Beginnings

I guess I didn't read the instructions properly on these narcissi. Certainly not the bit that said they would flower six weeks from planting, regardless what time of year you plant them. So they have arrived just in time to be unceremoniously slung in a van and bumped a few miles to their new home, while all the other bulbs smuggly snuggle under the soil in their pots. Still, it's a pretty burst of spring in some definitely autumnal weather. Much colder today, but we are at least escaping the rain that seems to be afflicting departments nearby.

A good day then to get the excellent news from our electrician that the Consuel (the electrical certificate of conformity we've all been waiting for...) has arrived! All excited I called EDF to ask for the promised 'oh they'll be round in 24 hours to turn your power on; 48 hours max' appointment.... only to be given an appointment on the 7th of December. So 10 days using a building site electrical supply for our heating, water heating and everything else - which is very very not allowed by the contract. Sigh. My electrician is going to call and see if he can do better than the EDF lady (who, by the way, kept calling me 'missus' all through the call. It may be polite in French to call someone 'madame', but in English it's just plain rude - surely they'd have covered that in her 'working on the English-speaking phone line' training?) I have advised him to talk lots about my poor little boy with his asthma - which our other electrician said worked for him when he needed an appointment really quickly. We'll see. I'm struggling a little more than normal to remain up-beat, but a fine dinner (sausage and mash) and a grown up movie* night has restored my sense of well-being.

Mr B was in Toulouse this morning buying bits of wood long enough that it meant I couldn't be in the car too. So I stayed home and cleaned and packed, and even though I worked hard - it felt like a day off. A change in the routine I suppose. Back to the grindstone this afternoon with painting the kitchen, but it's beginning to look like home. Chilly mind.

*And I do mean 'grown up', not 'adult'.