… and we had the first serious rain today since I don’t know when. Round about 15:00 the heavens opened and that was that. No point in working outside in this weather so Terry called it a day – and I can’t say that I blamed him.

This morning though we cracked on and the pit is finished now. 6 rows of breeze blocks means that it’s about 1.30m high and that’s plenty for me to sit down comfortably and work underneath a car. And you’ve no idea how much I’m looking forward to not having to lie on my back on a cold concrete floor.I’ve been doing that for 45 years and I’m fed up.

We’ve cracked on with the shuttering too and that’s not far off being finished. We would have done that too had it not been for the rainstorm. I carried on doing a little bit of it during a break in the weather, and one thing that I forgot was how slippery plastic is when it’s wet. So slippery in fact that when I stepped back to check the level of the shuttering that I had just installed, I ended up half-in the pit. And I have the scratches to prove it.

Another thing that I learnt today was that after a heavy rainstorm there’s about 20 litres of water on the roof of the digger. And when you put the digger in forward motion, the water cascades down onto your lap.

Anyway, I’ve been in major discussion with the concrete company and they can fit me in on Friday afternoon at their convenience. Two loads of … gulp … 10 cubic metres of concrete in total. I didn’t realise that I had over 60M² to cover and I don’t have enough grillage for that. Consequently I need to nip into Montlucon early tomorrow morning for some more.

I saw the old woman, the mother of the Parisian who has a holiday home here. She parks her car sometimes where the cement mixer has to turn round so I warned her about his visit, and had the usual mouthful of abuse in exchange. All I can say is that it’s no wonder her two sons are so miserable if they’ve had to put up with her for 60 years. She gets right on my mammary glands as it is. Her husband died quite early, apparently, and I’m not surprised. Probably grateful for the peace and quiet. If I had been married to her, she would have had a smack in the mouth a long time ago.

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