Sunday, June 03, 2007

Net'Skim





I have always said that one of the nicest months in our department, Gard, is the month of May. Not so this year. I'm a little embarassed to say that I have been keeping daily weather stats for the last 4 years (and before you laugh, just stop and think about anything that you have saved in the past, like champagne corks for instance) and my statistics show that May was not a good month. (What about just sticking your head out of the window? - Ed) It's almost as if April and May swopped places. Everything that you would expect in April happened in May and vice versa. I could bore you with the statistics but won't. Just write if you want to know more. (Do we need any more proof that you're a sad git? - Ed)

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First you had the Butter Wizard now you have Net'Skim. I first saw this product in April when I was getting some pool supplies at Leroy Merlin (don't you just love that name?) in Nimes. Whilst at first a little sceptical, this thing really does work. You'd be amazed at the crud that it prevents entering the 'system'. In principal it's a closed mesh net that fits over the skimmer baskets in your pool. The main benefit, as I see it, is that it helps you keep the 'plumbing' cleaner and, because you backwash less frequently, you save water. Neat!

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Slowly the gardens are getting a bit of a makeover. With a wedding due at the end of August, when over a hundred people will descend from around the world, we are slowly completeing maintenance jobs that would otherwise be ignored. Today was all about rubbing down and varnishing two outdoor wooden tables. Bryan lent me his all powerful (takes half an inch off if you're not careful) sander and the job was done in no time. Frankly I'm not too sure about this so called hardwod furniture that they sell you (you mean that you buy! - Ed) but the sander takes you back to bare wood and, after couple of coats of stained varnish, voila, you've got a new table.

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