Reboot

Oh dear.  I don't know whether to be more disappointed with the election result or the fact that I could have been sleeping while it happened, but wasn't.  Ok, I do know really.

Holiday today here, so when the kids came downstairs we all lounged around in PJs watching the last results come in and the post-mortems begin.  CarbBoy just kept heavily sighing "Is it not over yet?" and was sufficiently discontented with my "Honey, it'll never be over" that he gave up on ever getting to watch 'proper telly' again and went outside (not to be seen again until about 7pm).  

Meanwhile TallGirl kept a vague eye on the screen over whatever virtual iPad world she was in (dragon islands, I think), occasionally interjecting her view of events.  Such as "So, this is how it works: everyone who doesn't win has to resign?"  "Next time they should all just go to bed and start counting the votes at 9am".  (This in response to my parents' constituency - always one of the last to declare - where they do exactly that.  In fact, I think this time they didn't bother starting counting until about noon.)

I managed to lever myself off the sofa in time to be washed and presentable for the builders arriving.  The terrace was discussed and, not surprisingly, they agreed wholeheartedly that our idea of doubling the surface area (and thus the work) was a very sensible idea.  They were intrigued by the election news - having heard about the potential referendum on Europe.  They - like all the French folk I have discussed this with - totally pooh poohed the idea that we might not be welcome here if the UK left the EU.  That, apparently, is solely up to the President of France - not the UK or the EU.  Hmmm.  Let's see.

In fact, the referendum is not given much credence around here - I don't know whether they think it's a bluff and won't happen, or the UK will vote to stay in, or maybe they just don't think it makes much difference to them either way.  They may be right on any of those counts.  What they are interested in asking about is whether it's right that the UK has no unemployment, and whether it's true that we have zero-hour contracts.  Everyone seems particularly horrified by the latter concept, which goes against all the employment rules that we spend most of our time grappling with at the school!

Anyway, enough politics for a lifetime today, so out in the garden this afternoon.  A rodent of some type ate all my green bean seedlings the other week, so I planted dozens more - some in the garden and some in pots so I would have lots of spares.  And obviously they have all come through.  These ones, kept close to the house for protection, are covered with freezer bags every night to keep all the nibblers at bay, and the greenhouse consequences of my sometimes forgetting to take the bags off until 11 or so means they have grown rampantly.  Now I will have to dig some new vegetable beds, or eat a heck of a lot of chard in the next few days.