Harry, scooter and garden produce

Harry, my new ginger and white cat, has settled in well as far as he is concerned.  My girls, Purrdy and Daisy, are not so happy but as I have fallen well and truly in love with him, he is here to stay.  He likes to lie on the sitting room windowsill pulling the red fleece up and around him.  No matter how many times I straighten it, he manages to bury himself in it again.

He also likes to be high up and in charge of an area.  Here he has the terrace and the driveway under surveillance, while the girls sleep their afternoon away, Purrdy on the stairlift chair and Daisy on the kitchen windowsill, although here she is having a quick wash.

Harry hasn't been the only introduction to the village.  I had a mad moment and for some inexplicable reason thought that getting a scooter might be a good idea.  Don't laugh!

The last time I rode a scooter was in 1969.  I lived in London at the time and it was delivered while I was at work and left in the garden of the flat where I lived - it was snowing that day.  By the time I got home there was just a very vaguely scooter-shaped white mound to indicate that it had arrived.   Once the thaw arrived, I spent an hour trying to negotiate a trading estate on a Sunday morning when it was deserted.  I fell off and injured my palm, my right thigh through newly ripped trousers and my pride. 

I worked just the other side of Hangar Lane in London and had to negotiate the rush hour traffic and huge, high lorries.  I was terrified and arrived at work shaking.  I did this for three days.  At the working day's end on the third day I sat in Reception dreading getting on the scooter to wobble home.  As luck would have it, a laboratory technician came in and enquired to whom the scooter belonged as he was looking for one.  Within five minutes we had agreed a price and I handed over the helmet and happily went to catch the bus home.  That was my last encounter with a scooter until a week ago.  

I'm not sure what prompted the idea of a scooter.  I had, over the forty-three years in between, briefly considered and rejected the idea several times, mostly when each of my children had become scooter riders.  An English friend with a house here, arrived at my house on his scooter last week from his holiday home one and a half miles away and the seed was sown again.  I had a look at the expat website which has a Cars and Vehicles for sale section and there was a 50cc Piaggio which looked a likely contender and once the owner had returned to Brittany from the UK I drove down with my worker and we came back to St André with it roped upright in the trailer on the back of the Peugeot.  I would not have chosen the colour if there had been a choice but I can live with it.

I have insured it and borrowed a helmet from my worker, who drove in front of me during a "round the block" trial which seemed to take about three hours, but was in fact about twenty minutes.  I was not relaxed and it seemed incredibly difficult to turn corners and to feel at all at home on the scooter.  The reason that he drove in front of me was that road users often use the centre of the road here and I didn't want to have to try to take evasive action with my currently poor command of steering.  With him first on the road, it guaranteed that I would not have to confront other vehicles head on as he would be the first in line for that pleasure.  We will repeat the exercise for a while each time he is working here when the weather is good to give me some regular experience and improve my biking self-esteem!  My progress will be noted on here.

When I went to Guingamp this week I had to stop the car and take a photo of the wonderful bed of yellow day lilies on a corner of the road.

In my own garden I have several buddleia which are attracting lots of bees and butterflies.

My veggie garden and polytunnel are going great guns and producing far more food than I can manage myself, so I am giving loads away to unsuspecting visitors.  Here's a record of yesterday's harvest - from the left hand top clockwise, various tomatoes, cucumbers, the ubiquitous courgettes and a green pepper.  I am also getting rhubarb, runner beans, herbs, onions and salad leaves - it seems to be a very good year.

The weather has been brilliant this week, with wall to wall blue skies and sunshine.  This means that I read a lot while I soak up the rays and the book I finished yesterday was Tony Hawks "A Piano in The Pyrenees".  I really enjoyed it - his sense of humour gels well with mine and will seek out his other books on the basis of this good experience.

One sign of the good weather has been the gradual maturing of my grapes.  They have begun to swell now and there are going to be many, many kilos on the three year old vine.  Last year I couldn't eat them, just after my mini gastric bypass, but this year I can't wait to pop the plump, sweet fruits into my mouth.

Three things I like:

1.  Having friends popping in who've relaxed out in my sunny garden this week.

2.  My grandson, daughter and her partner are due in Brittany late tomorrow evening - I can't wait!

3.  Having my morning shower and putting on a swimmer and sarong straightaway instead of real clothes.

My week

It’s been a busy week so far.  Book club was on Monday afternoon discussing Brixton Beach by Roma Tearne and views were mixed.  I like it very much, although partly perhaps because part of the book was set in Sri Lanka and I’ve been there and loved it.  The central character, Alice and her relationship with her grandfather was warm and well written.  Fifty Shades of Grey is a book which we’ve been asked to read in addition to our book of the month - The Way Home by George Pellicanos - but I’m not sure it’s really for me – I’ll think about it.

