In search of a symbol

We have bought a web domain name for La Ferme and one of the jobs I said I would do is start up a web page and get some marketing material together. I actually think I would have been quite good at marketing had I done that as a career so, as it is something that I quite enjoy it is my job to sort this out. However, whilst I can be creative I am a bit cr*p on the actual skills side! We need a logo for La Ferme. The brief is that it needs to look ok in black and white or colour and fit on the top of the page. I had a few ideas using the outline of the land and the trees but could do no more with it. Enter my neighbour Jon. I have hardly ever spoken to him until recently but it turns out he is a semi-retired graphic artist who specialises in the kind of detailed pen and ink maps that you see in the front of those fantasy fiction books. He has agreed to do the logo for a few sample bottles of the local vino! I have no idea what we will get but whatever it is it will be right!

Decisions

One of our neighbours in France said to me a while ago that when the time is right to come to France you will know it in your heart and you will have to follow your heart. My heart has been clear that I am going to live in France for several months but it has not been totally sure about when exactly and so although I have been telling everyone that I am leaving soon I have not given my notice in at work in a formal sense. Today my heart became clear. A couple of mildly irritating things happened at work but nothing out of the ordinary. However, this prompted me to think and this time the answer appeared as if a final switch somewhere in the back of my mind had suddenly been turned on. It happened sometime this evening and when I spoke to Ian tonight I told him that I am going to hand in my notice when we get back from France. His heart had also been telling him the same. The only thing I don't know yet is whether I will go at the end of September or October and to decide this we need to have some serious logistical thinking when we are away but the final commitment in my head has been made and I will not go back on it. I am sure I will have plenty of doubts and second thoughts and worries but my heart has decided.

Norma update

I have decided to discontinue Norma's treatment, or at least some of it as I don't think it was making a significiant contribution to her quality of life. She actually seems a bit better and more like her old self although I know now this is likely to just be temporary.

Mad dogs and Englishmen

This weekend I made the most of  being on my own and decided to visit my mother in Windsor. What is it about the sunny weather that turns everyone in this country into short tempered maniacs bordering on the edge of madness? Maybe the sun over stimulates testosterone production and as British men are not accustomed to this surge, rather than spending it drooling over anything in a frock, they seem to feel the need to go into battle mode. Why do engines need to be revved so loudly, wheels made to skid round corners, anyone doing less than 20mph over the speed limit need to be over taken and why oh why do white, flabby winter washed chests need to be bared to the world, only to turn pink in a matter of seconds?

My trip meant I spent a total of 6 hours driving and witnessed plenty of dreadful road use, culminating in a really frightening event on the way home. I was driving along the M25 approaching the Wisely junction, where traffic enters the motorway, when I saw a car parked on the hard shoulder. I was in the second lane and as I got nearer a young bare chested man got out the car and walked to the middle of the inside lane, arms open wide and staring straight into an oncoming lorry. He was shouting at the lorry (not that I could tell what he was saying but I got the distinct feeling that this was the culmunation of a road rage incident). At this point I drove past and could only see the outcome out of my rear view mirror. I don't know whether the man jumped out of the way or the lorry managed to avoid him, but I saw the man clip his shoulder on the lorry but otherwise walk away. This was some relief as I fully expected to see a squashed body on the road and a major pile up behind as the traffic was heavy. I was then stuck with what to do. I couldn't call 999 from my mobile as I don't have a handsfree set. so I drove onto the next turn off, which turned out to be a good 10-15 minutes away. I then couldn't really see anywhere to stop so drove on to the Services. By the time I got there it was too late to do a 999 call and all the Traffic Police were otherwise engaged in directing traffic somewhere so I ended up driving home and reporting it to Kent Police later. No one else had reported the incident and no one had died but it concerned me that someone should get so upset and stressed about something that not only would they endanger themselves but threaten the lives of so many more.

(My mother was pleased to see me by the way!)

