We bought a second sledgehammer this morning, as well as a new handle to replace the one that was broken; Nick and Kieran then took turns smashing up the remains of the wine cuves. The whole of the grange floor is now covered in rubble, making it difficult to walk in there, if you should need to. Hopefully, Rob will soon come and remove it. It’s been raining fairly steadily for the last few days, so the tumble dryer is essential; access to it, however, is not easy; in fact it feels more like an obstacle course than anything else!

It’s the pruning season in the vineyards. One of our neighbours, Jean-Michel, owns about 30 hectares of vines around here, rather too much for one man to prune on his own, so he employs people to help him. The pruners, who aren’t just anyone with a pair of secateurs, but are specially trained and qualified, go through the vineyard and decide which stems to discard and which to leave for next year.  They cut the unwanted stems, but don’t remove any of the wood. Some vines have just one stem left in place for next year; others two; I don’t know what criteria dictate how many are left. Next another group of workers arrives, to remove the pruned growth. The people employed by Jean-Michel for this task are people with learning difficulties, who live in a home in a nearby village and who do this work from the end of November till mid-March; they seem to enjoy the work and Pedro, who I met, was especially keen to have his photo taken. It can’t be much fun, though, with the rain pouring down or if it’s very cold.

Kieran can’t abide washing up; he’s been moaning about the lack of a dishwasher since we arrived. We do have one; it’s just that it was buried somewhere in the grange and, besides, I consider a washing machine (currently in the kitchen) more important. So this evening, Kieran has been learning to be a plumber; fitting a water supply and drainage in the débaras (junk room). He and Nick have now moved the washing machine through there and I think they’re excavating the dishwasher as I type. I’ll go and see if I have to wash up tonight – hopefully not!:-)