Currently it is 60 and the government is proposing to increase this to 62 if you have 42 years of payments into a retirement fun.  This has not gone down very well with the majority of the population (70% according to the polling organisations).  The trade unions have organised day long demonstrations twice a week against this measure and others have taken action to block the refineries and the fuel depots.  The result has been petrol stations closed for want of a few litres of diesel or petrol or long lines of cars waiting to fill up at those lucky enough to have fuel.  And just to make things a little worse the railway workers have been on strike only providing the minimum of services, as prescribed by law.

Any way last week the government took the initiative and obtained the necessary votes to put the law into force. Needless to say the opposition was not happy but the conjuncture of the law being passed and the school holidays has rather defused the situation and the next few weeks should be a bit calmer and easier to use the car.

It has also exposed an interesting side battle, that of the figures.  Each time there is a demonstration two sets of figures for the number of demonstrators are published.  One from the trade unions and the other from the police.  Normally the police figure is slightly less than one third of the trade union figure.  Interestingly they both use the same system for counting, which is to estimate how many people there are in a row passing the counting point and then how many rows have passed.

Another, typical French action has been the “casseurs”.  These are groups of usually young people how attach themselves to a demonstration.  They have no interest in the topic of the demonstration, but are there to engage in a battle with the police and if possible indulge in a little pillaging of shops, setting cars on fire or just destroying public property.  This time the worse outbreak was in Lyon and involved over one hundred casseurs.

Digger in action

The advantage is that, if you scrape the surface and only take off a few centimetres at a time it turns the soil into a fine powder which is suitable for putting back on top of the planted bulbs. You get a better idea by going to the link and playing the slideshow (set to one second), unfortunately I am unable to insert the flash sequence here.
When the hole has been dug to a depth of 12cm then the bulbs are placed at the required distances and the covered over with the earth.  The later has to be done by hand so there is still a considerable amount of hard work – but tant-pis as the locals would say.

The bulbs are planted with the smallest next to the drive,  gradually progressing to the larger daffodils.

This should mean that the first flowering will be the daffodils in February to March with the tulips lasting to the end of May and the Ranunculus and De caen anemones filling out the intervening months.  Hopefully there will be some pictures next year.

The planting order was

• Ranunculus nearest the drive
• Anenome de caen next
• Tulip hageri
• Tulip linifolia
• Tulip turkestanica
• Daffodils

More work round the house
A couple of weeks ago I related the planting of the grass seed on the bank to the house.  And here it is – just visible if look closely.

The main problem has been again lack of rain so the seed is having difficulty in germinating and if it is not quick then it will be paralysed by the cold.  We had the first frost this morning at -0.9 deg C.

The main work is the continuing work of creating the path around the house with 20 -40 mm gravel.  Here it is arriving in my big wheel barrow

before being transferred to the little one and then tipped into position.
Hopefully this will result in an all weather path all round the house and one that is permeable.

Technically – I have put a geotextile under the gravel to stop the gravel mixing with the soil and preventing some of the weeds pushing their way upwards.

Some other bits and pieces

A couple of photos taken that I particularly liked.

The first is our meagre display of pumpkins.  They are reasonably large considering that they have never been watered.

The second is of a holly oak (Quercus ilex) that has survived the dry summer.

You will have seen from this site that I do a fair amount of DIY.  As a result I buy things from DIY shops. The local shops have a policy of not providing refunds when things are returned even if the reason for the return was that one of their staff advised you wrongly.  The French law is clear on the matter you have seven days to return an item and get your money back provided you have proof of purchase.

I was putting up a mast to mount the anemometer high on the roof, more on this later.  The one I bought would not fit on the existing mast and there was no alternative, so I asked for a refund so that I could buy it elsewhere.  This was duly refused so I suggested that as they chose which laws would apply then I would do the same.  I would take some things from their shop and pay them in a few days after I had tried them out. This was obviously done with a smile.  The point was made and I got the refund.

The main shop that I use for DIY materials does not apply this type of rule but they are 60 kms away.

