Taking the lid off the septic tank!

well what can I say except your work has really paid off, your garden decking etc looks fantatsic, well done Karen a lot of work achieved there,

Stunning pictures Karen - looks a real delight ! The decking area is so tidy and it's so clean!! Well done for your hard work

Thank you so much, Yorks.
I think it looks a lot better. I didn't do all the building work myself but, I have to admit that it has been hard work and I'm glad it has finally reached the point where I can just potter and add new plants!

Thank you Paul...
Taking the lid off the filter bed has opened it all up and makes it feel better.
But the decking only looks clean because it's so bleached by the sun! lol! ;)

every little helps though ;)))

That's true! ;)))

You didn't do all the building yourself Karen? Whyever not? Lol.... it all looks fantastic.... makes me want to go on holiday!

I was busy inside, at the time, Suzy - tiling the bathroom!!!

Glad you like it...it really is HOT out there! :)

Well done, excellent ideas! And a whole new area, how exciting!

Gosh you have been working hard Karen. Quite a transformation there and it looks great. When are you going to find time to sit in those chairs ?

Thanks Lulu! I'm really looking forward to having "hot" plants and lemons, of course! :)

Thanks Cinders...and soon, I hope! Have you noticed that they're over a year old and still look new? That's from lack of use! lol!
There are a few other areas still to do (it's an all over the place garden)...but, I don't think that they'll be this year...I'm running out of steam and it's getting too hot out there. That's most of around the house sorted and that's enough for now. :)

What a lot of wrok! You have done well hen..its all looks amazing good work! keep it up now! ;)

It is fantastic, a great and substantial area to reclaim. The view from the living room alone has to be worth it. The filter will be just as good in no time, a container garden has a lot of advantages Karen. I love it, well done.

You have been busy , Karen , has that youth been in to help again ?
All looking good and in order .

Alot of work you've done but its all paid of it looks lovely

That is such an improvement Karen. Im not surprised youre pleased with it. The little lemon tree will be just handy for when youre sipping your gin and tonic on the terrace lol

That is wonderful,Karen..where on earth do you find the energy to do all those jobs,in such a short space of time..?
You haven't been back that long,and looks like you haven't stopped !...you should be rightly proud of all your transformations..just lovely :o))..now sit down in one of those nice chairs,and chill a bit..love the lemon tree,and the pot...:o)

It all looks wonderful. You'd never say those things were there at all. so you've done a great job :o)
I hope your olive tree pulls through, and that you get to pick many lemons ...

thats a fab job karen and love your furniture to, lovely place to sit and drink in an evening, well done, love it :o))

well done you, what a change, it looks beautiful!!

A good job well done it all looks fantastic :o)))

Thanks everyone! I'm just back from my step-daughter's birthday party...guess what I bought her...yep! a lemon tree!! ;)))

Thanks Pixi :)
I think I may have become a workoholic after all that doing nothing in Nigeria...! :/

Thanks Pim:)
Yours is amazing and I've always liked container gardens!But when I knew that I was going to Africa last year, I knew it wasn't really worth it then...but, now, with being here and opening up that area...I'm really looking forward to it :)
I might have to investigate serious bug control, though if last years infestation is anything to go by... :/

Thanks J :)
The pots, at the moment, are a really dreadful mixture of everything I've had from previous gardens and whatever has been cheap at the moment...
They are sooo expensive here!!!
...but it's funny that you should say pink...because I went and got pink serviettes for the outdoor eating when the boys were here...so, definitely leaning in that direction! ;))

Thank you so much Clarice :)
I am quite relieved that I've solved that problem and I'm also really very glad it's over! :)

Poppylover, you have no idea just how much I'm looking forward to that...aah! bliss! :)

Oh, Bloomer...I get up in the morning, and I really don't feel like it...then I look at how much needs to be done and before I know it I'm lugging heavy things around in the heat, stopping frequently to ask myself why I'm doing it...then thinking, "just get to there, then stop!"
But I can't!! Think I need help...from men in white coats...lol! ;)

Thanks Hywel :)
At the moment, it depends which angle you look at it from...selective photography...lol!
But I'll get there... ;)

Thanks San :)
I'm determined to go and just sit...and that's a definite maybe for next week ;)

Thanks Sticki :)
I have been very sticky, myself, getting this done! lol! ;)

And thanks, P :)
I'm glad it's done!!! ;)

I appreciate all your lovely comments and sometimes I think that's what keeps me going :)))

Or is it that I just have a compulsive obsessive disorder?? LOL! :))))))

What a difference you have made. You have some lovely pots - so great to have an area to display them all at their best. Lemon tree now - you will soon be self sufficient in the fruit department :) Sit and enjoy :)

Ooh Driad! I missed you!!! So sorry!!!
And I can't even blame it on the drink...this time... :/
No youth involved...except the dregs of mine...and it definitely feels like they're getting thinner... ;)

Thanks Scottish :)
I'd like it to, soon, be the day where, "making a difference" is a thing of the past...lol!
...or would I??? That's what worries me... :/

But, you're right! I'll soon have my 5 or maybe even 10 a day!! :)))

Ooh! There's a HUGE storm just started to light up the sky as I write...possibly not long with leccie...away to light a candle...

that is great Karen, looks really good, love the little lemons there :-)

Can't really add much to the above statements, except you put me to shame!
Great job. Enjoy!

