Tomorrow is "S" day!

Sun-free but nice spring morning in Beaugut

I finally went into the workshop and started trying to do something meaningful with the lathe. I made a first attempt using a part of one of the branches removed from the Rowan tree in January [link]. It wasn't planned to be anything - I just needed a few sacrificial pieces on which I could practise before trying to do anything sensible.

What I did learn is that I needed something to cover my clothes, as I was ending up covered in wood chip and sawdust, which is not the easiest thing to get rid of - particularly on woollen jumpers.

We had a look at a number of specially designed workshop coveralls, all of which cost a lot more than I wanted to pay, and settled in the end for a dead cheap emergency rain suit - perfick.

So here is my first turning effort - it started as a thing I was playing with but, after few more minutes with it, we decided it could be a candlestick so, a hole in the top and a coat of varnish later - here it is. I am quite happy with it, and it has given me a good boost to push me onto more complex things. The candle was bought in (just in case anyone thinks I made that, too).

Meanwhile, Clare has set about renovating an old coffee table, which will look good in the (soon to be) refurbished bread oven room. We shall have to think of a new name for that room. Suggestions, please.

One reason for this sudden flurry of activity is the arrival of the Income Tax return forms today. I was hoping that it would be the same as last year's. That was a very complex affair, but at least we have it as a model. Sadly, this year's form is, for us, significantly more complex. I am trying to avoid paying an accountant to help me with it. I wouldn't expect an accountant to save me any tax, but only to ensure I fill the damned things in properly; and I don't really want to have to pay for that, if I can avoid it.

The forms we have to fill in are the basic declaration, supplementary declaration, declaration of income derived from abroad and declarations of all bank accounts held outside of France. As I understand it, the income has to be converted from Sterling to Euros at the rate applying on the date of each payment. We have four small but regular income streams, each of which arrives on a different day each month. For simplicity, I shall try using the rate achieved for the monthly transfer to our bank here in France.

I know I am supposed to be designing and building a lean-to greenhouse to replace the one that got away, and I know I have a perfect place for it and most of the materials I need to do it, but there are other priorities on the go at the moment. One of these is the solar drier I have been threatening to build for some time, and which has yet to progress even to the final design stage. I have also been fitting out and equipping the workshop and, now that it looks as though we might have a little bit of dry weather, the grass is desperately in need of cutting and I need to do other things in my part of the garden.

On the other hand, there is pressure to make protected space available for those things that can't simply be implicated into the ground and left to get on with it. Therefore, whilst out buying a decent vice and a few other small things for the workshop, as well as some insect screening for the back door, we took the bull by the proverbials and bought one of these soft plastic balcony growing things. I'll bet that will fly well in a decent wind! Fortunately it is located inches from the doorway (well, it would be a doorway if there were a door - perhaps I should just call it a hole) to the workshop. In the event of meteorological flatulence it can be carried into the workshop with relative ease.

The week finished well. Friday and Saturday were both sunny and warm, and we just about managed to give the grass its second cut of the year. The part below my vegetable patch was still too wet and already too long for the mower to deal with, so I had to resort to strimming! Today, Sunday, is also promising, and we are looking forward to an enjoyable and educational festival in the village. I shall let you know next week.

Meanwhile, tomorrow is surgery day. We have to report to the clinic in Montluçon at 8:30am armed with various pieces of paper. I have to admit, perhaps not unexpectedly, to mixed feelings about the whole thing. The ear is mostly not troublesome to me, provided I take simple precautions, and so it is a little scary moving from that to having a chunk cut out of it with the attendant reconstruction work to follow. On the other hand, we all know that it is not in the nature of a carcinoma to sit still and do nothing. From that point of view, the sooner it is out the happier I shall be. Knowing that it needs to be removed to prevent it from spreading and becoming a very major issue does tend rather to outweigh my misgivings about the nature of its removal, but it doesn't remove the apprehension! More about that, too, next week.

Meantime, have a good week.

