Day 29

The plaquistes have made good where the VMC tube has been removed, and put up the plasterboard in the bathroom, but we still have a missing section; I'm not sure if that should have been done, or not...

No builders, but by now I'm just winding down to going back to London; I really don't care what gets done/doesn't, now that we have the sill in place & M. Baty can come and take his measurements in late August.

Anything that happens tomorrow will be a bonus.

[With my "Mystic Meg" hat on, I think I can foresee at least one meltdown from J-M, but as that's par for the course I'm not going to stress.]

[Yes, I do know "stress" isn't a verb; but it bloody well ought to be! Do compilers of dictionaries live in a building-work-free environment?!]

Plaquistes

Yay!

Day 28, continued

The plumbers did all that they could without...

Can't remember what condition needs to be satisfied for them to continue, but I'm sure it will all come right in the end!
The builders have removed all the surplus plasterboards, and brought some new green [water resistant] ones. M. Hamid has been enlarging the cour anglaise, and that's been hard work, given that today has decided to go back to full-on summer weather.

He says he's back tomorrow; I'm just hoping to finish the sill to the bathroom window [apparently, that needs re-doing, so we will be on attempt number five to get that opening sorted!] and get those rejingots done, but I suspect the cour anglaise will take priority.

I was hoping to ask M. Mekki/M. Luparello, but today I didn't get a visit; shame, I like our multi-lingual conversations!

M. Luparello best sums up my linguistic abilities when describing his own: "je parle [insert language of choice] comme une vache espanol", however I like being able to add in a little Italian, Spanish, German, English or Welsh [I'm shoehorning in the very few phrases I know]; makes the French so much more *ahem* interesting.

However, it does mean I have to pay attention; it's one thing listening out for French words, it's another thing entirely trying to work out what language we are talking!

Day 28

We've got plumbers...

[But still no plaquistes.]

I'm expecting builders, too!

Day 27

Plaquistes still missing-in-action, but we've now got a french windowsill at the front, and the lisse for the woodwork is done.

It's not 100% perfect, but David & I made a couple of decisions, and we're happy with the result. If we could have moved the stones to the front of the opening, that would have been much nicer [and pleased M. Luparello!], but I think they needed to go over the polystyrene insulation to prevent cold bridging, so we made the best compromise we could.

M. Luparello thinks the stones would have looked better if all the original tooled edges had been neatly cut off as well; but he's Italian! Not meaning to sound dismissive [he's lovely, and he's actually Sicilian, so not Italian at all], but we've seen a few Italian building restorations, and the phrase "over-restored" seems tailor-made for the way they work.

It's a matter of preference [unlike the pragmatic decision to have the slabs further back than would look best], so we have got some wonky joints between the slabs, but M. Hamid is going to use stone-coloured mortar to fill them, so they will be (visually) minimised.

I'm finding out a bit more about M. Jamel: it seems he speaks an odd mix of Berber, Arabic and Spanish, with the minutest amount of (incomprehensible) French thrown in. As already ascertained, it's not just me that doesn't understand him; none of the French do, either. M. Hamid says he doesn't even speak Berber or Arabic well enough to be understood easily, and no-one on the job speaks Spanish.

He married a cousin, so I'm guessing she can communicate with him [enough at least to have a son!], but I still feel quite sorry for him; for me, being not understood [not even as bad as being misunderstood], makes me feel very lonely, as I am very particular about choosing my words to express exactly what I mean, and am living in a culture reasonably similar to my own.

Having got lost on Sunday [hello beloved!], for a while because we forgot to take a map out with us, and deciding to try just this last way before stopping and asking someone, then seeing Bar-sur-Aube on the signposts & being mightily relieved, makes me feel for a man who got lost this morning and couldn't possibly ask his way [or understand if someone could work out where he wanted to go and gave him directions] and can't read...

Makes me thankful that my French is slowly improving.

Did I mention people are now prepared to call me on the telephone even when they know David isn't here?

Progress indeed.

ETA: It's not my estimation that M. Jamel's mix of languages is odd, it's M. Hamid who says that, and he speaks Berber, Arabic, French and English [that I know of].

Monochrome

Coming back from shopping on Thursday, the clouds were beautifully accenting the wind turbines for a few minutes.

By the time I got closer, the effects had gone.

Day 26

Flying visit from the electrician; he's relocated the offending light cables, and the VMC tube has gone...

