Three Steps Backwards

This last week, through pouring rain and thick mud, the builders have tried to resolve the problem of the water in the cottage.

They have dropped the surface of the road and dug drainage channels round the cottage. Great piles of earth and rubbish (including a load of tyres that Serge left in his field) have been bulldozed flat.

A deep ditch has been dug in front of the bank at the back of the cottage and earth thrown up (much to our consternation) over the brambles where the nightingale sings.

We know it's necessary, but the site looks like the Battle of the Somme and we feel like everything's gone three steps backwards. And although it's better, and the ditch certainly works, there is still some water oozing into the kitchen and hall.