We have just come back from a long weekend at the house: we had two meetings scheduled for Thursday, and managed to arrange another one for Friday whilst we were out there.
On Thursday morning, we were due to meet M. Petipas at 8.30 and open up the house for inspections by M. Bruneau (from the experts employed by Dominique's insurance company), and the huissier (apologies, I didn't catch his name).
We didn't expect M. Petipas to be on time (M. Boyer is always late!), so weren't very surprised when it got to 9 o'clock before he showed up...
I saw a car in the little road that leads to the house, but it didn't turn into the drive, so I thought nothing more until we had a knock on the door (normally all visitors are announced by the sound of a car parking).
He'd got to the village early, and pulled off the road to have a bite of breakfast before coming to see us.
All very good, until he tried to drive away, and got his wheels bogged down in the mud...
Have I mentioned the particularly cloying quality the local soil takes on when even slightly damp? And it has been raining solidly, so it's reminiscent of the Somme at the moment (we're not very far from there!)...
Happily, our neighbour (who wasn't keen on driving her father's tractor as she hadn't much experience of it) telephoned her cousin (the mayor) who kindly came in his 4 x 4 (yes, as a farmer, he does actually need one!) and rapidly dragged the car back to solid ground.
We had planned to have a meeting before the arrival of M. Bruneau, but time was against us, so went straight into his (very rapid) visit.
He said that Dominique's work wasn't a very good advertisement for France, was it?
We had to agree it wasn't!
I think that M. Bruneau had pretty much made up his mind before visiting the house, but given how the system works in France, that probably wasn't as bad as it sounds!
If Dominique had finished the work, and we had signed to accept it, we would have been covered by his insurance for all the work he was insured for.
As none of the work was finished, the insurance cover would not extend to our job. Add to that, most of the work he undertook he wasn't insured for, we were bound to lose either way.
At least next time we employ someone we will be scrupulous about checking their insurance!
An expensive lesson, but the expert was making a valid point when he said at least Dominique's work hasn't damaged the structure of the house. [He told us of a nightmare case where someone had paid €90,000 and had the structure of the house so weakened all he could do was have the house demolished!]
We were sad, but it wasn't unexpected. [I think we've looked in all the hats to see if there might be any rabbits!]
The huissier [a kind of indepent witness to any kind of dispute] said we would have a really good claim against Dominique.
But the main problem with taking the Tribunal route would be the length of time before we could begin work again on the house. The court case could take up to 5 years, and cost €5-10,000 in lawyers fees.
At the end of that, there may be no money with which to pay us anyway, so that would still be an enormous risk...
The huissier thought that Dominique's name rang a bell, so he called a colleague of his: apparently, there is (at least) one other court case in progress against Dominique, so even if we went down that route, we'd have to join a queue of creditors...
It's not looking an appealing course of action (especially given my family's experience of resorting to the law to resolve a dispute where we're got a really good case!), but we haven't made our minds up yet.
The day ended on a better note: we managed to get through most of "lots" of the dossier of works to be done with M. Petipas. We had a lot of points where we just didn't quite understand the technical language and M. Petipas explained what it all meant.
A few points were completely incomprehensible to us (all the words made sense, but not when used in that order!), but again they were easily clarified. Even in English, technical building terms aren't easy until you know what they mean!
There are a few points where we didn't want the proposed course of action, but most of those are also now resolved: either we could change those, or there is a valid reason we didn't know about why it has to happen that way, so we'll just go with what they have put.
So that just leaves a few points to be clarified, then (hopefully!) we are good to go.
M. Boyer has written to various trades asking if they wish to quote for our job, and has received some replies. He needs a few more companies, then they will have a day at the site with the interested companies, who will go away and send us quotes.
Sounds so easy! But we're keeping everything crossed!
Once M. Boyer & M. Petipas have analysed the quotes and we have chosen which companies to go with, then it should all be ready to start once a timetable has been agreed.
I do so hope everything works out right this time...
Monday, December 10, 2007
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Back in Blighty!
David came out to France to collect me and the car, and for a meeting with M. Boyer on 22nd October.
We were putting all the things in the house (beds, fridge, tables, clothes, crockery, etc.) upstairs so that when the various new artisans come to give estimates they can see the house (rather than our clutter).
We're also hoping that before next summer work will have started again, so everything needs to be out of the way for that...
Fingers crossed!
I really wasn't ready to come home, even the week David was coming out, until the Friday I was collecting him from the station.
We'd had 2 cold days up to that point, and Friday was another cold miserable day (13°C in the house, and 13½°C outside!).
With the damp I wasn't managing to get any weeding done outside, and there's nothing inside I can really do (cleaned a lot of woodwork, but that will be an ongoing task; removing decades of grease & grime).
So, by Friday evening I was about ready to pack up & come back home.
Which is a good thing - I get terribly grouchy when confined back into a 1-bed flat before I'm ready!
Thankfully, the weather really turned colder whilst we were packing the house away - one night it got down to -1°C in the house, and -1½°C! OK, so that was upstairs, it only dropped to 7 or 8°C dowstairs.
Still, cold enough that staying there had become endurance rather than enjoyment.
Time to retreat!
We stayed in a hotel (heating, bath, bliss!) on the Monday evening, and awoke to a world white over on Tuesday morning.
Not snow, just an incredibly heavy frost.
Yup, definitely time to go!
I'm readjusting to life with light switches.
Catching up with 2 months laundry was fun!
Good job I have so much stuff - 18 loads doesn't average out too badly, when you factor in the several machine-fulls of washing that David had generated for me.
Now we have to go through the dossier that M. Boyer has prepared to check that it includes everything we want doing...
Still concerned about whether we need RSJs to support the mezzanine level, though...
Apparently, French architects are trained to perform structural calculations, so Nicholas should be able to tell us whether steels are needed.
But I'm still worried.
Do I call an English Structural Engineer?
We were putting all the things in the house (beds, fridge, tables, clothes, crockery, etc.) upstairs so that when the various new artisans come to give estimates they can see the house (rather than our clutter).
We're also hoping that before next summer work will have started again, so everything needs to be out of the way for that...
Fingers crossed!
I really wasn't ready to come home, even the week David was coming out, until the Friday I was collecting him from the station.
We'd had 2 cold days up to that point, and Friday was another cold miserable day (13°C in the house, and 13½°C outside!).
With the damp I wasn't managing to get any weeding done outside, and there's nothing inside I can really do (cleaned a lot of woodwork, but that will be an ongoing task; removing decades of grease & grime).
So, by Friday evening I was about ready to pack up & come back home.
Which is a good thing - I get terribly grouchy when confined back into a 1-bed flat before I'm ready!
Thankfully, the weather really turned colder whilst we were packing the house away - one night it got down to -1°C in the house, and -1½°C! OK, so that was upstairs, it only dropped to 7 or 8°C dowstairs.
Still, cold enough that staying there had become endurance rather than enjoyment.
Time to retreat!
We stayed in a hotel (heating, bath, bliss!) on the Monday evening, and awoke to a world white over on Tuesday morning.
Not snow, just an incredibly heavy frost.
Yup, definitely time to go!
I'm readjusting to life with light switches.
Catching up with 2 months laundry was fun!
Good job I have so much stuff - 18 loads doesn't average out too badly, when you factor in the several machine-fulls of washing that David had generated for me.
Now we have to go through the dossier that M. Boyer has prepared to check that it includes everything we want doing...
Still concerned about whether we need RSJs to support the mezzanine level, though...
Apparently, French architects are trained to perform structural calculations, so Nicholas should be able to tell us whether steels are needed.
But I'm still worried.
Do I call an English Structural Engineer?
Friday, October 19, 2007
Fried eggs are more environmentally friendly than boiled eggs…
In the interests of taking better care of the planet, I'm thinking of switching to fried egg butties from egg mayo sarnies (as I'm just starting to take some exercise again, and an incentive is sometimes to eat fatty - rather than 'healthy' - food).
Making the egg mayonnaise mix the other day, I got to thinking about power and water usage...
Fried egg: after the pan is hot, 3-4 minutes of electricity is all it takes to get a cooked white/deliciously runny-yolked egg. End of consumption of natural resources. Oil can be reused a couple of times (or if you run a restaurant of the less hygiene-conscious kind, lots of times!), and very little oil is needed anyway.
Boiled egg: it's much quicker to boil water in a kettle than from cold on the electric ring, so I tend to boil the kettle while the ring is heating (same amount of electricity as getting the frying pan hot + kettle boiling juice-usage). Ten minutes makes the perfect boiled egg for egg mayonnaise (don't want a runny yolk - no soldiers here! - nor do I want to achieve the grey-edged, green-tinged yolk that you occasionally come across in professional catering). So that's another 6 or 7 minutes electricity required. Then, you need to cool the eggs quickly, to stop the cooking process, so the cold tap is running for several minutes. Even if you don't leave the tap running and just fill a bowl with cold water, it still warms up surprisingly quickly and needs replenishing a couple of times. Net result: more electricity (especially if you boil the water in the saucepan) and litres of water used (and I'm guessing no-one is going to save that for another couple of eggs a few days later).
My advice: if you want to save the planet, eat fried food!
Does it show that I've been reading Scott Adams?
Making the egg mayonnaise mix the other day, I got to thinking about power and water usage...
Fried egg: after the pan is hot, 3-4 minutes of electricity is all it takes to get a cooked white/deliciously runny-yolked egg. End of consumption of natural resources. Oil can be reused a couple of times (or if you run a restaurant of the less hygiene-conscious kind, lots of times!), and very little oil is needed anyway.
Boiled egg: it's much quicker to boil water in a kettle than from cold on the electric ring, so I tend to boil the kettle while the ring is heating (same amount of electricity as getting the frying pan hot + kettle boiling juice-usage). Ten minutes makes the perfect boiled egg for egg mayonnaise (don't want a runny yolk - no soldiers here! - nor do I want to achieve the grey-edged, green-tinged yolk that you occasionally come across in professional catering). So that's another 6 or 7 minutes electricity required. Then, you need to cool the eggs quickly, to stop the cooking process, so the cold tap is running for several minutes. Even if you don't leave the tap running and just fill a bowl with cold water, it still warms up surprisingly quickly and needs replenishing a couple of times. Net result: more electricity (especially if you boil the water in the saucepan) and litres of water used (and I'm guessing no-one is going to save that for another couple of eggs a few days later).
My advice: if you want to save the planet, eat fried food!
Does it show that I've been reading Scott Adams?
Japanese Goldfish Emoticon
<°)))><
I'm not sure what emotion a goldfish conveys, but I like the idea of a goldfish emoticon.
