I don’t want you all to think that life is just a long succession of pleasant rambles in the Pyrenees, punctuated by splendid meals and enjoyable interludes in bars. Oh, no! There is work to be done too. The potager requires urgent and unending attention. One edge of it overlooks a public footpath, courtesy of a high retaining wall, and a wretched shrubby ivy with a powerful root system is determined to conquer first the wall, then the world. It might have stood a chance of winning if the local gendarmerie hadn’t alerted us to the fact that Complaints Had Been Made about the lierre overhanging the path. It’s been a blessing really, as we now see that the plant, left to conquer on unchecked, would have loosened and finally felled the retaining wall. So we’re
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