Let this be a lesson to you: they ship safety grips with mandolines for a reason. As the article rightly points out, a mandoline is a dangerous utensil and food preparers are required to wear a metal glove on the pushing hand. I also learned that using one without wearing metal gloves or a safety grip is a great way to lose part of your thumb and spend your afternoon in the local hospital’s accident and emergency department.

On the other hand, it did make our barbeque more exciting. The blood added colour and adventure to the afternoon, and a special flavour to the food.

This is another one of those lessons in life that we only learn through experience, and I guess technically I need to move down a rung on the Darwin-o-meter.

The doctor says I’ll be fully recovered in a couple of weeks, with nothing more to show for my pain and suffering than a small scar. And a reluctance to work with sharp objects in the kitchen.

…On the upside, it’s bought me two weeks off doing the dishes!

Aside from a severed thumb, our housewarming barbeque went really well. The weather cooperated and we had a beautiful afternoon with clear sunny skies and a temperature of around 22C.

We’d bought loads of food in France the previous weekend. I cooked merguez sausages, burgers, and my famous black-and-pink chicken (I still haven’t quite got the knack of temperature control!), although I massively over-estimated the amount of food that we needed. We’ll be eating leftovers for the next six weeks.

Aude’s brother, Jerome, came down for the weekend. I loaned him a sweatshirt, and the photo op was too priceless to pass up.

It turns out that I’m not the most frequent guest at the hotel. This family of Mallards comes every year to have it’s ducklings. There are nine this year, and we predict they’re about a week away from learning to fly.

I caught them having a walk through the garden. They’re a little shy, so I had to take their photo from a distance. Still, small animals — cute, right?