Reaping the benefits of experience and local knowledge.

I am really enjoying looking and promenading on green and lush, it is good for my soul and better for the garden. I am disappointed with the progress of my brussel sprouts and can’t help thinking the soil is tired and as we have been growing there for three years perhaps the time is right for some goodness to be put back into the earth.  During the summer we made acquaintance with a lady in St Jean De Daye and we got onto the subject of horse manure and made promises of visits and aperitifs of which none came to fruition. Stupidly I let that potential friendship fall by the way side, I e-mailed Cassandra yesterday to say what a silly gardening dapper-head I have been not to keep in touch but could  I still come over for some manure.  I have had no response so I can only assume she took offence and is giving her black gold to somebody else, heart breaking.

Mike and I had a routine day, today, Mike gathering, sawing and stacking wood for our fires and I baked and pottered around the house, it felt very wholesome and healthy and true, but by lunch time we had achieved all we had to achieve and sat across the table not wanting to get into a long term project but guilty about doing nothing.  We are quietly wracking our brains to find a revenue stream as we will be running out of capital to keep up the project plans some time soon. We could sell the boat but that is a very difficult decision,  I don’t now why, but it is. I believe that if you are challenged over a decision then  you have to take time  to think it through, and we are seriously challenged,  but need the cash. During  “don’t know what to do next” moments I know we both ponder on the possibility of a revenue stream with out being in business and the riggers of the French tax system, now there is a challenge.

We spoke to Debbie and George in the space of two days and that feels good, they are both finding their own ways through the difficulties of living in  foreign countries,  and we can sympathise as the learning curve in dealing with other cultures is huge, even that we only live 100 miles from our UK life it sometimes feels like 10,000 miles,  upwards in the direction of the moon, but the longer you work at it the easier it gets and we are now just reaping the benefits of experience and local knowledge.