Sitting waiting

The view from the dog walk this afternoon

I spent my morning in a quiet, sunny spot, waiting and planning. Today is a rare day, my diary is empty; no meetings, no taxi-ing Ed to appointments or lessons, no shopping, no magazine deliveries, no yoga class, no library duties and no English Conversation club. Today it is just my animals, my garden and me.

Whilst waiting for the morning dew to dry before I could mow I was planning my attack. Which bit of garden do I mow first? Should I lop the low hanging quince branches that get in the way when mowing now, or leave them for another day? The sun is out so maybe I should wash the dog bed? With over fifty eggs to use I must leave time to bake something, but what do I fancy?

I was also waiting for the postman. We have (another) new one and I'm not sure he knew where we live. We are set back from the road in a little square or 'impasse' and the helpful village plan lists it with an incorrect name! This has caused problems for couriers but never before for La Poste. However, we are waiting on customer cheques, packages we know have been despatched and other mail, but our post box has been empty for a whole week. I've enquired at the village boulangerie (font of all local knowledge and sub post office) to see if they can point him in our direction today. The dog walk would wait, I wanted to rush out when I saw his little yellow van, smile and greet him with a cheery bonjour, collect my packages and letters without him having to leave his van, thank him and wish him a bonne journée. If I'm friendly and helpful he might remember where we live and call again tomorrow.

With the excitement of a postal delivery over there was no time to sit back in my sunny spot until early this evening. Then, with a glass of rosé to celebrate I was pleased with what I've achieved  - washed the dog bed and sofa covers, lopped the quince trees, walked the dog and mown the front and back gardens. That will do for a day with nothing to do.

The health benefits of mowing the lawn

Her mower

I read an interesting article the other day that stated that mowing the grass can help to relieve stress and boost your memory. Before we moved to France and indeed for the first few years we were here, mowing was a ‘blue’ chore chez nous, unlike washing and ironing which were and still are ‘pink’ chores. This meant I had little or no experience or interest in it, although I do remember it used to be my Monday evening summer task at home when I was not much older than Ed. With Ade working away, keeping the grass (well green growing stuff, to be more accurate) in the front and back courtyards neat and tidy is something I have taken on, look forward to and really enjoy doing. Having left a stoney courtyard to 'grow' we have ended up with a clover lawn that the bees love almost as much as we do. It is therefore no surprise to me that researchers have discovered it is good for you due to the happy and relaxed feelings a chemical released by a mown lawn gives you. It also appears to be able to prevent mental decline in old age as these happy, relaxed feelings combat bad stress that over time can damage the hippocampus leading to increased blood pressure, forgetfulness and a weakening of the immune system. I love my time spent mowing, I’m out in the fresh air, more often then not the sun is shining, I’m getting exercise and my mind is relaxed and often wanders away with itself. A bit like dog walking, I don’t find it a chore at all. For me the walking mower will always win over the ride on mower that Ade loves. One of the things that was on his wish list when we moved to France was a garden big enough for a ride on mower and our orchard is certainly that.

Our clover lawn

Shortly after moving in he found a jolly red mower that fitted the bill – it needed to be under a metre wide in order to get through the orchard gate, and not be too expensive. The only way to get it home was to hire the knackered old van the shop kept for such occasions, leave his Mum, Ed and I loitering in the car park while he and his Dad made the 90km trip home and back – kerching! (That added a bit to the price).

Not long after we got it, whilst making a tricky manoeuvre he clunked it into something and broke the steering rod – kerching! That cost a bit to replace, but at least he had the knowledge to be able to fix it.

His mower

After a few years we struck another problem, the gearbox went. We spoke to a local company specialising in mowers and were quoted well over half the original purchase price to replace the gearbox – kerching! It was at this point Ade wondered whether to bother or not. There is no need to mow over winter and once the weather warms up the grass goes yellow and doesn’t need mowing, plus the ducks and goose do a bit of grazing for us. Some years it doesn’t get much use at all, especially if I am doing most of the mowing. He doesn’t mind me using it, but I’ll admit I’m not spatially aware enough to guide it safely between the concrete gateposts – clearance is about an inch either side. But we all know boys need their toys and being Mr Resourceful he found replacements for the shattered gears and selectors and carried out the delicate surgery required to fix it yet again. Add to this the odd flat tyre and replacement drive belt over the years and it probably works out more expensive to keep than Ed! But at least those feel good chemicals balance out the stress of keeping his toy running and let’s be honest, who wouldn’t want a shiny red tractor of their own?