A boys' day out

Ian and the digger made it to his friend's house in The Somme in one piece. He breezed through security with just a brief glance at his paperwork and then he was straight onto the shuttle. He decided that he was too tired to drive to the Dordogne today and spent it with his friend. I think really they both needed a day to talk boy talk and admire the digger. I spoke to him tonight..

Me: So what did you do today?
Ian: We were really busy.. We got up and went to Bricomarche (like Wickes) and then we came back and Jean-Paul came over so we went out for lunch...and then we looked at the digger..and then we planned the electrics for Kevin's flats, and then we went over to Jean-Paul's and had some champagne..and now we're back and having something to eat.
Me: Are you p*ssed then?
Ian: Maybe?

I guess this is the boy equivalent of a day out with the girls!

Interestingly the only time we have ever had any problems with security when crossing The Channel was the one time we admitted to having three cans of fire-rated expanding foam filler in the van. It is quite clear that health and safety man is more important than the anti-terrorist squad.

Misty blue

Today it was sunny and I felt the need to see the sea. As our email system at work has been dysfunctional for the past few days I decided to take some marking and go and have some lunch at the Hollywell cafe. At this time of year the sea is still cold and the result of warm air and cool sea is a light rolling mist that sits on the beach and stops 100 metres inland. When I walked down to luch the sea was covered in sparkley diamonds but by the time I had finished my lunch and marked my work it looked like this.

Boys' toys

Ian is now the proud owner of an orange 1.7 ton Kubota digger. We have a lot of ground work to do in France and the quotes we had from the local 'artisans' came to more than we had spent on the walls and roof! Ian searched Ebay and decided that buying a digger would be cheaper, and , as prices seem to be higher in France, we may even make a little profit once we have done with it.

So, today Ian drove the van and trailer up to somewhere near Mansfield and looked at the digger. He liked what he saw and so after a trip to the bank the digger was purchased and loaded onto the trailer. He is now at his sisters in Bedfordshire and tomorrow the digger starts its journey to the Dordogne!

This is a picture of it.

The morning after

Despite Norma's expensive medication (which meant she perked up for a week or two) there is no getting away from the fact that she is a frail, elderly cat at the end of her life. She is still thin, doesn't really seem to know where she is most of the time, can't always recognise things such as her very important food bowl and mostly spends her life asleep. However, the sun appeared on Saturday and she decided to join us in the garden. She walked up to shed, sat in the sun for an hour, followed us around a bit and then settled down for a rest in the evening. By the following day her exertions had taken its toll and she could hardly move from the cat basket. She seemed in pain and yet again I found myself thinking that I was keeping her alive more for my benefit than hers. When I think like that she usually improves for a day or two!

My brother knows all about feeling bad after the previous day's activities. He took part in the Eton
Triathlon with my sister and brother-in-law. This has become an annual competition for them as it is near to home, and close to their respective birthdays. It is the alternative to getting p*ssed on your birthday called wrecking your body in a vain attempt to try and kid yourself that you are still as fit as you were at 25.  My brother ended up getting smashed! He was in an altrication with another bike rider (a friend of the brother-in-law as it happened) and was thrown over the handlebars, breaking his collar bone and doing some nasty soft tissue damage to his hip that meant when he finally left Accident and Emergency at Wexham Park Hospital he was in a wheelchair. Today, with the aid of a concoction of pain killers he can take a few gentle steps and was optomistically hoping that he would be recovered in time for his annual golfing trip to Scotland in June. (I suspect that he won't be, as, being the wrong side of 40, his injuries will take more than a few weeks to heal. I did tell him that if he had been in the Tour de France he would have just had to keep on going!) So, the Birthday supper they had planned was spent in all the luxury that the NHS has to offer. My brother was taken to hospital by ambulance and I assume that they were paramedics provided by the events organiser since they got lost in the way and it took them over an hour to go 5 miles. They went from Eton, to Slough via Reading which as anyone will tell you who knows the area is a 'bloody long way round'. They blamed in on their Sat Nav.. but I am not so sure....!

