BBC wildlife attempt No 5

This scruffy green woodpecker was in the garden.  This photo was taken through a glass window; when I went outside to get closer, it flew away.

Misty morning

A short stroll down the road.   This morning the early mist has left a heavy dew highlighting the cobwebs.  Ths sun is now illuminating it all.

New boots

I'm pleased with the Peugeot 308CC.   It holds the road well, has enough performance for the backroads of Mayenne, and can carry four people plus a full week's shopping.  Downsides?  It tends to aquaplane if there's surface water, and it munches through the tyres.

I've tried a number of different service stations in the area and I've hit on a favourite for the routine replacements of things like windscreen wipers and tyres:  Norauto in Laval.

When the windscreen wipers needed replacing, Anita bought some Bosch ones in a supermarket.  The mountings appeared to be a bit loose; at any rate they clacked against the windscreen with every wipe.  So we went to Norauto and said "Our windscreen wipers are noisy, do you have quiet ones?".  "Ah", they said, "you've got Bosch, here try these", and what's more they fitted them for free.

Just recently I needed new front tyres, and I went to the same place.  Best price ever, and a good brand (Pirelli).  Tracking sorted too.

Gay profusion...

... and an apple.

Splitting logs

I have chopped down a few trees for firewood, and turning chopped-down trees into logs suitable for the fire usually involves splitting at least some of them.  This is hard work.  I tend to use an axe, but the last time I did that I strained some tendons in my arm that took two years to heal.  You can get electric log splitters but they're not very powerful, and are usually limited to logs smaller than those that I create.

On my walk in the village yesterday I chanced up on a group of village elders creating firewood out of fallen trees.  They weren't messing about.  A big log splitter attached to a tractor was making light work of things.  I want one of those.

A walk in the village

My feet took me into the village today, and since I had the camera with me, I took some snaps.  There's an artwork exhibition in place, consisting in part of silhouettes in sheet metal, in strategic positions around the village.  I particularly like these fish that are placed upstream of the barrage, so that from the pedestrian footbridge, you see their clear reflection in the water.

Elsewhere there are lambs, and random people and family groups.  But this guy just looks to me like he is pissing in the hedge.

Self-service beer

Self-service beer is a new idea to me, I must try it out.  And don't you just love the name of the bar?