Today I shall be Mainly...

[Sue]

Raining in Stoke this morning . Perhaps we brought it with us

[Stanley]

We won't blame you Sue, from the look of the forecast it's getting it out of the system ready for Flaming June!
I shall be in the shed this morning working on converting a rough casting into a good cylinder. After second sleep I fancy making a savoury rice and onion dish. Not sure yet but I think Susan will be popping in at some point.....

[Stanley]

This morning I started by facing both ends of the cylinder square with the valve face and giving me a stroke of 2 1/8". Then I marked out the 1/4" wide exhaust port and cut that. That was enough for this morning, now I shall treat myself to breakfast!

[Sue]

Evening

We had a good morning yesterday and lunch with the family in Coventry , leaving at 1.30. Apart from the rain we had a good drive down to Portsmouth leaving us time for a bit of shopping at the outlet centre, trainers, undies, T shirts. All things I needed and saving a grand total £110 . It did however rain all the way to Winchester from Stoke and was a mere 14 degrees. In Portsmouth it was 18 and sunny.

We did get a shock on the ferry this morning. Got up at our usual time at 5.45 to find they had started everything an hour earlier ie breakfast 5.30 am instead of 6.30. Hardly time to shower and grab a croissant before we landed. We were in the car for 6.30 and then there was a 40 minutes delay as they couldn’t get the doors open. So in the end we were through customs at our usual time of 7.40 a.m or 8.40 French time. What a rush. All OK here.

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Weather nice…AT LAST with today has been a pleasant 20 degrees. We arrived here at 11 having shopped at Lidl on the way in ( buying something for a second breakfast . We were rather hungry by 10.30) All is good at the house. Yves as well as mowing the lawn had cut half the front hedge. Needless to say we set too after lunch. I trimmed back the wisteria so we could get the table and chairs out, see above . Bob mended the front door lock that broke as we left last time. I carried on doing a bit of washing ( now all dry) and a bit of weeding, and Bob hung the last door we left drying and washed and painted one side of the last door. We are now chilling with a glass of wine and it will be early to bed after out early start.

Hope you all had a good day and the weather treated you well

[Stanley]

That sounds like a busy day Sue! I was telling Mick and Margaret last night that the weather was warming up but then I saw the outlook on the Mat Office forecast this morning. We are back into the heating season next week!
I shall be in the shed at 06:00 working on my cylinder. I have some pork belly to roast as a treat later this morning. That will warm the kitchen up as well as fulfilling my urge to eat meat. I can't understand why I don't get fat!

[Sue]

Morning

In bed by 10.00 (9.00 UK time), its now 7.00 am, and a cool start to the day.. 20 degrees is forecast. The forecast up until the 15 th is in the mid 20s with the occasional damp day. Very promising.

This morning is the local market so we shall visit to get some meat and veg but also some geraniums for my outside pots. I doubt there will be any veggie plants now but I will look. It will be another day of getting tidy. I think a few cob webs need removing and one pair of voile curtains need washing because of the webs and trapped dead flies…yuk. But we shall take it easy, beer in the garden and a probable visit to see Laetitia and family

Have a good day all

[Sue]

We have just heard bangs and tiny feet above us. Our visitors are back and its the opposite end of the house….

[Stanley]

Oh dear! What happens now, ignore them or a full-blown campaign?



This morning I measured, marked, drilled and tapped for the inlet and exhaust pipes. Then I made them and fitted them. That's enough for this morning. I deserve my breakfast.

[Sue]

Oh dear! What happens now, ignore them or a full-blown campaign?

The house next door has been empty since February though we recently have new neighbours( who I think know a little English). We think residence was taken up there by the four legged ‘friend’ and then they vacated to us when the new neighbours arrived possibly through a small hole in the connecting wall. I think Bob is planning on a light at this end of the loft too. For now we will just keep a radio on all the time as it sounds like people are about and they don't like that. Its just more work to do ……

[Stanley]

Good luck with it Sue.....

[Stanley]

I shall be in the shed at 06:00 doing useful things with my castings. Nothing to prevent a walk later this morning but no need for any shopping. The kids are very busy, lots going on in Clitheroe, so I shall not have to accommodate them. All told a quiet day......

[Sue]

Morning

We bought plants on the market yesterday but no veggie plants. I suppose I may find some elsewhere. I was looking for sweet potato plants. After the market we went to the supermarket where we bumped into Elisabeth, wife of our engineer friend. It was good to see her as we missed them last visit. She was telling us that her daughter who recently had twins is coming to stay for a bit as the girl’s husband works away and she is struggling. I am not surprised with twin babies.

Otherwise it was a very pleasant afternoon. I washed some of the many voile curtains and they dried so quickly I put them back up, and Bob painted the last side of the last door in the kitchen. I tackled clearing the rockery which did not get touched last visit so it is hard work, more of that today. In the evening we popped round to see Laetitia and family. Her daughter has just finished at the Lycée and has two exams left of her Bac. ( a written and oral exam in English ) She is a bright studious girl who is hoping to go to University. I do hope she does. She is the first teenager of all the ones we have known over the years round here who has shown that inclination and ability. Afterwards it was u3a online wine tasting with a theme of Eastern European wine. We had brought our bottle from England as it is almost impossible to buy anything other french wine here

Its beautiful blue skies and a nice day is promised. Have a good day

[Stanley]

Morning Sue! That sounds like a good day, I'm glad you didn't mention the 'visitors' in the loft. That signals to me that they aren't spoiling your visit! You have got out of the country at the right time, starting tomorrow we are back into winter for a few days!



