Archive Article: 2001/08/24
ITS Tims birthday, its roasting hot and theres no time to celebrate. Birthday boy is fetching in the last of the straw to be stacked and sheeted over while he waits for the combine to arrive. It looks as if that will not be here until after milking now – just as long as it gets done before the forecast storms tomorrow.
Cherry went up to her newly decorated bedroom, (fuschia pink walls and carpet) to
prepare lessons for her first official post in September, but when I put my head around the door to see if she wanted some tea, she was sleeping like a baby. Well its been a busy weekend. Vimoutiers has had its annual vide grenier/brocante a sort of French-style car boot sale without the car. For a mere 20 francs/metre you can set up a stand along the pavement and sell what you like for a day or two. The town is closed off to traffic and open to locals and tourists alike and everyones ready to bargain. Cherry was selling a pair of earrings for 2 francs (about 20p) and a chap tried to knock her down to one franc. Still, she and Abi were pleased with the contents of their little petty cash tin at the end of the weekend, and there is a little less bazaar in the attic now.
There is somewhat more of a mess elsewhere. As a family we seem to be incapable of doing anything in the house without creating havoc everywhere. For two weeks, while we did Cherrys room, all upstairs was affected and just as that was tidied we took it into our heads to change our bedroom carpet, so back to square one – everything out. Bit by bit, its going back but we have inherited a huge wardrobe out of Cherrys room,
originally from the chateau, which took four strong men and a tractor to lift in through the upstairs
window. Tim, in his wisdom, wanted to move it out of her room himself and discovered that the whole thing was held together by wooden pegs which just slipped out so he could take it all apart. Between milkings (Jacques is on hols), straw loading and carpet laying, he has
re-assembled it on the new carpet. My hero.
Beth isnt here to celebrate her Dads birthday today, shes somewhere in a
caravan headed up towards Bergen in Norway with her boyfriend Pierre and his
parents. The two of them are going to do their masters degree in English, in Norway! They opted for this northern sphere as they hoped there would be less demand, they wanted to go together, but also Beth couldnt go to England as a foreign student being English. As it is they have both got a place and it should be good experience for a year. We are hoping she will be home for Christmas.