Re: Gardening Thread.

**Sabot** Sat Dec 22, 2012 4:41 pm

bb1 wrote:Phew, good job you got the voddy! Sounds excellent, Sabot - do people really pay €50 for geese? Are they proper, farmyard-type geese?

I might go out tomorrow morning and buy more Voddy, as I can feel a large one coming on. It's the stress, you know. And my local Intermarche are offering 4 Euros off on the only Sunday of the year that they open. 4 Euros is half a bottle of Vodka, by the way.

Yep, real Farm Yard Geese, but since all Geese are raised in some sort of Farm Yard, I don't actually place too much importance on that. But I do remember paying £25 for a Goose some 25 years ago. Since when I have always felt poverty stricken if I can't afford one.
And of course, the Goose Fat goes on nearly forever, and is great for cooking with.
Nope, never felt motivated to slap it on my chest. Much too precious for that. Super Roast Potatoes, and Chips.
Never mind, maybe next year.

I did buy a Pintade. That's Guinea Fowl for the uninitiated. Although I have to say that it looks a bit scrawny. Never mind. It will do for New Year.
Perhaps I ought to buy two more bottles of Voddy. With the Tomato Juice, it will do for breakfast for a couple of days.

Please Log In, you all, even if only briefly. I will be on my own, and I will miss you.

**Lamplighter** Sat Dec 22, 2012 4:48 pm

Sabot, ma petite. I will certainly log on, probably in the mid-morning, so please don't be too sloshed! Only joking, LL rofl

**bb1** Sat Dec 22, 2012 4:54 pm

I'll be round and about for the next few days, in between building my Ark. I feel like writing a letter,

Dear God,

Could you please arrange for all the wet stuff cascading from the skies to cascade where it's desperately needed? It really doesn't seem fair that the waterlogged British Isles should be hogging it all, when so much of humanity is drought-ridden.

This is my really, really, big Christmas wish

**Sabot** Sat Dec 22, 2012 5:06 pm

Lamplighter wrote:Sabot, ma petite. I will certainly log on, probably in the mid-morning, so please don't be too sloshed! Only joking, LL

Sloshed? Who, me? No chance, LL. By the time I have walked the bloody dog, got the dinner in the oven, and fired up the grate, the Sun will be well over the yard arm.
And it takes at least half an hour to mix up a jug of half decent Bloody Mary's.

**Sabot** Sat Dec 22, 2012 5:10 pm

bb1 wrote:I'll be round and about for the next few days, in between building my Ark. I feel like writing a letter,

Dear God,

Could you please arrange for all the wet stuff cascading from the skies to cascade where it's desperately needed? It really doesn't seem fair that the waterlogged British Isles should be hogging it all, when so much of humanity is drought-ridden.

This is my really, really, big Christmas wish

Yes, it does seem rather unfair, doesn't it. The River Blavet has burst it banks, while poor old Africa could do with a bit of it. All of it, in fact.

**bb1** Sat Dec 22, 2012 5:28 pm

Look at this, Sabot:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2252030/Festive-season-ruined-hundreds-homeowners-heavy-rain-predicted-batter-flood-hit-south-west-Christmas-Eve.html

Gardening Thread. - Page 28 Floodsl

**Sabot** Sat Dec 22, 2012 5:34 pm

We have got a lot of Rocks. Brittany is one big Rock in fact. And I am forever digging up little Rocks. That's why the houses are all built of Rocks, and mainly on top of hills. They weren't daft, you know.

**bb1** Sat Dec 22, 2012 5:45 pm

I am also a rock-dweller....I feel so, so sorry, for all the people who are being flooded out. It's gone beyond a handful, it's whole areas being flooded, now.

The low-lying roads are a nightmare (trust me on this one) and traintracks are being washed out further south.

**Sabot** Sat Dec 22, 2012 5:57 pm

I daren't even think about it, Bonny. It would break my heart to have my carpets ruined. Not that I actually have carpets.
These old houses were so well built that I marvel at their knowledge of over a hundred years ago when Damp Courses didn't even exist. So, the stone floors get a bit humidified the minute the temperature rises, but it sorts itself out, and no harm done.
But they don't seem to consider the risk of low lying ground in Britain. But then France is a big Country, and they are still building houses with big gardens.

