Tiles and marshes and fishing huts

Today Didier Moreau was laying tiles on the floor upstairs, using the tiles intended by the owner-before-last for the whole of the ground floor. Owner-before-last had made a start with them in the kitchen and lobby. I bought the rest off the Potrons, but so many were broken that there wasn't enough to do much, not even to cover the rehearsal room; however, there is enough for the upstairs hallway and shower-room.

With another big van in the drive all day, I couldn't go out. For most of the day it was too hot for driving, so I was happy to stay in the cool kitchen until Didier finished. He left the fence open for me, and before I could get through it, one of the horrible dogs ran in and peed on the mound of plaster. I was right there, too! While the Casa Nova people are working here, their beautifully-mannered and well-trained dog keeps the others out, and of course she uses a discreet corner at the end of the garden. I'd happily have a dog like her.

I went out on the marsh to look for other routes to the estuary. The maps don't entirely correspond to the roads and I still haven't worked out the geography of that area: perhaps it changes when one is looking the other way. According to the trip meter it's just over 8 miles to Port Charron where the fishing huts are, but it doesn't seem anything like that far, even driving slowly to watch the wildlife. I wished I'd taken a camera to get more photos of the fishing huts and nets. There is one which has almost disintegrated and is no more than poles sticking up out of the water with a few half-rotted planks clinging to them, draped with old-cobweb tatters of netting. It has an eerie Flying-Dutchman beauty and a kind of dignity.

As for wildlife, I saw two coypu. It seems that they are as much of a pest as in East Anglia, so there are schemes to limit them, but it was quite exciting.

On the way home there was another reason to wish for a camera. Pale grey clouds had gathered in the west, forming something I've not seen before. Dozens of white tornado-shaped cloud fragments hung down from the grey, looking like jellyfish seen from below.