The architect said (in French so I have paraphrased), ‘we need to dig a small channel from the junction box in the pigsty to the cottage so we can lay some new cables’. Progress, that’s what I like to hear. The distance between the pigsty at the front of the property and the cottage in the woods is about 100 metres, the channel is going to be dug along the existing track so it won’t cause any damage. Great!

The pile of rocks in the photograph are some of the rocks that came out of the supposedly two-foot wide channel that took three days to dig. ‘It was a surprise’ said the architect, ‘there will be a small bill to pay to have them removed.’ One thing that I have learnt very quickly is that there is no such thing as a small bill; whopping great bills, yes, but not reasonable, appropriate, small bills, naah! ‘Of course,’ the architect said, ‘ you could keep them as a feature and save some money.’ What exactly did he think I was going to do with 50 tons of rock?

At least when they dig the hole for the natural swimming pool we won’t be too surprised although we might have to find somewhere for a new rock feature!