St Patrick’s Day

Somewhere I read that St Patrick’s day had been moved this year but here in France it was today as usual. On the weather front, it was cooler than yesterday but it was dry all day so I managed to get a bit of the grass mown. The ground is still far to wet to do anything with. I had to re-site the posts for the raspberries and the kiwis as the very strong gusts over the last week had brought all of them down. I just didn’t get time to set them securely the other day. Having done that I then tried to walk back to the house and nearly left my shoes behind, they were totally caked with mud and heavy enough to be pulled off my feet.

In the house, the electrical work is nearing completion. Tonight the power was switched through to the new system so there are working lights and sockets everywhere. I’ll have to sleep with the shutters open for a few nights, when it’s warmer, to see how often my PIR lights are triggered and then adjust them so the cats don’t trigger them. It will be great actually being able to see the keyhole when I try to get back into the house at night. There is practically no light pollution round here, full moons mean wonderful moon shadows and new moons bring blackness but myriads of stars.Tomorrow, the last few lights will be connected, as will the electric cooker and the new telephone points and then the old wiring will be removed or blanked off.

The heating guy might turn up too and move the radiator so I can finally position the wood-burning cooker. But the best bit of all is that I finally have an earth cable that works – no more static shock when I brush the door of the microwave or from the edge of the monitor screens