Sunday 09 May – Taking a Fence

I started last week’s blog by saying that it is rare to begin stating that I have had a productive week.  Just so that it remains a rarity, I won’t do so this week!  In fact, again while we have been busy throughout the week, we don’t have so much to show for it.

Monday began with an early start as we had to be at the prefecture in Quimper for 0850.  This was to hand in our existing, and now obsolete, residency permits before we receive our new (non-EU) cards.  As we expected this involved a 2-hour round-trip for 2 minutes in the prefecture building!  We’re not sure what the justification is to get everyone to hand in their old cards in person rather than just send them by post, especially as that is how we will receive the new ones!  However, we did it and remain grateful that we compiled all the information needed to be granted a permit a couple of years ago.

When we got home we focussed on clearing the driveway between our back door and the garage of the last few piles of material we didn’t use to concrete the garage.  We also moved our mini-digger into the newly concreted garage bay freeing up the parking space for Hayloft in time for our post-confinement guests to arrive – just as the rain arrived too!

It has been wet and windy much of the week.  Frustrating for our guests but much needed for the garden. It was only this week that I managed to lay some grass seed on the bank behind my new wall alongside Hent Gorrker that I completed at the end of March, as it has simply been too dry since then.  With luck it will be lush and green in a few weeks.

New grass bank behind Hent Gorreker, seeded for grass

The weather curtailed what I was able to do outside a little although I did manage to a run to the déchetterie (my second home!) and ditch an entire trailer load of cardboard that we had been collecting.  We had accumulated so much as we thought it would be needed to package something we wanted to order and would have had to collect.  However, as the person making the item seems to have vanished off the face of the planet, we have had to order from elsewhere from a company who will deliver to us, so negating the need for the cardboard mountain.  Hopefully these items will be with us in a couple of weeks and I’ll show you that project then.

It did free up space in the garage to prepare all the elements I need to finish the new dividing wall between Priory and Granary’s terrace.

Some of the new fence in kit form

I would have completed the job until I realised the brackets I had were not left over from building the rear fences and weren’t actually of any use.  That, and the small matter that David pointed out of me only having 4 when I need 8.  Hopefully not a sign of early-onset dementia!  Hopefully I can buy the right number of the right brackets next week.

New dividing wall between Priory and Granary 3/4 done …

At least I managed to paint the base and, while I had the brush out and tin open, I did the inside of the newly concreted garage bay.  Little by little the garage is progressing!

End garage bay painted and a new home for the digger

We were delighted to have had 2 couples stay with us last week, both returning guests, and one ordered one of David’s renowned 3 course suppers.  It looked amazing and was really enjoyed.

David’s three course dinner. Delicious.

I’m not sure what they drank with their meal but being a beef stew a nice bottle of red would be my choice – perhaps something like this that Dave found in the supermarket last week.  If you’re easily offended please look away.  Certainly don’t blame me, I just thought it was a little, well, odd!

Unusual branding …

À bientôt.