Grants and things

Previously in this blog I have referred to making application for grants for the house and the solar panels. In France you can claim a credit against tax for installing solar panels of 50% of the material costs.  In the region of Poitou-Charentes there are additional grants for solar panels and high performance houses.

We applied for every thing, the credit against the tax arrived as soon as the calculations were done by the tax people and made a nice surprise when we received the tax bill.  The grants from the region took a long time to come and we had to jump through several hoops, but eventually they arrived last week, so they were well celebrated.

Schwoerer

Still no news on when they will come to mend the shutters, but this is not yet too pressing. Though the colder weather is coming and having a shutter that does not close will not do much for the energy efficiency of the house.

Schwoerer sell houses in several countries but I do not think they have got their head round the fact that not everyone understands German or lives in Germany.  Today we received a letter and questionnaire all in German and a prepaid envelope restrict to Germany.  Thank fully Google translate provides a rough understanding of other languages though I did have to type in the letter myself to get the translation. Anyway it turns out to be a questionnaire about energy consumption.  As you will know I am rather keen on monitoring this so did eventually manage to cobble together a reply.

Now another little point to mention, is that my internet service provide is called FREE, and as well as providing broad band internet at 18Mbs/sec they also provide free telephone calls to anywhere in the world and the ability to send faxes for free and receive them.  So I was able to use this to get the reply back to Schwoerer without feeling that I had been discriminated against with the prepaid envelope.

Stage two of putting up masts and things
The last blog showed the tower being used with a ladder.  This time it is being used on its own as I needed to get to the roof once again.  This time was to mount an anemometer so that I can accurately measure wind speed.  This means ensuring that it is above the roof ridge.

Now I am not keen on heights, in fact I would go so far as to say that I am scared to death. Sothe first stage was to get another friend to help me put up the tower, especially the last scary bit when it is at its maximum height.  So thanks Stephen.

Once that was done all I had to do was to climb the nine metres to the top and put in place an additional mast, with anemometer on top and then align it due south.  Remount the aerial and attach the wire from the top of the house to the temperature gauge under the eaves.

Eventually all was completed and the rain gauge installed as well.  The weather station, by the way, is a La Crosse WS-2355.  Chosen because it was cheap compared with many of the others but it still has data capture capabilities and the data can be transferred to a computer.  It comes with a program called heavy weather which looks like a modified DOS program from the early 1990′s.  however it does everything that I needed it to do and is now happily recording, temperatures, pressure, wind and rain every hour.

I found another program called Cumulus from a company called SandaySoft based in the Orkney Isles north of Scotland. This was a really good program but it requires you to have the computer on all the time which in a energy sensitive household is a non-starter.

Of Pensions, workers and governments

At present France is going through one  of its occasional upheavals as large numbers of people go out on the street twice a week to protest against a plan to increase the retirement age from 60 to 62.  As part of this “action” various worker such as refinery and railway worker have decided to block the petrol storage depots and refineries, resulting in many petrol stations closing as they run out of fuel.  As well as inconveniencing as many people as possible this has also prevented people getting to the demonstrations as they have no fuel for their cars and of course the trains are severely reduced in number as the railway workers are on continuing strike action.

There is one thing living here is always interesting.

Again thinking of close ups my wife took these with her new camera.

For the techies it is a Panasonic Lumix TZ8 and it seems absolutely fantastic, in terms of picture quality and ease of use .

On the left are the colourful flowers in the new bed that we created earlier in the year.  And on the right is “froggy protector” sitting on the entrance to the house.  He has the heavy responsibility of discouraging any unwelcome visitors but saying a big hello to those who will give us pleasure.  Not sure how he does it, but we seem only to have nice people visiting us.

The roof bit

Last year when the chimney top blew off the aerial also decided to take a turn and has not worked since as the nearest transmitter in the direction it is pointed is probably a few hundred kilometres away.  So today it was decided that drastic action needed to be taken to change its direction.