Just hope it's not rude!
I'm not sure what emotion a goldfish conveys, but I like the idea of a goldfish emoticon.
Just hope it's not rude!
Hunting/wildlife
The hunting season started late September, and I hear a few shots several times a week, so know that the chasseurs are out there.
I asked one of the neighbours whether it was safe to walk when they are hunting, and she replied that they haven't managed to ban us from walking, but to turn back if you hear the guns; the huntsmen are so intent on the chasse that they will fire on anything that moves!
Thankfully, I've not heard any guns whilst I've been on a walk!
But I did surprise a couple of deer - they bounded off into the wood before I could get close enough to take a photo (from experience, I know my camera's zoom won't make it that far).
They were lucky I wasn't after venison!
We see (what seems to someone used to England) a lot of wildlife round here: red and roe deer, herons, buzzards, other birds of prey (I'm no good at telling them apart - just know that they are incredibly noisy to have round the garden!).
I wonder whether that's because they are so keen on hunting in France that they make proper efforts to preserve wildlife habitat?
Being vegetarian, perhaps I should be against hunting? But I'm not, as long as it is people killing animals that they intend to eat, and killing them cleanly.
Let's not get into why I find it disturbing that some people enjoy the sight of a living animal being ripped apart for fun...!
I asked one of the neighbours whether it was safe to walk when they are hunting, and she replied that they haven't managed to ban us from walking, but to turn back if you hear the guns; the huntsmen are so intent on the chasse that they will fire on anything that moves!
Thankfully, I've not heard any guns whilst I've been on a walk!
But I did surprise a couple of deer - they bounded off into the wood before I could get close enough to take a photo (from experience, I know my camera's zoom won't make it that far).
They were lucky I wasn't after venison!
We see (what seems to someone used to England) a lot of wildlife round here: red and roe deer, herons, buzzards, other birds of prey (I'm no good at telling them apart - just know that they are incredibly noisy to have round the garden!).
I wonder whether that's because they are so keen on hunting in France that they make proper efforts to preserve wildlife habitat?
Being vegetarian, perhaps I should be against hunting? But I'm not, as long as it is people killing animals that they intend to eat, and killing them cleanly.
Let's not get into why I find it disturbing that some people enjoy the sight of a living animal being ripped apart for fun...!
Changing Seasons
It's getting colder now; definitely feels like Autumn, even on the warmest days, rather than "Indian" Summer.
It was 5°C yesterday when I got up, and 3°C this morning.
Yesterday, when the mist had cleared, the garden was steaming...
I felt as though I lived near a hot spring.
It's too wet to do any gardening (there's no power in the sun to dry the soil, and I don't want to compact it any more than I absolutely have to), but thankfully dry enough to go for a walk.
That's assuming I don't mind the occasional mud-removal stop, which I don't.
So much nicer that the city equivalent: dog-sh!t-removal stop!
The advantage of nice sticky mud is being taller without having to have shoe lifts!
The trees and vines are starting to change colour, and I'm catching a whiff of woodsmoke now and then (and feeling jealous when I do!), and have resorted to wearing my lightly-tinted sunglasses to keep the wind out of my eyes.
I don't want people to think I'm crying when I'm lovin' it!
It was 5°C yesterday when I got up, and 3°C this morning.
Yesterday, when the mist had cleared, the garden was steaming...
I felt as though I lived near a hot spring.
It's too wet to do any gardening (there's no power in the sun to dry the soil, and I don't want to compact it any more than I absolutely have to), but thankfully dry enough to go for a walk.
That's assuming I don't mind the occasional mud-removal stop, which I don't.
So much nicer that the city equivalent: dog-sh!t-removal stop!
The advantage of nice sticky mud is being taller without having to have shoe lifts!
The trees and vines are starting to change colour, and I'm catching a whiff of woodsmoke now and then (and feeling jealous when I do!), and have resorted to wearing my lightly-tinted sunglasses to keep the wind out of my eyes.
I don't want people to think I'm crying when I'm lovin' it!
Friday, October 12, 2007
I LOVE the internet!!
Where else could I get a (free) nostalgia trip as I washed the windows?
Incredible String Band for free!
Cleaning the windows to try and generate some warmth, in case anyone thinks I've gone domesticated!
James Gang, Robin Trower, Joan Baez - I'd forgotten I liked stuff like that...
Remembered I like artists like Nick Drake, Mamas & Papas, Beach Boys, so had quite an entertaining time.
Think I might get an iPod thingy...
Bizarre being able to share my random thoughts, not to mention my sartorial elegance (HeHe), with anyone who might happen across this blog...
Total strangers, friends, alien life?
Doing a blog feels like the broadcasts from I can't remember whom - they broadcast into space in case extraplanetary lifeforms are tuning in (presuming the greys are interested in the ramblings of earthlings!).
Doesn't matter who pays attention, or who doesn't.
I feel I've made the effort to communicate, and that makes me happy!
Happy meandering, all!
[The gear in case anyone is wondering is an effort to get/stay warm in the kitchen.
I could go in the bedroom and light the gas fire...
... but Dominique's lack of care/attention to detail extended to not making any attempt to rodent-proof before insulating the bedroom.
I know the little buggers use the space behind the plasterboard as a playground, but I have a nasty suspicion it has become the final resting place of one of them...
There's enough of a hint of, ahem, "disintegration" that I'm reluctant to sit in there longer than I have to!
I could go to bed with a hottie (water bottle, not top tottie, in case my beloved is reading. HeHeHe!), but 5.30pm seems a little early to give up!]
The internet radio has just stumbled across Shawn Phillips, whom I'm enjoying - is he famous?
Incredible String Band for free!
Cleaning the windows to try and generate some warmth, in case anyone thinks I've gone domesticated!
James Gang, Robin Trower, Joan Baez - I'd forgotten I liked stuff like that...
Remembered I like artists like Nick Drake, Mamas & Papas, Beach Boys, so had quite an entertaining time.
Think I might get an iPod thingy...
Bizarre being able to share my random thoughts, not to mention my sartorial elegance (HeHe), with anyone who might happen across this blog...
Total strangers, friends, alien life?
Doing a blog feels like the broadcasts from I can't remember whom - they broadcast into space in case extraplanetary lifeforms are tuning in (presuming the greys are interested in the ramblings of earthlings!).
Doesn't matter who pays attention, or who doesn't.
I feel I've made the effort to communicate, and that makes me happy!
Happy meandering, all!
[The gear in case anyone is wondering is an effort to get/stay warm in the kitchen.
I could go in the bedroom and light the gas fire...
... but Dominique's lack of care/attention to detail extended to not making any attempt to rodent-proof before insulating the bedroom.
I know the little buggers use the space behind the plasterboard as a playground, but I have a nasty suspicion it has become the final resting place of one of them...
There's enough of a hint of, ahem, "disintegration" that I'm reluctant to sit in there longer than I have to!
I could go to bed with a hottie (water bottle, not top tottie, in case my beloved is reading. HeHeHe!), but 5.30pm seems a little early to give up!]
The internet radio has just stumbled across Shawn Phillips, whom I'm enjoying - is he famous?
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Miscellaneous:
When we got back here after going home for a couple of weeks, it felt weird, but in an indefinable way. I couldn't work out what was wrong...
Until David pointed out that the clock wasn’t (or more precisely, the bells weren’t) working. It was almost eerie!
It was a few days before they fixed it, and I really missed it.
We spoke with the neighbour who has some vines at the back of our meadow, but lives in another village, and he said their clock only strikes the hour through the night (not the quarters, nor the hour twice) and they only have the midday and 7pm Angelus.
I suppose that’s what you get when you have Parisian second homers in the village!
Last night was down to 4°C, after a day when it was 11°C at midday. Sadly (for those of us who have turned into nesh Southerners!), it was 12°C upstairs & 13°C downstairs in the house.
Not warm enough!
Lovely!
I haven't seen a single packet for anything organic, cold-pressed or additive-free!
Until David pointed out that the clock wasn’t (or more precisely, the bells weren’t) working. It was almost eerie!
It was a few days before they fixed it, and I really missed it.
We spoke with the neighbour who has some vines at the back of our meadow, but lives in another village, and he said their clock only strikes the hour through the night (not the quarters, nor the hour twice) and they only have the midday and 7pm Angelus.
I suppose that’s what you get when you have Parisian second homers in the village!
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It was down to 5°C at night in early September – a reminder that autumn starts early here. They say that after 15 August, summer is finished.Last night was down to 4°C, after a day when it was 11°C at midday. Sadly (for those of us who have turned into nesh Southerners!), it was 12°C upstairs & 13°C downstairs in the house.
Not warm enough!
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I’m getting used to driving again. One day, I even enjoyed myself! Mostly it’s still not enjoyable, although I have taken to using fifth gear occasionally!--------------------------------------------------
I saw gentians whilst out walking near the motorway – I was following a track that doesn’t really lead anywhere, but goes under the motorway & there they were by the side of the “road”.Lovely!
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Is it just coincidence that the people who throw their food wrappers out of car windows eat rubbish?I haven't seen a single packet for anything organic, cold-pressed or additive-free!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose
We had a reminder of “Old” France the other day – we overtook an old gentleman (in very faded “bleus” & beret) on his Mobylette (itself a rarity these days) pulling a trailer.
I’m sure there are EU laws against that sort of thing! But it was a heartwarming reminder of times gone by in this lovely country.
The “New” France seems well illustrated by my neighbours: after a lot of shouting, one of the children dragged the bin down the drive to the road (50m? 75m?). More shouting, and then the mum drove down to the bin and dumped three (pretty light – I’d have got more than that in one!) sacks of recycling.
I thought she was on her way out somewhere, and was dropping off the bags on her way, but no, she turned round and drove back to the house! They usually wait for the father to visit to get the bin back (he drags it by holding the handle whilst driving up to the house).
Makes me wonder whether I should get the car out to take my compost to the snail pit?
The only problem is the car is in the barn, and I’d have to walk nearly to the snail pits to get it!
I’m sure there are EU laws against that sort of thing! But it was a heartwarming reminder of times gone by in this lovely country.
The “New” France seems well illustrated by my neighbours: after a lot of shouting, one of the children dragged the bin down the drive to the road (50m? 75m?). More shouting, and then the mum drove down to the bin and dumped three (pretty light – I’d have got more than that in one!) sacks of recycling.
I thought she was on her way out somewhere, and was dropping off the bags on her way, but no, she turned round and drove back to the house! They usually wait for the father to visit to get the bin back (he drags it by holding the handle whilst driving up to the house).
