Orchid news

Her Outdoors spotted this yesterday behind the tractor shed:


We think it's a Violet Birdsnest Orchid - and will be keeping a close eye on it in the next few days.

Field study

In the last few days, our hand-sown crop has grown heads. Mainly on the bits we manured.

How to re-register a car in France

If you know anything about the cost of second-hand cars in France, you won't be surprised to read that I got our new-used car in England. If you're thinking of doing the same, you might find the following useful.

The first thing to do was switch the headlights over to left-hand drive headlights. We used Headlampshop on ebay, following a recommendation, which all went smoothly (and cost about €260). Because the fitting wasn't a simple spanner and hammer job, I used our local garage (which cost about €80).

Then I needed a Certificat de Conformité from Toyota France. This is a piece of paper that says the car can be driven on French roads. I tried to get around it, but discovered it is currently compulsory. A mugging at pen-point, if you like - or even if you don't (which cost €135 but is dependent on car make, type, power etc).

Armed with this, I could put the car through its Contrôle Technique. This is the French equivalent of the UK's MOT but only needs to be done every two years. The mechanics are reassuringly thorough and the whole thing takes about 30 mins (and cost €68).

Armed with this, I could go to the Sous Préfecture in Bergerac. I also took the UK registration document, Certificat de Conformité, my passport, a justificatif de domicile (recent bill to show we live here), my insurance documents and anything else I could think that I might be asked for. The woman handed me a Carte Grise (vehicle registration) request form and wrote on the bottom that I was missing a "quitus fiscal". This I needed to get from the Hotel des Impôts. I went and watched a woman complete, by hand, a beautiful form - in triplicate - who handed me the top copy. It seemed pointless, although charmingly antiquated, and I began to feel empathy towards people in offices doing this for a living (or more likely, a retirement, but that's a different story). I went back to the Sous Préfecture and handed all my papers over again, answered a few questions, watched the woman trying to make sense of forms she saw every day (with increasing empathy), was given a new form to take to the next window with everything else and paid for our new number plate (cost €96.50 and is also dependent on the type of car).

I knew from before that I had only a short time in which to change the plates or face a fine, so I immediately went back to the garage. They ordered and fitted the plates for me (for about €50).

Now all that remains is to go back to the Contrôle Technique and have them put a sticker on my shiny new Carte Grise, and to tell my insurance company about the change, so they can print out a new - and final - piece of paper for me. I don't think this will cost anything.

Any questions?

Tree bog. Nearly. Finished.

This morning I had a superb brush with bureaucracy (nothing too exciting - it's to do with a number plate), then picked up some decking pieces that meant I could spent the afternoon doing this:


Cutting flooring around posts with a blunt, antique coping saw could be easier, but if you don't worry about how long it takes, it's really not so bad. (I also got to use the rasp my dad gave me a few years ago. Rasps are cool.)

How to make stairs - first steps

I did try to look up how to make stairs on the Interwebs, but nothing was forthcoming. So as usual, we had to make it up ourselves.

The steps I needed were to get from the ground to the tree bog. We agreed on the angle, I made some measurements, then couldn't get my head around how the steps would work with my incline. Her Outdoors (who is MUCH cleverer than me) came to the rescue and together we came up with this drawing:


It's a bit confusing, so I drew it again, overlaying (in grey) the 200 x 38 mm piece of wood that would support my steps:


Satisfied (and remeasuring for good measure), I drew the template onto a piece of wood - using a protractor for the first time in (garbled)ty-(unclear) years!


Then cut the shape out - twice:


Dug a couple of acacia supports into the ground and knocked it all together:


Steps in place, I could finally get on with laying the floor of the tree bog. More on this, later.

On my work bench

Just over 12 years ago, I bought a work bench from Travis Perkins. I don't think it cost much. I used it for the occasional DIY job when we lived in a house. It lived outside (it was only a little house) unprotected from the elements. It came with us to France and still lived outside. The leg braces broke a couple of years ago, but nothing that couldn't be fixed with a bit of rope. Sadly, at the end of last year, it died.

I looked at the work benches in my local DIY place and was STUNNED by the prices. Not just that, but none of the benches on offer had wooden worktops (my cheap old one did - which is how it survived for so long). Fortunately, my dad had an almost new leading-brand work bench in his garage which he let me scrounge. I tried to look after it, but eventually it found its way outside for a few days. I also did some round-wood work with it, which is quite normal for us, but which immediately demolished the pressboard worktop. Look:

Absolute crap. Almost certainly designed to fall apart*. For the price it probably was, scandalous.

Fortunately, I had some pieces of chestnut lying around from a failed kitchen cupboard project and knocked up a new worktop in a couple of hours.

I had to do this because I was just about to go to work on the project1p solar shower. And I hope you'll agree, if you're going to work on a solar shower that's been in the making for a Very Long Time and has cost an Eye-wateringly Large Amount of Money, you're going to need a decent work bench.

More on this, later.

*(For more on designed obsolescence, I strongly recommend you watch Pyramids of Waste aka The Lightbulb Conspiracy (2010). Contains some very surprising information and tells you why that leading-brand printer isn't working any more.)

Field study

OK, this is not the most interesting thing going on at the moment, but I've started, so I'll finish. This is what our field crop is looking like today - after a month of rain and a few days' sunshine. You can still easily see where we put the semi-rotted horse manure just before we sowed.

Trust me, in the long run this will be interesting in some way.

(Orchid watchers will be pleased to know that Pyramid Orchid leaves have been spotted on the land today. Solar shower watchers will be in for a real treat in the coming days.)