So much for me wittering on yesterday about going to bed early and rising early. Last night, I just couldn’t sleep. We went off to bed at an appropriate time, but nothing, nada, just not happening. 😬 Probably not helped by a number of things, reading a load of stuff on facebook.. most of which was about the C*** word.. is there anything else that anyone talks about any more??
The wind had been increasing throughout the day and reached quite a pitch by the time we went to bed. We are so lucky with the position of our house, we are in a tiny village in a small alpine valley, surrounded by towering mountains on three sides. We are surprisingly protected from the wind here. You can hear it roaring across the mountain tops, but rarely does it make it down into the valley. At times it’s quite eerie, but mostly it’s just a comforting sound. When the foehn winds blow and are sufficiently strong, it does break over the peaks and down into the alpine valley, in much the same way as you see large waves breaking over water breaks and pouring down the other side. With strong gusts, it howls round the house, making the roof creak, interspersed with the various odd sounds of things blowing around outside.
As a result, twice, I ended up getting out of bed to check that all the windows and doors were still shut, it doesn’t half whistle through the house if even one is open so much as a crack. They weren’t but by then I was wide awake with no hope of sleep, so I came downstairs and had a drink and a sit and a read and a chat with a good friend who was also awake and then went back to try again. By then (around 3am), the wind had largely abated but Mark was also awake, so he made us a cuppa and we sat on the balcony, companionably chatting and drinking tea. It’s a funny old habit we have if we can’t sleep, just going outside with a cuppa in the dead of night and sitting chatting about this and that. We’ve always done it. Usually by the time we’ve finished our tea, we head off back to bed and sleep just fine.
The flip side of this night of little sleep meant that I didn’t wake until nearly 10am, and was suitably cross with myself for wasting half the day (and therefore failing to post my Day 11 update – sorry about having to read two of them today!) 😳
Mark went out to do the now weekly shopping trip. There’s something quite satisfying about saying ‘weekly’. During normal times with a houseful of guests, this is usually every other day so it feels very luxurious to be back onto a weekly shop! He reports that there were a few people there but not many and the supermarket was fully stocked as per normal. We do feel for you guys and the crazy situation with the panic buying and queues in the UK, we just haven’t experienced any of that here. Which goes to show just how frustratingly unnecessary it all is!
Mark is planning the final stages of his project compost bin build tomorrow so he spent some time gathering and prepping wood, tools etc. We have a small weather window here which will give him the perfect opportunity before the forecast 20cm of snow and -9 arrives that is due on Sunday. Interesting side effect of the foehn wind is that it blows from the south, carrying warm air from the Mediterranean with it. (Not so) fondly referred to as the ‘snow strippper’, the warm dry wind, does exactly that when it’s at its peak. It would be the enemy of the ski resorts were it not for the fact that it Is almost always followed by precipitation as it meets the cold front from the north. At this time of year that will most likely be snow.
For me, I dragged out my cross trainer and gave it a battering… probably borne out of the guilt of sleeping in so late 😆 Anyway, properly pleased with myself for managing 25 mins on there (including cool down time), happy with that for the first time back on it in a looonnnnngggggg time… perhaps I’m fitter than I thought I was… although the jury’s out on that until I try to drag my butt out of bed tomorrow and assess the hurty bits! 🤨
Other than that, some pricking out of seedlings ready for the first batch to go off to their new adoptive parents tomorrow and in all honesty, not a lot else. Didn’t remember to take any pictures throughout today (and you really don’t need your eyeballs burned with an image of me after my cross trainer session 😂 ), so there is a distinct lack of them.. sorry, will try harder tomorrow!
Stay safe everyone xx
