Almost Christmas

The new shower room is just about complete now. I even turned up a toilet roll holder which will be a novelty. Today I focused on the boot and shoe area which will hopefully see the stair case freed of debris in the future.

We are being battered by the same weather front that is presently pounding the UK. There has already been one power cut, for an hour and a half, and numerous tiles have come loose from the barn and the hay loft. The worst is due to hit us in the middle of the night with winds gusting at up to 146 km/h. I'm not looking forward to my morning walk about as I feel tomorrow may well be another day of roofing.

The head count for our New Years eve bash in now up to 30. I decided to take the easy option on the catering front by going for jacket spuds and chilli along with asking guests to bring nibbles, puddings etc.

Bathroom progress

Who could ever have imagined how much work would go into knocking a door way through to the big room. Having to drop the floor hasn't helped resulting in 16 wheel barrows of hard core and 5 dumper truck loads. After that I had to put in a couple of concrete pads to get a level to work the new floor up from. Kirsty happily helped with the concrete by putting both her feet in it as it was going off because she wasn't paying attention. We're on the up now though with the new floor complete, the steps down to the big room complete, stud work well under way and first fix electrics and plumbing complete too. Ideally the mission is to be back on line with water by next weekend but budget restraints may push final completion into next year.

I managed to get the grass cut for the final time this year. It was very wet and clogged up the mower on numerous occasions but it was well worth the effort to get it back to a manageable length again.

The kids have just over two weeks left at school before the holidays and then, in no time at all, christmas will be on top of us. I'm saving my excitement for after christmas though as we're heading towards a super New Years party with plenty of friends.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Although pleading poverty, as always, I've managed with the help of a few assistants to get a few more jobs done as winter closes in on us. Having had the approval of the management to knock the wall through into the banqueting hall, I thought I'd best jump on it before she changed her mind. With the most delicate of hammers and chisels I carefully took the 18 inches of stonework away from behind the bath room wall while leaving the tiling and block work intact.

We have also been busy, in between rain showers, felling more timber in an attempt to get through this year without having to buy in fire wood. Josh has been good using the cut wood to rebuild one of the straw walls of the round house. Depressingly the round house is not holding up to the Norman moistness and I feel there is an urgent requirement to finish turfing the roof at the earliest opportunity.

Tuesday will be Janes birthday and, having hit the big 40 last year, this year she will be on the down hill stretch so celebrating 39 I think. She's not a happy bunny as her training course at work coincides with her planned holiday which means she has to go to work instead of relaxing at home. Things are also not helped because I've volunteered my services for a long days work too putting me in the dog house as well.

Another year older

October has been so hectic, It appears that I failed to blog at all. I shall make up for it now with an update as to the ins and outs of the past few weeks. In an attempt to get motivated to working, I have volunteered my services to various people helping out with their projects. This has seen me roofing, dry lining, installing electrics and scaffolding to mention just a few of the jobs. To coincide with that we have had a pretty constant flow of visitors ending today with the departure of my chief motivator, Stevey, and Laura after a week here without their children.

During Steves visit, we managed to get a whole load of jobs ticked off the list. The key one being the building of a hard standing outside the workshop where we have parked the roulotte trailer in preparation to start the building works. Following on from that Steve got out his tyre fitting kit and changed the two perished tyres on the trailer, no mean feat I have to say and all credit where credit is due, he did a fantastic job. We also had Greg over for a day to help fell some trees in the valley and burn a huge pile of rotting branches and twigs. If the rain holds off for a day next week, we may try and do some more.

On the night before my birthday we were ravished by the same storm that hit the UK taking 23 tiles off the various buildings and leaving us very exposed if the weather was to turn wet. Because of this, I spent 5 hours of my birthday on the roof in the gales replacing broken tiles, crochets and battens. Hopefully this will be the last time this year that I need to get up there.

With a small amount of persuasion from Laura, Jane has now agreed that we can get rid of the only bath in the main house replacing it with a double shower. The washing machine is being moved over to the gite and the toilet will be moved to where the washing machine is. You may wonder why we want to change things about. The bigger picture is that we are going to put a door way through the wall right where the toilet is at present. This will mean we can access the banqueting suite without having to go outside which should, in the long term, allow us to incorporate the room into the main house and therefore get much more use out of it. Watch this space.

