I hate manure

I'm sure the last thing anyone in the UK wants to read about is the glorious weather we're having here in south west France. 37ºc again today with a light breeze and not a cloud in the sky, just the weather for sitting by the pool and sipping gin and tonics. We haven't got the pool so we'll just have to make do with the G & T. With so little rain over the past few weeks the ground has become as hard as stone and the landscaping that desperately needs to be done is having to wait. It sounds like a good excuse I know but getting motivated to do any strenuous jobs in this weather is a real struggle. Fitting a gutter to the cave in preparation for crepeing is about the height of my exertions recently. Just need a little rain now to see if it works. I'm also hoping for a drop in the temperature next week as pushing wheelbarrows of mortar about is not what I want to be doing in the upper 30's. Having said that there are worse things you can put in your barrow and last week Sidney rang to ask if he could have the services of a man and his trailer. 'Course you can, what do you want to move?' was, as it turned out, my far too hasty reply. 'There's some very mature horse manure going free at a local farm and I could do with a bit for my rhubarb'. Amazingly I managed to resist cracking the old 'custard on mine joke' and arranged to meet on Sunday morning on the understanding I wasn't going to start shoveling s#*t on the Sabbath and that Sidney would be able to eat his dinner off the trailer when we'd finished. As it turned out having lunch on the terrace when we'd finished was a lot more civilised even though the trailer was left spotless.

We were off back to Rodez again last week to collect Rebecca. She was over for a few days of chilling out and relaxing and hadn't thought to bring any work clothes with her! Let's hope her brother is a bit more organised as he plans to spend most of August with us and I'm sure will be more than happy to move a few rocks about. We also had a quick dash down to Toulouse to collect my aunt who has been staying with us for few days and never wanting to miss an opportunity we headed to Ikea to stock up on few essentials. I know I've said it before but you really could be anywhere in the world once you've gone beyond those blue & yellow doors.

The 'fête' season is back in full swing and we've had two good nights out recently. The local football club in Najac hosts a Bastille Day meal where for €14.00 per head you get melon & ham, veau & aligot, a Cornetto and as much wine as you can drink but if you thought that was a bargain the following week in Lunac we attended the local pétanque club meal & tucked in to 4 courses with free wine all for €5.00. You'd think by now I'd have sussed what goes on at these meals but when we'd received the invite I'd been told that there would be just a bowl of country cheese soup and bread so I made sure that when seconds of soup was offered I took a good spoonful. When the next 3 courses arrived it was real struggle to get them down but you have to do your best as it would be impolite to refuse anything. I've also managed to get a few miles in on the bike this week which is jus as well with all this eating. Had an early start along the local railway track, nice and flat, and ended up at just before 12:00 climbing what felt like the longest hill I've every ridden up in a 30c temperature. Made me think perhaps a wet & windy UK wasn't all that bad.

You'll probably be delighted to hear that this could be my last blog for a while as I'm about to cross over to the other side and take delivery of a Mac computer. Who's knows when I'll have mastered it and be able to get blogging again.