Never finished .

Seven forty five in the morning . Aude arrives with her dungaree wearing friend from the Womens Cooperative . They're here to deliver the painted window seats for the hallway. I offer to carry the benches upstairs for them but get a sharp ' we can manage ' look in return . Nine o'clock . Wilf and yours truly have just finished potting out the new herb stand by the kitchen door when the bell rings . It's lunatic French curtain woman . An hour and a half later she's put up the new curtains in the downstairs dining room , measured the window seats for cushions, and asked me to choose material for the terrace curtains . All the while LFCW talks constantly . She seems not to have to breathe between sentences . Finally , she goes . Eleven thirty , Madame Bay arrives . Not , our saintly septaguenarian informs me to clean , she hasn't the time for that . Instead , she's come to remind me that it's judging time for the ' beautiful floral village of France ' competition . Will the window boxes be planted out by the weekend ? " Remember the geraniums should be scarlet , not pink " . With that our chiffoned visitor goes . Wilf looks at me as if to say " It's a job that's never started that takes the longest to finish ".