Tomorrow sees the arrival of MIL which in turn will see anything and everything spring cleaned and polished including the kids if they stand still too long.

The end of summer

Well the weather has properly turned on us now and we have a week or so of wind and rain heading our way. I've been helping a few friends out with various projects which has made the past few weeks race by and I'm now getting focused towards doing some serious clearing and logging in the valley. There are a number of reasons for this, the key one being a lack of firewood for this year followed closely by the fact that we own land which to this day we have still not walked on.

Jane is about to start work on the next stage of advancement in her job. I've seen the size of the text book and borne witness to the anxiety already creeping up on her but, as always, I have total faith in her ability and am sure she will give it her all. I shall be the ever supporting house husband and keep my head down whenever necessary.

Kirsty has discovered that now she's at college fashion is everything. I foresee great expense coming our way as she continuously nags for new clothes, shoes,bags etc.... all so that she can be with the in crowd. Even Josh has been taking a slight interest in his appearance even wearing the occasional shirt in an attempt to attract the ladies.

Although I am suitably project mad, the usual shortage of funds or "sans argent" as I tell my French friends, has put pretty much everything on hold. The ideas continue to rumble around in my head though and as and when finances are available I will be all too keen to get on and spend them.

And relax

Chatting with Jane the other night we both commented on the fact that we were feeling a tad tired and, on reflection, the cause for this probably had something to do with the fact that we have been on the go since pretty much the beginning of July right the way through to last weekend when we had the village for lunch. We'd been to Denmark and as soon as we got back I headed to the UK with the kids for a brief visit then came back to sort the softball. The softball was brilliant, then we built the bridge and Jane headed over to the UK with the kids for a short break. From there we have just snowballed into visiting guests and various dinners but finally we are ready to just relax.

The weather has been so dry here that the grass has barely grown since the beginning of August and we are now having to feed the horse and donkey hay to supplement their lack of food. Fortunately the rain is falling as I'm writing this and, however disliked it may be, I'd be quite happy for a week or so to really drench things through. We also had a very weird day last Tuesday when we had the first frost of the year followed by 30 degrees in the afternoon. Depressingly my fuchsias were not appreciative of this gross fluctuation and have committed suicide.

The next few months will be all about the cars as, having got the Renault through it's biannual checks, the Silver Peugeot needs a fair amount of work including an exhaust before it's test in a few weeks time and then after that Janes car has to go through the same too. Coupled with our tax bill, I may have to refrain from drinking for a while so the finances can recover from the shock.

There's not a vast amount in the pipe line other then my usual mad cap projects. We have a few visitors during October and possibly a sizeable Christmas bash to psych our selves up for but, until then, we shall mainly be chilling.

Sunday lunch, and some.....

Back to being guest free after a weekend of excitement with my sister, brother in law and their friend Kelly. I'm not sure the range rover has seen such abuse in a while but all concerned were left with beaming smiles and nobody died which is always a bonus.

This years mad cap events are almost coming to a close with Sundays lunch being the final push. The first year we were here they hosted an annual village barbecue where everyone in the village was invited to come and dine together, meet new friends and catch up on the events of the previous year. The key organiser, and life and soul of the party, unfortunately past on after an untimely accident and, since then, the event has not been hosted. Jane and I decided that we would, with the assistance of the village committee, reinstate this event and Sunday is our inaugural effort. The head count is nearly at 90, including kids, and we are cooking a whole pig, 100 sausages, jacket spuds and more. Although we are very well accustomed to feeding this many people, this will be a first for entertaining the neighbourhood and I hope we can deliver a memorable event that will reignite this annual get together. Watch this space for a write up.

On the projects front, the bridge is complete and just needs to weather in over the next few years so that it looks like it's been there forever. The giant barbecue will be progressed when the sun is shining and, when the weather is not so great, I am starting on the designs for my Roulotte. This is a French version of the Shepherds hut and should provide a little more accommodation for us for when the masses arrive.

Basic physics at its best.