Tuesday was short mat bowls all day, but I left at lunchtime to enjoy the sunshine and watch my worker finishing the joints on the terrace slabs.  I can't believe it's done as the old mortar was dug out a year ago!

Then should have been physio in the evening but she rang to change to Thursday evening, so I took some photos of garden flowers in the evening sunlight.

I sat in the garden in the evening sun reading a Sandi Toksvig book "Flying Under Bridges", which is a quite funny easy read.

Wednesday was a day off, but I worked in the polytunnel and in the veggie patch and then there was a party in the evening in a friend's barn,

where I met new people and someone who had once come round to buy something I was advertising. She was talking about my blue convertible parked in the driveway and about the owner who she thought was a very large person called Sandra.  I said “I’m called Sandra” but she said no – the woman she was talking about was really big.  After a few more moments she gasped and put her hand to her mouth saying something like “O my God” several times.  It’s lovely when I’m genuinely not recognized!  She said my smile and eyes were the same but that was all!   On my way there I spotted a tiny bunny at the side of the road who waited for me to take a photo and I had a heavily loaded tractor and trailer in front of me for some of the way too.

Daisy and Purrdy had disappeared for forty-eight hours and I was beginning to wonder whether they would ever come home when they both appeared in the early evening.  Thank goodness for that - there is now an uneasy peace, frequently broken, between Harry and the two girls - I feel like Kofi Anna and the Syrian situation.

Thursday was bowls training all day, but I went AWOL at lunchtime to join two friends for lunch at La Vallée in St Gilles du Marché, which had really pretty flowers all over the facade.   We had a good lunch for the princely sum of €10.50 each for four courses including wine, water and coffee.

One of my friends was having a last meal before a colonoscopy the following day.  It was a good lunch and I’ve had my fingers crossed for good results from her examination.  On the way home I stopped to take a photograph of a horse drawn cart with passengers.

In the evening my physio came and worked on my upper back which has been a bit sore since bending over so long gardening. 

Today I went to make an appointment at the Doctors for next week to do my three-monthly prescription renewal, followed by a trip to SuperU as I needed another large bag of bread for my animals.  I then went to the vets at Corlay to settle the bill for Alfie last week before going on to see Harry’s previous owners B&J.  As usual lots of chat and laughter with them and I then drove back a way I hadn’t been before. 

I picked the first of the runner beans on the field for lunch with cold roast chicken and garlic mayonnaise - scrummy!  I don't enjoy frozen runner beans, too soggy when cooked, so have to make the most of the crop when freshly picked.  There's nothing like them with butter melting on the steamy, hot, young, beans sprinkled with a little black pepper.

I can't bare stringy beans and Lakeland do this wonderful little gadget which strings and slices the runner beans,which just need cutting into shorter lengths before a brief boil in salted water.

Three things I like:

1.   First taste of this year's runner beans.

2.   Knowing that a friend is bringing me back Sherbert Lemons and Butter Mintoes from a UK visit next week.

3.   Hearing that my grandson's renewed passport has arrived and I'll be getting a visit soon.  

ALFIE - just the best cat - 1998-2012

For me, today is one of the saddest days.  My beautiful Alfie, the best cat in the world with such a lovely temperament, has just taken his last journey to the vet.

He joined my family in June 1998 with his brother Oscar and has been a treasure.  This is him when he was young and before he filled out to be the big cat he became.

  

In May last year I took a photograph of him on the stairs and when I loaded it onto the laptop and looked at it properly his right eye was like a solid emerald stone – his left eye was the yellowy golden colour that was his norm.  Apparently it is the lens which becomes detached and creates this effect.  

I took him to the vet in Corlay and they operated on 30 May last year to find that he had a tumour and had to remove his right eye.  They were unable to remove all of the tumour because of the restrictions of space in that area.  After a little problem with an infection everything healed up and he had just over another year of good life with us.  Here he is with the other two after his wound had healed.

Yesterday when I arrived home he was walking very slowly and I picked him up and took him to his food.  His miaow had also changed last week from a normal cry to a guttural sound – I thought he must have a bit of a cold.  In the early evening he sat on my lap for about half an hour and when I turned him round to face me I suddenly saw that his left eye had also turned to emerald stone.  I was devastated and just couldn’t stop crying.  My lovely Alfie, who has been with me for just over fourteen years was going to have to go to the vet for the last time.  