That looks amazing, Karen! Who'd ever know what weas lurking underneath! Pea-green with envy at your lemon tree - I've always wanted one, but this region is higher in altitude and on the cool side for lemons, although they do grow well - along with a few orange trees - down on the valley floor. I do have a little orange tree (grown from a pip so probably sterile!) in a large tub in the porch for its protection ..... but the thought of being able to reach up and pluck a lemon from my very own tree is something special! :o)

I can see you using the filter beds for your new water garden feature before long. When the old school was refurbished for a firm of accountants they put in a filter bed system with reeds etc which digests all the waste. I take it your system filters the clean water coming from your septic tank to allow it to drain away. Well done. Your OH will wonder where he has arrived when he next comes home. He must have been amazed at what you have achieved in such a short time. .

Thanks SL and Lil :)
I'm glad I got it all done and I really hope that I can keep those little lemons...
The temp has dropped to 17°C and we're now in for two weeks of rain and storms! :(

Thanks Nariz :)
Lemons do fine here - but only in pots! If you leave them out in the winter in a sheltered place, they shed their leaves and come back in the spring...but then they don't produce so many fruits...

This variety is hardy to minus 5, but needs to be in warm sunlight all year to produce lemons...I think it is also known as Eureka. It seems to be a lemon with a difference, from what I gather. The scent is intoxicating!

Might be worth investigating for your porch?

Hi Sg!

I'm kicking myself now...because we could have attached an irrigation system to the filter bed!

But, at the time, this was the most expensive septic tank system in the Charente and OH wouldn't even consider adding further to the cost! When they started digging the hole, water started flooding in at only half a metre...which is why the bed had to be raised. So why would I need an irrigation system, was the question.

As it is, what comes out is 98% pure and just goes into the stream...whilst I have to water every day in the summer...

But, at least I've turned it into a more useful space now ;)

I wonder if you could still tap in to the outlet and have an irrigation system. If you pay for water and electricity to work the pump then you would probably end up saving money in the long run. What you have done is very nice. Does some of the water evaporate off?

I think it's probably too late now, Sg...
The pump pushes the water up into the filter bed but the outlet is lower than the level of the garden. And it's on the wrong side of the bed. I would probably need another pump.

All the water goes down through the filter which is really a big plastic reservoir filled with layers of volcanic rocks of differing grades. And a little electronic device tells me what's going on in there! All very high tech - which is why it was also very high price!

Yes you probably would need another pump so it is a no go then. Our water from the septic tank runs down through the drain which used to take our sewage. It runs throught the field behind us and goes in to a ditch several hundred yards away. We were given a thing which looked like a ladle with an extra long handle and advised to clear out the ditch end in case it got blocked. Once every six months or so. My OH decided a septic tank was a much better answer and we had one installed.

Looking really nice there Karen. Much nicer view than the septic tank. You've managed so much in such a short space of time, I'm impressed. Bet your exhausted though. Next nice day give yourself an hour or so in the sun with a cold glass of white wine (or whatever takes your fancy) and just sit and chill, admiring all your hard work of course :), you can consider it doctors orders if it helps :P lol

Thanks Karen - I'll look into it. :o)

Oh dear, Sg, I'm not surprised that you prefer the septic tank. Our commune worker does the stream that ours goes out into. But, he just strims it with a brush cutter and leaves it all where it lands, so it gets quite choked in the summer. I keep meaning to go there and tidy it all up...but, somehow, I never seem to find the time...

Thank you, Sam, I'm glad you like it. White wine is my summer tipple or sometimes rosé. So, if it's doctor's orders, I'd better just do that! ;)))

I was thinking about an orange too, Nariz...but, they were really on the expensive side and probably just a bridge too far!

Keep looking for an orange shrub in Lidl or Aldi they both have had them in the recent past. They had Standard Olive trees recently. They seem to get a lorry load of different plants in season and when they are sold you have to wait a while to see if they will restock again.

Thanks Sg. I haven't been into Lidl for over a week. The last time I was in, it was completely de-stocked of everything!! But, I may have to go and have a wee look later...;)

If you hadn`t said anything I wouldn`t have noticed the pipes anyway Karen, it all looks a treat though and I love your decking area...

Amazing job, well done, your garden is wonderful x

Thanks Lincs, clever use of camera angles!lol! Still once there are a few more pots in there, they'll be invisible from all takes...and I just happen to have another couple, which I made earlier... ;)

Thanks Magnadoodle! :)

This blog is coming up when I click blogs and suddenly its summer for you going by the sundress......very nice.....we,ve still got the rain........;0)

Well, it has been, Pam...not today though...had to get a cardi out...! \O/

Hi ,Karen , I have been in and out like a yo -yo today , hot sunshine and then torrential rain , but I managed to plant lots of tomatoes , which I had been trying to do for ages .
We are going for a bake in Majorca next week , so feeling a bit "boat happy " at the moment .
Over the weekend though I had to retreave clothes that I had put away until the winter !