I wonder whether we may have lost VMC function in the study for the next month, but that's better than how he started off: that can't be done. We countered with: Jean-Marie & M. Huguenot say it can. He tried: but the plaquistes aren't here to remove the housing. Us: we can do that. Then: but that would mean switching the VMC off. We responded: no problem.

Seems to have taken us at our word!

Because M. Huguenot is on holiday, and J-M hasn't told anyone where the VMC pipe is to go, we've left it at: the pipe can just be left on top of the wall for now.

[Thinking about it, maybe that means the VMC is working in the study?]

Complete absence of SMS; we were expecting a builder to lay the sill for the french window, and plaquistes to finish off the plasterboarding, but I'm not going to start worrying until tomorrow has been and gone without a word...

Sadly, David is now on a train for Paris, and then London.

I miss being spoiled!

Day 25/Friday meeting

It was supposed to be the "pre-reception" meeting today, but David and I had refused to even consider signing anything with so much work left to do, so Jean-Marie contented himself with thinking that next Friday will be the "pre-reception".

David and I will cross that bridge when we come to it!

Today's meeting flushed out some positive aspects: M. Kadir [plaquiste who is now back from his holiday] and M. Huguenot [electrician's foreman] are sufficiently OK with the plan to remove that ugly VMC pipe that it will go ahead; M. Mekki brought the stone slabs [although having broken one, and having to tell me that they need to cut the others in half to properly fit the sill, he's lost at least half of yesterday's gold star]; M. Torelli has found a free standing WC "bati-support" [sorry, don't know what that is in English], so the partition wall around the loo can be finished.

Overall, it felt quite positive, and when M. Mazij came up with his brainwave I was delighted!

[So much so that I've been re-drawing plans already.]

M. Mazij said we could (in the future) cut out the middle section of the problematic beam upstairs: he would install a metal tie, higher up, and the proposed supports for the future mezzanine would run high enough that the ceiling height would be sufficient. So that means that bedroom 3 is back on again. I have now decided to profit from the absence of the beam [which had dictated having a small section of corridor to each of bedrooms 2 and 3], to add a dog-leg corridor and enlarge my box room.

Obviously, Jean-Marie and Nicolas don't know about that (yet), but as the panels of composite for the upstairs floor aren't being laid till September, they will have plenty of time to help decide where the step needs to be.

And it will be only one step required, so another bonus.

Ooh, I'm a big fan of carpenters!

I feel like we're making lemonade.

["When life gives you lemons..."]

ETA: Have just heard from David that when he went to the bakery this morning he met M. Waeber, who really isn't happy with T+B; he was sounding off, and David couldn't argue with him!

Sodden critters

While the blackbirds seem to view the rain as a convenient shower, the poor soggy bees don't seem so keen...

This chap was alternating between drying himself off and rooting round for nectar on the coneflower. Seemed happy enough, but they are a lot noisier about it on sunny days!

Time for some good news

David's coming today!

I've made dentist and homoeopath appointments for when I'm back in England.

It's still raining off-and-on; so garden will be super lovely when it's next sunny.

We didn't have to decide on a bath, yesterday.

I'm really enjoying fitting in some yoga and meditation into my *ahem* "busy schedule"!

I've found a few sloe bushes with a half-decent crop. [Last year's provider of over 4 kgs (and you couldn't even tell where I'd been picking them) has four sloes this year; yes I did count them!]

I am now (semi-) regularly cycling as far as I usually walk!

M. Mekki has picked up four stone slabs (enough to do the sill), and he's being "green" and not coming today [I think it's really the meeting he has in Troyes, but who cares?], but bringing them tomorrow when he comes for the meeting; gold star for him.

Did I mention David's on his way?!

Penny drops...?

David phoned T+B this morning to speak to Jean-Marie; we felt it was better/less aggressive to speak to him directly than to send an email saying there's no way we will be signing any papers on Friday (or even next Friday) to say we are happy with how the work has been finished.

For a start, none of the work is close enough to being finished to be able to tell whether it will be done to a satisfactory standard or not, barring the brickwork around the bathroom window; that's now fine, but only a small part of the builders' work. Until we've seen the pointing on the stone walls, I'm not signing anything. I know I'm taking him at his own estimation, but I have high hopes that M. Hamid will be able to make a nice job of that, and I feel reasonably confident that he will lay the sill correctly.