À la prochaine

We had a call from Jan last Sunday to let us know that the trees we had asked him to buy for us in Belgium were available, and we picked them up on Monday afternoon. Pictured here, temporarily held in the terrace (about three feet above the ground level at this point) whilst waiting for the rain to stop are, left to right, cooking apple, nectarine and walnut. We also have three willow whips which I shall put into the ground before they are used for something I may come to regret!
The first job now was to work out where to put them. The walnut could grow to be quite large - the label says 12m in height, the books say 10m spread (and little, if anything, can grow in its shade as the roots and leaves contain substances that will stop many things growing) - so careful thought was given to where it should be placed. By placing the walnut at the bottom of the slope adjacent to the top of the ramp, the lower branches should be at waist- to eye-level when seen from the top of the ramp, and there is nothing in the area covered by its potential spread that can be harmed by its presence. The large cooking apple tree is planted south of the cherry tree to continue the layout of the orchard, and the nectarine has taken the nice sunny, sheltered position that was briefly occupied by the effing greenhouse which, you will recall, I never wanted in the first place. I just hope it can withstand a stiff breeze better than the effing greenhouse did! Finally, the willow whips have been unceremoniously implicated into the soil (one near the pond and the other two in the wild area) and left to get on with it, along with an indeterminate number of wild flower seeds - not like the sunflowers in my area which will be cossetted beyond belief - NOT.

My general view is that plants have an enormously strong survival drive, and thus should be able to stand up to whatever the weather throws at them. That may explain why none of my broad bean plants survived the onset of winter! In any event, we have also planted out sweetcorn, broad beans, pumpkins and sunflowers whilst it was dry! That was Tuesday. Tuesday night was frosty but, fortunately, everything looked as expected on Wednesday.

Good news! Wednesday morning, dear sweet post lady brought the attestation from CPAM! We are now, effective from 14th April, officially affiliated to the state health system. The long wait is finally over.

We travelled up to Montluçon on Thursday for my appointment with the anaesthetist. The waiting room was not full, and we were seen within twenty minutes of the appointed time, which I regard as very acceptable. The anaesthetist (or as they, worryingly, like to call themselves here - anaesthetist/resuscitator) asked a few questions just to confirm what I had written on the form, transcribed much of it to another, similar, form and pumped my arm up for a blood pressure test. She then told me I had to produce various blood test reports before turning up for the operation. I could either arrange these myself through a lab of my choosing or use the lab in the clinic. I chose the latter as, although I have previous experience of blood tests through the lab in St Eloy-les-Mines, I didn't see the point in arranging for a technician to visit when I could do it there and then.

The young woman in the lab reception who took down my details made a couple of errors and got into a state with the address and telephone number. I don't think it was my French, as the woman sat beside her pointed out what she had done wrong.

I don't have a blood group card. That meant I had to have two extra lots of blood taken and produce two means of identification with photograph, full name and date of birth, so they can issue one. I carry my passport and my UK driving licence with me all the time, so that was not a problem. What was a problem was a combination of two things:

1. My Passport and D/L showed my birth date as 14th June, the form produced by the office had it as 4th. No problem, correct and print a new form
2. My Passport and D/L showed my forenames as Keith Edgar, the form produced by the office had my forename as Keith. This gave rise to an entertaining couple of minutes when I explained that Edgar is a second forename - no, not Keith-Edgar as in Jean-Pierre, but two distinct forenames. If a form asks for forename(s) it gets both, if it asks for forename it gets just Keith. As an aside, when we initially opened our bank accounts here, the manager asked how we should like to see our names shown on our debit cards. I indicated no preference, but Clare said she didn't want Jacqueline Channing as everyone knows her as Clare, so could she have J Clare Channing. When they came, Clare's is shown as J-Clare Channing, mine as K-Edgar Channing. Perhaps he thinks that is how we do it in the United Kingdom.
   

Nonetheless, the blood samples were duly taken - eight vials in all - we paid the anaesthetist's receptionist for the interview (28€ for five minutes). The test results, invoices for the blood tests, which totalled 85€ and my blood group card arrived on Saturday.

Oh yes! Lest I forget - I have another form to sign before they will do the operation. I have to sign to say that I have read and understood the two-page document telling me all about anaesthesia and its potential risks, and that I consent to it anyway. Of course I have, and of course I do - who do they think I am, Ivander bleedin' Holyfield?

I can't wait to get this over and done with!

The weather all week has been quite variable - some cool but sunny, some frost, some heavy rain and even some hail. Yesterday (Saturday) afternoon we went to Montluçon for a couple of minor purchases. We took the MX-5 to give her an outing and ended up driving back with the roof down (and my hat on my head to prevent the nasty, evil, vicious, spiteful Sun God from taking another shot at killing me). It actually felt very warm - even at 90Kph, ant it was after 6pm. Having said that, half way home it clouded over, there was rain close by, and we were feeling the wind from the rain, so the wisdom of going topless was called into question.

