Crazy Diamond visit...

Thank heavens , I am home again... the four day expedition to Wales and back was an eye opener, I wish I had slept through it. Diesel prices one third higher than in France. Five pounds for two cups of tea. We had the for thought to bring our own food. A cooked meal each day would have cost us upwards of ten pounds a plate for the equivalent quality. Near enough Thirteen pounds to cross into Wales on the Toll road, it's free to leave. I am still in a state of shock. We had budgeted for our return trip, heartened to hear that we wouldn't have to pay to cross the severn, we chanced to eat a low priced,"workman's breakfast" . A cold plate didn't enhance the quality of the food. It was for the most part under cooked. I didn't have the energy to make complaint. We didn't have enough time to wait for a replacement. My digestion spent the rest of the day complaining. Beware of "cheap" food.
Early morning in Neath was an ordeal I will try not to repeat. Waited till eight a.m. for the toilets to be opened in the railway station. The door displays a sign which states that the facilities are only available to holders of a valid ticket. Be well warned anyone foolish or naive enough to purchase even a platform ticket for the privileged use. Filthy , sticky, one of the two w.c. units near to over flowing with paper and poo. I was glad to have brought my own paper to the one remaining. My pressing burden over rode my reluctance to use the toilet. A truly repulsive experience. Anne-So has her own tale to tell, it is sufficient to say that her instinctive biological mechanism refused to relax enough, for her to gain relief. A health hazard for sure, not something one would wish to pay good money for.

It wasn't all bad. The tree planting programme is maturing well. Lush mixed woodland was a soothing sight. Farmers with fields adjacent to the roads appear to be investing in the long term future. The down side of that , given the rising cost of fuel, tree poaching is becoming a popular sport.
Our friend and one time neighbour is battling heroically on in spite of cancer. An indomitable Super Mam of the old school mining community. It was good to share some time with tea and smiles with Pat,she is blessed to have her close caring family nearby in support. We hope she has the strength to join us on this side of the moat for a short holiday sometime soon.
Peter the builder, struggles on with his old house, a forever project that always seems to take second place to the demands of outside work. Keep the faith bhai, don't give up.
Wales is lucky to have you.

A damaged gearbox in the lashing rain caused us to not be attentive to the road signs , bringing us to within seventeen miles from Oxford. It was late. We were dog tired.A good opportunity to make a surprise visit to Oliver's home. Slept in the van overnight, and invited ourselves to his breakfast table. I was happy to see him and meet his family. must be twenty years since we sat at the same table. Here's hoping he braves a journey to France to dip into our hospitality sometime soonish. Long journeys ahead we are both a long way from dead. Thanks for the spiked toad flax, and not least for the well met smiling handshake on our departure.

The ferry crossing was calm enough.too expensive to "treat" ourselves to the delights of the cafeteria or the restaurant. Our cooler box had plenty of homemade goodies. A box of tea bags milk and sugar made good use of the free hot water. A cold night in the reclining chairs, we regretted not bringing our blankets from the van, couldn't afford the five pound tariff on the ferry and had no warning that there would be a charge.

I met two individuals happy in their cups on the boat. Both independently of each other confided that they had breakdowns which had caused them to stop work. Both were in receipt of sickness benefit and were taking prescribed medication for their conditions. Neither seemed put out by the high prices on the ferry, nor did their illness prevent them from swallowing many pints of beer. "Why bother working, I get twelve thousand pounds a year off the state," sez one.
"There is summat sadly wrong wi'that." Sez I. Seems G.P.'s and psychiatrists both are easily misled by their able bodied patients. The country is not too sick to party. But it's too sick to work efficiently. Thanks for the intelligence lads. I wont be joining you in your new found habits. I would rather be a good example of an austere Englishman living abroad than a philosophically adjusted lunch out pulling the tits off a dried up state welfare system.
I am due to make another visit to Britain soon. Not a joyous prospect on the whole. Pressing legal business needs attention that will drag me screaming and kicking from my much loved garden home. I am bound to be hypercritical. I will save my sackful of grumbles for another time. Iznibz Wazir.

Hello Max, I'm glad you got this far...