Recipe
A splash of water
A pile of rubble
Some great friends
Plenty of beer and a distant dream.
Yesterday was make or break time for my dry stone bridge project and I'm glad to say that, as the wooden former was removed, it turned into make time as approximately 8 tonnes of rock seemingly defied gravity using ancient laws of physics and the amazing structural characteristics of arch building.

Softball write up 2013

It's amazing just how fast time flies by when you're having fun and there is no doubt we have been having an awful lot of fun over the last few weeks. The build up to this annual event was not free from the usual stresses mind you as to whether the hay would be cut in time, whether there would be enough players to make it work and whether all the people who said they'd be here would actually turn up. Fortunately however all who said they were coming turned up and a last minute flurry saw the edition of some new friends who I really hope will join us again next year.

The first guests to arrive this year came over a week early all the way from the big old US of A. It once again proves that it's not what you know but who you know as, even with 3 separate flights, the cost was only $80 dollars a head. Compliments of Kevin, they even managed a spot of business class on their return journey.
One week early and "mon petit assistant" arrived to help get everything sorted and cover my back throughout the weekend fixing broken things, entertaining the kids, looking after the piggy, sorting the volley ball net and so on and so on. Cheers Stevey for once again doing shed loads of the work and getting very little credit.

As you're all aware this weekend only works because everyone chips in and helps with everything. Time to mention some names me thinks. This years washer uppers were lead in the morning by Lee who successfully scavenged all the glasses from the night before and proceeded to get them all washed and dried prior to most people seeing the light of day. I didn't spend a lot of time in the Kitchen but on most occasions Nikki was washing up, or cooking pasta for Ross, and I'm quietly confident Lucy will have got her hands wet too as well as getting the rest of her body wet, compliments of Adam, on Sunday afternoon.

We were once again blessed with a whole bunch of budding photographers. Is there a collective noun for photographers? answers on a post card please. Louise, Jake, Florian, RangeRover Dave and Sharon, thank you soooo much for capturing so many of the weekends highlights and making them available for us to comment and enjoy for years to come. There were some very brave souls who were willing to risk some impressive looking cameras in their attempts to capture the waterfight and I took great pleasure in relieving Louise of her camera so she could participate with the rest of us.

Who would have predicted that I'd have a whole bunch of peeps to thank for musical entertainment. Maybe next year we'll get the drums down into the roundhouse too. On the guitar front I must thank Adam, he's the little feller that blends into the background a lot, Jake, Florian,Martin, Bryanny, Andy, Holly, Maddi and Oceane. It doesn't take a lot to get me welling up but listening to the little girlies singing was a proud moment for me and I'm sure Helen and Laura were extremely proud parents too. Depressingly there is no video footage of Andy and I serenading little Laura about our overwhelming love for her although we did actually prefer ice cream. The 3 man accordion stint was captured though and, even in our slightly intoxicated state, I reckon we did well.

Next shout goes out to the chefs for whom there are far too many to give everyone a mention but you know who you are. Thursday night chilli was smashing thank you Kevin, Keith, great job with the curry and well done to the samosa/onion bhaji manufacturing team made up of Roo-S-L, Kirsty, Laura (on her little pedestal) and anyone else who chipped in. The piggy cookers/carvers did a great job as I abandoned the beast this year so that I could actually do a little coaching instead. Dave, Tate and Roo-S-L also did a mean barbecue for Sunday lunch and my sandwich was the dogs ####### cheers guys. Wifey for Burgers Monday night, Me for pizza Tuesday and Tate for "Wednesdays left over wonder". I must also thank Ally and Emma for keeping me in Tea during the mornings.