Next Sunday will be quite hectic. The annual St. George's celebration is taking place in St Maigner. This year the festivities will take the form of an historical reenactment of life in the village under Napoleon III. The date chosen is 1860, which means it is well within the lifetime of our house which, you will recall from last year, we believe to have been built somewhere around 1800 and certainly before 1830. It was the time of the war in Mexico to which a lot of men were being drafted, and the early stages of mechanisation of farm work. I shall be interested to see how some of the artefacts compare with the old ploughs etc that we have on our property here. The event starts at about 9am and continues well into the evening.

Also next Sunday, Tania is planning to visit so she can be here when I go in for my operation on Monday 28th; and there is the small matter of the Bahrain Grand Prix which I obviously can't trust to be run properly unless I am watching it!

As an afterthought - following last week's mention of the crazed tit, we did some research and it seems that the bird sees its own reflection and attacks it. I have two problems with that:

1. Why does it jump, in some cases by over two feet, to attack its reflection, when its reflection is at its own level?
2. Why does closing heavy curtains, which would enhance its reflection, cause it to stop - always, reliably and without fail?

The clever people tell us it is attacking its own reflection. We can observe birds' behaviour and, where we see repeated patterns, we can make assumptions and draw inferences about causes and motivations. I doubt, though, whether any human, after countless aeons of civilisation have robbed us of practically every primitive instinct, can possibly state with authority what motivates a small creature to do anything beyond the most basic actions.

After, afterthought - the blighter just started doing it with the heavy curtain closed. Shows how much I know!

Have a good week.

À la prochaine

Operations, formalities and don't you just love Vista

Chris and Sally and the girls got away well on Monday morning and, it seems, had a good time at Eurodisney. They were fortunate with the weather on Monday, as it was a very good dry, almost warm day with plenty of sunshine. That was not a portent for the rest of the week. It was, rather, a flash in the pan. The rest of the week was not good.

Our job on Monday was to travel to Montluçon to see the Plastic Surgeon. That we did, and we discussed available treatments. It seems that an amount of tissue and cartilage will need to be removed, then reform the ear as is, but a bit smaller. Given that, with most people, it is most unusual to see both ears at the same time, it is unlikely it will be noticed. If it is noticeable, I can always grow my hair to cover it.

Surgery is now scheduled for 28^th April. The operation will be carried out under local anaesthetic plus a sedative that the surgeon says is to "put me on a cloud and keep me cool about everything". Sounds intriguing. It should take about half an hour, and I am booked as a day patient, to receive after care at home by a visiting nurse. I then need to be thoroughly checked over by a dermatologist every six months to ensure there is no recurrence.

There are, of course, a number of procedures to follow and forms to fill in to enable the operation to go ahead. Much as I like Al Murray, his regular "If we had no rules, where would we be? - France!" is so very far off the mark as to be funny for that reason alone! The forms are:

1. Pre-admission form, where I give all the personal details including Health registration number and top-up insurance details,
   
2. Anaesthetic questionnaire, with lots of stuff that is essential for the anaesthesiologist - this I have to take along to my appointment with the anaesthesiologist which must be more than 48 hours before the operation (arranged for 17th)
   
3. Payment form with a 40€ cheque which I shall not be able to recover (not sure what that is for, the operation will cost a great deal more than that).
   
4. consent form which is also a confirmation that all the risks have been explained to me
   
5. authority for the doctor to take tests for HIV, hepatitis and CMV (herpes) and
   
6. a booklet containing another consent form, discharge form and post-operative evaluation form

All fairly straightforward until you factor in that I have not yet received from CPAM (Caisse Primaire Assurance Maladie, the organisation that administers the state health insurance scheme) confirmation of my affiliation. Until I have that I don't have the registration number and I can't arrange top-up insurance either.

Having sent a couple of emails to CPAM (and received automatic acknowledgement but nothing else) I enlisted the help of those fabulous people at the local pharmacy. They called CPAM for me and reported back that the affiliation has been done, but that the Carte Vitale will take some time to issue. I am not so concerned about the card - it is just a means of payment that allows health charges to be billed directly to CPAM and insurers. Without it, I pay and claim back. So far, the attestation, the document that confirms my affiliation has not yet arrived. Fingers crossed!

