This week

What's been happening this week? The electrician has finished the first fix.

 

 

Which means that we can start wrapping the rooms up in brown paper.

 

Or lining them with teddy bears. Your bedroom wall has been pointed.

 

The balustrades have been fitted.

 

 

Him Outdoors has been playing with frames for the plasterboard and lining them with cork.

 

A man came and fitted the only handle that will fit on the tiny space left on the door frame.

 

And spring has arrived (swallows this afternoon.)

 

Peach blossom.

 

And the neighbour's plum tree.

 

Yesterday we had drinks with our Parisian neighbours. We had a form to fill in and they spent ages discussing the exact wording necessary. They couldn't decide whether we were doing a 'renovation totale, or a totale renovation'. If they don't know what hope have the rest of us. There was also huge discussion about what a difference it made if you said 'ce matin, il faisait beau' rather than 'il faisait beau, ce matin'. The most important thing comes first ?????????? Beyond me.

Paris

Oops made the mistake of telling our 75 year old Parisian landlords that we were going to Paris in May. Could be the fact that we have just been given prawn crackers, salami, bread and butter, frankfurters and three large glasses of wine! Now we are committed to dinner at their house and a tour of Paris by night driven by them............. I'm sure it will be lovely.

The nicest part of the day was discovering that the man that owned our house before always planted his potatoes on 19th March -and I just had too. That pleased me no end.

A good day

Yesterday the guy came to fix the guard rails to all the upstairs windows. Wish we didn't have to have them but with floor level windows and huge drops they are essential. He also apologised for not bringing the handle because it hadn't come in as expected. 'What handle?' says I, 'I haven't ordered any more'. Someone said they were coming to show me something that might do but nobody came and I certainly haven't ordered anything!

Called in on balcony man to gently enquire about where the balcony had got to and there it was in his workshop, all done and ready to fit. He will come and fit it when he has got someone to come and help with the huge weight at great height. Sigh of relief from Him Outdoors.

One of the kitchen/bathroom sheds sent us a '20% off one item' offer letter. They can't mean that the cooker I like which costs nearly 2,000 euros could be included................................ But they can, and it is, and it will be delivered at the end of April!!!!

Only slight downer is that there is a leak next to one of the chimneys when it pours with rain - not normal rain, just downpours - and when asked when they were coming to fix it we were told that it was fine now and to plasterboard over it. Mmmmm maybe not, further discussion required.

The garden is looking brilliant. I know that it is that time of year when everything is just gloroious and I am in control and it won't last but hey. I only see the tiny shoots and peach blossom, not the burgeoning nettles.

GG

 

 

Yvonne

20th April1926 to 20th February 2014

 

She is gone

You can shed tears that she is gone
Or you can smile because she has lived
You can close your eyes and pray that she will come back
Or you can open your eyes and see all that she has left
Your heart can be empty because you can’t see her
Or you can be full of the love that you shared
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday
Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday
You can remember her and only that she is gone
Or you can cherish her memory and let it live on
You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back
Or you can do what she would want: smile, open your eyes, love and go on.

David Harkins

Bits and Pieces

Frustrations of the DIY sheds....

Did you know that you can't buy bath taps without a shower hose attachment because otherwise how would you rinse the bath?

Neither can you buy old fashioned taps with Hot and Cold in French on them because it is 'always' in English.

We have taken out the old stairs so everything now has to go up a ladder. How are we going to get the bath up the ladder?? Buy a bath that turns out to be surprisingly light. Oh no, can't be good enough quality, it's too light???

Need to sort out lighting in the kitchen. Want a light over the table. Where are we going to put the table? Grrr we have a room 7m x 5m so how come there's nowhere to put the table?? There's too many doors in this room. Eureka, let's block up the front door and have a window. We could use the front door as the back door. But then we have to change all the electrics that were at the front door, and we would need an outside light, and, and, and.......

What else

The attic windows are fitted and look lovely. Not the railings or handles but you can't have everything.

The balcony man took the balcony away to remake the top and we haven't seen him again.

The roof has a leak but everyone is bustling about looking concerned.

We have walls to both bedrooms and have decided to joint another landing wall which will look great.

And so it goes on. Feeling much nearer and everything is looking brilliant which is very pleasing.

Well that was January

Another month gone. What's been happening in the house. The roof  has as much teddy bear lining as we can do without some of the windows and walls. It makes it all cosy and snug. That's towards the view end, with walls for bathroom and our bedroom and hole for new stairs on the right.

 

The door from the road to the cellar is blocked up because the floor of the kitchen cuts it in two when you remove the stairs. (Look at the lovely golden stone that was revealed when the concrete 'fell off'.)

 

We bashed out the stairs this week. Some thought of saving them because they are a lovely shape but, as usual, completely rotten when removed.

A weary Him Outdoors with the corner revealed.

 

 

Replacing joists - how many more tools will I have to find so he doesn't have to get out of his hole?

 

 And here's what he got up to while I was in England having a lovely time playing with our new grand daughter and her family. No, he's not burying bodies, it's the new asparagus bed. Of course it would be delivered in the only week I was away!

 

Happy New Year

May 2014 bring you everything you wish for.

I was going to write a blog about what a lovely Christmas we had had in spite of floods and power cuts in the UK but I am going to rant instead.

The electricity in our rented house keeps tripping. It is a winter problem so we had decided to increase the number of kilowats that come to the house in the hope that that would make the power able to cope with the heating as well as everything else. There has been a six week delay between making the appointment with EDF and them being able to come.

So we spend every day juggling electric radiators and the various appliances.

Today is the day that EDF come. Some time between 8 and 12. So up early to find that it had already tripped in the night, use the gas hob to boil a saucepan of water for tea so that we don't have to scrabble about in the dark for the meter when it trips.

Him Outdoors is off walking via Lidl to buy their excellent German paint which is on offer today.

Phone call. This is a telephone rendezvous from EDF. Nope sorry don't understand we have a rendezvous with an engineer, not a telephone rendezvous. No, I am ringing to make a rendezvous for the 20th. What, you mean I have organised my life so that you can ring me on my mobile phone?? Yes madame, there is no-one coming today, I am making a rendezvous for the 20th. My French must be improving I was able to rant at him that I had already been waiting for 6 weeks, we spend our life with electricity that cuts all the time and that WILL NOT DO. So he scuttled off to see what he could do and ring me back. Bet he doesn't though.

And on rechecking the email to make sure that it was them not me (it was) I notice that if we had decided to change the appointment there would have been charges involved. Sigh. Feel better now.