Time for some softball chat now as that was the pretence of the whole weekend. "I know, why don't we get a game in tonight" was the comment that must have saved me a fortune in hot water for showers on Friday night. As we made our way to the field there were a few clouds in the distance but nothing to be concerned about. As the first pitch was delivered so the first drop of light rain fell. No cans of man up were needed here though as both teams took it on the chin when the heavens opened and we were all deluged. Refreshing is a term I'd like to use although I'm pretty sure we were all soaked right through to our team thongs. Fortunately the sun returned giving us half a chance to dry out a bit before dinner.
Even though we had a large number of new players, Saturday mornings round robin went like a breeze with very evenly matched teams and some great play. I would analyse the scores and tell you how we all did but I seem to have lost the score books. The afternoons games of TV against the rest of the world bought back loads of memories of years and years of playing in those red shirts. I am saddened that all the effort of so many people to create the largest club in Great Britain has now gone by the wayside but I am also happy that Thames Valley can live on forever here in France. Although we lost both games, I truly believe that the handicap was set right and if we'd found our rhythm we would have been suitable competition.
Saturday evenings batting practice/coaching session reignited my passion for bringing new people into the sport and helping existing players to up there game. Thank you to Joe, Keith and Dave for catching and pitching hundreds of balls and being patient with me as I tinkered and tweaked each individual. Remember peeps, upright, wind up like a coiled spring and wait for the ball to come to you.
Sunday morning saw the Disciples take on the Hells angels which I think was probably the best game of the weekend. It saw the sparkling new talent take to the field and demonstrate what they'd learnt the night before. The young stars, Toby, Christian, Dominic and Josh lead the way for the boys whilst Ally, Bryanny and Darcy did their bit for the girls. It was unfortunate that Darcy took a ball to the face but well done girl for growing a pair and getting on with it. Sharon managed to get herself on base which left her beaming from ear to ear however the play of the day has to go to Georgie. We all saw Tate field the ball but none of us could work out why he wasn't trying to throw Georgies runner out on one. Turns out he hadn't even seen Laura who, when questioned about it later said "I'm Fine".
For years I have been umpiring softball games at all levels and have had almost a level of desperation to eject someone from a game. Depressingly the first time I eject someone from a game it has to be my son because he's suffering from a bit of PMT. From negatives to positives though, I must mention a few of the great plays. Kevin catching Corinnes line drive to 3rd was exceptional. Darrens consistent big hitting and probable home run competition winner for the weekend if I ever find the score books. Nicks amazing natural newbie talent. Julias great plays throughout the weekend earning her the MVP title.

I think I've almost mentioned everyone now but I'm going to throw in a rapid fire paragraph to cover a few more. Sally, sorry about your ankle maybe dodgeball is not for you. Paul, hiding in the lounge was never going to save you from the waterfight. Mafia Jo, it really doesn't matter whose Lemmoncello was better but if your family ask, it was theirs. Charlotte, I do believe you managed 329 words this year so we are making progress, shall we aim for 500 next year? Trish, cigars really do not suit ladies but I did enjoy watching your sucking technique. Gordy, did you drink all my beer again? Michelle, it must be really embarrassing to be sent to bed by your daughter and Holly, for the record, I did not suck your mums toe but that's just for the record. Mark, where were you all weekend? Sarah I like the fact that you were totally supportive of Nick as we plied him with Calvados but I'm not exactly sure when you said that he'd be all right, that he was. Jules, great job on the shirts althoug we should have sorted a whole load of honey badger lingo to with them. Sue, Keith said I could get you wet as long as I didn't get your hair wet. Jean can I suggest getting a lock for your bottle next year. Tammy you're a shithead and I have nothing else to say on the subject.

Time to put my feet up for a year now but look forward to seeing you all again next year. Biggest thanks go out to my darling wife for allowing us to all be kids again and enjoy life to the max as it's only for the living.

Softball 2013

This morning the last guests departed after our annual softball party. Once again the whole event was an amazing success and I will post a full summary on here in a few days but, in the mean time,here.s a picture that should give you an idea how busy things have been.

Clocked up some miles

Since last touching base here, we've been a fair few miles and past through a few countries too. My New Years resolution was to take the kids to at least one different country every year for a holiday as, since moving to France, we had slightly neglected the requirement to escape from time to time. If ever there had been a great time for escapism and time to reflect, this was it.

Unfortunately our original plans fell at the first hurdle because my abilities outside of organising a piss up in a brewery are slim to none. Instead of Switzerland, which we hope to visit in 2014 now, we headed to Denmark to see the Danish side of my family. They say that you can only really appreciate someone else when you have lived life in their shoes. Having finally driven to Denmark, I have the greatest respect for my family who have made the numerous trips down here to see us in France. Sixteen hours of driving, including a loss of direction and sense of humour failure 7 hours in when the motorway junction was closed that we needed to get on and there was no diversion and the Sat Nav just kept sending us back to the same junction. We arrived in time for a great party with lots of people who knew me but I didn't remember them from 30 years ago when I was a pageboy at my Aunties wedding. This didn't really matter though as everyone spoke very good English and we talked about all sorts. Not that I remember much having been awake for nearly 40 hours and consumed copious amounts of alcohol since arriving.