I nearly had to go and put the heating on today, Driad...
But it was just a minor panic!!! Things are looking okay, now...I think...

Just as well...no oil left!

Hope your tomatoes are good! I planted one called "ananas"...pineapple tomato...who could resist?
Just wish I could remember which one it is...!

Enjoy your bake in Majorca!!!

Hello Karen! Looking at your blog has really warmed me up, it's b****y freezing here today (AGAIN). My winter wardrobe is still in use ;O( Ps. Love the dress in your avatar xx

Ohh, lovely. Now just the place to sit with a glass of wine and some nibbles! In your glorious French sun! Freezing today over here and VERY wet. Jx

Yes wet here too now J x

Hi Jane and Annie!

No sitting out for me today either...it's not raining but it's really warm and windy...which means I still have to do the watering...
The hanging baskets look as though they've been freeze dried!!! x

Definitely no need to water here!

Oh dear, Annie. My friend just got back from Yorkshire...she said it was freezing! It's been a bit parky in the mornings here, so I haven't been paying attention on the water front...normally that's the only bright side of the sun not shining...

Thanks for noticing my dress! I got it for 10€ at the market...but, I'm definitely not wearing it today!!!

What a day again!!, even the toad has come into the gh out of the rain.......:0)

That is fantastic - and so much work! It looks lovely. You must be really proud of it (and rightly so!) :-)

Oh Pam, I'm so sorry! The weather's not great here, either...but, it might be worth organising a GoY outing to sunny(ish) and warm(ish) Charente!...

I'm going on a "patisserie" course in a small "gastronomic hotel" on Monday...could accommodate up to 18!! ;)))

Thanks Mel! It's a work in progress...and its definitely an improvement...as is the rest of the garden...
...but, I've become addicted to buying things for it!!!
...I would really like it all to be in a place where I could just take a breath! lol! ;)

Bargain buy!! (The dress). The hotel sounds lovely and very tempting as I sit here in my winter woollies Lol x

It's a lovely hotel, Annie...you can check out Fabrice's cooking courses on-line. I've never been to one before...but there's only two of us this time - and we get lunch and everything that's been made in the morning!

Although, I'll be making a bee-line for the stuff he made... lol! x

You're not going with out ME Ann! Jx

Watch the waist-line , Karen !
I have just been trying on my Majorca frocks and have found that they have shrunk in the wash (!?!)
Doesn't bode well for the holiday diet .

Oh my goodness! You must change your washing powder, Driad...

But, not before you've "shrunk" some of OH's holiday things as well...
...new holiday wardrobes all round?!?!

btw - is "diet" like "budget"? I think so...lol! ;))

I,ll be interested to hear what the course contains,. At 16 I went on a two year catering course, at the local college at that time it was very much a french influence with roux sauces to be mastered an mille feuille from scratch, gave me the confidence to cook anything!

They're only one morning, at a time, at the moment, Pam...but you can find out more by googling the "Hostellerie du Perigord, Aubeterre, Charente".

Fabrice is a fabulous, innovative chef...

I'm thinking mille fueille...but...actually, it could be anything!!!

I've enrolled on four more over the summer! Not patisserie! Who knows!! :)))

I've recently done a course to teach cookery to people that have either no confidence or have NEVER had to cook . Everyone joins in and enjoys , cooking and eating should be a communal activity .
My comment about the dresses means that I have added a few pounds to body beautiful, Karen .

Thats such a rewarding thing to teach Driad, its the basis of health and I suppose wealth in some way......schools abandoning domestic science have brought up the young lacking so much knowledge...even maths makes sense when you weigh ingredients!

I do so agree, Driad and Pam...there are so many valuable skills and pleasures involved in cooking and eating together.

Cooking used to be the best way to teach weight and volume in Primary School (not to mention basic science) and tubes of smarties were the best way to teach division, in particular, as I remember... :)

Cooking and eating to be happy and healthy is infinitely preferable to being too thin from not eating or too overweight from not cooking...

French families get it just right, I think. :)

I knew what you meant, Driad...lol...was only joking...! ;)

They still eat all together I believe, this must make a difference, some primary children I'm told cannot use a knife and fork...or even understand about where chips come from......just sad

They do Pam. And every generation of the family helps out with the cooking and clearing, in whichever way they can. It's always a social occasion...and always at the table. Even lorry drivers on the road have folding tables and napkins...and children still help strangers' grannies up the stairs...which is beside the point, but shows the difference.

Fast food here is buying the plat du jour from the local traiteur...which is always home-cooked on the premises...and will be something like boeuf bourgignon, for example.

Although, recently, MacDonald's have been springing up everywhere like mushrooms...it can't be a good thing...

So important for Families to eat together..and gives everyone chance to catch up on the days news..especially children about their school day..we always sat together,,no tray in front of the TV,in our house..we still do,and glad my Grandson is being brought up to do the same.. even though he is only two..good old fashioned values...can't beat it..:o)..I detest Macdonalds..tried it once,that was enough..give me proper chips everytime,not matchsticks !

