Rescue arrived this morning at 8:30am in the form of two elderly French fellows in blue coveralls. (No more goat-bearded youths for me, thanks.) They deserve a round of applause, especially Gerard (seen here in the photo) . Friday is his day off, plus it's his birthday today! When I told him "thanks for coming" and then "Joyeux Anniversaire" he blushed bright red. I think he would have fainted if I'd gone with my idea of singing him the "Happy Birthday" song in English.

I stayed out in the garage to watch most of the septic tank empying operation. Maybe some people would have thought it smelled awful. I, however, having lived with an overflowing tank for nearly a week, thought it smelled distinctly perfumes of Araby-ish.

Sadly, this intervention doesn't mean we can rest easy about our sanitation situation. I was informed by my heros in blue that:
a. our septic tank is very old and is leaking into the ground (Eeeewww!)
b. it's way too small for a six person family,
c. by law, all these old installations have to be brought up to code by 2011
but
d. our village will pay a subvention of 50 to 60 percent of the costs of upgrading;
So, the news wasn't all bad.

When I went out to the garage to watch all the fun this morning, Clio-the cat-who-thinks-she's-a-dog followed me, as she always does when I venture out to hang the laundry and do other chores. Mr. Darcy took advantage of her absence and stole her favorite spot on top of the radiator.
Looks comfy, non?