It's not really rained for days, and for two weeks we have had a nasty wind from East. It's a dry, cold wind, which assisted the frosts a while back. Closer inspection of our garden fruit trees shows nothing on the peach, very little on the pear and heartbreakingly, very little if anything on the Victoria Plum - so much for wrapping the tree in fleece!
Despite the wind, we could sit at the end of the garden, sheltered by the back wall, and watch the world go by as we sip our evening drinkies. Yesterday we were treated to the delightful spectacle of the biggest chicken, Delenn, keeping Zola pinned down on a plant stand for about 10 minutes. Apologies for the slightly hazy quality of the photo as it was on maximum telephoto.
The dry conditions aren't ideal for some of the wild flowers and the normally magnificent lady orchid in the wildflower meadow seems to be suffering. It is fully exposed to sun and wind, as it is right in the middle, and just to one side of a badger trunk road. Nature will do her thing, and I'm not going to interfere, as she knows best, but it is sad all the same as I was looking forward to a magnificent orchid flower this year.
A disturbing ripple is in the offing. The traditional longère next to our house has always been a bit of a pain. The now deceased owner was something of a slum landlord, and we have seen a trail of tenants over the time we have owned our house. We've had a slattern who ran a dodgy childcare business from there and chucked "things" down the well, two members of a family known for being mentally challenged (not at the same time), two artists, one of whom was chased by demons (although he stayed in the house the longest), a postman who had a vast menagerie of rescued animals, a few nice people (who never stayed long) and finally an alcoholic slut who brought the place into such disrepute that the mayor and police had to intervene. When she left, she "paid" her removal boys with the antique floor tiles in the attic (not hers to sell), and a year later, the ceiling fell in on the middle room of the building. It has been empty for perhaps 5 years now, which has been a relief.
But on Friday, people started to visit the property, and we fear renovations are going to happen - while eventually probably a good thing I guess, it will mean at least 12 months of dust, rubble, no parking and inconvenience. My word I'm going to have lots to chunter about!!
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