Hear, hear, Bloomer!
I'm away on my cooking course this morning - early start...
I've just got to find some proper footwear...I'm sure I've got some clogs somewhere...
And, I'll take my camera, just in case! :)

nicely done..great blog

Looking forward to hearing all about it Karen, have a great time

We always had to sit together at the table Bloomer....But we were not allowed to speak!!! My Father thought it was bad maners.

Same here Pimpernel. We were not allowed to talk at the table until we said thank you for a nice meal and asked permission to leave the table. How things have changed! Now meals are the main time we all come together to chat! Jx

Exactly the same Jane...My Mum is a great cook and every single meal was from scratch. What a shame we had to endure such good food in that oppressive silence.
I couldn't wait to say "Please may I leave The table."

Things are much better today relaxed and informal ..wonder where he got the attitude from.

Don't know, but my Dad was just the same. Probably a Victorian habit from their upbringing. All our food was also home grown and home made from scratch, we had some fantastic meals, yet as you say, in oppressive silence. Sooooooooo much nicer now! Jx

We didn't sit in silence,bur remember my parents saying they had to..but like you,Pimms and Jane,always asked if I could leave the table...and a thank you..and always if we were invited out to someones house..I agree,much more informal as regards chatting,thank goodness..unless of course,some are speechless,whilst glued to the'box' .!

How did the cookery course go Karen? Cant wait to hear all about it and some photos too please??? If I lived a bit nearer I would get my coat on to come with you. I love cooking and dont really know why people dont know how to cook. Fast food and take-aways in my opinion are gross! Perhaps its a case of what youve never had you dont miss??

Thanks, Skip! :)

Hi Jane, Pim and Bloomer...it was the same when I was young...
French children still have to ask to leave the table...but everyone chats and laughs all through the meal...even with their mouths full! lol!

Pam, Poppy...I'm just back...stuffed!!! Four course meal -if you include the two desserts we made!! I really enjoyed it!! :)

Unfortunately, I'd eaten the really spectacular dessert before I remembered to take a photo!

It was, "Verrine de fruits dans son sirops à la menthe, mousse glace fromage blancs citron verte, ganache au thé vert" Which is a wonderful fruit soup/salad with frozen lime fromage blanc mousse and two chocolate green tea ganache...

I've brought all the different bits home so I can reconstruct it with what's left...well, not exactly - not so pretty. I don't have any martini cooler glasses to present it in!

The second dessert was, "Papillotte de pomme granith au groseille et frangipane, sirop de mûre et quenelle de creme fraiche", a very healthy, baked in paper fruit, dessert which would be lovely in the winter.

I've got a photo of that raw and cooked.

Both really achievable at home too!

I'm really, really wish that I'd taken photos of the verrine...

Anyway, I can post the recipés if you're interested...?

Glad you enjoyed it...and it stopped you buying plants.

I do a massive punch bowl full of Pru Leith "Green Fruit Soup" When ever I have a cold. It keeps for a week in the fridge and is packed with VitC as well as tasting good.

Yup, bursting with vitamins, Pim...and yummy!

Every bit of this dessert keeps too...which is just as well...because we made loads of it! I've got the mousse and the ganache in the freezer and the syrup in the fridge...

Just need to wait for "visitors" to arrive...I don't want to sicken myself of it...it is too nice!

Please Karen I,d love the recipes and photo,s....they could go on Goypedia recipes from the garden

It sound a brilliant day

I'll translate it all, Pam...

The photos are rubbish! So, I'll do my best to make it all look lovely tomorrow. We were too busy really...
But, take my word for it, the flavours are fantastic! And versatile.

Next month, the theme is, "...à la Planche"...barbeques and grills - but it won't be run of the mill.

I should really get Fabrice to let me do a recipé blog for his restaurant!

Do you think that by then it will have stopped raining here..........?

Glad you enjoyed it Karen. Can you send me a link to the hotel please or put the address on xx

...or here, Pam??? :/

I'll pm the info, Annie...not sure about the advertising thing? :)

I've put the recipé up, without pics...it helps me to write it all out properly, whilst it's still fresh in my mind!

Ok hun x

I missed this! I think your septic tank looks adorable. Every home should have one. We are incredibly lucky - our is shared with about 3 other houses and is w-a-a-a-a-y down in the field below the house. We haven't investigated it since we've been here!

Oh, you're so lucky, Gattina. The "fosse" is a popular topic of conversation where I live - and we have to cosset them by pouring powders down the toilet and giving explicit instructions to visitors about what can and can not go down the drains...

Some villages have gotten around to putting in "mains drainage"...which is a giant shared septic tank...that can be a bit stinky from time to time...

EEC regulations said that we should all have had mains...about 5 or 6 years ago...another stupid decree, conscientiously ignored! lol!

Our "fossa biologica" doesn't get much in the way of special attention. We used to put special powder down every week or so, but no-one else does, so we stopped. We just don't keep bleach in the house, and no caustic soda drain cleaners, either. I tend not to use enzyme washing powder, but I know Teresa does, and it all goes to the same tank. Our friend, an ex-pat English lady, can't get her head round this no-bleach rule, and we regularly sit in her lovely garden, with wafts of "eau de cess-pit" spoiling the ambience!

