wednesday 15th July

I have to start with the end of tuesday, i suspected it was going to rain so decided to put off mowing the lawn for yet another day, i was right, it did, but only for about ten minutes, by which time it was too late. I spent the afternoon on Aussie research, looked up the sketch of Daryl and Wayne and got a little potted history of Aussie comedy thanks to U tube, what a gift to society! After that i decided my knowledge of Aussie politics was woefully inadequate so i started to look it up, i learnt all about the constitution and the nature of Australian government, looked up the current governor general, Ms Quentin Bryce, and the prime minister Kevin Rudd, though i could not really get a sense of how well the government was thought of and what they really stood for, still it was quite an education. After this i looked into citizenship, it seems as though it will be quite straight forward for me due to the date of my birth, i just have to turn up at the Australian consulate with my birth certificate a passport and a photo and pay the fee, though nothing is ever this smooth with government agencies, i spoke to ant about this today to see if he had any worries about me doing it, he didn't so i think it will be something i will pursue in the future, it will save me paying for a visa to enter the country of my birth!! I then had a little look at property in Australia, it seems to be quite reasonable if you are buying out of the main centers so who knows, ant and i have started to discuss the possibility of moving but are agreed it needs to be at some point in the future, we need to get this place sorted first and he never likes to discuss change. By this point i was getting a bit of a headache from staring at the screen for so long so i decided it was time to give it a rest, i cooked a nice Chicken Tandoori with rice for my tea and settled down to a night of telly, very uninspiring stuff, until the very end of the night when i watched 'Casers war on everything' an Aussie sketch show, which was ok but not side splittingly funny, the BBC seems to have a little thing for antipodean comedy at the moment as this is running alongside 'flight of the conchords'. So to bed for another couple of chapters from Mr Theroux, i always seem to find travel books fascinating and sometimes long to go experience what the writer has, even if it is the grinding poverty and smells of India.
I woke about 9.30 and went through the usual excitement of the dogs, coffee and cigarette morning, but was determined i would get out into the garden and do some work, however, i phoned my friend Jaqui to see if she was feeling any better and had to turn on the computer to tell her the name of my blog page, so that was me online. I spent a couple of hours farming on farm town, it is amazing something so simple can be so addictive, then thought i must get out and do something, it did look as though it was going to rain but i was determined. Ant phoned, we chatted for a good while, his new notebook computer, bought because he broke his old one, three laptops in twelve months!! was not working and he was naturally a bit miffed, but he was in London so he was going to go back to the shop and demand a solution, after which he was due to meet up with his mam and brother, i will hear all about that later.
Eventually i made it out into the garden, mowed the lawn, weeded the trench that runs along the outside wall and thought, i really need to put some plants in there so the weeds will not take hold, i phoned David to see if he fancied a run out to a garden center so i could pick his brains on what to get, he said he would love to and i arranged to pick him up at two in the afternoon, garden centers, and a lot of other shops, still shut for two hours for lunch here. i put a nice small joint of beef in the slow cooker with a bottle of beer and some gravy so i would have a good hearty meal tonight then got back into the garden and mowed the second bit of lawn at the back of the house. I then started on the veg patch, it has gotten quite weedy, so much so that the weeds are chocking some of the veg, so i weeded that, taking out a couple of veg plants by accident in the process. The veg patch is looking quite good really, i have celeriac, good for soups in winter, cabbages, the nice dark green variety, some cauliflowers, though the snails enjoyed most of them, potatoes due to be harvested about now, swedes, good for hearty winter stews and four pumpkin plants which have grown to immense proportions, one of which now has a tiny pumpkin on it, my curried pumpkin soup is one of ant's favorites so it looks as though we may be eating that all winter long. i decided not to run the mower round the wild patch i call the orchard as i had sown some wild flower seeds a couple of months ago and they have started to flower, a few poppies, cornflowers and forget-me-nots, the packet had promise these flowers would run rampant and purge the weeds, i hope they do but am a little skeptical. It is funny really i don't really consider myself a Gardner, i have to drag myself out there to do anything, but i am quite proud of my veggies.
I got to David and Marks just before two, had a quick chat with Mark, the car again, then he pointed out two great big containers of plants, "those are for you, David has been thinning out and said it would save you buying stuff" it would indeed, it would also take me a good days worth of work to get them all put in, so another day in the garden tomorrow, thanks David. David and i set of to Point Verte in Fruges, David chatting away about his garden and how useless Mark was at everything, if i had anything i could bash ant about i don't think i would want to do it publicly, fortunately he is generally the perfect partner so i don't really have that issue. We had a a good old wander round Point Verte, plants can be really pricey here and David had slightly knocked me off track by giving me so many plants, so i was not too sure what i wanted. i ended up with a rose of sharron, we dont have much yellow in the garden and it does grow well, a lavender plant to go next to the one rose left that doesn't have one, it keeps the green fly off, seems to work really well, and six brussel sprout plants, i love sprouts but ant hates them, they can go in when i take a row of spuds out tomorrow, should keep me in greens through the winter. i bumped into Sandra and Jim when we were there, they were having their car serviced, i like Sandra, she is from Birmingham and i love the brummy accent, and she is quite funny, they are heading back to England as she has a new job, they are going to live in a small caravan, the things we do for money. After a quick nip to carrrefour to get Mark some crisps "half of which will go all over the carpet", and some engine oil for me, we headed back to David's, i got a coffee and listened to David talk about his garden for half an hour then made my excuses and left, i arranged with David to have him here on Friday to do some work in the garden, i will have to find something to feed him, not sure if i will have them both over for dinner in the evening this time as ant won't be here and i can't be bothered being social for so long when i am on my own.
I returned home to a joyous greeting from the dogs, obviously thought i was never coming back, emptied all the plants into the bathroom for tomorrow, checked the dinner, seems to be going well, then filled the oil on the car. The dipstick was telling me there was absolutely no oil in the car at all so it was just about the right time to refill, i watched a horrifying slot on a car show the other night where they explained what will happen if you don't check your oil frequently, scary stuff!! after which i used the weed killer on the drive, its more of an extension of the lawn with some gravel under it at the moment and several big weeds, not very pretty. Tonight i shall savor my beef in beer with some roasted potatoes and brussel sprouts, now i am in the mood, and settle down in front of the telly for some quality time with the dogs on the sofa.

bye for now