Makes me wonder whether I should get the car out to take my compost to the snail pit?
The only problem is the car is in the barn, and I’d have to walk nearly to the snail pits to get it!
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Creatures: latest…
Chouette:
We’ve had a visit from the owl in the grenier (feathers, owl pellet & droppings tell a clear story!)…
I had hoped he’d gone elsewhere (especially when I found owl pellets in the barn – quite happy for him to be there), as I’m in the process of cleaning the floor up there.
Frog:
I went to the loo one night, & my eyes had been really watery, so when I came back into the bedroom I was only slightly surprised to see a drop of water by the door.
I didn’t think I could have had a teardrop quite that big, so I had a closer look.
When the “teardrop” blinked at me, I knew I’d have to wipe away the tears properly!
Needless to say, he got turfed out pretty pronto!
[No, it’s not true they turn into princes if you kiss them!]
Bêtes volantes:
I saw a dragonfly – I’d swear he was in camouflage gear, but he was gone too quickly for me to get the camera, so I’ll never know. Pretty impressive size, though.
Brimstone & chalk hill blue (I think) were another couple of butterflies I can add to my list, but probably won’t as they weren’t in the garden, but in the fields behind…
Aoûtats: that’s harvest mites to you & me. Trust me – these chaps are to be avoided!!
You think it's just a cloud of (virtually) colourless little flies, but they carry passengers...
I was in the pharmacy asking whether they had any insect repellent that I could spray on my clothing (they seem to get trapped under waist-bands, bra-straps, knicker-elastic – anywhere it’s constricted – and try to bite their way out!), when an older lady came over to help.
Fortunately she asked all the right questions. My mixture of improvisation & mime is usually successful in communicating what I want, but I didn’t relish doing: “And they lodge under my knicker-elastic and everywhere my bra touches” without knowing the words for “knickers”, “elastic” or “bra”! Underwiring I couldn’t even begin to guess at…
Thankfully, the combination of cooling weather (the only reason I was happy for the temperature to drop), and changing seasons meant that I only had one bite after spraying my clothing with the insecticide.
Next time I work under the trees I will buy the insecticide first!
Birds:
We had a green woodpecker on the damson tree in the garden; almost enough to make me want to keep it…
But then when you think why the woodpecker was so keen (the middle of the tree is rotten & has become an ants’ nest), I still haven’t changed my mind.
M. Lorin says he will come and chop it down in the winter – he doesn’t want to damage too many of my plants, which is sweet of him.
I saw a flight of partridges (well, I think they were) the other day when I went for a walk.
This was prior to the start of the shooting season, mind you!
3 blind mice:
One evening I was enchanted/infuriated by three baby mice (let’s face it, they probably weren’t blind) nervously skittering out from behind a box on the floor.
I’m terribly squeamish about killing things (flies, mosquitoes, slugs & snails I’ve managed to make an exception for, but it took years for me to stop feeling guilty about killing them), so despite their lack of awareness, I didn’t stamp on them…
Next morning when M. Boyer and his daughter (who speaks very good English and came along to translate where necessary) were sitting in the kitchen, I wished I had squished the little buggers…
Completely gone was any timidity – they were scampering across the floor: from the fridge to the shower, round the table, to the front door, back to the table, round M. Boyer’s feet!
My French is nowhere near good enough to say: “I’m really sorry/massively embarrassed by this. I wish I could stamp on the little blighters, but I can’t! No, they are too light for the mousetraps to kill them – see where they have eaten the apricots without setting off the trap?”
We’ve tried poison, but very little interest in that… And I’ve only had an “odd” smell a couple of times… So I think that’s more likely down to natural wastage than the poison working.
Have bought a couple of rattraps, but suspect it’s dormice/garden dormice that we’ve got rather than rats…
Oh, and shrews don’t eat apricots!
The traps have been completely ignored every time my unwelcome visitor has been a shrew…
I don’t know whether they eat walnuts or not…
There was sustained (and irritating) rustling yesterday – enough to stop what I was doing & try and find (and eject) the culprit.
Usually when I get up & go towards the noise that is the signal for silence. This time, however, the shrew in the bag of walnuts wasn’t paying attention! I couldn’t face the prospect of this noise going on until the shrew got bored, so I grabbed the bag and shook it.
I hate killing things I don’t have to (as I’ve mentioned), but that was going to drive me potty! I couldn’t then cope with the thought of a decaying body (however small) in the bag of walnuts, so I had to find it & remove it…
Only I hadn’t killed the shrew, he was still in the bag I was emptying to try and find his corpse!
Tub-trugs are wonderful! I was down to the last few walnuts into the third trug, when the shrew popped out.
Knowing (from experience) that small rodents have sharp teeth, I caught him in my Pyrex jug – and dropped him into the last trug (no chance of him climbing the sides & escaping.
He was re-homed in my pile of rotting wood – plenty of nice insects there to eat, hopefully!
We’ve had a visit from the owl in the grenier (feathers, owl pellet & droppings tell a clear story!)…
I had hoped he’d gone elsewhere (especially when I found owl pellets in the barn – quite happy for him to be there), as I’m in the process of cleaning the floor up there.
Frog:
I went to the loo one night, & my eyes had been really watery, so when I came back into the bedroom I was only slightly surprised to see a drop of water by the door.
I didn’t think I could have had a teardrop quite that big, so I had a closer look.
When the “teardrop” blinked at me, I knew I’d have to wipe away the tears properly!
Needless to say, he got turfed out pretty pronto!
[No, it’s not true they turn into princes if you kiss them!]
Bêtes volantes:
I saw a dragonfly – I’d swear he was in camouflage gear, but he was gone too quickly for me to get the camera, so I’ll never know. Pretty impressive size, though.
Brimstone & chalk hill blue (I think) were another couple of butterflies I can add to my list, but probably won’t as they weren’t in the garden, but in the fields behind…
Aoûtats: that’s harvest mites to you & me. Trust me – these chaps are to be avoided!!
You think it's just a cloud of (virtually) colourless little flies, but they carry passengers...
I was in the pharmacy asking whether they had any insect repellent that I could spray on my clothing (they seem to get trapped under waist-bands, bra-straps, knicker-elastic – anywhere it’s constricted – and try to bite their way out!), when an older lady came over to help.
Fortunately she asked all the right questions. My mixture of improvisation & mime is usually successful in communicating what I want, but I didn’t relish doing: “And they lodge under my knicker-elastic and everywhere my bra touches” without knowing the words for “knickers”, “elastic” or “bra”! Underwiring I couldn’t even begin to guess at…
Thankfully, the combination of cooling weather (the only reason I was happy for the temperature to drop), and changing seasons meant that I only had one bite after spraying my clothing with the insecticide.
Next time I work under the trees I will buy the insecticide first!
Birds:
We had a green woodpecker on the damson tree in the garden; almost enough to make me want to keep it…
But then when you think why the woodpecker was so keen (the middle of the tree is rotten & has become an ants’ nest), I still haven’t changed my mind.
M. Lorin says he will come and chop it down in the winter – he doesn’t want to damage too many of my plants, which is sweet of him.
I saw a flight of partridges (well, I think they were) the other day when I went for a walk.
This was prior to the start of the shooting season, mind you!
3 blind mice:
One evening I was enchanted/infuriated by three baby mice (let’s face it, they probably weren’t blind) nervously skittering out from behind a box on the floor.
I’m terribly squeamish about killing things (flies, mosquitoes, slugs & snails I’ve managed to make an exception for, but it took years for me to stop feeling guilty about killing them), so despite their lack of awareness, I didn’t stamp on them…
Next morning when M. Boyer and his daughter (who speaks very good English and came along to translate where necessary) were sitting in the kitchen, I wished I had squished the little buggers…
Completely gone was any timidity – they were scampering across the floor: from the fridge to the shower, round the table, to the front door, back to the table, round M. Boyer’s feet!
My French is nowhere near good enough to say: “I’m really sorry/massively embarrassed by this. I wish I could stamp on the little blighters, but I can’t! No, they are too light for the mousetraps to kill them – see where they have eaten the apricots without setting off the trap?”
We’ve tried poison, but very little interest in that… And I’ve only had an “odd” smell a couple of times… So I think that’s more likely down to natural wastage than the poison working.
Have bought a couple of rattraps, but suspect it’s dormice/garden dormice that we’ve got rather than rats…
Oh, and shrews don’t eat apricots!
The traps have been completely ignored every time my unwelcome visitor has been a shrew…
I don’t know whether they eat walnuts or not…
There was sustained (and irritating) rustling yesterday – enough to stop what I was doing & try and find (and eject) the culprit.
Usually when I get up & go towards the noise that is the signal for silence. This time, however, the shrew in the bag of walnuts wasn’t paying attention! I couldn’t face the prospect of this noise going on until the shrew got bored, so I grabbed the bag and shook it.
I hate killing things I don’t have to (as I’ve mentioned), but that was going to drive me potty! I couldn’t then cope with the thought of a decaying body (however small) in the bag of walnuts, so I had to find it & remove it…
Only I hadn’t killed the shrew, he was still in the bag I was emptying to try and find his corpse!
Tub-trugs are wonderful! I was down to the last few walnuts into the third trug, when the shrew popped out.
Knowing (from experience) that small rodents have sharp teeth, I caught him in my Pyrex jug – and dropped him into the last trug (no chance of him climbing the sides & escaping.
He was re-homed in my pile of rotting wood – plenty of nice insects there to eat, hopefully!
Vanishing brush
I’ve hurt my wrist – throwing a stick for David. Some may say that’s just desserts for leading him a dog’s life, but it wasn’t like that…!
We hired a chipper/shredder for three days, which was too big to fit in the car, so we also hired a trailer.
Given that it was nearly £100 a day for the combo, we were trying to get all the chipping done in time to return the machine on Friday evening.
The money that would save would pay for my (much dreamed of) night in a hotel. And, more importantly, that soak in a bath! So quite an incentive to keep going when we’d had enough.
I was already quite achy from chopping down the trees/pulling up the ivy and hauling all the remains to the piles to be shredded or the compost heap, and after about four hours was getting tired.
I threw the stick, but caught my thumb in the pocket of my boiler suit, so the stick sailed off at right angles, and I jarred my wrist!
David needed the stick to prod into the chipper to clear any leafy residue that would block the machine. [Given that everything was sodden – intermittent, but heavy, rain being order of the day – and that we’d cleared blockages a couple of times, we were keen not to have to poke around the blades another time. Yes, motor turned off, spark plug removed!]
When I was doing the chipping, I just prodded with a long branch to clear leaves and then let that go through the machine, but each to his own.