I once fell in to an open cess-pit!!! The long hot summer of '76.

The rest of the family drove home leaving me there covered in shOt for about an hour and a half. Then my dad arrived in a pick up truck, I had to climb on to the back and was driven through the streets of south manchester covered from head to toe. Deposited in my back garden, where I was forced to strip naked blasted with a hose (despite a hosepipe ban) and squirted with washing up liquid, this was the days before shower gel's.
Guantánamo prison gaurds have nothing on my parents!!

Eegads! Dipped in shot! And water-cannoned!

Was it after that, that you started frequenting meadows, and sniffing flowers, then? ;D

And...I daren't ask why you were there in the first place...

We were walking the dogs on farmland where my dad had shooting consent.... all was well, walking down a track and I found a little "pond" with a raised wall to balance and run along...Oh how happily I skipped and gambolled.!

...and plunged! lol!

...puts a new slant on "getting in deep shot"...

Apart from that, it sounds like you had a nice childhood, Pim... :)

Oh big lols. What a vision of loveliness you must have been! Jx

Bless you Pim, I bet you came up smelling of roses......... ;0)

Dammit, Pam, you just stole my line!

Big LOL's from me too,Pimms..at least it would keep the sun of 1976 off you..a drastic form of suncream...but you sound as though you ended up looking like you had a tan,anyway..I'm just picturing that Shot (sun) kissed body !!...

Took me a while to laugh about it...been up to my eyes in it on and off ever since.!!

I'm still laughing,Pimms..and know the feeling of being the remover of it, at a bird garden once.. getting it off two kids with long hair...not the same as yours,but shot is shot ! Lol.

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear...still laughing here too...sniff, sniff!! Oops, sorry...i'ts bringing water to my eyes...! ;)

I've just realised - we were in south Manchester in 1976 - if only we'd known, we could have come and cheered you on!

It was spectacle enough thank you very much! whilst I wouldn't call the garden overlooked, it was hardly secluded either. Then there was the entire family getting much merriment at my misfortune, I'm sure that even the dog was snickering.

I've just had a phone call...and, apparently, that's what Sadie looks like at this very moment...

Oh joy...any tips on removing merde from earholes, etc..., Pim??

Q tips on v-e-r-y long poles?

Lol....at least you've come by being a shOt disturber honestly ;)))

Lol! You could say it's in his blood, Lil...
...well, up his nose...and in his ears... ;)))

LOL!!
It must have been very bad as he is trying to disguise it with skunk now! Peeyou! ;)))

Right......I'm that's it!!!! I going

To Morrissons ;)

To buy cologne????
;)

you keep coming back mon cheri

Glutton for punishment I suppose ;)

113 comments Karen!!!! Can you start a part II to save wear and tear on my fingertips??

You see? Septic tanks are a topic of endless conversation! lol!!! :D

Coz we all talk so much shOt :))

LOLOL!!! :DDD

Speak for yourself Pepe!!

We've got two and are very strict with them....no bad behaviour allowed....

No! You've got to keep them under control, Pam...

Otherwise you may have to call Pepé out. He has a wide and deep experience of all things Pew...

Pew indeed once a year when they are emptied........

That one I was in can't just have been a years worth ...Surely !!!

LOL!!!!!

That all depends, really...mine is a super-dooper-high tech-shOt-collector and should only need emptied every 5-10 years, if at all! Sort of eats shOt, if you will...

Now, yours, on the other hand, Pepé...being fairly rudimentary...well, one dreads to think, really...

Hi all

Love the comments on here as I can relate to them all!

Pimpernel - I'd really like the recipe for Green Fruit Soup by Prue Leith!
Re your lovely trip in the open cess-pit....
I remember my brother falling in a farmers dung heap/slurry and being hosed down head to toe! Not so funny at the time but great to laugh about now - my brother is visiting this week so will remind him!

Karen - I am from rural Scotland and my parents also have home septic tank and know how ugly it can be in the garden. The changes you have made are great!

Ours is buried 12 feet deep in the field with pipes spread out across the field for drainage, having it done yearly stops it filling with water and clogging up.....not to be recommended.......

Ooh, ours hasn't ever been emptied. been in use for over 15 years. Wonder where it's all going?? Come to think of it, one or two of the springs look a bit peaty, which is a little odd for a limestone area. Jx

People pay extra for that Spring water Jane.

Ummmm, should be quite piquant, a little sulpherous perhaps. A new business venture becons, I could open a spa. Being the most experience in shot, Pimpernel, perhaps you could do the grand opening as the shot guest of honour. Oh the pissabolities are endless...........Jx

Lol...Trust a Yorkshire Lass ...Where there's muck!

I'm finding it difficult to come back from Pepé's extensive knowledge of shOt...but every time I look at the Pepé avatar, I start to giggle! lol!! :D

I rather like it myself.. He was a great cartoon.

So dapper....and french...