Poor old M. Waeber should have started on Monday, and can't start till the electrician and plumber have finished [plumber may be here next Wednesday; he won't know till tomorrow's meeting], so there's no chance we can sign off the tiling! The carpenters are delayed because of the electrician and plasterers [who are fitting the insulation, and are missing some damp-proof fabric]. I think the plasterers can't finish until the builder has finished round the window at the back, and need the plumber to have finished first fix. The plumber is not attaching anything that can't be moved until he has had J-M's express approval. The electrician has put five lights in the wrong place, so needs to come and re-do some first fix electrics.

Obviously, we're not signing off on the joiner's work for J-M: that might mean paying him more!

We have managed nearly five weeks work since the beginning of June, but that's not the bulk of our problems.

It sounds as though T+B have finally realised they are not covering themselves in glory: David said that J-M, Joëlle and Nicolas have had a meeting, and I think he said J-M apologised for letting us down. My presence here has saved them from even more remedial works, and they seem to have finally noticed that... I don't know whether any of the artisans or entreprises have said anything to them; I wouldn't be surprised if they have... I've heard a bit of muttering, so I'm sure there's been a lot more!

I suspect what hurts them more is that they were expecting a glowing reference from another client and they didn't get it. I'm left wondering whether they are going through their client list to see who they can call upon for a recommendation, and have noticed how many problems we are having; it wouldn't surprise me if that was across the board, the way things have been this time.

The way I currently feel is that there's no way I'd even consider giving them a reference: their fees have meant that we can't do our bathroom/entrance hall floor, or the sauna or finish the terrace. We wouldn't have been able to do all three on that list, but we certainly could have done one and been working towards a second.

We seem to have paid for less-than-nothing, looking at it in bald terms: they have caused more work, and not saved any expenses, but because the specifications were wrong/lacking we've now had to find more money just to finish phase 1b!

A few examples:

• the plans are wrong, so we have to go back to the drawing board for upstairs, [and not just the drawing board, we may need to remove/re-route plumbing, which needs to be done before the carpenters enclose the space above the joists];
• so many of the sketches have been wrong that we've had to re-lay the concrete for the sill, re-do the sill of the bathroom window, re-do the lintel of the bathroom window [and the brickwork is "wrong" because the builder & I decided that would "do" rather than starting again from scratch: J-M expressly stated which courses to start on to get the pattern correct... Also, Nicolas & I spotted the angles were wrong before the plaquiste had bent the bathroom out of shape!
• speaking of wrong sketches: the electricity plans show three light switches in not-legal locations in the bathroom; the electrician moved them and pointed out he was prevented from putting them that close to the bath;
• still banging on about sketches: the carpenters followed the drawing for the non-lowered corridor, and then had to spend two days undoing their work & doing it again properly. Would we have insisted on that if we'd known the plans for upstairs weren't right? I don't know, we'll have to see when they are re-drawn;
• the "cour anglaise" was specified 1 m across, to allow for a 65 cm window and a 63 cm shutter... Even David's arithmetic can spot that that won't work [obviously another addition to the bill to make it bigger];
• no plan for sealing in the insulation upstairs: we don't want to create a rats playground;
• the spec missed out the bathroom window [for the builder, not the joiner; we pointed that out before the spec was sent out and again after the estimates had been passed as correct];
• the plumber's estimate was "verified" as correct during the six or seven weeks they were "checking" them, but he'd missed out all the upstairs plumbing [so we've got another invoice for that];
• no time plan/calendar, so I don't even know when I'm expecting workmen or if any haven't shown up; the original "plan" was on my calendar, but that has slipped somewhat;
• oh, and if they weren't involved, everyone except M. Baty said they could happily start at the beginning of April and be finished by late May; we believed them, too!

Sorry, I'm not meaning to start a rant [done enough of that already], but just giving a few indications why I don't think I would recommend them as project managers. My experience has been: manage the workers yourself, cut out the project management as much as possible, and try to un-do as many problems as you can caused by incorrect drawings before it's too late; without those drawings, we'd have had far fewer issues to address!

And did I mention that I was still cross at J-M yelling at M. Mekki?!

What would it take for me to change my mind? The only thing we can think of would be a full refund, and completing the rest of the work in a exemplary fashion [and I don't for one second believe that would be a possibility!], and even that than would just get them a lukewarm reference.

If they offered that? Part of me would be tempted, but only because we could get the bathroom finished. I think the honourable part of me would still refuse to give a potential client anything other than a warning...

