I can promise that this entry is unlikely to be what you would call a right riveting read.
Well I can finally say that the bedroom and new shower are finished - PRAISE THE BLOODY LORD, but it has been worth it. We moved back in this weekend. It was actually the first time I had slept there since the 21st December. No I haven’t been in the dog house all that time, but I had my accident on the 22nd and then was confined to the downstairs room when I got out of hospital in January. The Ikea bed settee we have downstairs is pretty comfy, but not a patch on our bed. Bliss sheer bliss.
MrsF and I had a good weekend away in Aubeterre sur Dronne. Its a fascinating and very pretty place built into an escarpment. The hotel we stayed at is owned by a young couple, she is English and he is French and a Michelin star chief. Needless to say the food is just the billy bollocks and I ate more than I should have but it was worth it.
We are now in the process of trying to sort out the garden/wilderness and get the swamp/pool ready. Both are long laborious tasks. We have also decided to re do the part part of the garden nearest the house. This has meant taking out all the shrubs and crap that have gone ape around the terrace and rotovating the ground, levelling it and then laying black plastic over it so we can gravel it. It started as a little project but in true typical Billy ans MrsF style it has become a major job, a little bit like massaging Pamela Andersons Breasts, it starts off ok but you soon get stiff and tired. But I am sure to be satisfied when I finish. I reckon the garden will be better as well.
We are getting ready for Flora and William’s first Communion on the 25th. Not so much and event of monumentus religious significance but more a family get together of importance. The Deaths are coming along with the deathlets as Dr D is Williams Godfather and Mrs Death is Floras Beloved Godmother. My sister Mary and Vic the goat are also coming along with Old Bid. Unfortunately Old Bid has not been too well of late, actually she is dying slowly but surely from heart failure. Her young GP had tried telling her she should not make the journey as it could be fatal, but my mother would need a stronger excuse or argument than that to stop her. I should say at this point that death - as in the grim reaper rather than the good doctor- hold no fear for my mum at all. She has never been worried about popping off, which is why the GP’s comments and fears are wasted. However I think we all feel that realistically this is likely to be her last visit to us here, so we will do our best to make it special.
The last ten days have been over shadowed by death in one way or the other. Again I am referring to the grim reaper.
An old friend of mine Harry N was killed in the Congo whilst protecting aid workers delivering humanitarian supplies. I am unable to go to his funeral, but I suspect it will be a serious piss up.
Then my mums dog bite the dust, mind you he was 16 which is not bad innings when you consider that works out at about 110 in dog years.
The veggie patch has stuff going in and we will have a bumper crop of raspberries. If the kids and birds dont eat them all.
I used to complain about the kids nicking them, but then a friend of mine rang me to tell me his lad had died aged 21 from leukaemia. My mate is a grumpy git, but has a magnificent vegetable and fruit garden and it used to drive him spare when the kids nicked the rasps, but he never actually vent his spleen at his offspring. He told me that the day his boy died, he was with him and was sitting there holding his hand. The lad said “You know dad, things haven’t been that easy at times, but when it got really rough I always used to think of those gorgeous raspberries we used to nick from the garden. I loved those raspberries and knew how much you loved us because even though it really used to get your goat you never said anything, but just kept growing more for us. I never realised that those raspberries nicked on sunny days in our garden as a little boy would be thing thing that kept me going. I close my eyes I can feel the warmth of the sun and I can taste those little red fruits and I know everything is alright”
On a more cheerful note the long long weekend is over and the kids are back to school, although the younger ones have a short week as they are off on a school tirp to Biaritz tomorrow and then there is a strike on Thursday. There is confusion as to whether there is another day of strikes on Friday, but I think that is optimism on the kids behalf.