Finally, I read somewhere that Black and White cats are the least popular and more difficult to find homes for that any other colour. I told this to Mandi as he sat and thought about the meaning of life.

Getting on with things

Another week has gone by and I realise that I have not written anything since last week. Thoughts and ideas for blogging have come and gone, but mostly gone; whisked up in the rush of getting on with things. It is easy how quickly day to day life takes over and you get caught up in the pressure of 'must be getting on with important things' to the extent that I am actually feeeling guilty about spending some time thinking about things and blogging! I must get over it!

It has been a cold May. I still have my heating on and have done for much of the month. The cold winter and late spring has meant that the blossoms and young bulbs have been particularly colourful and have stayed on the trees longer than ususal. As the weather warms up however, they are now falling quickly. The street was strewn with pink blossom on Saturday and the children were scooping it up to play 'brides'. I took my camera into the garden to get a picture of everything before it all goes. I am trying out some new software from Microsoft, called auto-collage. I have been pretty unimpressed with it but I did manage to get it to create this mix of spring flowers.

We spent most of the weekend trying to repair my workshop/shed/ summerhouse thing in the garden, which turned out to be a pig of a job as it seems to have been built with curved walls and probably constructed with the aid of several cans of Special Brew! I also made a lemon pudding, which turned out to be particularly yummy and put paid to my attempts to diet!

Stalemate

I can just about remember the last time that we had a hung parliament.  According to the records it was 36 years ago so at that point I was not old enough to vote, although still had an interest in politics.  I can remember that although there was a lot of discussion not much happened and life carried on. My parents thought that a hung parliament taught the politicians a lesson but in the end was not a good thing as nothing much happened. They did not like the instability and after experiencing a hung parliament and then a Labour government with a small majority I think most people decided that proportional representation was not the way forward. In 1979 Mrs Thatcher and the Conservative party were elected and stayed in power for almost two decades. I remember hating the fact that for 20 years of my adult life I had never lived under a government that I had voted for.

I am now about the age my parents were in 1974. I think the government and parties got what they deserved but I have no illusions that having a hung or 'balanced' parliament (depending on your view) will make any difference what so ever to the state of things. Minority issues will remain just that in the face of the economic crisis. Promises will be put on hold for the future and then never materialise and we will not have proportional representation as if it was put to a referendum in the end the majority would not vote for it. Lets see if I'm right!

An 'arty' weekend

The weekend was fairly routine although it is quite hard to know what a routine weekend is when we are trying to finish off two houses and move to a third in another country. Saturday was spent shopping with a little bit of kitchen fitting in the afternoon but on Sunday we had a day 'off' and went to the Dulwich artists open house event, which is part of the Dulwich festival. The 'open house' in question belongs to a former colleague of Ian's whose wife makes the most wonderful glass beads. Also there was Ian's friend Madeline, who was showing her photographs taken in Nepal. The house was packed, there were demonstrations of bead making and a string quartet playing. I have to say that this is really not Ian's 'cup of tea' at all but he enjoyed talking houses with the owner (who was looking more and more nervous as total strangers wandered around looking at his possessions). I enjoyed being around such creative people and decided, on impulse,  to order a specially commissioned bead necklace. When I have it I will post a picture but in the meantime this is an example of Francesca's work. (Although the one I have ordered consists of a cluster of crimson beads that look like an exploding flame.)

As all exhibitors work for a European agency the afternoon was conducted in a mixture of English, French and Italian.

Duty done

I have already voted. At the last local election I got a postal vote organised and decided to keep it on as more often than not voting on the day is difficult. I made up my mind over the weekend, filled in my ballot paper and eventually worked out what had to go in what envelope. Ian also has a postal vote and so last night he walked down to the post box ans posted them. My duty has been done and I don't feel any guilt now about not taking any interest in the last few frenzied days of the election campaign.

At the weekend I bought a new kitchen for my house as B&Q were doing a 75% discount on the cupboard doors. The flat pack kitchen is now stacked in the spare bedroom awaiting installation!

