Wednesday, so market day at la Flèche, and fortunately it is a restricted market at the moment, only food and plants. Why is this a good thing - normally I am complaining about it? Well fibre is coming to la Flèche, and with it, the urge to dig up everything everywhere and inconvenience as many people as possible for the longer term greater good. I've ranted before about laying fibre optic cable. Today, the whole of the riverside parking was closed off to punters, so we had to park where the frippery stands would normally be. If they had been there, it would have meant a lot of people having a very long walk!
Within the market, all was as normal, although fewer people than last week - but last week was a bank holiday. Eggs were 20 cents each for free range - important as our freeloading hens aren't laying at present. I had planned to get a couple more this autumn, but first laziness and then lockdown have scuppered that plan, and we won't be able to increase the flock until sometime in the spring I fear.
Then on to see the Boys in the Country - and this is where the trouble comes in, as conditions were ideal for spotting the nests of pine processionary caterpillars. Not so much now, but we have until the end of February to get traps rigged up on two of the pine trees to stop the b@st@rd caterpillars reaching the soil to pupate and fly away. Before anyone gets righteous about that, they are a non-native invasive species with few predators (blue and long tailed tits are starting to eat them I gather) and poisonous spines that can blind or otherwise mutilate cats and dogs, and cause particularly nasty and long lasting sores on humans (I know, I've been affected twice). The spines do wash down into the soil, but if you are planting or if (being a cat) you dig a hole for your "needs", you can still be affected by the spines. No, they just have to go!
It was a glorious morning, indeed it was lovely until about 3pm, then boom, the clouds arrived. Tant pis!
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