But the daydreaming part really would like to get our chosen wall tiles ordered before they, too, are discontinued, and the only way for that to happen is for money to appear by magic!

Day 24

I had read the latest email from T+B to say that the plumbers were coming Friday instead of today and Friday, but clearly I was wrong. I'd just finished in the shower and was opening the house up again [the heat (& sun) from early morning had totally gone by 9 am], when M. Torelli and M. Jimmy showed up.

M. Torelli had had a meeting with Jean-Marie yesterday; it took some establishing - everyone I've spoken with today feels like it's Thursday - maybe we've all had enough happen this week that it ought to be over! I said that with regard to the bath supply/waste, we wanted to leave that as J-M had suggested; yes, I know it would be 'nicer' to have it (nearly) finished at this stage, but if we factor in wall-mounted or freestanding taps, and various different dimensions/styles of bath, it seems much more sensible to leave that open, and only complete when we have bought the bath/taps.

I don't think he was delighted, but accepted my insistence and I think he understood why.

They have run supply to all the sanitary ware locations, and were doing the heating just before they left. At 6.30 pm!

If I had the right connections, I would enter their efforts for a Turner Prize; I'm definitely seeing a modern art octopus, aren't you?

They haven't linked anything up, as M. Torelli wants everyone's approval: the way he was looking intently into my eyes and saying that it's not just our approval, but the project manager's [his emphasis] as well, made me think he might be hinting at something...? As well as the "we want to avoid any misunderstandings, don't we?" type comments.

I agreed: yes, we do want to avoid any misunderstandings!

So, we're all clear then. I had a phone call from M. Mekki just after the plumbers arrived; he sounds like he's stressing about whether we need the sill doing so that M. Baty can make the french windows. I said I'd get David to ask him [M. Baty], and he [M. Mekki] arranged to come about 4 pm to discuss it...

Miraculously, David managed to get one of the joiners on the phone, who said M. Baty would be back in the afternoon, and then he spoke with the man himself! [Doesn't always work that way.] He said he would prefer to have the sill in place, but he could work from the blue line on the wall if SMS could guarantee that it was in the right place.

Given that we have two blue lines on the wall because the carpenters did their own as they'd found that the builders' one was not level, David and I would also prefer that the sill was in place before any measurements were taken of the opening.

We talked around the subject for ages before coming up with a plan: basically not mention that M. Baty could do it without the sill, until I'd sussed out how much of a problem that was going to be. If I had to 'offer' that as a solution, we would then insist that the doorway isn't unblocked until the new woodwork is fitted, which would be October, as we really didn't want to risk such a huge window being wrong.

If the sill is put in wrong, that can be changed!

Anyway, all our contingency planning turned out to be unnecessary [isn't that what you always want, and why you have a contingency plan?] - M. Mekki said that he and M. Luparello could go and fetch enough stone for the sill in his little van, if it wasn't too heavy. He tried calling M. Pasdeloup to see how much the amount we'd need for the sill would weigh, but only got voicemail.

He was a bit strange when he arrived, and asked if we were OK...

I said "yes", and sort of implied "shouldn't we be?". They've fixed my window opening [that's old news], and I apologised for the extra work for the plaquistes when the VMC tube is moved, so I didn't think I'd done anything wrong. [We'd already discussed how ugly the VMC housing was, and I didn't understand what M. Torelli had said, so I asked M. Mekki if I was causing problems/being difficult, and he said no - M. Torelli clarified that he thought the boxing-in looked like an industrial extractor fan à la chip shop!]

So I asked if he wasn't OK with us, as I'd prefer to know...

Turns out he either saw J-M or had a telephone call from him [I forget which] where J-M had been aggressive, and said we were complaining about the problems the companies were causing.

Erm, no!

I did explain, and probably shouldn't have done, that we had no problems with SMS or M. Baty [I emphasised that, because of what's been said/hinted at about the joiner], or Messrs Mazij or M. Waeber [I'm still deciding about M. Torelli/Schwartz; M. Huguenot seems a different person when we talk to him direct, he only seems surly/unhelpful when J-M is there; noticing a pattern yet?], but said we had had some issues with T+B...

I said more than I should have, but I don't think it's fair phoning people up and yelling at them, saying the clients have a problem with them when the only people the clients have a problem with is yourself!

