Hearing aids

My stereo was giving me problems; the sound balance was wrong.   In order to hear fully what was going on, I had to turn the volume up, and the solid state amps would go into clipping, that awful sound they make when they sound like they're too loud but aren't, in fact, as loud as real musical instruments.   I was thnking I would need to buy a more powerful amplifier.

Conversations with one or two people were fine, but in meetings with 15 or so, those at the other end of the table were unintelligible, things being made worse by they fact they were, not unreasonably, speaking french.  My mother, and my sister who is 5 years younger than I am, both use hearing aids.   Ok so I'll get my ears tested.

They're dinky little things, and quite discreet, not that that concerns me too much.   I got them under the french health system from an outfit called "EcouterVoir" who seem highly professional, and have an outlet at Evron where I often go.  After all the medical subsidies, 350 euro for two, to include a charger at 150 (!) euro..   And they work great.   And Anita can't believe how quietly I am happy to play the stereo.

Onions and leeks

I strayed into a plant fair last year and bought a couple of edible plants: a perpetual onion, and a perpetual leek.  I like the idea of veggies that just keep on producing without having to buy seeds or, for example, onions sets.   Apparently they are becoming fashionable again, and you can pay €10 for a single perpetual onion bulb if you buy it from a plant catalogue.

I kept the onion, once it had died back, over Winter in a fridge at about 9°C    It divided into two in storage, and I planted both bits in the Spring.   They then split into separate bulbs, like shallots do;  I harvested 6 bulbs.   I'm eating one to see what they're like, and keeping the rest to plant and multiply.   A seventh bulb is currently flowering so I don't expect that it will be worth eating but I will keep and plant the seeds to see what happens.

The perpetual leeks are less successful: the wet Spring led to an infection of rust.    They are all flowering and I expect they will die afterwards, though I'm not certain.  One flowered last year and seeds are producing what look to be viable plants.   I have yet to get anything edible out of them.

The onion sets (Sturon) yielded a good crop that is currently drying in the conservatory.

And we might have had the warmest Spring and early Summer on record according to the met office, but my tomatoes don't believe them.