All in one Weekend

We had Betty come to stay with us ( we picked her up from Limoges airport on Thursday) and she appears to have bought a change in the weather with her!

The first job was to show her around the 'estate'.....glass in hand of course.

After that we had to take her to see the wildflowers which are still in profusion here.

You can imagine a car full of old farts, stopping in the most awkward places, poring over french and english wildflower books, trying to identify a whole range of beautiful flowers.

Our weekend of sightseeing was interupted on Saturday when Sue, gardening and planting some more beetroot plants which she had bought at our market on Friday, rushed up to the house with a tic stuck in her leg. This led to a communal discussion with our french and english neighbours as to the best method of dealing with it. JJ was of the opinion that applying Ricard, an aniseed alcoholic drink, would anaesthesize it, although we weren't sure if the Ricard had to be taken internally or externally.

The arrival of our first summer guest prompted us to think about a Barbeque, especially as the weather was in the mid-30's. So, being economical, I hurriedly built a facility on top of the wall in the courtyard.

We bought a grill at our supermarket and then I constructed the BBQ out of old roof tiles and stones. And like our french neighbours, we dispensed with charcoal and used any old bits of wood (of which there is a limitless supply here).

This wasn't the end of our weekend as, whilst we were relaxing after our barbie, JJ warned us that there was an orange storm alert and we were going to get it. They were most insistent that we put the car under cover since many cars were damaged about 3 years ago from hailstones the size of tennis balls! The rain started about 8 o'clock and then we did get the wind and the hailstones, although they were about 1cm in size (jelly bean size). But this wasn't the main problem! The rain was so heavy that of course it entered through the holes in the roof.

But it wasn't just running down the walls...................

We had to move the settee (and Betty) out of the deluge but we now have a very clean floor. I think this has focused our minds on getting going so that we can get a new roof on! Trouble is the next storms are forecast for next Friday.