I have an old and ancient French wood burning stove that came with the house, it's a deom or as I prefer to call it Demon. It's pretty useless except as an incinerator, there's no glass door so you can't feel cosy viewing the flames and the wood goes in the top. I hate it with a passion.

This is my new house guest Wart. Wart used to live outside in the garden but he has recently decided that he doesn't want to live outside with all the other toads, no Wart has decided that he'd rather enjoy the comforts of home.

Well summer has arrived in Brittany with a bang and today the temperature must have topped 30c. It was the kind of afternoon that really should be spent at the seaside with your toes dangling in cool water. I did think of driving down to the coast but I had a few things to sort out in town first, just a few things that really shouldn't take more than half an hour - but this is France so dream on!

By accident I found a new walk through the forest a while ago - well there's not a lot else to do round here. The path follows a circular route which is a bit more interesting than walking there and back if you know what I mean.

Anyway...

I live on the edge a forest and often take my dogs for a walk there, spring is the best time to explore as in the summer you have to beat off the ticks with a stick (one summer I looked down to find about 20 of the damn things crawling up my jeans) and in the winter you run the risk of being mistaken for something edible and shot by hunters.

All forms of heating in France are gynormously expensive!