Tag Archives: liesbeth

Wednesday 8th February 2012 – AFTER ALL …

… that I said yesterday about my heat pad melting the water in the deep-frozen water butt, the sum total of water received today was precisely zero.

Although we had a really warm night for a change (the temperature rose to the dizzy heights of -11.4°C in fact) we had some snow. It was overcast all day with snow flurries and the sun hardly broke through at all, hence the maximun temperature today was a crazy -7.9°C and not even a heat pad can cope with that and do anything worthwhile.

I also had a phone call first thing.

François, who I haven’t seen for ages, came on the blower. He’s having issues with the blog of one of his Associations and now that there’s no technical assistance with the reseau since Liesbeth moved away, it looks like I have the short straw.

That meant the first part of the morning tidying up. Can’t have visitors with the place looking like a tip.

I cut up some wood too, and brought up here a load of wood to make an impressive woodpile up here.

I had a couple of hours in the bedroom, having managed to scrounge enough water to mix some quick-drying filler to do the joints between the plasterboard and the ceiling. And quick-drying it needs to be too – to set and to dry before it freezes.

And after that, I had another good go at the ceiling.

François came round after lunch, and won the prize for being the first private visitor of the year (yes, 6 weeks in as well, it shows just how popular I am). We chatted for quite a while and I sorted out his problems.

But once he had gone, I didn’t resume work. The temperature is dropping rapidy and so I stayed up here in the warm.

As for tea, I had tinned ratatouille standing by but what with my late lunch (17:00) I wasn’t hungry. a kettle with a small amount of water boiled up in no time on the stove and I had a coffee instead.

Anyway, it’s bright moonlight outside and not a cloud in the sky. It’s going to be another stinker tonight.

Thursday 8th April 2010 – It was quite interesting …

local history meeting la cellette pionsat puy de dome france… this discussion about the history of the area. Going back to Pre-Roman times and up to the 1950s. There was quite a good turnout too, as you can see.

It’s not quite the same as when I used to sit in on the open lectures at the University Libre de Bruxelles but you have to admit that for an isolated rural area like this they are putting up an excellent show, so chapeau to them!

The questions were quite interesting. The organiser – him on the stage – asked the audience what they knew about pre-Roman Celtic and Liz and Bill put their hands over my mouth to stop me saying “don’t they play in the Scottish Second Division?”

Yes, Bill and Liz were there, as were Mark, Tom and his wife, and a German lady who I know but whose name I have forgotten and which I will remember as soon as I press “send” … "Heidi" – ed. Quite a good turnout from the Anglo-French group in fact, but then again Marianne did ask me if I would send the invitation on to anyone whom I thought might be interested.

A few of us went over the road to the village bar for a coffee and a chat about a few issues involving the group and all in all it was quite productive. And while we were in there Gilles drove past. Now he’s someone I haven’t seen for ages so when they threw us out of the bar I wandered up there to say hi. Liesbeth was there cooking his tea for him and I was invited to stay but my diet (you probably know that I’m a vegan and don’t drink alcohol) prevented it.

Nothing got done in the garden but then again it’s nice to have a day off occasionally and do exciting cerebral things.

And tonight the cold weather has returned and there’s a hanging cloud on the mountain. I wish the weather would make up its mind!