Wild boar landscaping

‘I’ll be around to see you tonight’.

That was the slightly oily threat made by the Chief of the Fire Brigade at the markets this morning.

His intentions were utterly innuendo. But I knew what he meant. December means the annual Volunteer Fire Brigade Calender ‘donation’ visit on behalf of the said chief and one of his winsome assistants.

The aim is to raise funds for the fire brigade. No one in their right mind would actually hang the calendar anywhere in their house.  The standard ‘donation’ is 20 euros. And being a good neighbour I paid on behalf of Jean Daniel as well to save the Pompiers the drive up the poorly repaired road in the dark. And also because it was late.

They have obviously been having a sociable time visiting all the outlying farms in the commune. And I’m sure the Chief oiled his way through the day. He is a charmer.

But that wasn’t the highlight of the day.

The main news is I am back at the farm. And despite the surprising palace coup of our mayor resigning her post in high dudgeon and a blaze of publicity in the local paper; (more on that for another thrilling catch up) all is well.

We had snow. We had cold. All the leaves have finally fallen off the mulberry tree in the courtyard. And bless, it was so easy to collect them as they dropped on a night without an accompanying storm. I’m usually chasing them all the way across the courtyard.

And today was utterly mild and sunny (after the fog burned off) and I was able to inspect the hilarious damage made by the boar.

You would think that there has been a rugby taking place on the lower terraces. My poor photos don’t do the damage justice.

But picture about 250 feet of land churned up and ruined.

Well, not ruined. But it is going to take a lot of work to try and get the ground back to some order.

And as you spend your days on you knees trying to patch together a huge amount of lawn and soil you do wonder if it is worth the effort. They are only going to come back again.

But I can’t let it alone. The damage is too deep not to try and fix.

And as the ground wasn’t freezing, it was (dare I admit it?) fun.

I have even decided to put a positive spin on the whole affair.  I’m going to take advantage of the wild boar work and put the clods of earth and grass they have dug up for me and use them to landscape the edge of the swimming pool.

It needs building up so that I can get a mower across the bit of bank.

All I have to figure out is how to get all the muck and soil into buckets and then get them up the slope to the pool. Warming work.  Hefty work.

Shame the Fire Brigade weren’t mooching about earlier looking for work.