Sure, we've had issues that have needed to be resolved, but they have been [with all firms, so far], and as I previously posted I don't have any kind of problem with a problem that's been fixed (especially without any hassle); it's life, you make good and move on. As they say here, it's "normale" - not comment-worthy, what happens, normal!

So I gave a few 'for instances', and mentioned the error in the plans which is putting us back further, and even showed the builders the copy where J-M has re-drawn the beam.

Hmmm! Not impressed, but I did mention that we are looking at all the firms and seeing who we want to work with again in future phases... Didn't mention T+B either way, but M. Mekki [oh, I do so want to call him "Mad"; it's his name, not an insult!] is a smart cookie and can read between the lines.

They trotted off with a promise to try M. Pasdeloup again, and call me in the morning to let me know if Plan A was a goer.

I had a phone call about 6 pm saying he'd spoken with M. Pasdeloup who reckoned about 200kg worth of stone, so Messrs Mekki and Luparello are going to Burgundy tomorrow to fetch the slabs, and M. Hamid will fit the sill next week.

Result!

We'd have been fine with waiting till September, but that would put M. Baty back by at least a week, so the windows would be delayed till October by which time it will be getting cold; too miserable to have an unblocked doorway. So all for the best.

It's rained off-and-on all day: brilliant for the garden, and has also brought the temperature down a lot. It was 30°C in the shade at 9.30 last night when I finished watering; today at 7 pm it's 20°C. I'm glad I watered: it means that all the rain around my roses (and other vulnerable new additions) will go straight to the roots, as last night's water will have soaked all the soil - the watering and the rain will both reinforce the effect of the other.

So, I'm a happy bunny.

And with that, I think I've rabbited on enough [*snigger*]!

Bonus meeting!

Not "Day 24", obviously!

We did have a plaquiste on site, but he was only visiting to get his step-ladders. He was just leaving as Jean-Marie was arriving...

Not that I was expecting him, but David had sent a bit of a bombshell email yesterday: we can't decide what bath we definitively want before Wednesday morning [David working and we two being in different countries makes it just that little bit more challenging], so we have called a halt to the bathroom floor/supply to the bath. This can be decided at our convenience, and then the plumbing is in no danger!

M. Torelli had put the fear of burst pipes into me: if we don't decide the exact model now, we risk piercing supply/waste later if we go with a roll-top bath, as the feet are screwed into the floor.

So, I anticipated a phone call, and probably David getting involved, but a site visit (in retrospect) seems the best way of clearing it up.

J-M had come to see if he could come back later; which gave me time to compose myself, and look up a few choice phrases, should they be necessary...

He showed up late, but that wasn't a problem, as I'd already factored that in to my plans. He had an idea which involves just leaving about 2 sq. metres of bathroom floor in the unfinished state, so that we can run the waste as necessary when we have chosen the bath, and the supply pipes to run in the central axis of whatever bath we have [so the axis won't move, but the bath may stick out a little further or less far each side], and go up to the wall, but not into it.

He hasn't yet spoken with M. Torelli, but he convinced me, and I suspect that given our stated choice, M. Torelli could see this as a good compromise? He promised to speak to him before the plumber is due to come here on Wednesday.

Yes, I was right about the lights above the bath (and the shower) being wrong, and we found another bonus wrong wall light, but that is all easily remedied.

J-M spent a long time working on the window embrasure sketches, but as long as M. Baty is happy with that, I'm not going to concern myself with it too much...

I was just psyching myself up to ask if there was any way we could possibly move the VMC pipe, and the plasterboard housing, when he dropped a bombshell: the loo in the shower room for bedroom 3 upstairs was just about OK under the beam...

What?! We moved that to the other side of the room...

Except: the plans are apparently wrong!

[Actually, I think that calls for an excess of exclamation marks, so here's another couple: !!]

We decided that as there is no floor upstairs at the moment, and I am a grade A coward about falling [two people have already been through the ceiling, so it's not that unlikely!], and clearly all the measurements need to be taken again, he will ask M. Mazij jnr to put down the composite board along the corridor, and at the front of the space, and we will have a think about it then.

I emailed him to say, obviously if all the plans are wrong, please ask the carpenter not to do the step(s), as that/they could need to be changed.

I'm doing brilliantly at not stressing, even managed several giggles as I was telling David about it. I'm just thanking the gods that look after beautiful old buildings that this time around we get to have more elegant solutions.

Thank You!

