Sirroco

The south wind has been blowing for past 3 days, dumping fine Saharan sand on everything. The warmth has finally started the beech trees to burst in to leaf.

Bathroom 90% plumbed in, freezer in house at last, wood here for constructing the front door and Al has been working on the vegetable patch. Knackered but progress being made.

Sun at last!

A beautiful day today. Made the doors for the bathroom and finished plasterboarding the utility room before a walk in the sun called! On the way back we collected the ladder from John's and mended the thatch on the barn (damaged by the snow). A strim of the grounds around the house before dinner and now it's time to grout the floor tiles.

Busy

Cuns d'Aula from the house

Lovely warm south wind today which made for some balmy weather. Lots of progress today, finishing off Ruby's dormer, carcassing and plasterboarding behind the bath and newly assembled WC (plumbing them in is still to do) and tiling the utility room.

France

Back to France and a bit of a monsoon yesterday. Today the weather has been improving though it's still very cold for the time of year. Al's here with me for a week.

Lots of DIY to do, trying to get the house ready for the wedding in about 5 weeks time.

One of La Panchard's sons put his flock of sheep in my fields whilst I was away. I don't mind them grazing the land, but he can't be bothered to move the sheep from field to field or use the gates. Instead he cuts the wires, or un-fixes the wires from the posts and ties them up, or pulls up the fence posts. It's really irritating as he never puts the fences back or repairs the damage he causes. I spent most of today fixing the fences and there's still more to do. He doesn't have a phone so I can't even ring him up to complain.

Seeing Double

The saab is in the gargae for it's MOT at Combe garage in Combe in Teignhead with John the saab man. By chance there was another saab 95 there.

On the way home on my bike I had a stormy morning fishing at Shaldon, then a horrible ride home in hale, wind and heavy traffic.

More wedding planning this weekend, off to France tomorrow.

Ilfracombe

Lots of wedding planning since arriving back in the UK and a few chances to try out some mega cheap sea fishing equipment I got in Decathlon (£10 for a rod and reel). A fishing trip to Brixham on my bike last week and yesterday a trip to Ilfracombe, as Susie was examining there. No luck with catching any fish yet, but I did find a freshly killed pheasant on the road to Brixham - which made a lovely casserole!

More flight mayhem

After a some showery weather yesterday and a hunt for morels with Susie (we only found a deer) today we headed for home. Somehow minor mishaps compounded and we ended up in a situation where Susie, Jasper and Ruby made the flight but I was too late to check in our suitcase and either had to leave it behind or change my flight for tomorrow!! Too much valuable stuff to leave behind so I've come home for another night. Got some wiring done too so no time wasted.

Mirabat

Back home the weather has been beautiful today. Susie, Ruby and I headed up to the Chateau Mirabat for some fantastic views.

A quick visit see inside the church in Aleu yesterday, not long now!

surprise trip

Our flight to Toulouse was cancelled because of industrial action in france and with no flights available until Monday it looked like the holiday was over. Some quick thinking and negotiation and we managed to get two nights in a 4 star hotel in Bristol and flights to Barcelona.

The hotel had sauna, steam room, jacuzzi, swimming pool and an excellent restaurant. We took Jasper and Ruby to see Bristol zoo and Clifton suspension bridge, then it was off to Barcelona.

A day and a half was just enough time to see some of Gaudi's buildings, Parc Guell, visit the medieval quarter, the old cathedral and the beach.

Then the cheap train to the border at La tour de Carol where we bumped into John and Sandrine who were heading in the opposite direction to go and stay in Barcelona. We then caught another train to Toulouse, a bus to the airport, where we collected our car before driving back to Quelebu via the supermarket. A long day.