The Canary Dave

Morning all from a sunny and warm rural France. The forecast rain didn't arrive yesterday, so back to the watering can today. It is our fourth public holiday of the month today, and our large supermarket shuts at 12.30 pm. There didn't seem to be a panic by the population on how they would survive without a shopping trip. Maybe they feel the same as I do when it comes down to marching around looking at things I do not need. Have a good day everyone.

 

Morning all. I think we have to say it is now heading towards hot rather than warm, with temperatures up in the 80's F. No doubt thunderstorms will turn up in the next week or so. News from the French government is that they wish to reduce the number of cows in the country by about 6% over the next few years. There are about 17 million of them, and the reason to reduce them is the amount of wind they are passing into the atmosphere. As you might expect, the farmers are not happy, so we can expect slow moving tractors on the main roads again. Have a good day everyone.

 

Poor old cows - it's back to the days when they were solely to blame for holes in the ozone layer.

The world may be better served if we stopped politicians from flying around it on 'fact finding missions', and/or meetings, at the drop of a hat - or maybe just stopped them from talking.

 

It's a bit warm up here today too...

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The beeb seems to have taken global warming to a new level.

 

Morning all. Already warm when I took Mme to town for a blood test. Nothing to eat or drink beforehand for her, and I only had a drink. Sometimes we will go and have coffee and a pastry while we are in town, but didn't bother this time. Nothing the matter with Mme, apart from high blood pressure brought on by being married to me, but every year the doctor will send you off for a test as a matter of routine. The result will arrive here about midday by email, with a copy of the last one so that you can see if you are better or worse, or still the same. Have a good day everyone.

 

This looks like a nice DIY project for BB. I am sure he could come in under budget.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-65753691

 

I thought of that too...... just out of my price range tho!

Now if it was £29K...........................

 

Blow the castle, I'd buy it for the land alone. Then demolish the castle gradually and use the stones to build a smaller house.

 

Morning all. Warm at the moment, but no breeze to keep the temperature down. It will be hot this afternoon. Just arrived back from watering yesterday afternoon, to find one of the neighbours wanting an opinion from me as to a likely water leak in front of the elderly lady's house. It was certainly wet, so it was reported to the water board, and at 6.00 pm an inspector arrived to confirm what we thought. At 9.00 am this morning, a lorry arrived towing a mini digger, and a van with the equipment to carry out a repair to the pipe. Our lovely new road surface is being dug up and put in the back of the lorry. Seeing as we are asked to be careful with our water use, the response from the authority is pretty impressive. Have a good day everyone.

 

Morning all. A lovely start to the day, warm and sunny, but not too hot. It is amazing how time flies when you get involved in a bit of technology that doesn't do what you expect it to. I needed a few prints, but the printer kept reducing the size of the copy to something barely legible. The preview looked fine, but the resulting copy wasn't. Just about to give up when I found that all I needed to do was press default, and bingo, no more wasted paper. It should be handy for shopping lists. Have a good day everyone.

 

Morning all. A cloudless blue sky, and pretty warm already. First job today is a visit to the bottle bank. If we had a deposit return scheme in place, I could probably have a decent meal out on the proceeds. My son finally gets his eye operation today, hopefully. He was sent off to a private hospital two years ago to get a detached lens replaced, but that hospital sent him away as it didn't have the equipment. So he rejoined the waiting list in Leeds. He is a nervous wreck, not because of having the operation, but for the last two years his wife has had to drive him everywhere. Have a good day everyone.

 

He's a braver man than me then. Back in 1999 I had a detached retina operation and because there was no local specialist, Queensland Health flew me down to Brisbane for it - and even paid for the motel accommodation I needed the day before admission. The operation itself was, you could say, the old-fashioned surgical style rather than by laser - having been told that I'd be awake during the op, with just a local anaesthetic, I was dreading it and was eternally thankful that it was done with a general anaesthetic. I was discharged after two days and sent home by train - a flight would have meant sitting in a pressurised cabin for a couple of hours, which may have caused problems.
i have to say that the train trip was the worst I have ever been on - about half an hour out of Brisbane, some poor soul decided to end it all by jumping off a bridge in front of the train. Passengers watched in horror as his body was removed bit by bit from underneath the length of the train, with more than a few vomiting in the carriage. A trip that should have taken 7 hours ended up taking 16, as bits of him were affecting the electrical system, causing the train to stop & start frequently. Even worse, this was in January, in the height of summer, and the air-conditioning wouldn't work - neither would the automatic doors at either end of the carriages. As the toilets were situated the other side of those doors, toileting was a bit of a challenge.

 

A public service announcement - for those with young children/grandchildren/great grandchildren...

 

Hope it all went well......

 

Morning all. Warm and sunny again, but storms are possible this afternoon. The notice was up on the bread machine this morning to say that the baker will be on holiday for the next two weeks. He deserves it, getting up long before I do to make different loaves and pastries, then going on a round trip to fill machines and deliver to remote communities. With the big supermarkets undercutting the traditional baker, it is a service that is worth supporting, as his bread stays fresh far longer. So a few extra cents to throw away less seems a good idea. Have a good day everyone.

 

Morning all. Warm and sunny, and no rain expected today. Yesterday afternoon, when storms were expected, nothing happened. The man at the météo has now suggested they will come tomorrow afternoon, and just to spice it up a bit, this time with hail. If that happened it would be fun, as I have agreed to go on a picnic with a group of French and English residents. I had better find a decent bottle of plonk as my contribution to the event. Have a good day everyone.

 

Morning all. The temperature is rising, and we are now up in the 30°C plus range. My car goes into the garage tomorrow to sort the aircon out, and I will be more than glad to have it back again. A previous car had a similar loss, and it cost an arm and a leg to put it right, and that was before the price of everything went up. The picnic is not this afternoon thankfully, but next week. Maybe it will be a bit cooler by then. Have a good day everyone.

 

Morning all. An early start as the car was going to have the "clim" hopefully sorted. RDV for 9.00 am 35 kms away. A nice drive through the countryside, and it was still a comfortable temperature. Arrived on time, only to be told that the expert had been called away unexpectedly. He would be back this afternoon, and will send a text to confirm it, so could I please come back then. A very nice lady on reception, so she didn't get my thoughts in my best French. Have a good day everyone.

 

Morning all. Already pretty warm and going to get warmer. Rain showers forecast for this evening, but every time I gaze at darkening clouds, hoping to save a watering job, they just pass over. Still no word from the garage about the expert returning, so a visit after Mme's physio to stir them up a bit. Normally, garages here are pretty good and reliable. I hope this one is not an exception. Have a good day everyone.