Here he is with Daisy on the left and Purrdy on the right all sleeping together on the windowsill.

Alfie has seen countless kittens and cats come and go and has never ever fought with any of them.  He had such a lovely nature, even the vet says she has never known such a placid and easy cat to treat – quite different from my other cats.  He has never been much of a hunter far too laid back for that.  He just liked lying in the sun and then the shade, being combed, stroked and loved and getting close to the woodburner in the winter months.  

Thank you for bringing such joy into my life, Alfie, it will be the poorer now you are no longer here with me.

A Camel in St Nicolas du Pélem and life

Last week I received a letter from Adec Amor who seem to be responsible for encouraging people to do health checks for bowel and breast cancer.  I can’t believe it’s two years since my last mammogram but apparently it is.  In the 90s I had a friend in Cornwall who had breast cancer picked up at a mammogram session and since then I’ve tried to remember to do it regularly.  Now I don’t have to remember as Adec Amor send out letters to remind you.  My next one is going to be on 21 August.  They enclose a long list of places to have it done and my nearest appears to be Guingamp so I’ve booked there.  A very good friend of mine in Cornwall has just had breast lumps removed and is waiting for possible radiotherapy, so  having been thinking about her it’s been very much in my mind.

I awoke on Sunday with the sun shining and just knowing that it would be wall to wall sunshine all day.  Here is my lane early in the morning as I came back from doing the animals.  You can see my house at the furthest point of the lane with the Discovery parked outside. 

I had downloaded the Archers omnibus from the previous week and sat outside listening to that with a mug of black coffee.  Then my worker and family arrived to deliver the concrete mixer that he will need later this week to do the mortar between the slabs on my terrace and they caught a brief glimpse of new cat, Harry, who was at the far end of the garden.  By 15.40hrs it was 50°C in the sun and I was alternating between the shade of the pergola and the tanning sun on the terrace.  Daisy joined me on the new table for a wash.  By 17.55hrs the sun had been off the sensor for about an hour and it registered 31.6°C in the shade.  Even at this temperature I couldn't stay in the sun for long, although I tried while reading.  My arms, chest and back are quite red, but I don't usually burn and have a problem, although there has been so little sun lately that I haven't yet become tolerant to it this year.

  

Having just finished a very gentle book about a farming family who have to give up their farm appropriately called The Farm by Richard Benson, I am making inroads into a book called The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason.

This book is about an English piano tuner who is commissioned to go to Burma to repair an Erard grand piano in a practically inaccessible place and I'm really enjoying it.

There are some kind people about.  A few days ago I advertised on an expat website here to see if anyone had any  spare roofing felt.  I needed two metres to cover a hen shed.  I had a roll in the garage, but when we came to fit it we realised it was rotten all through.  A roofer replied and let me have the end of a roll for nothing and even gave me some roofing tacks to fit it.  I collected the felt on the way to collect the table and chairs I had won and it's now all fitted on the shed - perfect!

Monday morning and another lovely day.  I was up early and did four loads of washing to take advantage of the drying sun.  At 13.55hrs the sensor was in full sun and it was registering 45.9°C.   Inside, with the doors open to the garden it's registering 24.5°C and rising.  I think it's going to be even hotter than yesterday.

At midday I had a chiropodist appointment in St Nicolas du Pélem and first drove to SuperU to buy some bread.  I was a little surprised to see a camel on the verge by the roundabout!  I drove round the roundabout three times to take photos of the the camel and the llama next to him and also parked and walked up to him to get a better photo.  There were other animals on the verges, donkeys, shetland ponies etc. and it's because the circus is being held in the supermarket car park this afternoon. 

The chiropodist hadn't seen me for two months and reckons I am disappearing.  She said I am lovely enough now I am slim to get a fiancé, but I think that's a pretty unlikely scenario!  She has another patient at her other practice who has lost well after his bypass too, so is used to people changing shape.

Couldn't resist after lunch and braved the swimming pool.  It was apparently 22°C and although I should have hoovered out the eucalyptus leaves which had blown in I decided to jog and swim amongst them.  It was lovely!  As this weather is due to last until late Thursday, I should get a fair few swims in this week.

Three things I like:

1.   A chocolate covered icecream on a stick I found in SuperU which has my absolutely favourite nuts embedded into the chocolate - macadamia nuts - scrumptious!

2.   Getting all the washing dry within a couple of hours of hanging it out - I love this weather.

3.   Finding exotic animals in places I wasn't expecting to see them.