Sunday, August 2, 2009

What is it with men.....?

We're now in the final throes of our French adventure and with only three weeks left here we have a mountain of things to do for the lovely tenants who are taking over our house.

Rooms to repaint, airing cupboards to make, kitchen worktops to replace and...... oh God, I can't even bear to think about it..... the cellar to sort out. That in itself will take several days, as we have to sift through our impressive collection of 'hors-service' printers, children's schoolwork dating back to the days when we could legally send them down mines, empty boxes, christmas decorations, halloween decorations, duvets, dead mice and other assorted miscellania - or rubbish some less enlightened folk might say.

Every day I'm up at 7.30am, packing boxes, sorting out stuff for charity or dechetterie, or persuading DD that she really doesn't need to take all of her 180 books, of which she claims to be reading 'every single one'!

On top of that we have holiday guests until the day before we leave so pools still need to be cleaned, laundry to be done, guests to be looked after, hells teeth.. .I'm wearing myself out just typing it!

Around 9.30am I kick the CH out of bed (note that I've already been up an at it for 2 hours) whereup he makes a pot of coffee then spends the rest of the day doing the flaming garden!

Now, you have to bear in mind that we've had no significant rainfall since April and the garden already looks like the aftermath of some mad dictator's 'scorched earth' policy or even the Somme without the trenches. There's barely a thing alive. The grass is a fetching shade of yellow, the trees have a certain autumnal hue about them and the garden is ankle deep in dead leaves, dropped walnuts and windfall plums.

What little colour there was has either been dug up by Prudence the golden non-retriever, in her constant search for a cool place to lie, or eaten by the chickens, who are testing my patience to the maximum at the moment. On the promise of rain last night I put all my window pots of geraniums on the lawn to soak up the (as it turned out) non-existent precipitation. By this morning I had an attractive array of stalks. I can also boast dahlia stalks, petunia stalks and verbena stalks if you're interested.

So I ask you, what's the point? It will all grow back in the end.

I know the CH doesn't want to leave France, but he seems to be in total denial and I foresee a mad, crazy panic in three weeks time.......


9 comments:

French Fancy... said...

Good luck on packing up everything and being able to cross stuff off the to do lists. I look forward to a 'back in the UK' blog very soon. Whereabouts are you returning to?

The Accidental Author said...

Hi FF, we are returning to a lovely hamlet on the Wiltshire/Somerset border. VliF

the fly in the web said...

Sorry you're off...I shall be all alone, moaning about life in France.
All the very best in your new adventure.

The Accidental Author said...

FiTW - I'm relying on you to keep flying the flag for us 'non-believers'. VLiF

justme said...

Well I very much hope you will still be blogging when you get back to England.
Sounds like horribly hard work....I HATE packing. Wishing you all the best with the move! x

justme said...

Well I very much hope you will still be blogging when you get back to England.
Sounds like horribly hard work....I HATE packing. Wishing you all the best with the move! x

The Accidental Author said...

Thanks JustMe. I hope to keep blogging too but then I also hope for a fuller life than I've had for the past 5 years! I'll let you know. VLiF

Anonymous said...

First time visitor, just trying to see more of the virtual world. Nice to have found your site - a right riveting read indeed.

Wiltshire & Somerset are beautiful counties. I look forward to following your progress.

Hadriana's Treasures said...

Wilts/Somerset sounds marvellous. Do keep blogging. Hx.