We had our first visitors late in the first week who promptly highlighted a problem with the toilet. The problem - flushing fills the bowl and then the bowl empties and sort of surges back. Next morning Wouter was outside digging around the inspection holes to see where the problem might be. The first hole showed no obvious problems, neither the second. Coordinating flushing with inspecting proved the problem actually lay between the second hole and the road. So Wouter took some buckets of water and filled the second inspection pit to see how quickly it filled and drained. After filling to the brim with water and not draining away, all of a sudden the water drained. It seems something must have been stuck further along the pipe - we don't really want to know what was stuck, only that it now drains properly and we don't have to call out the 'plombier'.
[2 days later] Spoke too soon! The loo is playing up again which meant Wouter had to figure out where the problem was again - different place this time so we're wondering if it's just the goose neck in the toilet - not too concerned as replacing it would be quite cheap. However, until that happens we'll have to be careful with what goes down there as it doesn't seem to be able to handle too much at once...
There was a sudden cold snap start of October - we were supposed to get some rain, but that was very short lived. However, it has been very windy, which is typical for this part of the region - close to Carcasonne and a sort of east-west wind tunnel over the plains to the coast. We wondered why there were so many trees on the western boundary, and now we know! So they will stay to cut down the blast from the west when we do get it.
On the northern boundary there are lots of leilandis, which we thought we'd seen the last of in NZ, as they were fairly high maintenance there. They cover quite a long boundary and do keep the wind at bay, so we will keep them trim. The leilandis on the eastern side will be replaced with pyrocanthus - the fire thorn - when we get chance. They are a bit like cotone asters in their bright berries at this time of year and make a great hedge. My favourites are the bright orange ones, but we plan to mix the reds, oranges and yellows as they give a nice effect. The only disadvantage is the thorns, so we'll have to watch out when pruning...
In the northern garden Wouter has managed to even out some of the ground which was rotary hoed before we moved in. It's quite a large area and we're trying to decide what is the best thing to do with it. Maybe just a lawn? Anyway, we won't rush into this decision as whatever we do, we need it to be low maintenance.
Wouter made some seed beds in the southern garden to plant some seedlings. The first shoots of radishes are through, and hopefully it's not too cold yet for the others still to make an appearance - I have beetroot, onions and chard (like a sort of silverbeet with red stalks). In the last couple of days we've also planted more yellow and red onions, garlic, shallots - lovely.
Over the next week we plan to get an electrician in to check all is ok. The other person we need is a plumber to see about the central heating - it may be ok but we'd rather not use it until it's been checked over and we know what we're doing with it.
The next person we need fairly quickly is the chimney sweep - Wouter has replaced the worn chord inside the door of the fireplace and cleaned it up ready for use. We also have had some firewood delivered as we both like a fire when it's colder. In fact, we're trying it out tonight to see if there are any obvious problems so we can tell the person who comes to check it out.
Our other immediate need is a settee - we have 2 chairs at the moment until our container from nz - one is a borrowed chair and the other is a garden seat we found here when we moved in. I've sanded it down and painted it - it looks fine and is usable, but neither is comfortable for sitting on for longer periods of time.
Wouter has been designing our new kitchen - using a programme called "SketchUp" by Google - it's a free download, and you can draw and design heaps of things - buildings, gardens, etc. It's really great once you get used to the tools and what you can do with them. The weather has picked up again, so we've been out in the garden trying to finish off some chores which need doing before the next lot of rain arrives and another cold snap. Wouter had a burn off a few days ago which cleared a couple of big piles of weeds, branches and other garden rubbish. Great.
We have finished doing undercoats of paint in the first bedroom which will eventually be ours. It is looking much lighter - heaps different to the previous paper and cupboard doors - there is so much more light in there now.
On Wednesday the guy from Orange (telecom) came to connect our phone and internet and cable tv. The phone now works, but apparently we don't have a decoder to use the tv - thought it was too good to be true. Anyway, now we have to go back to Carcasonne to get the decoder and find out what happened with our code which enables us to use the internet. ..... [After our visit to Telecom, we were sent the codes by courier - once connected, we found a lot of emails from Telecom telling us the courier couldn't find our place - imagine, no internet connection and we are contacted by email...]
Problem with the roof - we had a rain shower yesterday morning and suddenly drips galore from the dining ceiling - reason - when our dish was connected by the delivery people, he installed it on the roof but managed to break one of the female terracotta tiles on the roof - so Wouter had to buy a ladder to get on the roof then he had to find the tile, replace it - in the meantime he broke another 3 tiles as they are so fragile. Hopefully that leak is now fixed. We are learning all the time how to manage French property and how to fix it as well!
There is a sudden surge into autumn. Two weeks ago when we moved in, it was still hot during the day and evenings, now it's much cooler at night, but still warm during the day. The leaves on the trees were still very green, and now quite a few have fallen and there are heaps of colours appearing the garden which we both love:
Cassy has made himself at home and absolutely loves the fig trees - he knows how to slip away when we're not looking and scrump at the 4 trees which are bearing fruit - some dark variety figs which are really tasty - no wonder he likes them!One last little item for this blog - we found an interesting insect - at least that is what we thought at first. Then we thought that because it was feeding intently on the pineapple sage with a probiscus that it could be a very small humming bird. Next time we saw it, Wouter took lots of photos to see if we could enlarge it in Photoshop and see what was feeding. It moves so fast that it was hard to photograph, but then suddenly we managed to get pics and I saw that it had feelers - out with the bird theory and back in with insect. However, we still don't know what it is, so any feedback would be appreciated - size about 4cm length:
Thanks to all for the well wishes - much appreciated.
1 comment:
Hi, that interesting creature is called a hummingbird-hawk moth. :-)
luv Marlana
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