Needless to say, the Law of Sod was fully operational; we finished the chipping about 15 minutes too late to be sure of getting the chipper back to the hire shop before it closed.
As we’d got so close, David kindly sent me off to have a shower, while he tidied up the fallen leaves and cleaned the chipper as much as possible (without getting out the power washer). We also loaded the chipper back onto the trailer to be able to get going early the next day.
In a way, it worked out in our favour: the nice man in the hire shop only charged us two days hire (it was one of those “could go either way” choices – we’d been told the machine would be available after 10.30 on the Thursday, so we did have it a little less than 2 days, but we were returning it on day 3...); we visited the depot vente and bought three flat irons for less than a tenner; we got to have lunch out in Troyes.
So, no complaints then!
And it looked lovely when we got back to a clean tidy drive/garden.
We hired a chipper/shredder for three days, which was too big to fit in the car, so we also hired a trailer.
Given that it was nearly £100 a day for the combo, we were trying to get all the chipping done in time to return the machine on Friday evening.
The money that would save would pay for my (much dreamed of) night in a hotel. And, more importantly, that soak in a bath! So quite an incentive to keep going when we’d had enough.
I was already quite achy from chopping down the trees/pulling up the ivy and hauling all the remains to the piles to be shredded or the compost heap, and after about four hours was getting tired.
I threw the stick, but caught my thumb in the pocket of my boiler suit, so the stick sailed off at right angles, and I jarred my wrist!
David needed the stick to prod into the chipper to clear any leafy residue that would block the machine. [Given that everything was sodden – intermittent, but heavy, rain being order of the day – and that we’d cleared blockages a couple of times, we were keen not to have to poke around the blades another time. Yes, motor turned off, spark plug removed!]
When I was doing the chipping, I just prodded with a long branch to clear leaves and then let that go through the machine, but each to his own.
Needless to say, the Law of Sod was fully operational; we finished the chipping about 15 minutes too late to be sure of getting the chipper back to the hire shop before it closed.
As we’d got so close, David kindly sent me off to have a shower, while he tidied up the fallen leaves and cleaned the chipper as much as possible (without getting out the power washer). We also loaded the chipper back onto the trailer to be able to get going early the next day.
In a way, it worked out in our favour: the nice man in the hire shop only charged us two days hire (it was one of those “could go either way” choices – we’d been told the machine would be available after 10.30 on the Thursday, so we did have it a little less than 2 days, but we were returning it on day 3...); we visited the depot vente and bought three flat irons for less than a tenner; we got to have lunch out in Troyes.
So, no complaints then!
And it looked lovely when we got back to a clean tidy drive/garden.
Monday, September 24, 2007
I can hardly believe...
... that I've been here over four weeks!
Time has just flown by in a blur of weeding and, well basically more weeding! I've been trying to get the garden bit at the front as weed-free as possible in so that I can mulch it with pebbles - to suppress the weeds.
But no point putting the pebbles down until it is weed-free...
And fennel-seedling-free!! The fennel (unlike at home) has been the most promiscuous thug - both plants have surrounded themselves with numerous (deeply unwanted) offspring. So much so that I'm going to take out both plants as well as killing all the seedlings - I really can't face the results of them seeding another year.
This year I cut off all the flower heads as soon as the insects lost interest in them (before they could shed their seed). The green one was incredibly vigorous (again, compared to my one at home - one stem, about 18" high, one [or maybe two] flower head[s] - apparently the one in Brixton is not the norm!), but the bronze one was still overshadowing its neighbours.
Technically, I suppose, what I was doing for one of the weeks couldn't really be called "weeding"!
Weeding-too-late?
Lumberjacking?
Either way, I've been chopping down trees (about 3 dozen, I reckon, not including various shrubs). I felt terribly rugged; but also a bit scared - the [deceased] neighbour's shed (is that the word for something about 40' x 30'?) is right on the property boundary, awfully close to where my trees were coming down...
I was envisaging having to phone the notaire to try to contact the beneficiaries to apologise if the roof sustained "tree damage"; not something I relished, so I think that made me super careful.
Technically, again, I suppose "trees" might be too strong a word for it? They were maybe saplings? Anyway, they were mostly ash, 2½" to 4" in diameter and 20' to 25' tall (at a guess).
My theory is that when M. Lorin's wife died, and he lost interest in everything, he stopped spraying everywhere quite as thoroughly as usual. So these ash seedlings were allowed to grow for a year or two...
Then we bought the house, and didn't do anything about them for (nearly) three years. A couple of ivy-strangled rotten damsons as well.
Hence me getting out the "suspendies" and "high heels"!
Struggled on the "buttered scones" though...
Paris-Brest not quite the same!
Once all the trees were down (and the evidence "hidden" - I will try to post a photo, then you'll see what I mean!), I spent another week pulling out all the ivy between the bases of the trees, and down the banks.
["For the love of ivy" it was not!]
Still have to get rid of the stumps, tho'!
Time has just flown by in a blur of weeding and, well basically more weeding! I've been trying to get the garden bit at the front as weed-free as possible in so that I can mulch it with pebbles - to suppress the weeds.
But no point putting the pebbles down until it is weed-free...
And fennel-seedling-free!! The fennel (unlike at home) has been the most promiscuous thug - both plants have surrounded themselves with numerous (deeply unwanted) offspring. So much so that I'm going to take out both plants as well as killing all the seedlings - I really can't face the results of them seeding another year.
This year I cut off all the flower heads as soon as the insects lost interest in them (before they could shed their seed). The green one was incredibly vigorous (again, compared to my one at home - one stem, about 18" high, one [or maybe two] flower head[s] - apparently the one in Brixton is not the norm!), but the bronze one was still overshadowing its neighbours.
Technically, I suppose, what I was doing for one of the weeks couldn't really be called "weeding"!
Weeding-too-late?
Lumberjacking?
Either way, I've been chopping down trees (about 3 dozen, I reckon, not including various shrubs). I felt terribly rugged; but also a bit scared - the [deceased] neighbour's shed (is that the word for something about 40' x 30'?) is right on the property boundary, awfully close to where my trees were coming down...
I was envisaging having to phone the notaire to try to contact the beneficiaries to apologise if the roof sustained "tree damage"; not something I relished, so I think that made me super careful.
Technically, again, I suppose "trees" might be too strong a word for it? They were maybe saplings? Anyway, they were mostly ash, 2½" to 4" in diameter and 20' to 25' tall (at a guess).
My theory is that when M. Lorin's wife died, and he lost interest in everything, he stopped spraying everywhere quite as thoroughly as usual. So these ash seedlings were allowed to grow for a year or two...
Then we bought the house, and didn't do anything about them for (nearly) three years. A couple of ivy-strangled rotten damsons as well.
Hence me getting out the "suspendies" and "high heels"!
Struggled on the "buttered scones" though...
Paris-Brest not quite the same!
Once all the trees were down (and the evidence "hidden" - I will try to post a photo, then you'll see what I mean!), I spent another week pulling out all the ivy between the bases of the trees, and down the banks.
["For the love of ivy" it was not!]
Still have to get rid of the stumps, tho'!
Friday, August 10, 2007
David
A couple of minor bits of bad news.
Firstly, he went on a Track Day at Dijon Prenois which he was really looking forward to.
Especially after his last track outing!
I'd watched him do 3 or 4 laps, and could see he was taking it sensibly while he was getting to know the circuit, and then as it was one of the few very hot days we've had I went back to the car to apply some stronger sunblock.
I was just sending a text, when he appeared next to me: some idiot had run wide on a bend and hit David's handlebars, knocking him off course.
Needless to say, a sudden change of direction when you were on the right line for a bend usually proves messy.
As it did on this occasion.
Sadly the chap who ran into him seemed to have the same level of manners as skill in riding, and he never stopped to see if David was OK.
At first he thought his finger was broken, but having tried (fruitlessly) for nearly an hour to find a paramedic, he reckoned it was probably just badly bruised.
Obviously, given the scratching to the body work at his last track outing, it was the other side that took the brunt this time.
And the other lever!
At least he'd had the toughened engine cases fitted...
He said that given the listing said there were three categories of rider - fast, very fast & racer - and he'd put himself into the slowest group, he was amazed at how poor most of the riding was.
In the 4/5 laps he was out there, he saw 2 people come off the track, one near-miss, and a nasty accident that ended up with the guy going off to hospital in the ambulance.
Not mentioning his own little incident!
At least he's OK now.
Bikers Dayz (who deserve a big thumbs down on this occasion) had turned a 3 set track day into a single free-for-all filler space (morning and afternoon) in a endurance cup race meeting.
I had been to another track day they organised at Spa Francorchamps, which was lovely: very laid-back, well structured and I felt happy about David going to Dijon with them.
But the level of adrenaline/testosterone at the place made me feel quite uncomfortable (and I grew up with bikers, so it's not like Im not used to a bit of muck & sweat).
I left it to David to decide whether he wanted to go out for the afternoon session, but was mightily relieved when he decided against it.
Pretty expensive 20 minutes!
Especially when you factor in the petrol/motorway tolls & repairs to his bike & leathers.
On the up side, at least he hadn't booked his place till he was sure he was recovered from Rockingham, and by then the Saturday & Sunday spaces had all sold out - could have been several hundred euros worse.
Could also have been much, much worse.
A spoiled day, but compared to the alternatives we were happy.
On to the second bit of minor bad news: David went to the fracture clinic at Guy's yesterday, and his collarbone is not healing as well as it should.
The doctor said it was a nasty break (well, I can see a nasty bump, so find that easy to believe), and David now tells me he is getting tingling/numbness in his hand.
Neurological symptoms can be a side effect of a collarbone fracture where the callus presses on the brachial plexus, but I'm now worried that they might want to operate on him.
Not happy about that, but will have to wait and see...
He has a physio appointment booked for next week, and another appointment at the fracture clinic in three weeks as the doctor wanted to discuss his care with a specialist.
Keep your fingers crossed, and watch this space.
Firstly, he went on a Track Day at Dijon Prenois which he was really looking forward to.
Especially after his last track outing!
I'd watched him do 3 or 4 laps, and could see he was taking it sensibly while he was getting to know the circuit, and then as it was one of the few very hot days we've had I went back to the car to apply some stronger sunblock.
I was just sending a text, when he appeared next to me: some idiot had run wide on a bend and hit David's handlebars, knocking him off course.
Needless to say, a sudden change of direction when you were on the right line for a bend usually proves messy.
As it did on this occasion.
Sadly the chap who ran into him seemed to have the same level of manners as skill in riding, and he never stopped to see if David was OK.
