Another perfect day. Angus and Sophie sit on the storm drain and discuss the good news on the Pfizer vaccine , Armenia's surprise surrender and Mark Espers sudden 'termination'. Three farmers pass us in their white vans. All wave. Angus waves back. Sophie hunts for some start of day badger poo in the drainage ditch. My furry companion is told, as she's told every morning, that this is her home.
When I was younger there was barely enough time to be thankful for the simple things. Now I sit with my legs hanging over the concrete lip of the storm drain and enjoy the early November sunshine. Sophie leans in and has a long tickle.
Back at the Rickety Old Farmhouse the builder has shown up with his entourage of morose lads. The morose lads unload a cement mixer from the back of the van and then stand around wondering what to do next.
Angus has a lengthy conversation with the builder about drainage. When we first moved to France I thought that I'd soon be reading Racine with the insights of a scholar. Instead years of 'conversations' with tradesmen have taught me how to speak knowledgeably about tubing diameters and sewage egress. The morose lads become even more bored and stand in the flower borders and smoke. The outcome of the discussion with the builder is that the patio will need to be larger and a 'soak' installed. Angus heads off to order another twenty square metres of stone tiles.
4 comments:
I was wondering whether the builder would actually show, but now I guess the work will have to wait until the additional tile arrives? The page for the "Old style France" hotel was nice, but the views you post everyday are just as beautiful and they didn't even show any donkeys. The views from the Utah hotel, on the other hand, were breathtaking. My only experience of Utah hotels was a one-night stay in the airport Holiday Inn in Salt Lake City when our plan experienced a mechanical problem on the way from LA to Calgary. We might have to give the state another try, if I can persuade my husband to venture back into a red state - he's a little traumatized at the moment. The emergency room article was interesting and left me wondering whether it is guacamole or avocado toast that is the culprit - probably guacamole?
The Utah hotel looks a distinct improvement on the Green River Motel where I spent a week on a geology field trip in 1996. But the Utah landscape is magnificent wherever you lay your head at night.
The avocado injury issue was reported in the UK press at least a year ago, I think.
Best of luck with finding the tiles..
Cheers, Gail.
The Utah hotel reminds me of one in Sharjah. Actually, the two locales have a lot in common beyond deserts and architecture.
A relative in the US has COVID for the second time. Much worse--went to the ER for chest pain and trouble breathing, but they didn't keep him. An EMT, he has transported a lot of COVID patients and been coughed on at close range. He was asymptomatic in the spring and discovered only in early summer during blood tests of all the EMTs that he had COVID antibodies. It looks like COVID is our future.
The first hotel reminded me of "French Kiss," the film with Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline. The second, in Utah, I believe you've posted before? Hopefully you and the Font will be able to visit there in a year or so. Any of us would be happy to "dog sit" Sophie so she doesn't have to go to the K-E-N-N-E-L!
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