little room is done. I’ve also started work on what
will be a biggish job of rearranging the electricity wiring to accommodate more
circuits on the consumer unit that we need. Spent a few hours in the loft and
up and down the stairs changing two of the little-used socket circuits into a
single one to give me a loft feed for the ventilator system for the bath and
shower rooms that I’m installing. It’s helping to increase my exercise activity
levels a bit and doesn’t seem to have had any adverse effect on my disks or
sciatica.
We’ve not done much in the way of work outside, but we have
managed the odd lunch on the terrace in the sunshine. Not too warm but still very
pleasant next to our still-cropping lemon tree.
Dusty and the hens are continuing to thrive, though our egg
supply has reduced a little. Dusty is going to the Vet’s this week to have
her vaccinations topped up so that we can get her a pet passport in case we
need an urgent UK trip.
Pierre, the stone mason, and his team arrived at last and
completed the renovation of the old fireplace in the dining room, removing the
old inset log-burner and fitting us a new free-standing one matching the one we
had already bought, and which we fired up for the first time last weekend. We’re
very pleased with both of them now and they should save us some electricity. (We haven’t had this bill yet, though!)
Apart from the house we’re continuing our social life with local
friends and the occasional visit to the village bar, and thinking about the summer.
We’ve quite a few bookings for visitors
to us already from both family and friends, but there’s still plenty of room in
the diary for more. (But please get in touch about possible dates and travel arrangements before booking firmly).
We have one trip for ourselves – to Lisbon – in the diary already, and
we’ll need a UK trip at some point as well.
And we’re hoping to have another holiday in Italy as well this year.
Best wishes everyone.
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