Whether we end up with two or three bedrooms upstairs, who knows? At the moment I am just focusing on being calm. So to that end I probably need to give a big thank you to Solara An-Ra for her excellent meditation CD, which clearly got me in the right frame of mind for the meeting.

Thank You!

And the VMC pipe? J-M says that should be fiddly, but not impossible to move, and he can quite see why we wouldn't want it there, so he'll ask Schwartz to move it.

Result!

Day 23

The poor plaquistes were here from before 9.15 am (when I got up!) to 6.30 pm; I think they've done all that they can do, and are missing some insulation.

They will need to come back after the plumber has been on Wednesday, but there's not a lot left for them to do. They seemed really keen to get the work finished before the August break, so I do hope they are on overtime, or getting a bonus.

It seems really odd, now that the doorway is partitioned off from the bathroom; I know that very soon I will be used to it, but after it being open, I got used to having three doorways between one space and another. When we can afford to do the bathroom, it will get smaller still, but that's a little while off yet.

The housing for the VMC pipe is as ugly as I imagined; another wasted opportunity to choose an elegant solution. T+B haven't added too much value. I realise that re-routing it during phase 1b would add immensely to the hassle/cost, but that pipe never needed to be in the room at all. I don't even know why it is there: it seems to come out of one wall to go in another - it could have just gone through one wall into the back hall ceiling. Another example of the Heath Robinson too-complicated-for-its-own-good thinking that's made our house less attractive than was possible...

I'm racking my brains for a way to hide that corner.

Day 22, continued

We've only had one other incident that's led to a broken ceiling; I don't think anyone was hurt, but seeing them all still working I never thought to ask!

Having also broken another rung on my ladder, the electrician felt his work here was done, and departed.

M. Hamid has finished the window at the back; lovely job. That was despite, rather than because of, the help of poor M. Jamel, I think. Certainly M. Hamid was pulling faces, and M. Mekki has started calling him "Mr Bean". NOT kind, for I believe M. Jamel is doing his best, it's just that no-one understands him. I feel quite sorry for him; feeling un-heard can be a very lonely place.

He seems a happy chappy, so I do hope he's got plenty of nice people at home who can make out what he's saying [and don't call him Mr Bean!].

The poor plaquistes left at 6 pm, and didn't manage to finish today; they are being held up by the lintel, but M. Jalel says he totally understands why that had to be re-done.

They are coming back tomorrow...

We've sent various emails off to people, the one to M. Torelli invites him to let us know if I've misunderstood, otherwise see him Wednesday to move the waste pipe into the middle of the wall, next to the partition. We shall see, but if that's possible, I don't see why we shouldn't do that.

We're gradually talking ourselves into the roll top bath: if we buy one that I've seen in England, it will work out about £300 cheaper than a fitted bath in France. OK, we've got fitting on top of that, but by eliminating the need to make/fit housing that will still be cheaper than the steel bath.

And that's before I start looking on eBay [the last bath I bought was brand new & £16.99; oh the joys of Berlingo ownership]...

Day 22/Friday meeting

Today's meeting seemed a lot less painful, yet it felt as though we got more discussed...

I think Nicolas is less stressful than I'm currently finding Jean-Marie!

The problem with the bath waste is one of understanding: we needed to specify an exact model, and didn't realise there was no option for changing it later. The waste can't be central with a centre draining bath (?) although it did seem later that we could have the drain further back at the centre to allow for the siphon (u-bend, I think). So if we want the option of a cast iron claw foot bath later, we have to make that decision now.

Hmm! I like having the possibility, and am fairly sure if we could get the waste at the back of a cast iron freestanding bath, that would work for a built-in bath later? Will have to chat with David about that.

Have to admit I did say that being English I didn't know it wasn't possible to change a bath in France. They were talking about "normes", and how you couldn't have a waste dropping straight down because of the smell... Lucky I couldn't summon up the French for: "well that's a big change, the French no longer wanting their plumbing to have the usual odour of drains". I don't think that would have helped my cause!

I think M. Torelli backed down a little about that [being unable to have a different bath]... I do know their normes are different than British Standard, but I didn't realise we couldn't change our minds.

We've got till Wednesday to decide on a bath, and then it will literally be cast in concrete. In that case, I'm tempted to say "go for the cast iron one", and if we later need an ugly modification about floor level to choose a built-in one, that can be hidden by the bath panel...