The first thing is to get on the roof and as I am a wimp I was not going to climb up the tiles as the builders did, neither was I going to remove tiles and climb up the battens, so long suffering friends were called.  I knew that they had a tower so, on, bended knees I asked if I could borrow it.  If the answer had been other than yes then I would not have been writing this bit.

With my long suffering friend we had to get he roof ladder into place once we had got the tower into place. This proved difficult as the aerial was close to the vent pipe and because of the direction of the aerial it could not be placed in the ideal place.

After acrobatics of the first attempt, we worked closely together to move it up to the ridge, but still not too successful.

Eventual by mounting the roof we eventually got it into place.

Here you can see it being turned over after it had been pushed to the top on its wheels.

By the way I still had to remove a few tiles to get high enough, because the ladder was too short.

Looking at  the aerial and trying to get at the screws holding it in place proved rather difficult.

Eventually it was loosened and the real work started.  Thanks to wireless phones I was able to move it whilst my wife watched the television to report on any changes in picture quality.

Eventually we settled on this as the direction to point even though the picture is still not right.

So was it a wasted time, probably but as I started off this session, that is one of the benefits of being retired you do not have to worry that every second has not been used profitably!

Where’s the water gone?
I attempted to illustrate this with a photo of the bottom of a stream but I had the wrong lens with me.  75mm instead of 25mm.

Nevertheless this should show a rapidly flowing stream not a puddle surrounded by dry land.  The creatures that depend on its humidity must be really suffering.  In fact when I see this I often wonder whether they have a mechanism for survival or do others that have found a humid location repopulate this dessicated area.

Perhaps someone will be kind enough to tell me.

Currently rainfall since Easter is about 30mm, which is not much.  The result is not only dry stream bed but trees shedding their leaves early and other evergreens showing signs of stress.

Its not spring, what do they think they are up to?

Whilst taking a wander this afternoon I caught sight of two butterflies, being very amorous.
They chased each other around and I caught them on the ground.

Again I wondered if they had been fooled by the exceptionally warm day.  It was 26deg C today and yesterday it had been 28.

Just to prove that it is well into autumn I managed to catch an acorn in the photo.  It is currently rather dangerous to stand near oak trees as the high winds have meant a liberal scattering of acorn and when they fall from a great height they can sting.

But talking of autumn, I mentioned a few “blogs” ago that the swallows were gathering for departure and now I think they have all gone and every day we see flights of swallows going south.

Man does not help
Here are two photos taken in opposite directions.

They both show hedgerows pulled out to create a large new field.

I have no great problem with farmers becoming more efficient as there are more mouths to feed and so more food has to be be produced and in any case many of the hedges were put in to make previously common land private.

The problem for me is that the land thus put into one large field is likely to be sown with maize that requires irrigation.  This uses water which seems to be scarcer by the year.  This maize is then fed to cattle to meet the increasing demand for meat eating.  The number of cattle has increased substantially in this area in the last few years.

Again I need to explain that I am not a vegetarian but eat meat moderately and often I am very happy to eat meals with no meat, especially in summer when the vegetables are so tasty and plentiful.

Schwoerer survey

A couple of days ago we had a visit by a nice young lady engineer who had come to inspect the house for Schwoerer.

She spent a lot of time outside taking photos which seemed odd, until we asked what she was looking for.  She explained that she was especially interested in evidence of any leaks or potential water ingress into the house. So we showed some of the photos of the construction and explained the blower door test.  It was obvious that she was used to looking at houses of a more conventional nature and had not come across a house put up in two days before, especially one that we like to think is a little special and of a higher quality than the standard house.

We had a long chat once she had finished and it was nice to talk to someone who is a building engineer and with whom you can talk technically.

It is another dream waiting to be put in the waste bin!

Aerotop is held in Poitiers once every two years.  Each day is focused on one interest group.  There are days for industry, students, potential purchasers and the general public.  We went on the general public day;  Entrance was free and the day was very enjoyable.  There was a continuous series of demonstrations of the planes and helicopters on the tarmac.  These included not only the plane above but also modern fighter training jets, the Alpha Jet, through to planes from the 1950s.  The 1950 planes were a Skyrider with folding wings and Seafury both of the US airforce.

