I left the boys at Adrian’s this morning; casserole in the slow cooker and soup on the stove; and headed back to Nogaro, where I had a meeting and then my English class this afternoon.

There were over 5000kg of dry materials between the mountain of sand and gravel in the courtyard and the bags of cement in the grange; then the tractor turned up, and the cement mixer, so it looked pretty businesslike. By this evening, all the raw ingredients had been used up and there’s a new, damp-proofed floor in the maisie. A good day’s work!

My day was rather less pleasing; as only one or two students ever turn up to my English lessons now, they decided that it’s unfair to ask me to continue the commitment. They assured me that it’s nothing to do with my teaching, and that because people pay so little for these lessons, this is something that happens when the weather improves after winter; but it still feels like a failure. Then, when I got home, the house was bitterly cold and I discovered that there was no wood cut for the fire! Not to be defeated, though, I sawed up 5 or 6 logs by hand (Nick and Kieran use the chain saw, but I don’t know how to work it), then split them with the axe; all of which left me plenty warm enough!

Tomorrow I’ll head back to Adrian’s as we’re going to his village hunt lunch; lots of wild boar, venison etc. It should be a good end to a hard week.