Similarly the fact that we aren't 100% happy with the taps seems to cause a problem; not sure why, because if we're leaving the bath question open, the tap height can't be decided until the bath is chosen... They're going to leave the pipes "en attente" in the partition wall, and not plaster over the joints in the place. Similarly for the washbasins/shower.

I've passed on M. Baty's question/sketch, and now have sent various scans to everyone who wanted one. The main issue now seems to be [again, probably one of my/our understanding?] that M. Baty needs the openings finished to take his exact measurements; the builders want M. Baty's sizes before they finish the openings.

M. Mekki seems a bit stressed by trying to fit in laying the stone slabs in the french window opening before the builders break for August, so David is emailing M. Baty to see if he is happy about taking his measurements from a blue line on the wall, and adding on 1.00m - if he's OK with that, the slabs can arrive early September without pushing our dates back at all.

Apart from the 'comedy moment' when the electrician's foot came through the ceiling, everything seemed to go much more smoothly; I'm liking Nicolas more and more each time I see him, as well.

Final news: our very kind friend John Knighton [let me know if you want the name check removing!] is helping out with the design for the french windows. His CAD skills are way superior to how my brain is currently coping with number crunching, and his .pdf sketches look infinitely nicer than my best attempts on graph paper to visualise how a "nice" doorway might look. [We've turned our noses up at plain patio-style doors.]

With John's permission I might mangle the format of one of his drawings so I can upload it into Blogger so you can see the results!

Day 21

M. Hamid has only just finished; there's clearly something wrong with his work ethic!

There again, he's not French...

He's finished the brickwork around the bathroom window, and is just putting back the stones above. He was right that Jean-Marie had given M. Franck the wrong starting point with regard to the stepped bricks [I know they're not quoins, but I don't know what they are]; instead of ending up with three bricks sticking out at the top, we've got one. But I can live with that!

Given how often we will be looking at the lintel once we've got the vegetable garden growing, it's a small sacrifice.

The forme also has played it's part, and I was surprised to hear that the French understand what a plumb-line is. [*Irony*] Seriously, given the wonkiness of the wall, it looks pretty damn good.

The ouate de cellulose insulation has arrived; I don't know why they are not using loose this time, but finding the panels of it has been a headache, apparently - M. Jamel had to go to Dijon to get some. That's got to be a two-hour drive in his truck.

I was heartened to hear that no-one understands him; it's not just me, which makes me feel better, even if the poor guy must feel totally isolated. M. Hamid says it's because he doesn't enunciate properly, and I'd agree, but as that's a bugbear of mine, I would say that, wouldn't I?

Bastille Day

Day off!

Today is la fête nationale or le quatorze juillet, but we tend to think of it as 'Bastille Day' - a day to celebrate the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789. According to Wikipedia [so make up your own minds], the prison only contained seven prisoners, none of them political. The commander of the Bastille, seeing the strength of the crowd, opened the gates [make of that what you will!] to 'avoid a mutual massacre'. Didn't stop 99 attackers and eight defenders later being killed.

Again, according to Wikipedia "The storming of the Bastille was more important as a rallying point and symbolic act of rebellion than a practical act of defiance." Shows a nice sense of irony don't you think?

Anyways, today is a jour férié so the builders get a day off, and more importantly, I get a day off!

I slept in till 8 am, so the Night Nurse was worth it [drug of choice for those of us who don't like taking sleeping tablets], and I even managed a three-hour nap this afternoon. Hopefully, getting 15 hours sleep in the last 24 will mean I'm up to the challenges of the rest of the month. I've already decided that if the bathroom floor has to be dug up again, that will happen, so my resolve is stronger, and after my nap I don't feel at all tearful. Hurrah!

Which points to my diagnosis of "tired" as being pretty accurate.

[Off topic: whereas I think of a nap as "going bo-boes" in baby talk, the French refer to it as "do-dos" [like the bird], and "bo-bos" in French are "boo-boos" or "poorlies", especially the ones that need a plaster & kissing better.]

As my mind is now a lot more refreshed, and not totally full of building work, and it is Bastille Day, it seems a good occasion to discuss what I've noticed about 'equality'.

Liberté, égalité, fraternité.

["Ou la Mort" was dropped as being a bit strong.]

Equality is enshrined in the modern French psyche, but I'm learning that there's a very strong hierarchy that must be followed in the building trade.

