THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS

This is the June photo of my life of vines in pictures.
The growth as you can see has been amazing, partly due to the wet weather conditions that the whole of France has suffered. Hopefully, however, this could mean a good vintage year
if we get some long awaited sunshine. It is warm, but it is wet and the next ten days don't look much better with thunder storms forecast for tonight and tomorrow. We had an amazing
storm last Monday which lasted most of the night. I have
a few solar lights in the garden and the lightening was so bright that the lights went off when the lightening struck and returned to on when the thunder roared - quite bizarre.

This photo of one of my climbing roses, is just to prove that I have actually been doing some sort of gardening. Most things
I have planted seem to be doing well, though how anything
can grow in this "concrete" beats me. I have a few pots of tomatoes on the go and two pots of beans, which are going mad
up the trellis beside the bougainvillea!

Just when we thought things were getting almost normal there was an enormous hiccup. Thankfully Tina and her boyfriend Tony were still here. David went for a medical and was advised to take part in a stress test as the doctor was a little worried about his heart rhythm. We drove down to Narbonne to the clinic and the test began. I was sitting in the waiting room happily reading a book when I saw a porter rushing down the corridor with a wheel chair. Who was the chair for? Yep you guessed it - David! Next thing I knew the doctor came and took me to the emergency room where D was, plugged in to a heart monitor which registered anything but a normal heart beat. "We will have to keep him in overnight and take him to Perpignon for further tests in the morning". Oh great, there I am in Narbonne with a car in the car park which I cannot drive. Fortunately Tina got a taxi and came to Narbonne and drove me and the car home.

So now he is in Perpignon. They do an Angiogram, followed by electric shock treatment, which does not work, and hey presto the poor old b****r has a pacemaker. Isn't it amazing how much happens in just over a week!. I have to say thank you for the people in the village and neighbours who offered assistance, especially Debbie and our friends Stuart and Sheila who live further up country. Christopher took me to the hospital which was difficult for him because he and Penny have visitors. Hopefully D will be back on Monday and everything will be better. I will get him out in the garden with the pick axe and the rotovator and that should sort him out!

To return to Tina and Tony, they finally found some work - it is very difficult here in France- on a luxury holiday barge on a canal just outside Paris. They seem to be enjoying themselves although I think the living accommodation is a little on the small side! Probably makes our airbed seem like sheer heaven. Anyway more of that I am sure.

We have nothing much planned for the next month as we dont know how David will feel. I am assured by those who know that a pacemaker can improve your life enormously - I hope so.