At first he thought his finger was broken, but having tried (fruitlessly) for nearly an hour to find a paramedic, he reckoned it was probably just badly bruised.
Obviously, given the scratching to the body work at his last track outing, it was the other side that took the brunt this time.
And the other lever!
At least he'd had the toughened engine cases fitted...
He said that given the listing said there were three categories of rider - fast, very fast & racer - and he'd put himself into the slowest group, he was amazed at how poor most of the riding was.
In the 4/5 laps he was out there, he saw 2 people come off the track, one near-miss, and a nasty accident that ended up with the guy going off to hospital in the ambulance.
Not mentioning his own little incident!
At least he's OK now.
Bikers Dayz (who deserve a big thumbs down on this occasion) had turned a 3 set track day into a single free-for-all filler space (morning and afternoon) in a endurance cup race meeting.
I had been to another track day they organised at Spa Francorchamps, which was lovely: very laid-back, well structured and I felt happy about David going to Dijon with them.
But the level of adrenaline/testosterone at the place made me feel quite uncomfortable (and I grew up with bikers, so it's not like Im not used to a bit of muck & sweat).
I left it to David to decide whether he wanted to go out for the afternoon session, but was mightily relieved when he decided against it.
Pretty expensive 20 minutes!
Especially when you factor in the petrol/motorway tolls & repairs to his bike & leathers.
On the up side, at least he hadn't booked his place till he was sure he was recovered from Rockingham, and by then the Saturday & Sunday spaces had all sold out - could have been several hundred euros worse.
Could also have been much, much worse.
A spoiled day, but compared to the alternatives we were happy.
On to the second bit of minor bad news: David went to the fracture clinic at Guy's yesterday, and his collarbone is not healing as well as it should.
The doctor said it was a nasty break (well, I can see a nasty bump, so find that easy to believe), and David now tells me he is getting tingling/numbness in his hand.
Neurological symptoms can be a side effect of a collarbone fracture where the callus presses on the brachial plexus, but I'm now worried that they might want to operate on him.
Not happy about that, but will have to wait and see...
He has a physio appointment booked for next week, and another appointment at the fracture clinic in three weeks as the doctor wanted to discuss his care with a specialist.
Keep your fingers crossed, and watch this space.
A sign I'm getting middle-aged?
I no longer seem terribly interested in clothes - the last time I put any real effort into getting dressed (to the extent of trying on more than one outfit/trying things on in advance) was a lovely friend's wedding in late April.
Don't get me wrong, I do (sometimes) think about what I'm going to wear, but it's mostly track suits & t-shirts, so the decision is often: blue or grey (track suit)? And then: which one (choice of 3 in each colour)? Followed by: long-sleeve or short (t-shirt)? And: black, white or coloured?
The scary part of this is: I think I might be turning into my aunt!
It's bad enough when I'm frightened I'm turning into my mother.
Apparently, that's almost inevitable, but at least mostly she looks OK.
I love my aunt to bits, but when she's working in the garden she looks like she shops from jumble-sale rejects!
The outfit that got me thinking was: €3 (from a supermarket) t-shirt (sleeveless, brown, meant to look like US Army surplus); £1 (off the market) long, baggy shorts (red/blue check seersucker, with a pattern dripped onto the front in bleach - I didn't do that!); blue (a different blue, of course!) socks that I bought 22 years ago when I went to college (so I really can't remember the cost, but think I may have had my money's worth!); dingy green gardening clogs (another cheap purchase, but again I can't remember how much).
I believe I may have topped it all of with my cricket sixes souvenir hat (the cheap flimsy ones they sell to people who want memorabilia/forget their expensive "proper" hat) from the mid 1990s!
And then yesterday I was sitting in the kitchen feeling really lucky to have the sort of husband who doesn't mind me sitting eating lunch in my boiler suit & wellies!
Don't get me wrong, I do (sometimes) think about what I'm going to wear, but it's mostly track suits & t-shirts, so the decision is often: blue or grey (track suit)? And then: which one (choice of 3 in each colour)? Followed by: long-sleeve or short (t-shirt)? And: black, white or coloured?
The scary part of this is: I think I might be turning into my aunt!
It's bad enough when I'm frightened I'm turning into my mother.
Apparently, that's almost inevitable, but at least mostly she looks OK.
I love my aunt to bits, but when she's working in the garden she looks like she shops from jumble-sale rejects!
The outfit that got me thinking was: €3 (from a supermarket) t-shirt (sleeveless, brown, meant to look like US Army surplus); £1 (off the market) long, baggy shorts (red/blue check seersucker, with a pattern dripped onto the front in bleach - I didn't do that!); blue (a different blue, of course!) socks that I bought 22 years ago when I went to college (so I really can't remember the cost, but think I may have had my money's worth!); dingy green gardening clogs (another cheap purchase, but again I can't remember how much).
I believe I may have topped it all of with my cricket sixes souvenir hat (the cheap flimsy ones they sell to people who want memorabilia/forget their expensive "proper" hat) from the mid 1990s!
And then yesterday I was sitting in the kitchen feeling really lucky to have the sort of husband who doesn't mind me sitting eating lunch in my boiler suit & wellies!
Creatures: update 2
I've been amazed at how the birdlife has increased since we started the garden.
When we were first here there was a collared dove who used to drink in the tub that catches rainwater from the roof, and a pair of redstarts.
Oh, and the owl who took up residence for a while in the grenier!
I'm glad he's moved on (but I don't think he's gone far; there have been owl pellets in the barn! Oh, and hedgehog droppings), as I didn't want to have to move him from our "guest accomodation", but his mess was a bit off-putting...
Now, I have seen some goldfinches on the seed heads in the garden and we have a family of sparrows, several great tits (well, they look a bit yellow, but I think they're great tits), some blue tits and a whole bunch of restarts!
The redstarts are currently acting like humming birds, and hovering as they pluck berries of the elderberry.
Very entertaining!
Thinking of humming birds sadly reminds me of the dead hummingbird hawk moth I found...
I had seen one (or three, I'm not sure which) get stuck 3 times in the flowers of a pink evening primrose.
I know that sounds odd, but he definitely didn't seem to be able to extract his proboscis.
I thought I'd "rescue" him/them, so gently prised the flower apart. The fact that he/they didn't fly off until I had separated the tube at the base of the flower leads me to believe I was right that he/they were trapped.
I'd been checking the clumps of "Twilight" (that's the name of the oenothera; sadly apt in this case) in case I saw any more apparently stuck, when I found this one dead.
His proboscis was still attached to the flower.
So now I'm left wondering whether this was one hummingbird hawk moth with something wrong with him, or whether pink evening primroses are fatal?!
On a (much) happier note: I found the chap who left the mystery poo in the barn!
Well, the droppings were a mystery till I'd described them to mum over the phone and she said "hedgehog!".
I have moved an old oil barrel and he was there underneath it asleep.
I didn't dare roll the barrel back to where it was, in case I crushed him, but he'd wandered off a little while later, so I'm guessing he'll be OK.
When we were first here there was a collared dove who used to drink in the tub that catches rainwater from the roof, and a pair of redstarts.
Oh, and the owl who took up residence for a while in the grenier!
I'm glad he's moved on (but I don't think he's gone far; there have been owl pellets in the barn! Oh, and hedgehog droppings), as I didn't want to have to move him from our "guest accomodation", but his mess was a bit off-putting...
Now, I have seen some goldfinches on the seed heads in the garden and we have a family of sparrows, several great tits (well, they look a bit yellow, but I think they're great tits), some blue tits and a whole bunch of restarts!
The redstarts are currently acting like humming birds, and hovering as they pluck berries of the elderberry.
Very entertaining!
Thinking of humming birds sadly reminds me of the dead hummingbird hawk moth I found...
I had seen one (or three, I'm not sure which) get stuck 3 times in the flowers of a pink evening primrose.
I know that sounds odd, but he definitely didn't seem to be able to extract his proboscis.
I thought I'd "rescue" him/them, so gently prised the flower apart. The fact that he/they didn't fly off until I had separated the tube at the base of the flower leads me to believe I was right that he/they were trapped.
I'd been checking the clumps of "Twilight" (that's the name of the oenothera; sadly apt in this case) in case I saw any more apparently stuck, when I found this one dead.
His proboscis was still attached to the flower.
So now I'm left wondering whether this was one hummingbird hawk moth with something wrong with him, or whether pink evening primroses are fatal?!
On a (much) happier note: I found the chap who left the mystery poo in the barn!
Well, the droppings were a mystery till I'd described them to mum over the phone and she said "hedgehog!".
I have moved an old oil barrel and he was there underneath it asleep.
I didn't dare roll the barrel back to where it was, in case I crushed him, but he'd wandered off a little while later, so I'm guessing he'll be OK.
Creatures: update
We have seen loads of deer - at least 30, but I've lost count!
I think they are all the smaller chevreuil (which comes up as "roe deer" or "venison", depending on your usage!).
These are the ones Sergine told us that Patrick doesn't hunt as they are "minou" (cute). Privately, we have our suspicions that when Sergine doesn't know about it, they become venison!
I think all the butterflies have finished for the year...
This week I have only seen a couple of Cabbage Whites, and haven't seen any of the bigger ones (Peacock, Tortoiseshell, Silver-Washed Fritillary or either type of Swallowtail) for a while.
Well, I suppose with the weather how it is (cold, wet & miserable), they must feel autumn's here!
We did have 2 glorious days of summer, but that is so long ago - nearly a week! ;-) - that I've forgotten how warm it was!
When I took David to the station it was 30°C in the shade, and that was Sunday at 7.15pm.
Five days later and I'll be bringing him back to a different season!
As if to emphasise how wet it's been, I had to chase a tiger (leopard?) slug out of the kitchen.
Normally I'm not squeamish, and they get dealt with using salt or a heavy boot, but this chap was enormous!
I measured him, and he was 7" long from the tip of his eye-stalks to the tip of his tail...
Didn't feel like arguing with him, and had no big stick to hand, so prodded him with a bit of copper piping till he went back out under the door.
Can't wait for the place to be finished so M. Baty can finish off under the doors!
That would keep the shrews out as well! ;-)
But not the swallow...!
I would have thought it's too late for nesting, but one definitely had been checking out the hole where our kitchen stove will be connected to!
Thankfully (unlike the bat!), he just took off out again when told to "shoo"!
I think they are all the smaller chevreuil (which comes up as "roe deer" or "venison", depending on your usage!).
These are the ones Sergine told us that Patrick doesn't hunt as they are "minou" (cute). Privately, we have our suspicions that when Sergine doesn't know about it, they become venison!
