Today my brother Bernie would have been 66. Went up to the house to wait for the EDF guy to come and read the gas meter (I think it will still read zero, since we haven’t used any since the new meter was connected), and then the locksmith to arrive with the new lock for the workshop rear door. True to form, neither the gas reader nor the locksmith turned up at the house, despite us being there all day. But it was cool in the house, we got a bit of computer stuff done and Rita went for a swim in the afternoon. Got a quote from Credit Agricole for the car insurance: 842euro for 3rd Party Personal!!!!! An absolute rip-off, but we really don’t have much choice at the moment if we want to be able to drive the car legally. We will take up this policy and then look for an alternative company (that will accept Australian licences) for next year. During the night, the thunderbolts and lightning arrived – very, very frightening (me)!