The grass is cut, the penstemons, roses, aquilegias and cosmos are dead-headed; the terrace is weeded, the pond topped up and the brambles have had a bit of discouragement. I took the good and faithful VW along to SETyres this morning for its first MoT (a bit early, but it suits us to have an anniversary in July rather than September). It failed. I'd wandered off to sample the charms of the industrial estate meanwhile, and by the time I returned, they'd sensibly seen to the fail categories - tax disc placed too far into the area swept by the wipers, and similar felonies by the GPS holder and the Lagrasse parking permit. Deep sigh. At least I wasn't charged a re-test fee, and the test fee was a sight lower than most. I've also had the front tyres re-balanced - they were OK for UK conditions, but at French motorway cruise speeds there was a bit of a tingle at the steering wheel rim. It was also pulling to one side, so I got them to correct the tracking: I guess the Escala de l'Ours must have knocked it about a bit. £40-odd bill: not to be sneezed at. Specially when they didn't charge for the balancing - as indeed they didn't oughter.
We cropped the first of our Charlotte potatoes yesterday, since one of the pots was looking a bit yellowed. Not a bad crop: we had the pea-sized spuds in an omelette yesterday with some sliced leftover Speldhurst sausages (delicious!), a few more with some rather disappointing ASDA breaded prawns at lunchtime, and we shall have some more tonight with the saltinboca. The tomatoes are coming along nicely too, but we'll have to wait a bit for them. Our rather tired sage plant has flourished while we've been away, so I plan to take a few cuttings, now that it is getting rather woody. The new herbs are coming along nicely: though the French tarragon is still a little shy, the oregano is coming along well. The mint is protesting a bit at being hemmed in by potato plants, but will no doubt survive, as it always does.
One thing about coming home is that we're once again subjected to aircraft noise, since we live under the final approach to Gatport Airwick, as a friend calls it. It's a bit of a pain on humid nights when we have to leave windows open, but it can also be interesting. http://www.flightradar24.com alerts us to anything unusual coming over. Today's crop included the first 787 we've seen, a Thomson flight from Cancun. Incredibly quiet, according to two old geezers in dressing gowns gazing skywards from the terrace. Later, an Open Skies 757 came in - odd: it normally plies between Orly and Newark. But I can't say I'm sufficiently motivated to research why.
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