Lololol! I've just re-read the last wee (?) bit of this, and it's making me laugh out loud again! :DDD

......and the really little pink piggy went wee wee wee all the way home - or possibly to an exclusive Yorkshire Spa with a mysterious septic tank. Jx

Jane, septic tank or sensory deprivation chamber?
The ultimate in Spa treatments...

lol lol lol - would probably have to have totally deprived senses to go any where near it. If you didn't before, you may never regain them after. But, it's all in clever marketing - don't tell them they will be scarred for life by a quick whiff, let alone total body submersion. Oh, that's Pims department isn't it? We have a not used (currently) sheep dip tank too, just think what great use that could be put to. Just realised those bl***y curre(a)nts have jumped blog. How far can 4 currants go. Jx

Oh, my! You've got it all covered there, Jane...

Terrace swimming pool (with extra special underground support)...sensory deprivation tank and sheep dip jaccuzzi...

Followed up with a nice reviving "wee" Kir, (made with cider of course, and a couple of blackcurrants)! x

Better start marketing it straight away. Def on to a winner here. Jx

THAT'S LOVELY DECKING ... WE HAD THW SAME PROB WITH OUR SEPTIC TANK AND IN FACT HAVE DUN THW SAME AS U .HAVE A BIG PERGOLA OVER IT NOW AND LOTS OF ROSES ...WHY DO THEY PUT THEM SLAP BANG IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GARDEN LOL ....

Easy access?. ;0)

Looks like the Spa franchise has expanded to Cheshire :))

Look at Cristina's last blog. Dodgy mess on my pic. Which some of us read wrongly...........

Lololol!! Funny how all roads lead to poo... ;)))

0))))))) afraid so Karen LOL ... Mike allmost fell in a few times as well LOL

Lol! When they come to sort out any problems with ours, they come in twos...a big one and a little one (sort of jockey-sized)...guess what the little one has to do......???

Lol!

:D
He does wear a khaki coloured cagouille, though...

Euww.......

...and he's very pleasant...!

Well, not to the nose, you understand...

I remember when I fell in I was wearing dark brown corduroy flared patchpockets...they filled up like saddle bags ! :((

Oh God Pim...I just know that they were "jumbo cord"...you poor wee soul...

It was bad enough, when they absorbed the rain........

I,m trying not to imagine.......

They were indeed Jumbo's..LOLOLOL Almost new and my pride and joy!

Sorry...I am cracking up now remembering.

LOL ... Bet they crack wen they dried LOL .... So funy read ur blog pim... Lafed all nite at the thougt of it .....

In my head now.... This is not jeremy Kyle....repeat

Alright.....155+ comments!
I think it's time for you to start a new post on your shOt predicament in a new blog Pimp.
All those in favour say SHOT!!!

LOLOL! I'm not supposed to be here...I'll miss my train!!!
That's it...I'm logging of now...see you all next week!

xxx

I've just caught up with this after two glorious weeks in Majorca .
Lol ! You poor chap , Pp , there you were minding your own buisness , in your trendy gear , when whoomp .....
Well the upside (if there is one ) to that would be that your immune system must be second to none !
Our friends have a chap called Kit the Sh(o)t who empties the surrounding cess-pits .
There was a wedding that he wasn't invited to recently , so he turned up anyway to perform his task and made sure that the proceedings went with a "good odour ".

Ha.. Love the name Kit the ShOt. !

I do shrug off colds and flu rather easily..?

Swear by manuka honey myself............

That's the easy way , Pam !

OMG,what have you rekindled,Driad ? so funny though..that name had me laughing so much..brilliant..can just see him at that wedding..and the guests faces ! Lol...and yes,that is the correct spelling,Pimms....FACES !

Never mind the name - what about the attitude? !!!

Lol lol.............. I should never have said anything

I need to delete many things.

lollo Bloomer!!!

No,it's lollo Rosso ! :o))...I think you are ready to join us in the home for the bewildered...are you affiliated ? :o)

What?

I was fumigated once... My Mum is still ashamed ! My school books got sent off in a sealed bag to somewhere. I had Measles...

What do you mean..what? ..lollo rosso or affiliated ? me no comprehende..bilingual too..impressed ? no ,I didn't think so .. Fumigated for Measles ? a bit drastic I think..no wonder your mum was ashamed..what did they think you had ? ..sorry.,all questions !:o)

ShOT !!!!

I may be older than Bloomer !!!!! !!!

Sorry she is just forgetting.

So that's why you are starting to look like JP11 ? Lol..I am getting a lot prettier , more like Mother Theresa :o))..I can't remember being fumigated for Measles.. and no,you aren't older than me ..:o)

I think that they were making an example of you Pp , bullying in fact , you could get them for that .
Shall we have the Lolo Rosso now ? I assume that it is a good vintage .
JP11 ? I am supposed to resemble Dora Brian , its something I've had to live with !

Its all right Bloomer soon time for the medication......or do I have to send for Ba......she has the maltesers.....

