It's pouring down with rain outside.

The first time we've had a really decent downpour for a few days, and you can see how much I've become embedded into the local agricultural way of life with my potager - looking forward to the rainstorm.

This morning I slept through the alarms for a change. I was having a nice dream about a former friend and his family and it's a long time since I've had a really pleaant dream. But anyway after breakfast I did some more work on the laptop and then went out shopping;

I've bought a few new toys too. LIDL was selling Brother PC label-makers a while ago and I was tempted at €20 but I didn't bite. Anyway, they were reduced to €10 today and so I grabbed one. I also met Rosemarie and we went to Cheze where they were selling 510-litre water butts for an incredible €32. Rosemarie wanted one, and I've decided to buy two of them.

When I take the scaffolding down after I've finished the wall of the lean-to, I am going to put up some guttering to catch the water off the lean-to roof and sink a tank into the ground. But I can link these two together and use them as settling tanks with the take-off for the subterranean tank about half-way up the side. That will still leave 250 litres of water at the bottom of each tank and if I put a tap at the bottom of the first tank, then I can use the water in there (which will be pretty dirty) for watering the vegetable plots. That will help empty the dirt out of the tank.

But I'm getting more and more fed-up of Brico Depot. We went for the guttering for Rosemarie's barn yesterday but what they had on offer was all badly-damaged rubbish sold by surly staff. At Bricomarche in Commentry she paid a little more but got everything she wanted and in pristine condition too. There was some stuff that I wanted too but Brico Depot don't sell it. They suggested a work-around that would cost a fortune. However, Cheze had exactly what I needed. They also had an inner tube for my wheelbarrow, that has saved me a fortune on a new wheel.

Tomorrow I'm off out with Marianne. She did tell me where we are going but I have forgotten. I suppose that I will find out soon enough.