Shed

Here's our shed. Well, for now anyway. It contains the oil tank, a couple of props (the metal kind, not the rugby kind) and probably a bunch of dead rats. The bedraggled plants in front of it are my tomato plants, in the last gasp of life. We picked our last melon today - these last few days of hot weather have ripened it perfectly - and most other things in the top (hot) garden are done with. The leeks and beetroot in the shady garden are soldiering on, and the parsley is finally (after nearly four months) ready to be transplanted... bit late really for that!

I'm rambling already. The day started too early for it to have contained any coherent thoughts. I woke at 3am, convinced I had heard someone moving around in the house. I checked on the kids: they were both snoring happily. So I found myself outside their bedroom doors, iron bar (part of a bunk bed) in one hand and phone in the other, heart pounding... waiting for the burglar to come up the stairs... Of course I'm sort of making light of it now because it turned out not to be a burglar at all, but it was really scary at the time. I'll be happy to live in a house with neighbours again. Out here in the wilds it's a little bit "No-one can hear you scream".

So, what was the noise? A wasp. Well, not just a wasp really - a hornet. Probably a queen. Huge, making a buzzing noise like there was a helicopter in the stairwell and crashing into the stair light fit to break the bulb. We've been warned about these hornets down here that are very aggressive and can kill you with three stings so I was understandably nervous. I managed to lure her downstairs by turning lights on and off and left her down there in the kitchen until morning. I found a couple of smaller ones (a mere inch and a bit long) crawling about downstairs - but they were docile enough that I could creep up behind them and drop a gardening encyclopaedia on them. No more sleep for me then. (But a chance to do lots of research on hornets in France - apparently that '3 stings and you're dead' thing is an urban myth, but they are still worth keeping away from. Also a chance to check Katherine's homework diary "I've no homework tonight - honest I've checked". Harrumph. I beg to differ young lady...)

Once the huge hornet lady was lured out into the dawn light (open blinds and french window, turn all lights off) homework was done, Conor's lunch was made and packed and I was all ready for work, it was time to leave. More sanding, cleaning and painting and an email exchange with our plumber where he promised to arrive on Monday... On the plus side, I did manage to avoid dripping paint into my eye today (unlike Tuesday - ow).

So, having been up since 3am, I'm ready to drop. This is taken from the back door, so not very adventurous. I'm feeling a bit rubbish that folk with much busier lives than me still manage to make more of an effort. I'm not saying anything's going to change, but I do realise that in a blip report I'd be getting a C- "Could do better".