A day of intentions

strimmed bankAh yes, the plans for the day. To mow and strim. All day. Pausing for reviving cups of tea and brief raids on the biscuit tin.

So why did I find myself in the car this afternoon on a two hour round trip to take the mower to get serviced?

‘Serviced’ as in a euphemism for ‘Getting Repaired’.

I started well enough. It was a bit damp overnight so I chose to strim first thing.  I positioned myself on the long steep bank that flanks the drive up to the house and strimmed and raked and cut back the thickets of the brambles.

I had an ulterior motive for being in such a prominent road spot. Jean Daniel asked me to look out for the courier who was supposed to deliver his suitcase from a delayed flight from Canada.

When it comes to couriers we are a united bunch.  They hate delivering to our isolated rural locations and we have to all be vigilent if they ever turn up.  Jean Daniel was busy so I was charged with swooping and snatching the said suitcase in case the courier nosed into the drive. strimmed orcharrd

So I strimmed and turned the wild bank into a tamed space. But Jean Daniel managed to snag the suitcase from the courier lower down the road.

He was part of the team from the Parc Naturel des Monts d’Ardeche who successfully lobbied to get our region listed as a Geopark with UNESCO. A wonderful achievement.

So the least I could do was retrieve his bag.

Instead I managed to bag up six huge sacks of grass cuttings and covered the couryard bank with a thick mulch.

DSC03863Am I calling it the courtyard bank? I can’t remember. Mabye it’s the oak bank.  It’s all a work in progress so it doesn’t get much attention yet.

After a few hours of warming work I switched to the mower. It is rattling rather alarmingly at the moment. But I powered on and managed to mow half of the areas I intended.

And then it rattled its motor off and I had to stop.

So it was a bit of a bust of an afternoon. Unless you count getting the mower to the repair shop and picking up more chocolate. But I ran out of vim.  Tomorrow I will try and do more.