I think all the butterflies have finished for the year...
This week I have only seen a couple of Cabbage Whites, and haven't seen any of the bigger ones (Peacock, Tortoiseshell, Silver-Washed Fritillary or either type of Swallowtail) for a while.
Well, I suppose with the weather how it is (cold, wet & miserable), they must feel autumn's here!
We did have 2 glorious days of summer, but that is so long ago - nearly a week! ;-) - that I've forgotten how warm it was!
When I took David to the station it was 30°C in the shade, and that was Sunday at 7.15pm.
Five days later and I'll be bringing him back to a different season!
As if to emphasise how wet it's been, I had to chase a tiger (leopard?) slug out of the kitchen.
Normally I'm not squeamish, and they get dealt with using salt or a heavy boot, but this chap was enormous!
I measured him, and he was 7" long from the tip of his eye-stalks to the tip of his tail...
Didn't feel like arguing with him, and had no big stick to hand, so prodded him with a bit of copper piping till he went back out under the door.
Can't wait for the place to be finished so M. Baty can finish off under the doors!
That would keep the shrews out as well! ;-)
But not the swallow...!
I would have thought it's too late for nesting, but one definitely had been checking out the hole where our kitchen stove will be connected to!
Thankfully (unlike the bat!), he just took off out again when told to "shoo"!
Last day tomorrow...
Sadly, I'm going back to the UK (very early) on Sunday, so tomorrow is my last day here for a while. :(
Which means that I've really only got today to do those things I only want David to know about after I've done them (like moving tons of soil or digging out the patio or excavating my second sink)!
Things on my "to do" list include:
* Finish cleaning the fireplace
* Finish paint-stripping the second ceiling rose (well, while I've got the caustic soda/wallpaper paste & pressure-washer on the go it seems daft not to)
* Scrub some more of the floor in the grenier
* Wood worm treat the beams in the grenier, and the part of the floor in the corner so I can start putting the old doors there next time we come
I wish I'd known about mixing caustic soda with wallpaper paste to remove paint (also makes a good dent in tar!), then blasting off the gunk with a pressure washer before!
Which means that I've really only got today to do those things I only want David to know about after I've done them (like moving tons of soil or digging out the patio or excavating my second sink)!
Things on my "to do" list include:
* Finish cleaning the fireplace
* Finish paint-stripping the second ceiling rose (well, while I've got the caustic soda/wallpaper paste & pressure-washer on the go it seems daft not to)
* Scrub some more of the floor in the grenier
* Wood worm treat the beams in the grenier, and the part of the floor in the corner so I can start putting the old doors there next time we come
I wish I'd known about mixing caustic soda with wallpaper paste to remove paint (also makes a good dent in tar!), then blasting off the gunk with a pressure washer before!
When I was cleaning the first ceiling rose (lovely, Victorian cast-iron) I spent many hours and many pounds applying Nitromors, scraping away the resultant yuk and rinsing.
Don't get me wrong, Nitromors is great stuff (and probably much better when used indoors), but the lessive de soudre (which we are fairly sure is liquid caustic soda) when mixed with enough wallpaper paste crystals to make a fairly gloopy solution is brilliant!
It can be as thick/runny as you like, and (unlike the Nitromors) doesn't start to dry very quickly.
I've left some over an hour and it was still a gel when I came to wash it off.
The pressure-washer is also fabulous!
Yesterday I stripped off as much paint from the second ceiling rose (not an exact pair to the other one, but like a king & queen pair - without the encircling arches, but otherwise identical) as had taken me many weekends on the first go.
Which is why the first one wasn't finished till yesterday - took about 40 minutes to get the last clinging remnants of paint off.
Mind you, there were at least 8 coats of paint (I know; I "excavated" down through the layers!) and maybe 11 (but I can't remember) on that one.
The more recent aquisition had no more than 3 or 4 layers - but the paint was much thicker. Looked/felt as though someone had plastered it first!
My other "Victorian clean up job" is the grain-loft floor: I've been scrubbing the walls (they look so much better, that it doesn't seem like a mad thing to do when you see "after"), and next to the newly clean stone, the floor looked positively horrid.
Given the amount or rain than we've had this week, an indoors job was really appealing - rather than wading about outside in the mud.
Or so I thought!
It took me 40 minutes (probably the length of my attention span) to scrub the ten boards to the left of one of the ties.
The water was so filthy I had to change it (I'd cleaned 2-3 square metres!), so I mopped the rest of the bit I was doing.
The scrubbed area was so much better, but so time consuming!
I expect it's the first time that floor has ever been scrubbed (it was never living accomodation, although that's what we plan for it).
Top tip: 150+ years worth of mud takes some cleaning!
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Lucky escape!
I was just about to hack out a particularly revolting looking dandelion when I noticed some stones around the base.
I have been putting piles of stones round everything I plant for two reasons:
1) It marks when a plant may have died back, so it doesn’t get hoed off
2) The stones help conserve the moisture around the roots – a great help until the plant is established
So, I followed the stones until I found out what else should be in the planting hole – in case I damaged it when slashing through the dandelion root.
Oops, nearly just killed a chicory plant – I’ve seen the ragged blue flowers by the side of the road for years, and longed to have some in my garden – and finally found a plant this spring.
Lucky, eh?
I have been putting piles of stones round everything I plant for two reasons:
1) It marks when a plant may have died back, so it doesn’t get hoed off
2) The stones help conserve the moisture around the roots – a great help until the plant is established
So, I followed the stones until I found out what else should be in the planting hole – in case I damaged it when slashing through the dandelion root.
Oops, nearly just killed a chicory plant – I’ve seen the ragged blue flowers by the side of the road for years, and longed to have some in my garden – and finally found a plant this spring.
Lucky, eh?
Gardening
I’ve weeded and/or hoed the entire part of the front yard that is garden, and cut back the weeds around the edges to stop them flowering before we can spray them.
David has strimmed the drive (and we will weedkill that too, once the weather is suitable – i.e. not raining/not 36°C/not windy).
I created a compost mountain, from all the unwanted growth, and it isn’t finished yet!
I did a bit of tree “surgery” on the “pig” damson…
It’s coming out anyway – ugly, rotten to the core & the damsons, according to M. Lorin, are only fit for pigs – and I thought it would do less damage when felled if I removed the lowest branch...
Of course, I’ve had to hide the evidence…
The tree will definitely cause less harm on its way down now (it’s about half the size!), and there’s still another small branch I might be able to reach (when no-one’s looking!)…
I’m slightly sad there are no home-grown courgettes, but I don’t think it’s too late to plant them, if Botanic has any left…
I bought a length of rope last year – well, you never know when you might be glad of a bit of rope!
This year I’ve been so grateful for it – and pleased that it’s either hemp or flax, so quite rough to the touch: I’ve been clearing round the earth closet, so I could plant some ferns there, and decided to move the beams that were there…
I’ve moved about 8 or 9 (or maybe 10 or 11?), all of which were too heavy to drag without the rope. So that has been an absolute bonus! Because of its rough texture, it “gripped” the wood nicely to give me enough purchase to drag them to the “rotting wood pile”
I had to saw a couple of the beams in two, they were far to big to drag, even with the rope (and still a struggle in their diminished form). I’ve also hand dragged/carried about another half-dozen smaller beams to the woodpile.
So, there is now lots of nice rotting wood for whatever it is that you create these pile for… Stag beetle larvae?
And the edges of the garden are also a whole load tidier!
It’s pretty good being able to justify one’s purchases. [MJM: if you’re reading… I might have lied a bit about taking it really easy…] And I was right about a nice bit of rope!
Since the weather changed for the better, I’ve been starting work around 6 am (it’s too dark any earlier, and I can’t see what I’m doing)…
There’s nothing to make you feel virtuous like having done an hour’s hard physical work and it’s not yet 7 am; you particularly deserve that freshly-baked croissant!
David has strimmed the drive (and we will weedkill that too, once the weather is suitable – i.e. not raining/not 36°C/not windy).
I created a compost mountain, from all the unwanted growth, and it isn’t finished yet!
I did a bit of tree “surgery” on the “pig” damson…
It’s coming out anyway – ugly, rotten to the core & the damsons, according to M. Lorin, are only fit for pigs – and I thought it would do less damage when felled if I removed the lowest branch...
Of course, I’ve had to hide the evidence…
The tree will definitely cause less harm on its way down now (it’s about half the size!), and there’s still another small branch I might be able to reach (when no-one’s looking!)…
I’m slightly sad there are no home-grown courgettes, but I don’t think it’s too late to plant them, if Botanic has any left…
I bought a length of rope last year – well, you never know when you might be glad of a bit of rope!
This year I’ve been so grateful for it – and pleased that it’s either hemp or flax, so quite rough to the touch: I’ve been clearing round the earth closet, so I could plant some ferns there, and decided to move the beams that were there…
I’ve moved about 8 or 9 (or maybe 10 or 11?), all of which were too heavy to drag without the rope. So that has been an absolute bonus! Because of its rough texture, it “gripped” the wood nicely to give me enough purchase to drag them to the “rotting wood pile”
I had to saw a couple of the beams in two, they were far to big to drag, even with the rope (and still a struggle in their diminished form). I’ve also hand dragged/carried about another half-dozen smaller beams to the woodpile.
So, there is now lots of nice rotting wood for whatever it is that you create these pile for… Stag beetle larvae?
And the edges of the garden are also a whole load tidier!
It’s pretty good being able to justify one’s purchases. [MJM: if you’re reading… I might have lied a bit about taking it really easy…] And I was right about a nice bit of rope!
Since the weather changed for the better, I’ve been starting work around 6 am (it’s too dark any earlier, and I can’t see what I’m doing)…
There’s nothing to make you feel virtuous like having done an hour’s hard physical work and it’s not yet 7 am; you particularly deserve that freshly-baked croissant!
Creatures:
My wildlife spotting has been pretty successful this trip…
As we left Calais, a hare ran across the motorway in front of our car – we got a really great view of him.
Sadly, there was a dead shrew lying under David’s chair – but don’t be sad, I’ve got plenty of live ones in the house! If I knew how to post a video, I could prove it!!
I was sitting quietly one evening, and could hear squeaking…
Normally I only get to hear rustling or pitter-pattering of footsteps, so I was looking around for the little chap, and saw movement in a Pyrex jug on the top shelf of our “kitchen unit”…
Needless to say, he/she was turfed-out pretty promptly, but I saw another one (the same one?) the next night.
I can’t bring myself to stamp on them (it was in the middle of the floor nosing round my clog, so I could have done), so I chased him out under the door…
But of course they come back!