Although some days I can be a control freak, on this break I was happy to take a back seat, Linda had everything sorted keeping us suitably entertained for the duration of the holiday. Fishing, beach dinners, picnics, theme parks, visiting family and generally having a brilliant time. I can't thank Linda and Jan enough for making us feel so relaxed and stress free during our stay. If only we didn't have to go home. It's probably no surprise that it 16 hours home too. Also it was the first time I'd been in Antwerp sober which my softball friends will appreciate having been there so many times with me. Anyhow we had a safe trip back and can't wait for the next holiday.

Bridge building

Back at the beginning of the year I took great inspiration from an image of a dry stone bridge I found on the internet. With a little bit of persuasion from some friends I decided that it had to be worth a go and so, today, I started work. The plan is to build the bridge over the stream in the valley. For those who've been here, it's going where we normally drive the range rover through. It will be a 2.5m span and will sit on a pair of 1 cubic meter blocks of concrete.

Mission one was the construction of the arched former that will be used in the construction of the beast. I had a very bent conifer that I have adapted to build the frame, some steel that was left over from another project to tie the base together and the old floor out of my trailer to form the join the two arches.

Words aren't always so easy!

Would you like the good news or the bad news first? as I'm the author you don't really have any option but it seemed a good way to start this post. On Friday, when I was completely lost for words, I merely posted a picture without a title of the most beautiful flowers that I have growing here at the moment.

I'd like to say we've all been there and got that phone call, maybe I should put it in inverted commas, "that phone call" the one where you know what the person is going to say before they've said it. The tone of voice tends to give it away but also a seventh sense as to what is about to be delivered to you. Sometimes you even know before you've answered the phone what's about to happen and that little voice inside your head is trying to convince you that if you don't answer the phone, the pending news hasn't actually happened. When I talk to people about my family they tend to be surprised that so many of us are so close and we still regularly get together and party through into the night talking about the good old times and the path that life is taking us on now. My granny, the subject of "that phone call" was an amazing woman. Was, being the key word in that sentence which probably gives away the detail of "that phone call". As kids we were regularly threatened with granulating, the description my parent gave to spending every weekend and holiday on the farm with my grand parents for granny training. This could easily be miss-interpreted as child abuse but in reality we had the time of our lives. Yes we had to work, and work hard, but we learnt so much about life and the fact that if you want something you have to go out and get it. As I write about this I'm thinking of my cousins, all of whom went through the same experience and all of whom have grown up to be driven, motivated individuals aiming to get the best possible foundation to life that they can and, to coin a phrase from the Do-jo when I was learning Karate, "Striving for the perfection of character."

Life on the farm as kids was brilliant. Once you get over the fact that the goats had been deep littered for 4 months and in the morning you'd be mucking them out, it was the spawn for a "work hard play hard attitude" that had stayed with me throughout life. When the work was done it was off to the pool for a dip or down to the chalk pit to build another aerial runway or rope bridge or swing in a tree. Some things that we learnt are already being past on to the my kids now. One of the key ones being that firstly, dinner is served at the table and you don't start until everyone has their food and a toast has been made.

The good news bit, which I'd hope granny would be proud of, is that today we got our hay baled and into the hay loft. This year was a bumper crop, as we'd expected, and I'm very grateful to my friends here who helped me load/unload the trailer and get the job done in super quick time. My shoulder, which was on the mend, may have been put back a bit on the road to recovery but what's got to be done has to be done.

I loved my granny very much and am so glad we got to see you earlier this month.

Spring has finally sort of sprung.

Well a few days of sun have finally got the flowers coming out left, right, and centre. Everything is about 4 weeks behind where it usually is but we'll give the flowers their due as, unlike the veg, the late frost have not caused any major damage. It also looks like we may have a few apples, pears and plums this year although the cooking apple tree is looking decidedly fruitless due to the late frost wiping out all the blossom.

