Peter’s Hospital Diary

Yesterday started with a cold morning, and a slightly more extensive frost, but the main event of the day was the expected arrival of Sue and Mark in the late afternoon. We went to do a little shopping in the morning, where we discovered a bitterly cold wind, so it was back to the house to get the fire going. The wind dropped later in the afternoon, so Felicity and I went for a walk down to the river via a very steep path – as you can see when we walked back up. We got back to find the house suitably toasty, and Sue and Mark and their children arrived about an hour later.

This morning , after a leisurely start, we went to the local town of Objat, where the highlight of the year was on – the apple fair – this being a notable apple growing region. There are more photographs in the gallery, but suffice it to say we came away with some cheese, a frying pan, some honey and… some freshly pressed apple juice, which goes really well with the winter Pimms. The very press is shown in the gallery photographs!

After lunch we went to a former paper mill, not far from the house. The mill was producing paper up until 1968, but when it closed, the owner wished to preserve it, and the local ‘commune’ bought it and opened it as a museum. It is a fascinating piece of industrial archeology, and its products (straw paper, used for wrapping meat) was exported all over the world to French colonies. Before it was a paper mill, it had been a forge, but Napoleon 3rd’s treaty with England, and the subsequent opening of the border to Bristish iron made production uneconomical, hence the conversion to paper production. The paper making machine is the only one of its type still in existence in Europe, and was made in Limoges. Again photos are in the gallery.

After we returned, we sat outside by the pool (now winterised!) and drank a cup of tea in the warm sunshine. Then it was time to do a little work in the house, in the form of putting up curtain tiebacks. Mark has had a minor op on his shoulder, so I was deputised to wield the drill – which I did with great aplomb on the spot Mark marked. The spark were a little ominous, and closer investigation revealed a nice hole right in the centre of some plastic wiring conduit. It doesn’t appear to have cut the conductors, so we may get away with taping the damaged insulation and replastering! Woops.

And by the time we had finished investigating that, it was time for quite a spectacular susnset. So ended a very pleasant and quite relaxing day!

Onwards and upwards!