We could try the Lollo Rosso if you really want to,Driad..but if you want it in an elegant wine glass,we will have to liquidise it first...ok, if you insist then..I'm up for it..never had liquidized lettuce ! :o) ooh,yuk! don't fancy the colour ,its 'orrible....here ,you can have mine..Lol....don't worry,Pam..I took my meds as soon as tried the soggy lollo Rosso.....saved me from having my stomach pumped :o)

Me and my books, too, Pims. Teacher clapped a handkerchief to her face, and screamed at me "Get those filthy things off my desk!!"(I'd been off school for a term and a half with measles, and all through it had been made to keep up with my schoolwork, and I was just bringing in the results) They sent every scrap of work I'd done to the school furnace. I was banished to the sick room for the rest of the afternoon until the doctor had been called in to verify I hadn't brought the plague back with me, and was made to sit at the very back of the room for the rest of the school year. I was 7 and very upset. I thought I'd done something wrong.

Gosh....wish you had re-appeared on a shorter posting Gattina! Nice to see you :)

Is this thread EVER going to end. lol Jx

Doubt it Jane..don't tell me you have just trawled through it ? Lol.

From where I last left off. But really am going back into the studio now to finish off. Jx

Thank goodness for the slider at the right hand edge of the screen - fascinated to see how long this thread is going to last (at least it doesn't get further and further to the right-hand side like it did on the old BBC forums (fora?))

They knew how to mess with your head back in day Gattia, mind you they were on constant vigil for the "Dreaded Lurgie" it was always fatal.

That particular teacher did, Pims - 60 years ago and I still cringe at the thought of her - Miss Hitchen - she HATED me and I still have no idea why. I was only little and a very quiet child.

My bugbear was Miss Bocking, my second year in the infants, the first teacher was lovely miss kettleband...all snuggly and motherly but her......straight, skinny and hair in a tight bun looking down her thin nose..

I had a Miss Lambert. We used to call her Fanny by Gaslight. Lord knows why, except she taught history. I was 10 when she hit me over the head with a pile of history books (hardbacked) and made me sit under the blackboard for the morning. She caught me whispering to the girl next to me.When I went home for lunch, my neck was so stiff I couldn't turn my head.By hometime, she had the wrath of my Grandmother to deal with. Same era, so they were well matched. There was a whole generation of older spinsters who taught and who seemed to have a pathological hatred of children. Probably something to do with the war and never being married or having any of their own - or a reflection of their own Victorian upbringing. And yes at 52, some of my early, older teachers probably were born in the Victorian era. Oh god, how scary is that!!!

On my first day at a new school (halfway through the school year, halfway through the spring term) I went into a needlework lesson (whatever happened to those?) and was sitting quietly, when the teacher, Miss Carr (another elderly spinster) came and stood in front of me and shouted "Where's your work? I told you last time there would be serious consequences for anyone forgetting to bring it in!" and slapped my face. Hard. The girl sitting next to me told her that it was my first day at the school, but she just swept on without a word, and I spent the entire double lesson mute and in tears. Nothing more was ever said, and my Grandmother was never told. (my parents were still living 200 miles away with my little brother, and I was desperately homesick, too)
I didn't enjoy school much.

Oh Gattina, I feel so sorry for that little girl,
the other girl was brave speaking up as she did

That is so horrible, it makes me feel sick. I spent most of my primary school in fear (I didn't really, I suppose, but those awful memories never really go away) I then became a primary school teacher but that fearful little girl always looked over my shoulder. Some of those horrendous women truly deserve the millstone around their necks.

I was twelve when it happened. That was 55 years ago now - you can tell how much it upset me. There were only two teachers out of a total of maybe 40 who were kind and understanding. Discipline was one thing, but cruelty was entirely another. I had moved from Bristol to South London, from a rather genteel private school for "Young Ladies" to a rather tough (academically and emotionally) grammar, and it took years before some of the teachers stopped mocking my funny west country accent. I cried myself to sleep for months. I did toughen up later, but never quite 100%.

No, I know. What a responsibility some of those people bear. School is still a tough experience for so many, but I hope that dreadful and total lack of care and understanding is less common now.

Maybe it has gone too far in the other direction.

Maybe...

True, I think it has. There is a middle line, which should be firm but fair. I taught for 20 years,and tried to make sure the children I taught, understood the rules, but they also learnt something and enjoyed doing it. I was a little unorthodox at times, but I don't think many of the kids I taught will forget me. They all understood the basics of English grammar and could make themselves understood - coherently. having said all that, I don't miss teaching AT ALL. Jxx

Crikey! I go away for a few days...and look what happens...

Anyway, don't know if it was the same in England, but women had to leave teaching in Scotland when they got married!

Flying board-dusters and frisbie style sellotape tins are my abiding memories of primary school...

Ex-teacher (among other things) here too, btw...

...and Lil's not going to be happy if she has to scroll down much further...lol!

Neither do I, Janey!!!!! I confess I don't remember flying board dusters, Karen, just standing on desks and a good slap behind the knees! Thank God it's all over - from both sides of the desk!