We can sit out for breakfast – well soon

Here I am taking a little exercise shovelling gravel to create the base for the table and chairs in front of the kitchen door; a hope of my wife for eleven years.  This is certainly good for the stomach muscles, though it does make you a little tired.

The idea is to make a sitting out area of 3.40 metres by 5 metres.  The gravel is 20mm – 40mm so is relatively easy to shovel around.

I must admit to cheating a bit.  I did not use an ordinary wheel barrow to carry the gravel up there but used the one on the front of the digger.

After the digger had struggled up the slope with a bucket full of gravel it was dumped and then spread by hand to provide a reasonable level base.  Action photo thanks to my wife who looked out of the window and quickly grabbed her camera.

Schwoerer

We have got someone coming from Schwoerer tomorrow to ask us about our experiences with them, so I had better make it look as if we have done something since last year.

Talking of Schwoerer I got a response to my email setting out the problems that we have found in the last year.  The only amusing thing was that the person who responded wished to communicate in French; not a problem but unusual.

Then there is of course the levelling of the earth round the house and the construction of the path by the house wall.  This path will serve the purpose of allowing people to walk around and prevent the rain splashing up on the house walls.

Another large job that has been started is the planting of the borders to the drive so that they are colourful in the spring.  This has meant ordering several thousand daffodil, tulip and assorted other bulbs to plant along the drive from the road to the house.  For this we will have to devise a way of planting which is relatively easy and does not damage other plantings.  The bulbs were ordered from Green Garden Bulbs in Holland.  They are a wholesaler but have a retail outlet called Bulbi who sell smaller quantities. I will keep you posted as to their performance in terms of delivery and quality.

Since the introduction of the law requiring you to have a main general practitioner for referrals to specialists we have tended to stick to one doctor even though he is a few kilometres away. So I had to ring for an appointment and wait from Monday to Friday.

Unlike the UK, the majority of doctors are single handed practitioners and have one receptionist – some times.  The result is that the relationship is more personal but if he is busy you may have to wait a few days for an appointment.  It also means that you can ring him directly if you need advice. However another disadvantage is that if he get called away you have to wait until he returns, reading the usual dog eared magazines that seem to be printed specially for doctor’s and dentist’ waiting rooms.

Our doctor makes a point of coming into the waiting room to invite you into his office, which gives him the opportunity to say hello to everyone else and take note of the next set of patients.

Entering his office is like that of many western general practitioners offices.  There is the desk, the computer, the examination couch and many toys provided by various drug companies.

The first part of the interaction is very French in that he asks for your “Carte Vitale” and puts it in his card reader.  This connects to your insurance company and ensures that you get the correct reimbursement.  They then pass on the information to your “mutuel”, if you have one, who provide a top-up amount.

Then the examination of your condition starts. Here one can only speak of a particular doctor/patient relationship, because my personal experience is very limited, and as I am part of the equation, other’s experiences would be quite different. Our relationship is easy the conversation often digressing into other areas of interest.  The examination always starts with taking the blood pressure, then the specific investigation according to your condition.  It might end in prescribing medicines, investigative techniques or referral to another specialist.

Apparently, according to our doctor, there is a big difference between French and British patients.  The French make an appointment as soon as they have a problem and if they do not get a prescription for a bag of drugs then they feel cheated.The British on the other hand usually arrive nearly dead and if they are prescribed more than aspirin they query each drug and question whether it is really necessary.  Obviously these are stereotypical pictures but represent the overall approach by the two nationalities to going to their general practitioner.

Once the end of the consultation is reached the payment is made, which is currently 22 euros, of which 21 is eligible for reimbursement.

As the drought has lasted into September, leaving the ground dry,  I decided that it was a good time o do some earth works on the slope facing down the drive.

Before I started I had a rather nice patch of grass and a rather unpleasant bank of earth that led to the house.

We debated whether to put some more limestone blocks on this side but thought it might make it all too heavy and eventually decided that it needed a gentle slope that merged in with the grass.  Even if this meant that the existing grass would be cut up by the earth moving equipment.