Slowly progressing

Ian has been focusing on getting the  kitchen finished in his flat. It was the last big job that needed doing before he can think about renting it and needed quite a lit of work before he could even start on the actual kitchen. It has taken several weeks to get this far but the end is in sight and it is looking really nice. I may even get to cook in it once or twice before it goes. After this we need to do the same thing in my kitchen and then later in France. By then we will be experts, although I think I am doomed to have to cook in a temporary kitchen for the next 18 months!

One thing I am beginning to realise is that not working full time doesn't equate to having 40 extra hours to do things in or mean that things necessarily progress much quicker! It does mean that at the weekend Ian has a bit more energy and time to do social things which is nice as there is a danger that we will become so focussed on our end point that we will forget to enjoy the present.

I still haven't decided who I am going to vote for in the election and talking to others there seem to be a lot of people like me..or maybe they have but just don't want to say!

Amazing new discovery

Ian forwarded this to me today and I sent it on to a few people at work. We all liked it so I thought I would share it.

The heaviest element known to science was recently discovered by investigators at a major U.S. research university. The element, tentatively named administratium, has no protons or electrons and thus has an atomic number of 0. However, it does have one neutron, 125 assistant neutrons, 75 vice neutrons and 111 assistant vice neutrons, which gives it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by a force that involves the continuous exchange of meson-like particles called morons.Since it has no electrons, administratium is inert. However, it can be detected chemically as it impedes every reaction it comes in contact with. According to the discoverers, a minute amount of administratium causes one reaction to take over four days to complete when it would have normally occurred in less than a second. Administratium has a normal half-life of approximately three years, at which time it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which assistant neutrons, vice neutrons and assistant vice neutrons exchange places. Some studies have shown that the atomic mass actually increases after each reorganization. Research at other laboratories indicates that administratium occurs naturally in the atmosphere. It tends to concentrate at certain points such as government agencies, large corporations, and universities. It can usually be found in the newest, best appointed, and best maintained buildings. Scientists point out that administratium is known to be toxic at any level of concentration and can easily destroy any productive reaction where it is allowed to accumulate. Attempts are being made to determine how administratium can be controlled to prevent irreversible damage, but results to date are not promising.

As if by magic

When I went to bed last night the skies were still free of aircraft and the plume of volcanic ash was getting thicker all the time. By morning, the fairy godmother of airlines had waved her magic wand and all airports were open. The explanation was unconvincing. There were claims of new scientific discoveries that mean that the volcanic ash is no longer 'the wrong sort of ash' and that it doesn't harm jet engines. The evidence for this seems to be a couple of flights carrying the chairman of  BA and persistant lobbying by Ryan air. It is not difficult to work out that in these days of risk assessment, it has now been judged that the risk to the economy of having an indefinate grounding of all aircraft outweighs the risk of a couple of plane crashes.

A colleague asked her father if he would get in a plane at the moment and he replied 'only if it was a jumbo jet with 4 engines and two were turned off and kept in reserve for when the other two seize up after hitting a cloud of ash. On the news they reported that Easyjet were operating flights but no one was turning up for them! Can't say I blame them.

Someone commented to me tonight that in all this all we have heard about is grounded flights and British holiday makers stuck overseas. No one seems to give a thought about the people of Iceland who are living with the volcano on a day to day basis.

Ian sent me this message today. It was sent to a friend of his who is a horse rider.

Hello
I know you are a “horse friend” so I send you some pictures and latest news about our volcano and the Icelandic farmers.

Here is a link with amazing pictures about our volcano.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/04/more_from_eyjafjallajokull.html

But here is tragedy, too. The first farmers begin to send their animals to the slaughter houses for they do not have enough space in their stables for all the animals. They send horses, sheep and cattle. Some of them can not use their grounds for the next years because of the ashes and have to abandon their farm. That is quite sad, some of they ran the farms for ages in the same family…… all Icelanders are quite touched by their fate……..

