• Saturday, September 29th, 2007
If you are eating your dinner right now, I’d finish it first before reading further! As with a lot of French houses, we send all of our waste to a location outside of the house and it has to be collected by someone called a “Vindager”. All toilet waste is sent to a big tank which is sunk into the ground in the garden, then the bathroom water is sent down a separate pipe and finally the kitchen water is sent to a grease trap. All the water eventually passes through a filter and then finally back into the water system – in our case the Pond.
When you have a waste system like this, it makes you think about exactly what you are putting down the “plug hole” or “toilet”. The fosse works on the basis that bacteria break down the solids and eventually the waste liquid filters through and out. The grease trap is exactly that. The water arrives into a solid concrete chamber which fills over a period of time up to an outlet pipe. During this time, any fat or grease in the water, floats to the top and solidifies, allowing only the water to pass through. The water from the bathroom is sent directly to the filter. Eventually the fosse will need emptying which is what happened recently. We had noticed a problem with the water not draining from the bathroom properly and then one night, we had air venting back up through the toilet! When we lifted the lid of the fosse, it was FULL. We arranged for the vindagers to arrive with their trusty tanker. It is sort of an industrial vacum cleaner and they empty out the fosse and grease trap then give everything a good clean with water. On this occasion, he told us that the filter is blocked probably with roots from a nearby bush. The water is getting through but not as it should and he has told us to either dig down to the filter and clear it, or put a pipe directly from the grease trap to the outlet where the water flows. We haven’t decided which action to take yet but when we do, it’s going to be a smelly job. In the meantime, everything is working fine and of course I will report on the job when it is done …..
The Vindager pumping our waste to his tanker.
The grease trap after it’s been emptied – yuk.
By the way, I couldn’t post a picture of the Fosse as I couldn’t get close enough cos of the smell !!!
• Saturday, September 29th, 2007
We have a long wide hedge at the bottom of the garden and each year around this time we need to cut it back. In previous years we have struggled to cut it from the garden side as it’s so wide you need to go around to the other side to finish it. This is a problem as the other side grows on a slope and you need a step ladder to get to the top of it. This year we decided to “cut it in half” lengthways so that the top can be cut from the garden side and leave enough space to keep it trimmed on the other. It took 4 days of really hard work. Not only trying to cut through it but working on the steep slope and in the hot autumn sunshine made it worse. We burnt all the waste in our trusty incinerator that our good friend Dave Pearce made for us out of a metal drum. Now it’s all finished, we can get at the hedge much easier and hopefully it won’t be so much work in future! Here are am in the thick of it …
In the thick of it!
• Thursday, September 20th, 2007
Autumn is a great time for mountain biking. All the summer brambles and ferns have died back and often the dry weather means that the trails are in perfect condition. This year is no exception. We have been doing lots of riding in the Monts de Blond – only about 30 mins drive from here. It’s a small area of fantastic countryside with a real mixture of terrain. As it’s name suggests, it is very hilly in places and the climbs can be very technical, but where there are climbs – there are awesome descents! The countryside here is really quite beautiful and there is always something to see and smell. Here are some pictures from our 3 hour ride …….
Take your time!
Finally did it!
Beautiful Countryside
The best bit!
• Thursday, September 13th, 2007
Autumn is in full swing here and the weather is beautiful. We had our first crop of mushrooms appear in the garden. After checking the mushroom manual to see if they were good enough to eat, we couldn’t decide so we popped into Rochechouart to get them certified by the pharmacy. As Steve was carrying them through the streets of Rochechouart, he got stopped by a very nice old lady who guessed where he was going and assured him that they were “bon pour manger”. Then a couple of other chaps joined in and it was the usual discussion about what they were called and their characteristics. Then one of the gentlemen said to follow him to the pharmacy just to be sure. Of course everyone was right and we could eat them. So guess what we had for lunch that day?
• Thursday, September 06th, 2007
Back in May you may remember I bought a ladder. Well I have been putting it to good use all year and one of the main jobs that needed finishing before winter was painting the eaves at the highest end of the house. With safety in mind, I asked Steve to give me a hand by standing at the bottom of the ladder. To add to my security he had this idea of getting one of his old climbing ropes and tying me to the ladder! As I progressed, I got higher and higher, until I reached the top. I got quite accustomed to being up there not that I’d want to take it up as a living! Eventually I got it all done ready for the wet cold winter months. Here is a picture of just how high I got …
Click to open big picture
• Tuesday, September 04th, 2007
I love autumn, it’s one of my favourite seasons (spring coming in a very close 2nd). The colours and smells are great but the best thing of all is the free food.
It’s incredible just how much of it there is around you. I really didn’t appreciate the meaning of the ‘Harvest Festival’ at school.
Hazlenuts are ripening and dropping all around. We have 3 trees in our garden and I have been picking them for the last week. I’ve managed to collect about 6 1b so far – that’s just off one tree. I’m waiting for the other two to ripen now.
There are also damsons, apples and elderberries to collect too, and of course we are nearly into mushroom season too. There’s just not enough hours in the day!
