16th July; hard day in the garden

I woke at eight this morning, due to the rude noise of the alarm clock, i am so unused to being unnaturally woken these days it seems one of the hardest things to deal with. The reason i was up 'so early!' the two boy dogs we look after were arriving at eight thirty. The boy dogs are Fen and Tally, show names, we have been looking after them since last year for another couple of trolly dollys we know who live near us, they are ok but with ruby on heat at the moment it is not an ideal situation. They are Parson Russells, a little bigger than a Jack Russell, and everyone seems to think they are beautiful, i don't think they are half as good looking as my girls! They arrived on time and i settled them in and went online to get my farm out of the way early, i had big plans for the day. I spoke to ant for a little while, he had been back to the shop and got a brand new note book so he seemed happy, he had had a nice time with his mam and brother and was looking forward to getting the next bit of the trip over with so he could get home.
After talking to ant i dug all the plants out of the bathroom and set to preparing the days work, there was quite a good selection of bits so i sorted them out into types and got stuck in, i put the lavender next to the rose and was just about to put in the rose of sharon when a neighbor drove up, her name is Martè, she has a flat in Paris and a lovely house in the village, though she is generally only here in summer, she invited me to a drinks get together this evening, so that should be nice, she also asked if i would invite Jaqui and her husband Simon, Marté speaks very good English as she used to work in the French consulate in London and was married to an English man for a few years.


No sooner had i recommenced when another neighbor, Jannine, who lives opposite us, came over to return a saucer, she asked what i was up to and i explained, she seemed quite impressed with a few of the plants, though she is a hard woman to please. I asked her in for a for a cup of tea and we chatted for a while about her recent holiday and what was happening in our lives, she does not speak English but this is the main reason my french has improved so much over the last year she is a very lovely neighbor and we have spent some very happy times around her table and vise versa.
Once Jannine had gone i got on with the serious work, sorted the plants out, got a big bucket of water and a trowel, some plant fertilizer and some determination, the target; a long bare trench along the front wall, i had quite a job as the ground was well compacted and hard to work but i got a good selection of interesting stuff all mixed along the trench, it took about two hours in the very hot sun, but at least it got it done, unfortunately i had a good selection left at the end which meant i needed to put them somewhere else, more work , but i did not want to waste them as they were a gift and plants are somewhat pricey here, but i had to have a short rest, i was perspiring like mad and all this hard work now i am retired was way too much, a short fag break and a good glass of juice and i was ready again.



I decided i needed to cut another trench along the back wall of the garden and put the rest of the stuff in there, this was a serious bit of work and quite exhausting, there is quite a lot of stone in the back garden and it is very difficult to dig, but with my superior weight i managed to get it dug out. Another hour and the trench was filled up with the remainder of the plants, thank god that was all over and done with. During this second torturous period the post woman had been so i decided i would have a rest and see what she had brought.


There was a letter from the Skilbecks, we get one every week, we lived next door to them for a very short period before we moved to France and now i get a letter every week, it's my own fault i started it but i can't find the interest to write back, i know i need to but i have developed a mental block, i keep asking ant to do it but he just isn't interested. A letter from Newcastle Council telling us our council tax situation was sorted and they owed us money, they have been pursuing us for money we didn't owe since January and i have been talking myself blue in the face trying to get it sorted, i phoned and informed ant who was happy but a little angry too, "we should get the debt collectors on them now", not such a good idea, well its sorted now, though an appology would have been nice.



Last but not least of my gardening chores, i wanted to harvest some of the potatoes in the veg patch, the intention was to replace them with the brussel sprouts but by the time i had taken up about four plants i was at the end of my energy so decided to give it a rest and relax for the afternoon before going out tonight, don't the potatoes look good!! they were really good to eat last year and i didn't even have to plant any this year, i was just a bit lazy about harvesting last year and they have grown again this year, fortunately i was a bit lazy this year too so we may get them next year as well.

Well thats it for today, i am going to get something to eat, laze on the sofa for a bit then go and soak off all the dirt in a nice long bath before heading out c'est soir. will fill you in about it tomorrow, bye for now