I had a call from Rik to say that Michel, the menuisier who did such a super job on our bathroom, was having trouble with his ADSL connection. Clare and I popped around to see him and his partner, Marie, during the week and were able to confirm that the problem was in his ADSL modem. The provider had established that the connection was good and I was able to confirm not only that there was no problem with his PC, but also that the PC was not communicating effectively with the ADSL modem. We saw Marie in Montluçon on Thursday and she was happy to tell us that everything is now OK.

Our other success during the week relates to an Acer laptop that we acquired at the end of last year. It came with Windows Vista Home Premium (deep, abiding joy) but had started to show some serious problems. So serious were they that I could not even complete a full restore from the disks prepared when the machine first arrived! After spending some time on the web, it transpires that the most popular thing people like to do with this particular model laptop is to wipe it and install Windows XP. As I have a spare installable copy of XP Professional from a PC that is now dead, I decided to give it a go.

First job was to delete the existing disk partition and reformat the disk. The machine came with three partitions - 50GB usable, 50GB factory image and 9GB hidden. It now has a single disk of 114GB, all usable. Installing XP was easy, except that Acer do not provide XP drivers for the hardware fitted (not even the hard disk), so we had to acquire those and work some magic before we could do the install. The whole job took about three hours, plus the very extensive amount of time needed to do all the Windows updates and install all the software we need on board.

In total, the transition from a Vista machine that we were about to pack up and send back for warranty repairs (and probably not see for a good few weeks) to a fully working, stable and fairly quick XP machine was probably no more than 72 elapsed hours.

Clare has been doing some work in the bread oven room, tidying and cleaning in preparation for converting it into a lounge. We have also put a table top on the sink and covered it so we have some hidden storage (for our wellies, mostly)

We have also added to the workshop - we now have the bandsaw set up and tested, and have built a more suitable table for the table saw. In fact it is big enough and strong enough to be almost a proper workbench, although it does still want a few finishing touches.We have a resident nutter - a BSB (no, not British Sky Broadcasting, but a Bloody Stupid Bluetit) who, and we think it is the same one, alternates between a number of our windows, where (s)he jumps to a height of between ten and thirty centimetres, 'nuts' the window quite violently and drops back again. Usually done at intervals of between one and two seconds, this goes on for up to half an hour at a time. Here (s)he is in action on the back doors:


All in all, not a bad week. All we need now is some decent weather to do some work on the vegetable gardens.

Oh yes - and plans are afoot to create an enclosure that will be half way between a large cold frame and a lean-to greenhouse, as a replacement for the greenhouse we lost a few weeks ago.

Watch this space, as they say, and have a good week.

À la prochaine

Spring has finally arrived

So the second attempt to put Grandma on a plane went much better, and she made her way back home without incident.

Rik came around to help with the completion of the forms for the déclaration préalable (a special form used for small works that do not need detailed planning permission) in relation to our proposed Velux window. The form runs to about seven pages, needs to be submitted in triplicate (I think) and each accompanied by a map locating the property in relation to local roads and other properties, exterior photographs of the front and back of the house showing measurements and one of the back with the proposed window drawn in, interior photographs of the room in which the window is to be placed and photographs showing the view from all sides of the house. Once submitted to the Mairie, it will be forwarded to the regional planning authorities, who have one month to raise queries. If nothing is heard within one month of the date of submission it is OK to proceed. Question. What if there are queries, but they are lost in the post?

In any event, it seems to be an awful lot of palaver just to put in a window to get some light in the room!

Just because I can, and because I have no other photographs this week, here are those we shall be submitting with the forms. First the front outside and the view from the front

Then the back outside and the view from the back

and finally, the place where the window is to be fitted, and the existing light source

Meanwhile, out in the real world, the swallows have now arrived in force and have started nesting in the left hand piggery, and all the other birds look as though they have paired up. The frogs and toads are calling and we heard our first cricket during the week. Owzat for a sign of spring. Today is sunny and very pleasant - we gather it is snowing in England.

It was dry enough to cut the grass yesterday, and the sun was shining, so I had to keep my hat on!

Yesterday evening Clare's sister Sally-Ann arrived with husband Chris, youngest daughter Bethany and Richard's (one of Sally-Ann's sons) girlfriend, Gemma. They are on a bit of a detour en route to Eurodisney and will continue their journey on Monday morning. It is really nice to see them, and we hope they can have a relaxing time before facing the high excitement of Mickey Mouse land!

I think that is probably it for this week. Next week I shall be able to let you know how it went with the Plastic Surgeon. 

Have a good week.

À la prochaine