We're getting excited about our pending trip to Denmark in just over 3 weeks. The drive will be quite taxing, but the opportunity to catch up with the family and celebrate a belated wedding should be great. I'm also looking forward to the chance to out fish Josh after his mammoth effort when we went last time.

All else is pretty quiet here. I'm still taking things easy as my shoulder isn't quite back to fighting strength yet but I'm sure it won't take long.

A Break From The Kids

For the first time in an awfully long time Jane and I managed to escape from the kids for a weekend. My mum kindly child sat, as they don't like being called babies any more, while we headed back over the channel to catch up with some friends and family. First stop was Portland to see NicNack. Who'd have believed that the trip from Portsmouth to Portland would take 2 and a half hours. An instant reminder to one of the reasons we left the UK in the first place. Traffic, traffic and more traffic. It was 2007 when we last saw Nicola so the girls had plenty to chat about whilst I filled my time fixing taps and replacing the silicone in the shower. We went out for steak dinner in Weymouth and it was served properly blue just how I like it, a rare feat for a UK restaurant.

An early start Saturday saw us roll into Datchet just after 9am and first stop of the morning was Grandma Jennies. Fed and watered we then headed round the bend to visit the old man who appears to be becoming more acquisitive every time we come over. I'm starting to think that the skip outside Alexs house should maybe have been outside his. My adopted brother is still alive and has now mastered the art of indoor flying. Hopefully one day he will get his own home in the garden but for the foreseeable future I think he will remain a house duck.

Outside on the road there was plenty of comings and goings as Grandma Mo and co were moving house in preparation for the big build. Rob was having a bit of a sort out in the shed and I have finally got my hands on one of the 3 huge Belgian glasses from 2005 when we did the triple. I'm hoping to reunite it with the other 2 this year, one of which is in the states and the other I believe is at Richings Park still.

Saturday night was party night as we celebrated Walshys big seventy in style. 110 peeps turned up for a fabulous evening including a great guitarist/singer who kept us all well entertained. Met up with loads of friends we hadn't seen since moving to France as well as a few from the more distant past when I used to work in Maidenhead.

Sunday morning we checked out of the hotel bright and early and made a beeline for Westfarm. A quick walk around to see the baby foals, donkeys and chickens as well as a look in the chalk pit to reminisce of some great times as a kid. We then had brunch with Granny, thank you for the pancakes Mellanie, before heading off to the ferry to come home to our little piece of paradise.

This morning we shipped my mum back to the UK, not for long though, and I have got on and planted a cherry tree that mum and dad bought for us. Thank you peeps and sorry to those of you whom we missed this time around. Jane will be back over in August some time so maybe you'll see her then.

Bank Holiday fun

Today is a bank holiday here again and, Her indoors, is not indoors as she has had to go to work, in a bank. I'll let you work out the logic in that one. While she's out and about though, I have taken on the role of child minder for the day. My suggestion of a 20 mile hike rapidly went out the window though being replaced with a bit of mask painting and DS playing. So far so good though as we've had no fights yet apart from a slight set to over finishing breakfast which was quickly resolved when I donned the evil glare.

Just like last year, someone appears to have made off with spring again and we are trapped with eternal April Showers. That combined with a couple of late frosts has put pay to a whole pile of veg, again. I am now sling free though and feeling a lot better even after the second hospital visit when my hand swelled up, the veins in my arm were bulging and I was in excruciating pain.

We went out for afternoon tea yesterday and I was instructed to bring my accordion. It seems that during a drunken evening out a couple of months ago I agreed to play at the "fete de music" at the end of June. Tea revolved around me playing a few tunes with Gill accompanying on guitar. From here it became apparent that I wasn't just going to get away with playing the squeeze box. Now I also have to dress up as a clown and sing a French song translated into English. The good news is that Jane has to sing too however I feel she may find some urgent business on the other side of the channel that just happens to clash with the said date.

