Tag Archives: mark spurrier

Tuesday 22nd March 2011 – I knocked off early today …

… which might come as a surprise to many, seeing as it was probably the nicest day of the year and that I didn’t wake up this morning until … errr …. 10:20 and so I owe myself a couple of hours.

But once I was up and about I started on the vegetable plots, and not before time either. I cleared away some more of the jungle and that will be where I’ll be putting in another line of raised beds – the spuds will be going in there this year to start them off. You’ll remember that I have about 10 raised beds, in 5 rows of 2. I’ll be putting in a sixth row and also a third bed in that row – the extra bed going behind the compost bins. Ultimately there will be three beds in each row, but that won’t be this year.

I needed the pickaxe to pull up a few tree stumps too – there were in somewhat deep. It’s harder work the further down the slope I go because the further down, the longer the ground has remained undisturbed and the ground alder has got a severe hold down there.

Mark, who comes to the Anglo-French Group, gave me an idea too. He doesn’t use a chainsaw for chopping wood (neither do I) and while I’ve been struggling with all kinds of methods to cut wood, he says he uses an ordinary saw but one with huge teeth. A while ago I was in Brico Depot and saw exactly what he meant – a scie de coffreur – or joiner’s rough-cut saw. I bought one back then, and today I tried it out and I’ll tell you that there’s some mileage in this. It did an excellent job of cutting down overhanging branches.

And so why did I knock off early? Well with it being so nice just now (3 days that I’ve had the fridge running and 2 days that I’ve had no heating) I happened to look at the water in the solar shower tank at 17:00. 28°C. And seeing as there was no wind, it was 15°C outside and bright sunlight, I filled a kettle, boiled it up, made myself a coffee and tipped the rest of the hot water into the solar tank. That brought the temperature up to 42°C and I had an impromptu, unexpected but most welcome solar shower. In March as well. That’s a new all-time record.

And with the water temperature in the home-made immersion heater reaching 59.5°C today, I’m going to keep my eye on it. And if it gets up to that tomorrow, I’m going to do a load of washing using the home-made immersion heater to fill  the machine.

That will be exciting.

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Monday 7th June 2010 – I had another gardening day today.

bean frame raised beds les guis virlet puy de dome franceYou can see in the photo that I’ve rediscovered my bean and pea frame, so seeing as I now have three pea plants and four bean plants ( and isn’t that disappointing?) I put it up so that they will have something to cling to. When I saw the lack of beans and peas this year then I needed something to cling to for support, but I hadn’t recovered the frame then.

The radishes I planted a couple of weeks ago are going berserk and the spinach is now coming up. maybe things are putting in a late burst.

I’ve sown another row of carrots in place too, and transplanted the first showing of cauliflower and the second showing of broccoli. The cucumber plants I planted in the small cloche and to do that I had to take out the trays of herbs. They are on the window ledge of the house for now.

herb garden verandah planters les guis virlet puy de dome franceYou might recall that I brought my herbs back from Brussels and planted them in a trough. I had some more in small pots and so I made up another trough and those herbs have gone into there. I’m putting them in troughs so that in winter I can take them indoors.

The mint I left in a pot and planted the pot in the trough for the simple reason that mint goes berserk and spreads everywhere if you don’t contain it.

The soil in the trough by the way is 50% compost from LIDL, 50% soil from when I dug out the earth beichstuhl and a dusting of wood ashes to give it all some potash.

So that was the afternoon. In the morning I was computing and before lunch I did a load of washing – the first for ages down here but you might recall that I did a few loads in Brussels when I was there and Liz kindly did a few loads for me while I was helping Terry.

This evening was the Anglo-French Group. Mark prepared a good game for us and we had some fun. We were somewhat divided into two groups though – some of us working upstairs and the others talking and smoking downstairs.

So tomorrow now that the garden is done for this week I’ll carry on moving stuff from the side of the barn. I want to get all of that stuff moved as soon as possible.

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Monday 12th April 2010 – Well, we are all going to be famous now.

We were all filmed at our Anglo-French Conversation Group this evening – but there’s no need to get excited. It was just one guy with the camera and the microphone and that was that – all very low key. He asked me about 6 questions and then proceeded to film the attendees and ask them a couple of questions.

I was all on my own to do the organising though as Christiane had to work and Liz was busy rescuing Terry from the hospital where she had taken him yesterday. He had had a fight with his chopsaw and finished second.

home made cloche les guis virlet puy de dome franceToday I finished my megacloche and if I had have had time to photograph it I would have regaled you all with a photo yesterday. But anyway, here it is today. It’s 1m20 tall, 1m20 deep and 1m60 wide. The front slopes at 45 degrees and so is a veritable sun trap.

Or it will be when I put some glass in it. I don’t have enough old caravan windows to finish it but Simon reckons he has some old windows lying around and I can go and liberate them in due course.

Once I finished that I started moving the old pile of gravel that I had left when I was taken ill in 2003 and also digging over another raised bed. I know – I said that I wouldn’t dig any more but I have to fight my way in to where the fruit trees start, and there is a strip of about 3.5m x 1m looks so inviting for a bed of potatoes if I can get all the ground alder out.

