We all found ourselves around the table with a bottle of cider in the bat of an eye lid.

Although there is still a chill in the air I am thankful that we have not had the frosts the UK have experienced these past few days and nothing in the garden is lost, so moving south albeit to foreign shores has it's advantages....not to mention the cheaper wine and easy life style which today nearly back fired on us. We were busy building the back step and Mike had the shuttering measured and squared up to give a bit of a water fall and all that kind of technical stuff. I was pottering around site when I heard the comforting sound of the cement mixer announcing the next phase and I attended just to be there to hand over tools clear floor space and just generally act as apprentice. At 11:30 Mike decided he was short of sand and the panic then set in as to whether we could get all the cars moved the trailer dragged out of the garage, hooked up and on the road in time to beat the the deadly midday shut down. We were both beside ourselves as a Renault four driven by a geriatric looking for somewhere to eat poodled and hesitated through the village and by the time we reached point P , our most disliked builders merchant it was dead on twelve o'clock. There was no way I was going to be turfed out so I said in a very loud voice...because I was being ignored so close to lunch shutdown...J'ai un grand urgence.....the three cashiers and the warehouse man all stood there waiting for the magical moment of shutters down, stopped in their tracks and to my utter amazement asked me what I needed, I babbled that I must have sand and cement or they die and before the invoice was printed and the card thrown through the pay machine Mike was being loaded with sand and cement. It was the fasted and most efficient service we have ever experienced and wonder if this is the secret french way to get things done, turn up on the cusp of lunch time. So despite a nail biting, speeding with a trailer trip into town, we had a momentous mission accomplished and the step was complete and ready to cure before lunch. My Mum quietly prepared the lunch table not knowing just how long this finishing process might take but we all found ourselves around the table with a bottle of cider in the bat of an eye lid.