Our annual house party is set for next weekend. This year running in the condensed form of a Sunday night paella with a bunch of locals and expats. I think the head count is looking like 70 but can't be sure yet.
Trying to remain jovial, but I have successfully broken both ride on mowers, again, one flat tyre on old faithful and a different belt, I hope, on the new one although I haven't been brave enough to take it apart and check yet. Watch this space for a depressive update once I've been brave enough to strip it down.

Stir Crazy

Six days in with my arm in a sling, sounds like the start to a great poem but in reality my enthusiasm for creativity is at an all time low. I'm like a bird with a broken wing desperate to return to the skies and appreciate the greatness of my reality but instead I am left flapping around in circles on the ground getting nowhere and spiralling down towards the abyss.

Always one to find a positive in every negative, the x-rays show no signs of broken bones which is apparently a good thing. There are however many negatives as a knock on effect of my situation. Having to hand the lawn mowing over to Josh and placing him in charge of my prize vehicle was a great buzz for him but also a huge beating for my pride. Not to knock his mowing abilities mind you, but it did remind me of my father mowing squircles in the back garden the day before one of our many house parties. Alas, also, the beast of a barbecue on wheels is no further forward than when I last touched it nearly 3 weeks ago and the staircase I am fabricating for some friends is still a pile of metal waiting to be cut up.

Our annual house party is less than a fortnight away, and as far as I can tell, it will be the smallest too date. I wouldn't say that we have intentionally undersold it, but we certainly have bigged it up in the usual manner and the weekend is looking like it will be compressed into a Sunday afternoon paella party with a bunch of locals and expats.

Josh will be entering the world of teenager-dom in a fortnight and, at the moment, Daddies suggestion of a moto-x bike appears to have been thrown out of the window. Apparently there are plenty of far less dangerous presents that we could get him. I'm now thinking he must be about old enough for his first rifle but I'm not sure that will go down to well either. My cunning plan to buy him a tractor, that I could borrow, has also gone out of the window as it seems the only ones you can pick up cheap are found in Toys'r'us. Ho Hum, I'm sure we'll come up with something.

On my ever growing list of jobs, it'll be no surprise that we have a few slates missing off the roof again. It'll be a few weeks before I can venture up there to put them back though. The trampoline we bought for Peters birthday needs finishing, once the rest of the springs arrive, then I'm going to build some concrete boots on the legs to stop it taking off like so many of our friends ones have. The bedroom ceiling in the gite requires some redecorating as we had a bit of water get in over the winter, probably as a result of me still not fixing the chimney. The roundhouse roof desperately needs the turf finishing but that will be a case of waiting for some willing volunteers. One less job though is the removal of a whole pile of scrap metal that was taken away this morning. Who'd have believed we could fill a flat bed transit with some old fencing and rusty metal.

Anyhow, time is money and all that so I'm off to put my feet up, probably have a little doze and continue feeling sorry for myself until such time as I'm fit to work again.

Peters 7th Birthday ...........

Better late than never ..........

The day started well with presents and pancakes. Unfortunately Peters new trampoline did not manage to arrive before the day. We have now got two thirds of the delivery but we will have to wait until next week for the main parcel!! Typical. Thankfully a quick shopping trip on Thursday night to buy some spare presents did the trick.

The rain in the morning did stop the trip with five little darlings to go climbing, so instead Plan 2, Bowling, was put into action. After two games we returned home for fun and games in the garden and of course, cake. Peter had requested that Josh make him an apple cake but mummy decided that we needed a strawberry one too. You can never have enough cake!!

All in all, I think Peter had a great day and the best part is that his present is still to come .......

Racing away

It always amazes me that when you get your head down and totally focus on something, time seems to disappear into oblivion. This is what's been happening with my "Barbecuing with the big boys" project. It's also reignited my insomnia as I lay awake at night measuring bits of metal in my head and counting nuts and bolts. Progress is good though and I'm getting more excited by the day as I turn the picture in my head into a reality.


I've cut the 2 doors into the barbecue. The little one is for a pizza style oven and the large one is for the main grilling area. I've also chopped down the two trailer axles to make the whole thing a little narrower and made up some new fixing brackets to attach it to the new chassis.

Mother in law arrives tomorrow and, slightly later than the UK, the kids are about to have two weeks off for half term. I may well have to go and hide in the workshop for a bit.