Siobhan cut the grass today. Two and a half hours on the mower, with a huge grin on her face the entire time.
We also got the clothesline up and put our first few loads of laundry outside to dry. Now that we’re out of the ‘burbs, this included underwear for the first time.
Victory is ours.
After a few days of cursing and tweaking of settings, we seem to have reliable hot water. Theories had included blown fuses, broken elements, and fickle thermostats. In the end, it seems the tank had been overheating and cutting out, mostly at night.
We’ve turned down the temperature, and the tank seems to be happier. A few more days will tell. We’ll also soon see if moving to a smaller tank at a lower temperature still provides enough hot water for both of us to shower in the morning.
Tonight we cooked our first meal in our new kitchen.
We did some exploring and shopping on the main street of Paris today. In addition to some chocolate and other necessities, we picked up a loaf of fantastic cheese bread from a bakery, and some cheddar with caramelized onion from the Three Blind Mice cheese shop.
Tonight’s dinner was the best grilled cheese I’ve ever made, and probably the best I’ve ever eaten.
We’re only 15 – 20 minutes from a grocery store, but the intermittent availability of hot water has us feeling like we’ve regressed to a pre-civilized state of nature.
