I have to go out now, and get some food stocks in.

Our cute and adorable Montherme wood burning cuisiniere is ready to go, Mike has polished and scraped, polished more and painted the flue using a pot of Pot Back that has sat at the back of his stores for ages. We now wait with baited breath for the builder to come and drop the liner down the chimney to make us legal to burn.  I contacted the builder on Friday to say please come now we are about to  collect the cuisiniere and I want to light it NOW, but it has taken until last night after two e-mails and a phone call for him to commit and we even have to wait until tonight to get a day out of him. It's the same the world over I guess. This is an English builder rushed off his feet with ex pats who need an ex pat to get the job done, and here we are waiting for him to consult his diary. I don't blame him,  I suspect he came out here to retire, saw a red hot market and now he is over run,  we will find out when we  sit with him over a cuppa, I still have a box of PG tips to share so at least he will get an excellent cup of tea whilst he is here.
Ann, Ann, Anna and I have started a reading club and bought the same book each and are reading it all at the same time. We have arranged to meet at Ann's house, Ann from Apperville that is, to discuss the story so far and what we think of it. This is really good for me, I have a bad habit of not paying attention when I read and to avoid seeming like a CSE throw out I am making notes of names and turning points in the plot  so that I can at least sound like I have paid attention. I even forget the names of authors I have read, and that, in reading club circles, is a sin, a bit like no knowing your Latin plant names, and I don't know those either, so I am devising an idiots guide to how to sound far more educated and switched on when talking about my garden and our book.
The weather is still very wet and with the moon in a full on. light up your garden at midnight, mode we have high tides and everything just takes so much longer to dry. The chickens are up to their ankles in mud except in the new winter quarters where at least the soil is merely damp, We accept that  this wet season happens every year but it is still a shock and surprise every time it comes. We saw on the Cherbourg Meteo that we are due a cold blast and my friend Sarah has forecast snow on Thursday,  so now I am in panic mode..Mike does not do panic, but I do and I just have to go out now, and get some food stocks in.