the daydream fund challenge thread

bottleblonde

lostinrates wrote: »

lol, well, thats the part I know most well.

So I can come to you for advice when I start looking in earnest then? There's a big expat community round the Limoges area so need to be a loooong way from there When I first left college I got a summer job with the old P&O Ferries and could get unlimited free or as good as free trips to France. In those days we'd hop in the car or occasionally on a motorbike and just head South. We more often than not ended up near St Tropez (campsites I should add), but then in the Carcassonne area. That area is sooo beautiful. On one trip a whole group of us went on bikes and we managed to 'lose' one chap. The village we stopped at when we realised took us in, organised village to village look-outs, fed and housed us, and we were guests of honour at their end-of-wine season celebrations. We found him in the end, in a Narbonne hospital (heat exhaustion) and went back to that village a few times over the years. That sort of community friendliness made quite an impression on me. If I could find that again, have a simple life, as self-sufficient as possible and be content, I'd be the happiest bunny ever!

Don't ask for much do I? :cool:

BB

Davesnave

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

lol... I am born and bred in wales, and dont really speak welsh:cool::o

and in diff parts of wales there is a slight variation on the lanuage...

That's true for very many in your generation, but changing now, I'd guess. I know many kids don't speak it out of school either, but it would be like my French; awful, but still useful at times, and ready to pick up should the need arise.

Regional variations in language need preservation too. There are very, very few people who speak Devonian in the way I heard it in school 50 years ago. Even Pete, my farmer friend, who's never lived anywhere else, still speaks fairly 'correct' English. I'm not sure if this is because schools discouraged the use of broad Devon phrases, or if it's the influence of TV etc. It's probably important to 'do' correct English for certain jobs, or if moving away, but irrelevant to many locals staying put.

I'd love to overhear someone say something like, "It's catchy today, so they steers hev got the brumps!" or similar, but it isn't going to happen.

Lotus-eater

We've had rain. TG. A good amount too, at least a cm. Everything looks better already in the garden.
Off out slug hunting tonight, with my scissors!

choille

Welcome Bottleblonde.
OH & I went to France for a look see & were rather taken with Brittany - quite a good gael feeling, but ended up here for our sins. After the Winters and the last wee while have been considering a change of island - hopping over the channel.

Rummer

Hello and welcome bottleblonde!

bottleblonde

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Off out slug hunting tonight, with my scissors!

Ewwww! :eek:

Very poor excuse for rain here, all fluffy and namby-pamby!

Thanks, Rummer

alfie_1

(not very far at all from alfie in fact - who is marvellously bonkers btw!),

REALLY !!! i always thought i was the sane one and YOU lot were bonkers....:rotfl:

well i survived the wilds of the IOW.... and my animals survived my abscence.....:) in fact bimble JR was a bit miffed at me removing him from his palacial weekend retreat...:D he was running around like the new squire of all he surveyed...

we went to osbourne house which was lovely and homely for a stately home. THEN we set off for the SWISS COTTAGE in the grounds ...BF set off walking whilst i longingly looked at the supplied mini bus:( ..we walked !! the wind came across the "walk" horizontally !! i think i muttered the whole encyclopedia of name calling en route..... BF was oblivious to my suffering as he gaily consulted his "map" as to where the ICE HOUSE was on the route back which immediately gave me a clue that i wasnt gonna get the b***dy bus back either...:eek:
anyway we last visited the walled garden to which i warmed up to as i could see before me a supermarket of seeds...:) and duly filled every available envelope i managed to find in my bag !!!:):)

the weather was dry but chilly and windy. but the house/view/no cooking/cleaning/luxury made up for it....
i also managed to get in two carboot sales as well!:D revenge on BF!:D

ive come back with big ideas for the garden..im going to reclaim the overgrown left side of my house and do more veg. i grow it at other houses for others so gonna do more here. im also building a SHACK type shed in the garden off one of my sheds so will be like a big verandah with decking and reclaimed wood...shabby chic look !:rotfl:
also gonna change the animal fence line as i want more garden flower beds and bit of lawn...although that may not work as grass may not grow cos of trees...
im going to wood floor my bathroom and redesign my kitchen...
im also going to win the lottery or sell SO much at my garage sale that i can retire.......:p

welcome to all newbies and honestly im sane...they are all mad....

Davesnave

We had about 15mm of rain overnight & this morning, but after midday it was sunny enough to be working in shirtsleeves. Still exhuming old garden beds that haven't grown anything vegetable-like since 2007, at the latest. Under the grass it's still parched.

I also transplanted three decent rows of leeks. Apart from that, weeding and weeding. Going between the rows of garlic, they all seem to be growing OK and, on the face of it, there's nothing to choose between the shop-bought ones and those started from our own cloves. That might alter when we pull them, but they all look the same above ground.

DW is off to the poultry market tomorrow, helping a friend who has some hens to offload, plus one aggressive cockerel, named Jarvis! :rotfl:

alfie_1

this the view from the end of my lane where i walk my dogs. IOW in background

Davesnave

Alfie, you will need another IOW holiday in October. That's when Ventnor Botanic Garden is at it's very best for seeds! :j

So far, very few of the seeds I rescued from RHS Rosemoor (before they cut the plants and stuck them in builder's bags) have come up, but some might well need stratification for more than one winter. I have a very nice and rare Cirsium, however, so that alone was worth the effort.:) Some large seeds I picked up on the pavement in a local village are also just germinating now, proving that these things take time.(I know what they are- just had a mental blank on the name!:o)