My sentiments exactly, Mel! :))

Amen to that. Jx

Ho ho ho! :-)

Oh I remember fly ing board rubbers....and a ruler across the hand whilst the boys side of the school got the slipper which I think was a size 12 plimsoll......happy days

No drugs problems or real bullying though and lots of playground games, cookery and needlework lessons which I likes and hockey or cross country on freezing mornings which I didn't.......

Are you kidding Karen????? I stopped scrolling past the 984th comment! ;)
Feeling lucky in the teacher respect. Had a few throughout my life that saved my hide, or at least tried.

A slight miscalculation there,Lil...not quite that number of comments yet! ..this is 198..wanna go for the big 200 ? .super prize in store..or maybe not :o))

This will definitely go beyond 200 - it's unstoppable!

WOOHOO!!!!!!!
# 200!!!!!!!
What's my prize Karen?? :)))

I used to live in the headmasters office for answering back....or dumb insolence. Couldn't win Lol.

\0/ \0/ \0/. )( )( )( well done Lil round of applause. :0)

You? DUMB? Are you kidding us, Pims?

Congrats Lil ! :o) erm,think the blog title might have some connection with your prize..Karen will have something special in mind for you..and we don't want to go 'off topic' do we ? .something we never do ! :o)) Lol.

I think Karen should get a prize for instigating the longest-winded thread in history! (What does "off-topic" mean again?)

You should look at one or two of Floribunda's blogs..umm like 'lost in somerset'......or ask Ba.....steam came out of many computers trying to load. ;0))).

Lol Bloomer, she better not!! :0

Maybe she will give you the pleasure of closing the lid ? if not,just 'wallow' in the sheer delightful thoughts of the alternative ,Lil..:o)

OK, Pamg - I see what you mean!!!

I THINK THIS BLOG

MAY HAVE PUSHED ME

OVER THE EDGE Agggggggggggggggggh

Quick Mel....Jane need the maltesers....;0)

Intravenously................................. x

Lololol! Guys and girls! :D
(having to sneak in whilst OH is "watering" and washing the cars...)

What is this "off Topics"?

I remember them...whatever happened to them...they were my favourite!!! :D x

I like off colours too. x

I think this is all getting "off"! I'm losing the plot! (not for the first time, I admit!)

May I "put it to bed " ?
Love it all , by the way !

Oh god, we're back on to smutty things again!!! Jx

LOLOLOL!! :D x

Did someone mention smut ?

Oh, you came out of the woodwork for that then eh? :-))

And I was just about to move the subject of shot to your blue bottle, Pim...

They seem to follow me like that character in Peanuts.

The shot or the bluebottles?
Bluebottle. We'll be singing 'Ying tong, ying tong, ying tong, ying tong tally white ho' (or similar) next. :-)))

I thought it was .. "ying tong, ying tong, ying tong, ying tong, ying tong tiddly I po. No ?

That was I po ... Not I poo BTW.

LOLOLOL! :D

Right! I'm off again for a few days!!

If this is still going when I get back, I dread to think where we'll be...mouche in merde, Pim in poo...

Sorry Lil! It's no my fault!! :D

See y'all next week!! x

Have a good trip, Karen. See you soon.

You should have kept quiet Gattina.... What do mean Me DUMB?... Famous last wods. If it were winter the gloves would be off..!!!

Have a good trip Karen . x
And yes Pim, you are right, much more apt, as there is po (o) in it. I think the other version was my brothers - about a zillion years ago. He tended to corrupt things. Jx

Oh Dear! We don't do corruption on this site, Jane. We're all far too respectable and nice. ;o) I think we may have to keep a close eye on you - well, it could run in families, couldn't it?
OK Pims, YOU, Outside NOW! Gloves on or off, I don't care. Nobody makes fun of my Wods and gets away with it. Words are a different matter entirely.

Are "wods" Anglosaxon for "weeds"??

I DK...even if they're only blue weeds, then I get it...
...that Pim is obsessed with wods...!!

Thought you'd left for warmer climes, KF? You just can't stay away, can you?
I think Pims is pretty obsessive about a lot of things, poor soul. You can get treatment for it, but not on the NHS, sadly. Especially for blue Wods.

I've never seen a shOt discussed as much as here.....I can now see blue wods turning into something else...enjoy yourself Karen.
;)

Eh, Gatti...not quite away yet!!

Are Mancurians wont to paint themselves blue, I wonder?? Did that make sense, I wonder?? :D

Lil! Never underestimate a man in woad! He means business!! LOL! :DD

See you when I get back! x

I was thinking more balls but not going to say it as I think this has gone totally off the tracks as it is!
Don't be telling Nigel anymore about Pimp. May put a damper on the holiday ;)))

Too late, Lil...he already knows...
...doesn't quite understand about how we can talk about shOt for four weeks...but is completely sympathetic about the jumbo cords...

...although drainpipes were more his era!!! x

Drainpipes were called ShOt stoppers Lil.

Nice.............

Mancunians have no need to paint themselves blue, Karen, the climate usually ensures a satisfying shade of nithered mauve, seldom seen without accompanying chronic shivering and pruney fingers, and quite often right the way through the summer months, too.

Lol Gattina...that would explain a lot!