Being on my own this evening I told Bill about Terry’s little contretemps and asked him to explain it to everyone, which he duly did.
“Not his whole finger? asked Mark incredulously.
“No” replied Bill. “The one next to it”.

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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! 

 

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Thursday 19th November 2009 – Can you see the point …

pointing stone wall liz terry messenger sauret besserve… of what we have been doing today?

The bottom left half of the photo is the “before” and the bottom right half of the photo is the “after”. You can click on the image to enlarge it, and you’ll see exactly what I mean.

And isn’t it a good job that we did too? It helps when you have
1) the right tools
2) the right materials
3) congenial company
4) someone who knows what to do, how to do it and how to explain it to everyone else.
So much so, in fact, that I was bunged half a bag of opened chalk and at the next available opportunity I shall be not merely pointing the gap in the stones by the kitchen but also ripping out all of the pointing that I did in August and September with cement and replacing it with a proper chalk and sand mixture. I was ever so impressed with what we did today and how well it looked.

What also helps is having a hostess who is psychic. There I was, discussing with Mark and Terry the benefits of a spouse who brings around mugs of coffee at opportune intervals, and right at that very moment Liz stuck her head around the corner and asked “who wants a brew?”

It goes without saying that we were all well-fed and that there was vegan cake (ginger today). And I was even given a doggy-bag.
“You can come and help me again next time the weather is decent if you like” said Terry.
Is the Pope a Catholic?

Liz also gave me my shopping order from the UK and I now have plenty of vegan cheese. I have yet to find a source of that in any shop over here. That will keep me going until Christmas.

And tomorrow I have to telephone this guy about this proposed radio programme.

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Wednesday 18th November 2009 – At least I know now …

stone wall no mortar damp ingress… why it is that my little room is getting so damp. I moved a pile of wood and the evidence is right before my eyes.

The soil has once more banked itself up against the kitchen wall (I keep digging it out every couple of years) and also, some of the pointing has fallen out and water is infiltrating between the stones.

I’m glad that I’m going round to Terry’s tomorrow morning to have a pointing lesson with Mark. I can see me putting this to use in a very short space of time.

In other news, I’m still tidying up the garden, albeit in a rather desultory fashion. Most of what I’ve been doing is to sort out the scrap wood into what is useable elsewhere and what is only fit for burning. I’m also pulling up brambles and nettles in a sort-of tidying up of the scrub for I need a place to put the compost bin that I bought a couple of weeks ago and everywhere else is full up.

And what else? Ahh yes. I’ve dug over the carrot patch and the potato patch and rescued some veg. I fact I had home-grown potatoes and carrots for tea just now. I’ve also tidied up Caliburn’s cab and cleaned the inside of the windscreen which was all greased over and filthy. We’re off to Liz and Terry’s tomorrow and Strawberry Moose has been promised a huge hug from Liz. He’s quite looking forward to it.

And in other news, Rhys and I have been looking at cement mixers on the internet – Rhys has to lay a concrete foundation for his new shed. But never mind the cement mixer, Harbour Freight has a heavy duty concrete vibrator for just €99. Now isn’t that right up Lee “I’m a potty-mouth” Prostitute’s alley?

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Monday 16th November 2009 – This evening I had to go into Montaigut en Combraille …

church montaigut en combraille… to return a guitar lead to Robert the drummer. I’d borrowed one from him to try out this Carlsbro combo that I bought. Where he lives is just 20 yards from the town church, and it was looking so nice bathed in the orange lamps of the square that I reckoned it was worth a photo.

Montaigut is a deceptive town, there’s a main road that runs right through the middle of it and that road carries a great deal of heavy traffic – it’s the N144, the main road between Montlucon and Clermont Ferrand. It looks dirty and dingy and full of abandoned shops and houses.

But the main road was only built through it in the 1920s. Prior to that all of the traffic passed through the real centre of the town, the centre that most people don’t even know exists. It was formerly a mediaeval walled city complete with castle (now long-demolished) and narrow winding mediaeval streets that are difficult to walk through, never mind drive through.

This morning I set the alarm – for the first time in 12 days – but it was still difficult to crawl out of my stinking pit. And I started on a desultory tidying-up. I’ve found some more scaffolding buried in the undergrowth and all kinds of bits and pieces. I’m busy sorting out the wood that we ripped off the roof, seeing what is salveable and what is just fit for burning.

I’ve also added another compost bin – we have a black plastic dustbin with an old caravan window over the top. You might be wondering what I’m doing with this but it concerns the beichstuhl arrangements. I shan’t go into the gory details as you are probably eating but if you remember back a few weeks ago, it involves a plant pot, a load of biodegradable bin liners and the fact that I’m a vegan. Keeping the soil fertility going is quite important.

