All along the watch tower - All tock and no action!

After the visit to the graveyard during my recent lunchtime walk in the sunshine I continued on my tour of the village. The main feature of the village is a tower perched on a hill above it. It’s been covered in scaffolding for the last few months while the walls are repaired and re- crepied, so it was time for your roving reporter to see just what is going on up there.

I don’t know if it was one of the network of signal towers used to transmit messages across France in Napoleonic times. The neighbouring big town also has a similar tower, but there is no line of sight between the two as far as I can see.

The tower has always been closed when I have climbed up to it in the past. There are now 4 round holes in the walls, where the clock faces used to be.

What have they done with the clock bits? I hear you ask with genuine concern.

Well, I don’t know where the hands and other bits are, but the clock faces are stacked on top of each other on the grass.

clocked off

Will the work be completed before the end of the year? We will have to wait and see.
I stood on the hill with white butterflies fluttering around and bees buzzing by. The recent sunny November weather must be confusing the insect life. Certainly the flies are back in number in the classrooms.
From the hill you get a good view of the village and the surrounding hills. Here is one of the views, looking back towards the cemetery with its two plane trees? Still standing up straight like  2 sentries, with their green foliage still intact amidst the autumnal colours.

Oops! Is that the time? Work starts again in 10 minutes. Still, it’s downhill all the way.