My horses are still save as long as the wind does not change directions.

A spring weekend

The high pressure continues; resulting in lovely sunny spring days. The downside is that the cloud of volcanic ash hanging over much of Northern Europe, and grounding all air travel, is going nowhere fast. We all know people caught out and unable to get home. However my mother lives near Heathrow and was telling me tonight that for the first time since she moved in she has been able to open her windows and sit outside and hear the birds singing. I am quite glad I do not have any trips booked for the next couple of weeks as I feel now we are in a catch 22 situation as if the planes are allowed to fly tomorrow I would not be convinced that safety had been put before commerce.

All of a sudden it seems, everything is in bud. Ian and I spent some time on Saturday clearing up the garden. On Sunday we went out on the bikes along the coast to Pevensey and Norman's Bay. In the evening Norma and Ian watched TV together!

Cameron goes viral

Okay. I said I wasn't going to write about the election again, but today I got an email from David Cameron. It was addressed to me personally.

Dear Linda,
Next month, you'll get to choose a new government. But don't just choose it, be a part of it. I mean it. We've got big problems in this country and the truth is politicians can't do everything on their own. We need your energy, your ideas, your passion to get this country moving.

There was an acompanying video. It also asked me to 

spread the word. I'm asking you to send this invitation on to just three friends, workmates or family members. Get them involved too. Extend the invitation. Together we can build the future.

I did and this was the reply:

words escape me, and to think that that idiot might be in charge in a month’s time – oh God

F*ck you

Ian managed to ration his trips to DIY shops to one while we were away. We went to Leroy Merlin, the French equivalent of a B&Q crossed with Homebase. It was pretty unimpressive and we didn't buy anything (although did see a bath we liked). The most sureal part of the experience was as we were wandering around with the piped music playing in the background, Lily Allen's 'F*ck you' blasted out in the uncensored version.  If you don't know the lyrics you can see them here. It is is not the best song ever written but I did smile when I saw all the shoppers singing along innocently.

Bloody election

I didn't read a paper or listen to English news for the entire 10 days that we were away and I have returned to find that there is an election in May. Not really a suprise but I just can't work out any enthusiasm for it at all. When I was younger I used to be bothered. When Stephen Twigg beat Michael Portillo to win for Labour in Enfield (my consituency at the time) my neighbours and I came out and danced in the street. Now when I look at them all I see complete mediocracy. Nothing inspires me about any of them. Mrs Thatcher was rememberred for starting the 'me' culture and Tony Blair will be rememberred for creating the 'spin' culture. Today I watched a clip on TV where David Cameron spoke about the loss of his son after a long illness (and hence how dedicated he will be to the NHS)  It was very moving but I couldn't help but think what a cynical ploy that was to gain the sympathy vote by using the memory of his dead son. Still, people have done and will do much worse.

I have no idea who I will vote for, I have no interest in things political at the moment and I will not mention the election again here!

A working holiday

We returned back late last night. The journey was relatively smooth and we made good progress, although as usual it was hard to leave; feeling as always that we are leaving a job unfinished. However, this is the way our lives are and there is progress to report. The render had been finished and the results were rather pleasing. The colour is getting lighter as it dries and even Ian, who is very particular about things, thought that the company had done a very good job. All the corners and edges were perfectly squared off and all was done by hand.

This time last year we had no interior walls and the windows had only just gone in and now we have most of the interior walls, some plumbing, half a fosse septic, drainage and a finsihed exterior with the exception of the shutters.

Ian spent much of the week putting in the drainage pipes under the house. This is not a job that gives you much to see from the outside, but as a result we can now run water direct from the sink and shower into the fosse. He also fitted the shower trays and basins in the guest bathrooms and connected up the drainage for the two toilets.

I also tried to be mindful of the fact that whilst we have to spend a lot of time working we should try to enjoy the moment. I spent a lot of time looking at the view from the terrace (more time than Ian thought I should!) and we also spent some evenings with friends (more details to follow).