The damp corner (above), marsh valerian, foxgloves, golden osier, the most prominent in the photo. Dog rose, Eglantine they call it here (below), now in flower, overlooks the tomato plants. Clumps of pansies shade the ground , useful cover conserves moisture.

Small World, it's all a matter of perspective...

The closer you get the bigger they look. Iz picks iz own.

Small World???You are festifoolin yourselves...

Do you really think so? Happen you’ve got “Big ways”, The inhabitants of St. Helena would know what I mean. Ideas above yer rightful place.If your image of the planet has been conditioned by the media overview, you have been looking at the screen for too long. That little one eyed spaceman’s view of a blue green world is a clever programming trick for sure.
Someone told me recently that one grant aided cow needs three hectares of land for feed winter and summer. I thought it was three acres, no matter, the logic is the same.Stand in the middle of a field armed with a hoe and a spade and tell me its small. The world is big enough. Don’t distort the practical real image.Measure yourself against a tree, a fully grown mature one, rare enough in Europe , plenty of youngsters. Arm yourself with only hand tools. Convert it into timber for construction the old fashioned way. With a froe, wedges and a beetle an axe and an adze.. So you don’t think you had big ways?
You have got a big shock coming and no mistake. Sustainable forward is reliant on getting the real world into proper perspective. My world is continually expanding..not only in size but in it’s intrinsic value. If yours isn’t doing that happen you are spending and wasting more than you ought to be investing. Dedication to the work will give you strength, the profit is the life. Come back to earth you deluded urbanites and leave your media reinforced views behind. You have nothing to celebrate till you have done the work. Head for home then hit the ground running and make it better. Return it to a state of grace. The festival field had its hedges grubbed up.
Solar power isn’t going to reinstate them. Manual energy is better invested in the choiceless healthy option. eighty five pounds ticket in advance if you have a job, sixty five if you are on a low income. After all expenses you coud have paid one months mortgage on a home field site of your own.
I guess the plan is wait for the parents to die and buy a bit of your own.the “wrinklies” are living longer, blessem,so they should. Vulture culture is far from glamourous. The charm of youth will soon wear out.
How did the promotional blurb go?... “a place where butterflies can find their wings” Well how romantic. Doesn’t quite do it as metaphors go.
“Intoxicating atmosphere”, the air is more oxygen enriched than the monoxide saturation at ground level in the urban quarter. A buzz for sure if you are used to being driven by adrenilised stress panic from O deficiency.
A bit of aerobic dancing in the fresh air would set your head a spinning and no mistake. If you can’t get that buzz at home you are living in the wrong place. The popular delusion cultivated in the festibusiness culture is no alternative to real life. We don’t need a ticket to get in, The overall returns on our investment of work grows exponentially by each season. Come back to the independent peasant life youth.Share the labour of the long journey forward.
My darling belle maman brought me some early spuds yesterday and invited me to get a lettuce. She is well ahead of the season. She has been practicing what she wants to know best all her life.Life support Adding to knowledge and wisdom handed down for generations. We smile to each other when we look up from our work .Small people in the Big world.Doing the Big work The Last world reality. In the faded glory of decade Empire The Small world vision will soon reduce to a no world fit to live in nightmare. Doing the do iz all. Dancing and singing we can do once the work is done, at home.
IZNIBZ WAZIR

Our little green friend...

The wildlife seem to like it here. birds, mammals and an abundance of lizards. I will make a list some other time. It's a long one.

I am not rushing it took hundreds of years to get this far...

Corrosion...

Limestone window in an ancient building in Rennes, The etched rock is the result of acid rain from the "age of coal", thankfully those days are over . the stone would have looked black in the bad old days, not quite what the architect had planned.

The sun illuminates the emerging fireplace...

Grateful for more stone. Anne-So delivered a pile or two with the help of Emile's tractor. Lorry loads of mixed rubble and soil are being dumped in the site of a now redundant silage clamp. We will salvage as much useful stone as we can. I have been nailed to the keyboard for a week or so , it has laid waste to my good working man. This session will be the last of it for a while. The hard stuff will revive me.
Manu'll work. Om sweet Om.