As part of the condition of living here, we have to apply for a visa every year. This morning, we locked up the house, leaving Tora inside on her own, got in the car and drove 90 mins or so to the city.
I always message our children to let them know we’re out and about on a long journey, just in case anything dreadful happens. Tora is alone in the house and if anything dreadful did happen to us, she would be in a terrible state, needing human intervention.
We got to the town around 20 minutes early and horror of horrors! The whole city centre was in a state of disrepair! Diversion signs everywhere, roadworks, traffic moving slowly through the narrow streets, plus there was a funfair set up (I don’t know why, it was probably agreed before the work was planned).
Round and round we went, following the Google map directions. Eventually, we parked and walked to the Prefecture where our visas awaited us picking them up. We would have been dead on time, but there was a queue and so, we were a few moments later than our appointment time. Rather than sending us away because we'd missed the appointment, we were called right in and sat down for the process of renewing our visas.
Everyone is polite and friendly and it really is lovely. Even if they can’t help you, they’re at the very least, polite.
The woman that sorted out our new visas agreed with me that ‘Brexit is tres, tres, tres terrible’ and we’re sorted for another year!
On our way back, we took a little more time and had a look at the work being done.
There is new paving going down and it looks to be constructed of marble.
The workmanship is incredibly intricate.
Perfectly straight lines
This will be a planted area
So accurate
How it started
Big chunky pieces of marble
Not going to lie, if this was left by the side of the road in England, it would be 'liberated' overnight!
Bags full of pieces of pre-cut marble
Once we arrived back home, I messaged our children, fussed the frantic Tora who had been locked up in terrible conditions for at least three months, two weeks, six days and twenty three hours and then we had lunch.
We’ve just been to England and travelled back, had a day or so, then took our visitors to the same airport we’d just flown in to and to be honest, we’re a bit shattered by it all. I honestly feel jet-lagged, even though the time difference is one hour.
We’ve had a leisurely lunch and decided to have a walk in the woods as a relaxing pastime.
One dead tree
And another
At least two pine trees and an oak or birch
Pine
That mini-chainsaw is not up to the task
Weird growth
We walked into the woods with a clear sense of receiving peace and tranquillity, and walked out with a list of jobs that need doing. The list is as long as my arm and includes, but is not exclusive to:
Felling trees, Chopping wood, Making planks, Making poles, Splitting logs, Clearing debris,
One downed tree
The pines have really gone through it this year
It's best to get them down so they don't fall down and cause more damage or injure some unsuspecting person/creature
This one just needs work. We'll be trimming the dead branches off
Downed tree
Branch trimming needed
Husband! @s0u1
This is the Scottish Broom I wrote about yesterday. It's obviously dead, but despite the rain, it is tinder-dry and easy to set alight
Mushroom filled with rainwater
Across the valley
Our house (Behind the large fir trees)
Long grass, almost ready for cutting
Tora found a pond. We are at the top of a mountain (almost) and the ONLY water we have is rainwater. It is wet underfoot and we have random ponds, rivers and swamps
Daisies bigger than the oaks! (Seedlings)
Big pine cones! - not the biggest we have...
And breathe…
It’s all go in this slice of paradise and I am NOT complaining!
It's now definitely Wine O'Clock!