Took this pic a few weeks later – someone had drunk all the wine!

Made a big mistake today. In France you read your own electricity meter every two months on receipt of an email from the electricity company.  I read mine two days ago and, comparing it with the last couple of months I realised I had used 9euros of current.

Impossible! So I checked again yesterday. The meter numbers had not moved despite using washing machines, kettles, etc. Obviously the meter was jammed.

There was an ant’s nest at the side of the meter, this time I gave it a blast from an ant killer aerosol. Obligingly the ants started dropping away from the meter and … NO! The meter was turning again!

If I had let the ants alone goodness knows how much electricity I would not have had to pay for.