Tonight is the 3rd Monday of the month and that’s when we meet at the hotel at St Eloy. A sign on the door said “back at 19:00” but by 19:40 we were fed up of waiting and so we went to the bar down the road instead. It seems that Mark is something of an expert at pointing stonework using chalk. Terry has asked him to give him some lessons so Mark is going round there on Thursday morning. I’m always keen to learn whatever I can at times like this so I’m going round there too. After all, my place is in need of a good pointing too and so I’ll make a point of learning all I can.

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Monday 9th November 2009 – Today has set an all-time new record …

… of electricity generated around here with my solar panels.

I started keeping statistics back in August 2007 and I can safely say that today is the first-ever day since then that a total of ZERO amp-hours has been generated. I’ve had days where I’ve had 0.2 and 0.3 amp-hours, that kind of thing, but never a day with zero.

But a look at the temperature senders in the heat exchanger, the greenhouse and the cloche will tell you why. Maximum temperature was 5.0 – minimum was 3.5. Yes, we had absolutely no sun at all so the temperature never rose by anything worth recording, and there was so much cloud cover that there was no radiation back into the atmosphere once it went dark.

You’ve seen photos in the past of the Gorges of the Sioule with the low cloud hanging around in the gorge. Today was one of those days where the low cloud was all over the Combrailles and just hanging around, stationary, with not even a breath of air to move it on. It’s just like a heavy, clogging mist or fog. We get plenty of those in late autumn and winter but today’s was a special one.

Another record was set at the Anglo-French group this evening where just three of us turned up. Bill, Mark and Yours Truly. Hardly surprising as I could hardly see my hand in front of my face for much of the drive to St Gervais.

I stayed in today – doing a little bit of desultory moving, writing up my footy notes and talking to Rhys on the computer. Rhys is having “issues” with someone on a photography forum who is posting comments that can only be described as “unpleasant” – and that’s an understatement. The aforementioned poster is stalking Rhys in cyberspace, which is a pretty unpleasant thing to do.

The internet is a magnificent tool that has opened up whole new horizons for many people, and given many people a platform to air their views – a platform that simply wasn’t available in their former lives. It’s a sad fact that many people simply didn’t have a life back in the technological stone age but the internet has given them a whole new outlook. On the internet you can be whoever you want to be – superhero, cybervillain – and “no-one knows that you’re a dog”. Most people can handle themselves quite correctly in the new form of media but it’s sad to relate that there are always a few people whose existence to date has been so depressing that the internet has brought out the worst side of their characters. People who are so oppressed and depressed in real life that they cloak their inadequacies and the like by becoming over-aggressive on the ‘net – purely and simply because they know that they won’t get their teeth kicked in and that they have a large and wide-ranging audience.

It’s a maxim that if you wouldn’t say something to anyone to their face, then you shouldn’t say it on the internet. Not abiding by those rules is simply the worst form of cowardice. You might be wondering why it is then that I say so much about other people on here. The fact is, of course, that I’ll quite happily say it to their faces and be proud of it. I do recall the time that I was summoned to appear before Turdi de Hatred and Lisa arson back in January 2008 – which regular readers of my outpourings in its previous existence might remember. I took along Liz Ayers to hold my coat and we will both remember how the interview opened.
“Although there is no statutory obligation to do so, we are allowing you to bring a friend as we don’t want you to feel intimidated” said Turdi.
I turned to Liz and noticed that she was absolutely p155ing herself with laughter.
“Don’t laugh, Liz” I urged. “This is deadly serious. We both know a girl (called Seanalee as it happens) who is frightened to death of clowns“.
To this day, and probably to my dying day, I still do not know how they failed to notice the dictaphone that I put on the desk.

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Monday 2nd November 2009 – This perishing flooring …

… is getting on my wick.

I know now why it was reduced for sale at Brico Depot and why there was so much of it. Most flooring is just plain good old ordinary tongue and grooving and it slots together quite nicely. This stuff has “our special patented interlocking system” and that should have set the alarm bells ringing in my head. There’s nothing wrong with tongue and grooving and there isn’t any point changing it, especially for “our patented” system which, as far as I can see, doesn’t work.

It clicks together nicely on the shortest ends – on the longest sides it’s quite a struggle even with Ashley, my super-heavy-duty mallet; but you try to do both together. It’s now four times that I’ve had this floor restarted in an attempt to get it fitted properly. I’ve now resorted to cutting off the ends of the clips, nailing it to the floor on one side and twisting it in on the other. It sort-of fits but it looks untidy but I’ve got to the stage that I knew that I would reach sooner or later, namely that I can’t be bothered to waste any more time and I just want to be in there and settled down no matter what.

And who can blame ne with this weather? It’s pouring down with rain tonight.we’ve had 13.5mm of rain so far this evening and my water butts are overflowing. A far cry from the end of September when we went something like 15 days without any rain.

At the Anglo French group tonight no-one could remember whose turn it was to animate the evening so I had everyone playing charades, miming the use of tools used in DiY. Everyone entered into the spirit of things although Gilles did get carried away with his impression of a chainsaw – cutting Mark’s hand off was going a bit too far, I thought

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