Another reason for wanting the building work finished – there’s no point killing them all off if a new batch can just march under the door.
But I would like the place rodent-proofed…
It does feel as though the most popular mouse-gym in the area is the one above our bedroom!
I’ve also seen:
* a hornet (not so much fun – I kept very still),
* a swallowtail butterfly,
* a scarce swallowtail butterfly (similar, but different),
* a silver-washed fritillary
* a cinnabar moth (I think),
* a praying mantis,
* goldfinches eating seeds in the garden,
* redstarts catching the camouflage grasshoppers with the blue wings,
* one of the house spiders dealing with a fly (not so nice),
* the bathroom spider and his pile of corpses (not so nice, either),
* a hedgehog – unfortunately I disturbed his sleeping place under an oil drum I didn’t want dumped under the trees!
* & lots of teeth – does that count? I think M. Thiele might have been a horse dentist in his spare time… ;-)
Weeds galore!
What I didn’t mention was the jungle that met us on arrival!
I’m sure the smallest weeds were knee high – the rest had gone for waist/chest/shoulder height with a few reaching far above our heads!
In the two-and-a-bit months since we were last here, the garden has gone mad!
It’s been sufficiently warm for everything to grow really well, coupled with immense amounts of rain – what more could the weeds ask for!
Ever so slightly (spot the ironic understatement there?) demoralising…
At least I’d weeded thoroughly the last time – I dread to think what it would have been like if I hadn’t spent about 35 hours putting the garden to rights in April!
I’m pleased to say that in the three weeks since I got here, I’ve managed to get the garden under control again.
I’ve spent 84 hours working out there – not all of it dealing with weeds, but a large proportion was spent weeding or hoeing – and it looks like a garden again.
I never help myself by having loads of little plants to plant when I come out!
Now it’s sorted (for the time being), I can go to “Botanic” and buy some more plants!!
Wrestling with the "overgrowth", I’ve brushed up against lots of the herb plants I’d put in: fennel, lavender, thyme, rosemary, marjoram etc.
The smell has been glorious – if it wasn’t for the weather, I could have been in Provence!
I’m sure the smallest weeds were knee high – the rest had gone for waist/chest/shoulder height with a few reaching far above our heads!
In the two-and-a-bit months since we were last here, the garden has gone mad!
It’s been sufficiently warm for everything to grow really well, coupled with immense amounts of rain – what more could the weeds ask for!
Ever so slightly (spot the ironic understatement there?) demoralising…
At least I’d weeded thoroughly the last time – I dread to think what it would have been like if I hadn’t spent about 35 hours putting the garden to rights in April!
I’m pleased to say that in the three weeks since I got here, I’ve managed to get the garden under control again.
I’ve spent 84 hours working out there – not all of it dealing with weeds, but a large proportion was spent weeding or hoeing – and it looks like a garden again.
I never help myself by having loads of little plants to plant when I come out!
Now it’s sorted (for the time being), I can go to “Botanic” and buy some more plants!!
Wrestling with the "overgrowth", I’ve brushed up against lots of the herb plants I’d put in: fennel, lavender, thyme, rosemary, marjoram etc.
The smell has been glorious – if it wasn’t for the weather, I could have been in Provence!
Friday, July 20, 2007
Back again!
Back in France again, and today I’m loving it! (OK, so I wrote that a few days ago, but I'm still loving it!)
Yesterday was the first proper “summer” day we’ve had (the weather’s been like England, but colder at night and without the flooding!). It’s amazing how much happier you are when the sun is shining…
All the little irritations seem so trivial when you are no longer cold & wet (apart from the power supply, more of which later…).
For instance, when it’s cold, I mind having to put a wooden slatted mat down in front of the shower, and then use the towelling bath mat (it’s been too wet to dry out the wooden mat, if I get that wet! Chopping boards & wooden spoons had gone mouldy!).
Obviously, I can’t leave the wooden mat down (and it’s amazing how heavy things are when you’re tired and your back really aches), because then it would be in the way of the kitchen sink!!
Because everywhere is unfinished concrete, there’s so much dust, you daren’t drop anything on the floor – so that means dragging a (heavy-enough, metal) chair round to put the towel/clothes/dressing gown on (putting them on the draining board leads to some stuff falling off and getting very mucky!).
And then there’s getting naked to shower – not bad, in itself: the immersion heater seems remarkably efficient!
But the trying to get dry as quickly as possible afterwards without feeling a draught is the worst part. When it’s only about 12°C, you notice the draughts.
And of course you then have to put the mat and chair away.
I’m itching for the day when I can just chuck dirty clothes in the laundry bin and pad naked across the bathroom to the shower and not get cold/have to close the shutters first so no one on the road can see in!
Did I mention that?
As I say, when it’s warm that all just seems part of the fun!
Needless to say, it gets too hot to work outside pretty quickly, but I can usually find something to do under the trees (it’s usually at least 10 - 15°C cooler in the shade), or even clean something in the house…
Yesterday though I couldn’t put off any longer the dreaded task of trying to connect up to the Internet…
France Telecom vs. Orange:
I’ve read so many stories about France Telecom, and its attitude to customer service (as in “what’s that? No, we don’t do that”!) that I was dreading trying to get a line put in the house.
The worst stories I’ve come across were 2 different sets of people, both of whom had to wait over 12 months to get a phone line!
So, as I say, expecting a frustrating experience…
David phoned France Telecom on the English speaking number that you can call from abroad (you can find it after quite a while in fruitless searching on their less than user-friendly website!) on Thursday afternoon.
Monday morning, I got an email from M. Lorin (who’d kindly let the chap into the house) telling us the phone line was up and running!
Wow!
Orange, on the other hand, after three reminder phone calls (not to mention the numerous aborted attempts when their phone wouldn’t ring, or David had to give up after hanging on in a queue for 15, 20, or even 25 minutes) FINALLY sent out the letter giving our log-in details over a month later!
I should mention that it took only the one phone call to order both phone and broadband, but that was as close as it got to seamless!
Nearly five weeks before we could use the Internet, but they still managed to charge for it!
I’m not so fussed about having the Internet over here, but the package we went for includes free telephone calls to the UK as well as France and French mobiles – that’s what I was after!
It was a palaver, but not nearly as bad as trying to install the BT broadband – that just didn’t work and the instructions didn’t relate to anything that appeared on the screen!
At least the booklet was very user friendly with loads of pictures (that corresponded exactly to what was on screen). Still took a long time, but worth it now.
It was only when I was packing away the box & leftovers that I found a fold-out poster with all the steps on one page! Well, never mind!
Yesterday was the first proper “summer” day we’ve had (the weather’s been like England, but colder at night and without the flooding!). It’s amazing how much happier you are when the sun is shining…
All the little irritations seem so trivial when you are no longer cold & wet (apart from the power supply, more of which later…).
For instance, when it’s cold, I mind having to put a wooden slatted mat down in front of the shower, and then use the towelling bath mat (it’s been too wet to dry out the wooden mat, if I get that wet! Chopping boards & wooden spoons had gone mouldy!).
Obviously, I can’t leave the wooden mat down (and it’s amazing how heavy things are when you’re tired and your back really aches), because then it would be in the way of the kitchen sink!!
Because everywhere is unfinished concrete, there’s so much dust, you daren’t drop anything on the floor – so that means dragging a (heavy-enough, metal) chair round to put the towel/clothes/dressing gown on (putting them on the draining board leads to some stuff falling off and getting very mucky!).
And then there’s getting naked to shower – not bad, in itself: the immersion heater seems remarkably efficient!
But the trying to get dry as quickly as possible afterwards without feeling a draught is the worst part. When it’s only about 12°C, you notice the draughts.
And of course you then have to put the mat and chair away.
I’m itching for the day when I can just chuck dirty clothes in the laundry bin and pad naked across the bathroom to the shower and not get cold/have to close the shutters first so no one on the road can see in!
Did I mention that?
As I say, when it’s warm that all just seems part of the fun!
Needless to say, it gets too hot to work outside pretty quickly, but I can usually find something to do under the trees (it’s usually at least 10 - 15°C cooler in the shade), or even clean something in the house…
Yesterday though I couldn’t put off any longer the dreaded task of trying to connect up to the Internet…
France Telecom vs. Orange:
I’ve read so many stories about France Telecom, and its attitude to customer service (as in “what’s that? No, we don’t do that”!) that I was dreading trying to get a line put in the house.
The worst stories I’ve come across were 2 different sets of people, both of whom had to wait over 12 months to get a phone line!
So, as I say, expecting a frustrating experience…
David phoned France Telecom on the English speaking number that you can call from abroad (you can find it after quite a while in fruitless searching on their less than user-friendly website!) on Thursday afternoon.
Monday morning, I got an email from M. Lorin (who’d kindly let the chap into the house) telling us the phone line was up and running!
Wow!
Orange, on the other hand, after three reminder phone calls (not to mention the numerous aborted attempts when their phone wouldn’t ring, or David had to give up after hanging on in a queue for 15, 20, or even 25 minutes) FINALLY sent out the letter giving our log-in details over a month later!
I should mention that it took only the one phone call to order both phone and broadband, but that was as close as it got to seamless!
Nearly five weeks before we could use the Internet, but they still managed to charge for it!
I’m not so fussed about having the Internet over here, but the package we went for includes free telephone calls to the UK as well as France and French mobiles – that’s what I was after!
It was a palaver, but not nearly as bad as trying to install the BT broadband – that just didn’t work and the instructions didn’t relate to anything that appeared on the screen!
At least the booklet was very user friendly with loads of pictures (that corresponded exactly to what was on screen). Still took a long time, but worth it now.
It was only when I was packing away the box & leftovers that I found a fold-out poster with all the steps on one page! Well, never mind!
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Progress Report
David, bless his heart doing his best to help with my "yellow" problem...!The problem is: I have an exact shade of yellow in mind to paint the dining room at home.
You'd think finding a colour-card in the same colour, and getting paint made up to that shade would work...
But no, you'd be wrong!
I've found 2 colour cards and had paint made up, but when I've painted the walls, the colour hasn't matched the colour card.
So, therefore, didn't match the colour in my head!
Unfortunately, the colours David came up with had already been discounted as not soft enough! But nice try!
Seriously, though, his collar bone is healing, but he's not been signed off yet; there is still a section of the break that has not joined up yet. He's got almost full function back, so is not worried.
I'm hoping the next time he goes to the hospital he gets the "all clear".
AND that he makes that his last visit to hospital for a long time!
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Progress...
Or not...
Who knows?
We still haven't had any response from Dominique, and are nearly at the point (I hope!) that this could be slowing up starting work on the house again.