**bb1** Sat Dec 22, 2012 6:03 pm

But they don't seem to consider the risk of low lying ground in Britain.

Now that is one of my favourite hobby-horses, Sabot - money-grubbing planners sticking houses down on flood plains and expecting nothing to go wrong.

There are excellent reasons for certain areas not being built on, historically, but that goes out the window when ££££ come into it.

**Sabot** Sat Dec 22, 2012 6:17 pm

Flood Plains have been around for thousands of years, Bonny. And they were known of. These floods of recent years didn't just suddenly happen. But stick a Housing Estate on them, and who can tell when the weather is good?
Just blame it on Global Warming. Although that's not new either.

**Sabot** Fri Jan 04, 2013 3:13 pm

Okay, I confess. Went shopping on Amazon. But only because I got a Gift Voucher for Noel.
Then they sent me this Tracking thingy email. It told me when my parcel was handed over to Le Post in Northern France and was on it's way. And then this morning it told me that my parcel had arrived in Bubry and been handed to The Post Lady for delivery. It arrived two hours later at my doorstep. Merci Beaucoup.
I thought that this was quite fascinating because someone had to put this information into the Tracking System.
I am now the proud owner of a very nice pair of Freshwater Pearl Earrings, to match my Pearl Necklace.
Don't ask. Suffice to say that Pearls go really well with Designer Wellies, and raise one slightly above Bag Lady Status in a mud locked landscape.
And I bet that none of you saw me as a Pearls Person.

**bb1** Sat Jan 05, 2013 2:21 pm

Don't we all wear pearls with our wellies, Sabot? All the best ladeez do king

**Sabot** Sat Jan 05, 2013 2:37 pm

I only wear my Pearls on rainy days, Bonny. I wear my Diamonds the rest of the time.
But my Wellies cost more than my Pearls.

**bb1** Tue Jan 08, 2013 10:18 pm

Gardening Thread. - Page 28 Ia09-1-329x437

SCORCHIO!

**Sabot** Tue Jan 08, 2013 10:47 pm

bb1 wrote:

SCORCHIO!

Bugger off.

**Sabot** Thu Jan 10, 2013 5:32 pm

Being Mid Winter, and not much going on beyond the general clean up and retreating of The Decking I put down in some vain attempt to stop the dog trailing in mud on the rare occasions that he deigns to venture outside, I have been watching The Hotel on Project Free on Line.
This is hilarious. Every bit as good as Benidorm, only it's Real Life. The last two Series are about an Hotel in Torquay, and a perfect example of Hope over Impending Disaster.
I would sack the entire Staff if I was the owner, but the poor man staggers on towards bankruptcy.

PS. My Broad Beans are on their way up, but the new variety, the seeds of which I filched from my neighbour's garden, are doing fractionally better than my usual ones.

**bb1** Thu Jan 10, 2013 5:40 pm

Must keep an eye out for that....

I've got one or two green shoots coming through, but alas, we are supposed to be in the path of a N-Easterly blizzard this weekend..

Muddy paws!! Argh!!!!! This must be the muddiest winter for a long time.

**Sabot** Thu Jan 10, 2013 6:06 pm

Broad Beans are very, very hardy, Bonny, and they survive any old frost of minus five or more.

The Hotel [2011] is actually quite uplifting. There is a nauseatingly smart arsed, Head Receptionist who I would smack in the mouth given half a chance. And that's before I showed her the door. And a very camp Events Manager, recently promoted, who is quite possibly better at his job than he appears to be. The Owner is a fool, but basically a nice man who has suffered a few defeats over recent years. I like him. But you need to watch Season Two first to get the real gist of what is going on.
Some of the guest, a few returning, are really nice, but hilarious with it. But I don't suppose it would be half so interesting if it wasn't so awful.

My lovely and ancient Camillia is bursting into bloom again after the big hack back two years ago. Such a glorious thing. Bright pink and double blooms. It must be at least 60 years old now. Long may she live.

**bb1** Thu Jan 10, 2013 7:57 pm

Oh dear, I have just found a new vice. Benidorm ER.

Brits having misadventures and having to go to Benidorm casualty.....

None of this lot were drunk or anything, they just slipped on diving boards, etc. And in one case, attempted to swim to that island you can see offshore.....