It’s been half term here for the last two weeks; plenty of time for the French to take off, en masse, to go skiing in the mountains.

I thought I’d have time to catch up on some DIY, maybe do a bit of spring cleaning, prepare for our Easter visitors (now so numerous that some are having to stay at a friend’s house!), but no; my private students didn’t want a half term break, so I agreed to carry on. And not just my usual lessons; a young man phoned; he was taking an English exam to allow him to study in Australia, and please could he have some intensive English tuition while he was home over the half term holidays. Again, I agreed. At 7.30pm last Friday, I finished the last of fourteen lessons over the fortnight and I was nearly on my knees. It’s not just the lessons; planning each one takes me at least 2 hours! Next holiday, I’m having a break too.

Nick and Kieran decided last week to fill the gap above the doors in the garage; they cut pieces of wood to fit, then filled in the holes with old bricks. All that remains to be done is to crepi the bricked-up parts and the outer walls and it’ll be finished!

This weekend we’ve had a bit of a break, sort of…. Nick and I have done a lot of gardening so that we can sit out for meals at Easter if the weather’s kind. It was so lovely today, we were working in T shirts; it seemed unreal, speaking to Alex this afternoon, that it was snowing in Harrogate!

But it’s back to work tomorrow; we’re hoping Joel might turn up to get on with the next phase of building and for me it’s back to preparing Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s lessons and possibly, fingers crossed, grouting the tiles in the arrière cuisine.