Only one image needed this morning. I set up for boring the cylinder and have almost reached my target but I hit a problem and that cost me some time. I haven't tried to make that up. Don't ask me what the problem was it was down to old age and stupidity! I have to factor that element in nowadays! Now for breakfast.

[Sue]

We had the radio on under neath them all day yesterday. I found their pile of droppings which they always go back to so I put mothballs next to it which they hate and just as we went to bed Bob banged all over the bedroom ceiling. No sounds last night

[Stanley]

I hope they get the message Sue!

[Stanley]

I shall be in the shed from 06-00 for an hour refining my cylinder. Later this morning I shall get a visit from Susan. Margaret and Mick will be working on the long list of tasks they have in Clitheroe.....

[Sue]

Morning

Still nothing from our roof visitors last night. Perhaps our mere presence has disturbed them. However today we are off to the lovely market in Questembert and will follow it up with a visit to a large DIY place in Vannes to buy a loft ladder. Bob intends making a hatch into the roof space at this end of the house and then he can assess what is to be done.

Otherwise it’s an afternoon of gardening, and internal jobs in the house. Our missed March and April visits are noticeable but at least after the changes in the garden last year, what I am doing now is much more like the pottering I do at home rather than heavy gardening. I like that, in fact I like gardening and being outside. I have never been a sitter as you may have gathered, however I have a number of insect bites to go with my pottering

Another fine day forecast. Have a good one

[Stanley]

Morning Sue! Lovely word that.... 'pottering' I hope you have a good shop and a potter today.




Just one task in mind this morning, finish boring the cylinder and clean the mill, reverting to the normal cutter. That meant an early breakfast but that won't worry anyone. All done and I am ready for tomorrow.

[Stanley]

I shall be in the shed for an hour as usual doing useful things to my castings. Beyond that I see nothing in my social calendar that demands attention. It looks as though it's going to be an easy day watching it rain. I might pop to the Co-op for some milk and garlic later this morning if there's a gap in the rain.....

[Sue]

Morning

After our shopping trip yesterday we decided to go and see our English friends instead of the DIY store as we had a parcel for Joanne that we had brought over for her. We found them at their new house that they are in the process of building, part by themselves and part by contractors. Paul being a carpenter and builder has done a lot himself and the design is his.We found them covered in white dust as they were sanding the floors to level them before the tiles go down. This is their home to retire into and a lot of thought has gone in to what they may need in their aging years.

Having been unable to find sweet potato plants on the market ( though I did get some rockery plants) Joanne directed us to Lidl where she had bought hers. She was right so as well as tidying the rockery in the afternoon I planted sweet potatoes and some radish seeds I had forgotten I had.

Most of our NEED TO jobs are done now apart from weed killing on the gravel paths. There are still lots of things to do but not essential . We need to go out to buy biscuits today…unless I make some as we have visitors tomorrow and biscuits are not something we have in as we don’t really eat them. There are no other set plans, apart from doing the washing and swapping us to our summer bedroom, its getting rather warm in this one. No sounds from above us again last night

Another warm but overcast day forecast, have a good one

[Stanley]

You sound to be doing well and I'm glad. Time for things to improve! I like sweet potatoes. I wonder why they are always imported from the US or Egypt when you can obviously grow them closer to home?



One task this morning. Prepare the front lid for fitting. That's all I aimed for and made a good job of it. Slow and careful is the quickest way in the end! Now for breakfast.

[Stanley]

I shall scrub the shed because I was late up. No worries and it won't spoil anything to have a holiday. Margaret is coming at ten to take me veggie shopping.
(I must have needed eight hours sleep!)

[Sue]

Morning

Yesterday was a very domestic day, cleaning, washing, ironing and shopping. It was the first full clean since we started our decorating last October, and will be the last before we go back home. We changed bedroom and slept very well last night in the cooler room. I was disturbed by a noise and a bang and wonder if our roof guest was back.

A different day today. We have visitors from 11 and we are going out to lunch. Catherine is a distant cousin found through genealogy, we have a common 3xG grandfather. She is from America, lives in New Zealand, had a french mother and studied at University in France where she met her husband, a french man. They come to France on holiday each year and this year we decided to coincide our plans. We have met in the U K twice before about this time of year

Have a good day all

[Stanley]

I hope you have another good day. My day is totally different due to oversleeping. I have had breakfast and I am going back to bed early. I don't think the sky will fall if I miss going in the shed!

[Stanley]

M7M took me shopping to Town Square and I got my veggies at Chaudrey's. I don't know whether you have noticed but it's a bad season for carrots, they are virtually unobtainable. Gulam at Chaudrey's had some of the best carrots I have seen for a long while. I asked him about them and they are imported from China. I filled my bag but that doesn't mean I am happy about them coming that distance.