After a lot of work with the backhoe of the digger it was ready for more gentle attention and this involved the tractor and a four metre wide cultivator. Reversing up the slope did not look too bad on this photo, but I can assure you that it felt much steeper in the cab.

Once this was completed I covered it with top soil conserved from the excavations, levelled it again with the tractor and cultivator before finishing it off with a rotavator on the tractor.

All that remains is to rake it reasonably smooth, sow the grass seed and roll it.  This will probably take three times as long as the preparation work as it has to be done by hand. It will be very good for the stomach muscles, though.

Problems
The first fault has appeared on the house.  One of the roller blinds has stuck in the up position.  So I sent an email to Schwoerer service on the 6th asking for it to be repaired.  So far there has been no acknowledgement or response.  This could be due to them having to make a translation or they have just ignored it.  I wait to see which it is and will put the outcome on this blog.

Other events

The other day our bank manager came round to see the house that he had been so involved with during the negotiations over finances.  He had been especially helpful in being involved with telephone meetings with Schwoerer over finances.  He seemed to think that the money had been well spent and the end result was an impressive house. Not every day that such people come round!

Potatoes

This year we planted rather too many potatoes but there were so many tempting varieties to try.

The earlies/mid season were Anoe, Ratte, Cherie and Galante.

Ratte

This was bought on recommendation of a number of books.  It was supposed to have an excellent taste and reasonable cropping.  Unfortunately we have had a very dry spring and summer and the tubers are small and difficult to peel or scrape.  The taste is not exceptional and they tend to have a soft outside and a rather hard inside.  We do not find them very suitable for salads, so probably will not grow them again.

Cherie

These are excellent and will certainly be grown again. They have a firm yellow flesh and do not boil into the water. They are excellent for salads, or boiled potatoes. They crop well and are easy to lift – at least they would be if the ground were not so hard.

Galante

We received these as a free sample from our local DIY/Gardening store, BricoMarché. They are OK, reasonably cropping and reasonable for cooking but not worth retrying next year.

Unfortunately I do not have a photo of the Anoe as they are all eaten which probably says it all.  They were good in salads and as boiled potatoes and the flavour was good.  They came into production after about 70 days so can be classified as early.

Tomatoes

This year we have 44 tomatoes plants, for the same reason as the number of potatoes.  We just can not resist trying new to us varieties.  Here you have a selection picked on one day.

The yellow small pear shaped one are really sweet and excellent eaten as is with an aperitif in the evening. Or just popping in the mouth when passing by.

To the left are plum shaped Roma, which even though they have not be watered too much are reasonably juicy and flavour-full.  They also crop well.

To the right are black plum (prune noire), also juicy and sweet.

Behind in the middle are Corne d’Inde and Green Zebra.  The Green Zebra are not only striking in colour but also produce wonderful juicy tomatoes in quantity with at really good balance between sweet and acid. The corne’d'inde are good in a tomato salad as they are easy to slice.  They are however sensitive to lack of water and the ends start to go black and rot.

At the back on the right is a bowl of Cœur de bœuf .  These are a real classic grown in this area and elsewhere.  They can grow to nearly a kilo per tomato, though this year again due to the drought they are less ebullient. Their flavour is again excellent and they are wonderful for making soup as well as eating in salads.

Finally on the right at the back is a mixture of Green Zebra and St. Pierre.  The St. Pierre are a more conventional colour and shape for a tomato.  They are reasonably juicy and have a good flavour.  They are also more resistant to diseases than some of the others.

Lurking on the far right is an apple from a neighbour’s tree because our trees have hot cropped very well this year.

The swallows are starting to get ready to fly away which is early.  They came early and it looks as if they will leave early.    Lets hope it does not presage a hard winter, as the old wives’ tales would have us believe. These, by the way, are “Hirondelle Rustique” as they have a small red bib on their chests. They nest in the trees not in nests attached to the house, fortunately.

They are on the power lines for about half an hour every morning and talk and fly around. Looking from our bedroom window it makes a wonderful sight.