Electronic yelling-at administered this morning to the German energy supplier, which is failing to live up to the national stereotype of Gründlichkeit. We hung around from midday until 8:00 pm as advised, and still have a gas meter with a flat battery. To be fair, I think the maintenance of meters and other infrastructure falls to another company, but the retail suppliers have the customer interface, so ought to have the others tied down to suitable standards of service.
On the subject of batteries, I barely heard the door bell when the burglar alarm man came. The unit is inherited from the Previous Administration, and gets through batteries at a rate of knots. Anyway, he pronounced the installation in good order - and happened to have a couple of AA batteries in his van. Good-oh.
Meanwhile, I'd taken advantage of the fine, bright morning to hack down a leggy escallonia (conveniently growing by the hole in the fence), filling the bin with boughs and clippings. I have to tell you that the wood is surprisingly hard, and required copious elbow grease and a pruning saw to get through the live bits. It is not an unpleasant shrub when it's in flower, but pretty undistinguished. Well, that one is now down to about 2 feet, and if it survives the attentions of the now-briefed fence fettlers, we'll perhaps see some better growth on it. There's another closer to the house, and that, together with some ugly laurels, any number of bird-sown cotoneasters and a very invasive eleagnus, is coming out. The way my hands feel after the escallonia job, I'm glad we've woven the slash and burn job in with the fence replacement job. I had a good look round the accessible bits of the garden while I was out: the sprouting bulbs are no surprise, but the budding oriental poppy certainly is! They usually flower in May, so I dare say any frost will cut them down again. We'll see.
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