In England, my builder was known as "Bob" [yes!], and I was known as "Maria"; not too difficult, those were our names. [In the 'good old days', my builder was known as "dad", and I was known as "Fonzie" (because I was "coool"!), and I would give everything I own to have that back, but that's not possible.] My dentist is known as "Paul", the postman is known as "Mick", and the Chief Operating Officer of David's company is known as "Mike". Maria, Bob and Mick are Working Class [although it could be argued that Maria has become Middle Class by virtue of marriage/white collar work], and David, Paul and Mike are Middle Class.

When I was younger, the lady I cleaned for was known as "Mrs Roper", but that was because she was of an older generation, not because she was Upper Class [which she was]; "Mrs Lillie" was Mrs Roper's full-time cleaning lady, and I can't even remember if I knew her given name. Again she was known as "Mrs Lillie" because of being an older lady and I was a teenager. All my grandma's friends were "Mrs Somebody-or-other". But that's a long time ago.

I don't know if that's different now with children/young adults, but I certainly call all the elderly neighbours I've known in London by their first names.

In France [our part, at least], the boss of a firm is called "M. Family-name", and his workers are "M. Given-name". I'm not sure what we are called, because our surnames cause enough problems even to Jean-Marie even after nearly four years, and no-one else even refers to our names apart from M. Mekki, who calls me Maria. I think that's because he's of non-French origin, and needs to call me something. I vastly prefer that to "madame" which makes me feel old, and is close enough to "madam" to make me feel as though I'm difficult! Neither do I like "Mrs Family-name", because it makes me feel like my mother.

[Another aside: I kept my family name on marriage - if it's good enough for the Queen and Elizabeth Taylor, it's good enough for me. This does confuse some people, but it's not really difficult: I was Maria B*** and I am now Maria B***; simples!]

We know enough about French culture to know that we have to wait to be asked to call people by their given names, and we are building up a circle of Sergines/Lydies/Laurents etc, but I still find it odd that equality is something we know we don't have in England, but treat people as though we do, and something enshrined in French tradition but in practice doesn't seem to exist.

Happy Bastille Day!

Day 20, continued 2

Just had M. Waeber - if I understood correctly, he can't now do the tiling before end July because another job has come up. We're OK with that - don't mind if it happens before or after the windows go in, before or after August. [I told him he either has to ditch the Burgundian accent for an Aubois one, or he has to slow down.]

He thinks the plumbing is wrong for the shower in the bathroom, but maybe the bath plumbing can be re-routed in the concrete under the tiles...

M. Hamid is making the forme for the new brick arch - already it looks a million miles better, and we haven't had a brick [re-]laid yet! We've decided to ditch the "gothic" look.

David saw the earlier post, where everyone was wondering how the window could go so wrong, and reckons that's because they used a cross-eyed builder.  I don't think that's it, EvilDavid!

Just had my meeting with M. Baty; he's totally chilled [and at the moment I wish I could achieve that], and will come along some time late August and discuss designs/measure for the windows & shutters. He's answered all my questions without any fuss, says he has enough paint, and that our other shutters are ready, and he will try to fit them before he goes on holiday at the beginning of August.

That may even happen; who knows?

I think he was quite impressed that we are on the fourth attempt to get the bathroom window opening sorted out, but not in a good way! He said he didn't think we'd had a lot of luck with builders...

On the plus side, M. Baty and several other people have commented that my French is improving, and some are even now brave enough to call me on the telephone; progress indeed.

Everyone today has been commenting that I'm tired; I can't remember if I've mentioned it [I have said to at least one person about waking up every night worrying about something or other that's not been done/done correctly], or if I just look a fright. I haven't burst into tears, at least not in front of anyone; I think I'm just overwrought, and now I'm starting to have confidence in M. Hamid I think the adrenaline I've been running on has petered out!

I don't know why Jean-Marie didn't want to use him for this phase?

So, I'm going to be ultra-sad and take a dose of Night Nurse to help me stay asleep, comfort eat on pasta [mm; cheesy stodge], and will probably be in bed before small children!

ETA: The builders think it was my fault for giving M. Franck coffee; if we applied that logic, no French house would ever look OK!

Day 20, continued

M. Luparello has arrived, and apparently the lintel is too low!

Hmm, I'd kinda guessed that!

I think they are just mystified how it has happened, but my joking suggestion that M. Franck is on drugs was laughed at - no, it's not that.

Not sure what it is though...