No wonder ...

... there was a strange silence from the chairman of the Chatelguyon football club when I asked him if the football match yesterday was to be played. I hadn't travelled much further south than Manzat before the sun made its first appearance and although it would be totally misleading to suggest that the football ground at Chatelguyon was bathed in sunlight, the conditions down there were a vast improvement on conditions here at La Batisse.

For the first 20 minutes Pionsat were played off the park and being just 1-0 down was not really a fair reflection of the play. François in goal made a few vital interceptions to keep the club in touching distance. However, once Pionsat had come to terms with the match and the conditions (they haven't played since mid-November) the pendulum swung the other way and the final score of 1-1 was a travesty. Pionsat hit the post, they had a goal disallowed for a foul - in their favour, would you believe - and two shots that were lobbed over the keeper ended up on the roof of the net.

I was actually sent out to the football with a packed lunch, which must surely be a first and hopefully not a last.

Today I've fitted an exterior light, dismantled the ironwork of an old stables and repaired the stop light in Cécile's car while she emptied out Caliburn and cleaned his interior. Tomorrow, we are off again to Bill's to help Marianne and Pascal with the cleaning up there. So if I don't come on line tomorrow, it will be that I've been buried under a pile of possessions.