The latest news is that, with M. Boyer's help, we have contacted our house insurers (both the insurance company and their legal advice section). Originally, when David spoke to them, they both said 'try the other one' and 'we don't do that'...
I'm guessing the computer said "no!"... But M. Boyer said it was worth setting it all out in a letter, and trying again.
Which we did - we still got referred to the other part of the company by one half (can't remember which way round this is, sorry), but the other half has at least asked for further details...
Needless to say, we are keeping our fingers crossed.
We have also written to Dominique's insurers, to try to claim for the work he did before he stopped paying the premiums...
So again, fingers crossed.
We are also going to write a letter to Dominique giving him one last chance to deal with M. Boyer before we start legal proceedings against him.
Everything is taking so long, that it seems daft not to start proceedings!
And who says we have to continue...?
And, equally, who says we have to tell Dominique that we might not see it through to the bitter end!
Who knows?
We still haven't had any response from Dominique, and are nearly at the point (I hope!) that this could be slowing up starting work on the house again.
The latest news is that, with M. Boyer's help, we have contacted our house insurers (both the insurance company and their legal advice section). Originally, when David spoke to them, they both said 'try the other one' and 'we don't do that'...
I'm guessing the computer said "no!"... But M. Boyer said it was worth setting it all out in a letter, and trying again.
Which we did - we still got referred to the other part of the company by one half (can't remember which way round this is, sorry), but the other half has at least asked for further details...
Needless to say, we are keeping our fingers crossed.
We have also written to Dominique's insurers, to try to claim for the work he did before he stopped paying the premiums...
So again, fingers crossed.
We are also going to write a letter to Dominique giving him one last chance to deal with M. Boyer before we start legal proceedings against him.
Everything is taking so long, that it seems daft not to start proceedings!
And who says we have to continue...?
And, equally, who says we have to tell Dominique that we might not see it through to the bitter end!
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Update
The bad news is:
David has broken his collarbone
The good news is:
The boiler, after its little rest, started working again properly. I booked the annual service (a couple of months early) this morning, so that I can get it checked out.
Very glad not to have to do emergency call-outs on a Bank Holiday weekend with a broken husband due home!
I was so happy to have David home, in one piece (relatively!), and to have the flat warm and the boiler working so he could have a hot bath to relax. And remove the dust!
Aaahh! So relieved it wasn't worse...
David has broken his collarbone
The good news is:
The boiler, after its little rest, started working again properly. I booked the annual service (a couple of months early) this morning, so that I can get it checked out.
Very glad not to have to do emergency call-outs on a Bank Holiday weekend with a broken husband due home!
I was so happy to have David home, in one piece (relatively!), and to have the flat warm and the boiler working so he could have a hot bath to relax. And remove the dust!
Aaahh! So relieved it wasn't worse...
Sunday, May 06, 2007
"Been there, done that, got the T-shirt"
OK, so it's a different bone, but he's going to be wearing the T-shirt again!He's been told not to do that, but will he listen?!
Sadly, I had a call from David to say he'd crashed (this time at Rockingham), and was on his way to Kettering Hospital with a suspected broken collar bone.
He says the track day organisers may be able to take his bike back to St Albans, and he will arrange to collect it from there, but is anticipating a horrible train journey home. Well, it is Sunday on a Bank Holiday weekend, so it's bound to be deeply unpleasant - if trains are running, they're almost certain to be on an engineering schedule.
To add insult to injury, I have a nasty feeling the pump has gone on the boiler...
It fires up the gas burners, but no hot water is getting through to the taps/radiators. I'm leaving it for 20 minutes or so (I know stuff can have a bit of a nervous breakdown sometimes, and will kick in again after a little rest), so fingers crossed...
I just noticed that the box for 'Labels for this post:' suggests: scooter, vacation, fall as examples.
It could so easily have been: motorcycles, Bank Holiday, fall-off!!
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Change of style
I'm trying to keep my paragraphs short - I've tended to write like I would write a letter, but recently read a couple of other people's blogs, and liked the short paragraphs; made it easier to keep your place.
So I'm trying out the new "improved" (hopefully) version.
I've got a couple of friends who send occasional letters, and when I read their correspondence the way they write is so similar to the way they speak that I can "hear" their news. [No, not in the "needing a visit from the nice men in white coats" way!] It's almost like a verbal report. Does that make sense?
I've tried to do this blog in the same way I compose my letters, but I guess I've got to make some concessions to the difference between screen and paper. Being a complete Luddite (well, slightly less so, these days), I naturally prefer paper...
But having said that, I do occasionally come across blogs from complete strangers that I really enjoy, and there's no way I'd receive a letter from those people!
In my experience, the only strangers that send you letters (as opposed to flyers, reminders, etc. from companies you have dealings with - all the junk that goes with the business of living in the 21st Century) tend to be dangerous nutcases, so have I just accidentally made out a case against paper updates?
If you don't like it, please let me know... I suspect people who know me find long rambling paragraphs much more my style!
So I'm trying out the new "improved" (hopefully) version.
I've got a couple of friends who send occasional letters, and when I read their correspondence the way they write is so similar to the way they speak that I can "hear" their news. [No, not in the "needing a visit from the nice men in white coats" way!] It's almost like a verbal report. Does that make sense?
I've tried to do this blog in the same way I compose my letters, but I guess I've got to make some concessions to the difference between screen and paper. Being a complete Luddite (well, slightly less so, these days), I naturally prefer paper...
But having said that, I do occasionally come across blogs from complete strangers that I really enjoy, and there's no way I'd receive a letter from those people!
In my experience, the only strangers that send you letters (as opposed to flyers, reminders, etc. from companies you have dealings with - all the junk that goes with the business of living in the 21st Century) tend to be dangerous nutcases, so have I just accidentally made out a case against paper updates?
If you don't like it, please let me know... I suspect people who know me find long rambling paragraphs much more my style!
Last (hopefully) version of the plans
We finally got around to doing the amendments we wanted to the plans for M. Boyer. It looked like a massive amount, but in reality we were just changing the direction of several doors opening (I prefer them to open into a room - e.g. bathroom - so that no one gets clouted by someone exiting a room) and moving the upstairs loo slightly plus a few other "tweaks".
The fact that the upstairs loo will be done in phase 2 makes it seem bit odd to be worrying about it now, but if we're totally happy with the plans we can just forget about it. Then when we want to do phase 2 (yeah, right! I'd be happy to do phase one!) we won't have to think about it at all.
Not that thinking is a bad thing, but it feels as though life at the moment is spent repeating the following cycle:
The fact that the upstairs loo will be done in phase 2 makes it seem bit odd to be worrying about it now, but if we're totally happy with the plans we can just forget about it. Then when we want to do phase 2 (yeah, right! I'd be happy to do phase one!) we won't have to think about it at all.
Not that thinking is a bad thing, but it feels as though life at the moment is spent repeating the following cycle:
- Prepare questions, changes and new plans (as necessary) for the next visit to M. Boyer
- Visit M. Boyer, discuss his latest news and proposals and our ideas that we haven't emailed to him in the meantime
- Spend time at the house together discussing the outcome of the meeting
- Go home and prepare any changes, plus adding to my "To Do" list anything that has cropped up (like noticing that one of the bars on the kitchen window isn't true) and send anything important to M. Boyer
- Plan our next meeting with M. Boyer, and we're starting again at point 1.
Please don't misunderstand me, I'm much more happy to have the house (very VERY happy!), than I am unhappy about the thinking! I'm not even unhappy about the thought processes, but sometimes it seems a bit never-ending...
If we hadn't done all this once for/with Dominique, I might feel differently, who knows. But this time we both feel that we've been given a chance for a "fresh start" so have almost approached it again from scratch.
That's been good, because we have made one or two material changes, and I think the house will work/flow better because of it. And in year's time this will all be a distant memory!!
Well, as to that last sentence, please keep your fingers crossed for us!!
Friday, May 04, 2007
DO try this at home...
...or the office, or internet café
And do it soon, somebody without a sense of humour is sure to get wind of it and "fix" it.
I don't normally pass on jokes, but this I couldn't resist!
Follow these steps [in order of course]
1. go to www.google.co.uk [or www.google.com if you prefer]
2. click on Maps
3. click on Get directions (top of screen)
4. go from "New York" to "Paris, France"
5. scroll down in the directions to number 24
6. laugh and then forward, so other people can enjoy
And do it soon, somebody without a sense of humour is sure to get wind of it and "fix" it.
I don't normally pass on jokes, but this I couldn't resist!
Follow these steps [in order of course]
1. go to www.google.co.uk [or www.google.com if you prefer]
2. click on Maps
3. click on Get directions (top of screen)
4. go from "New York" to "Paris, France"
5. scroll down in the directions to number 24
6. laugh and then forward, so other people can enjoy
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Massive apologies!
I seemed to get very bogged down by the struggle to get Blogger to work in March, and by the time I’d given up had lost the will to live! So, apologies to anyone who reads this for the enormous amount of ‘updating’ I’ve finally got around to!
April visit 12
Parting is such sweet sorrow…
I’m not convinced I understand that quote! All I do know is that it gets harder to leave the house, and I’m less inclined to do it; I haven’t yet dropped to my knees pleading to be allowed to stay, but I can imagine it coming to that if I don’t pull myself together! I can foresee that when the place is dust-free (what M. Boyer is promising us as the goal for the end of Phase I), I shall be even worse! Oh well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Driving back up to Calais, it really came upon me that summer was fully here – at least a month too early, according to the neighbours. The grapes are where they should be late May/early June (I’m sure that’s summer?). All the trees were fully out (when I’d come down, a few were just starting) and it felt so warm. We even used the air-conditioning! OK, so most of that is to do with motorway speeds and the need to use the A/C regularly, but still!
David had booked us on the 9.50pm shuttle, knowing that if we missed that they were every half-hour until just after midnight. So we took advantage of the late start to finish off the last bits in the garden/tidy the house/wash up/have a shower, etc. etc. etc. That’ll learn us! We got to the shuttle terminal at 10.20pm to find that the next train was 1.43am… Hmmm! We got to the pizza place just before it closed its doors and had a couple of slices of surprisingly nice pizza, and sat to wait in the car (it was warmer than the terminal building). They unloaded the shuttle before ours (we saw all the cars coming the “wrong” way through the barriers, and they had the previous letter on their tickets), so at least we hadn’t had that happen – I think I would have been much more cheesed-off if we’d been that close to going home & had it snatched away!
Finally got to bed at 3.30am, but slept easily in the absence of weed-filled nightmares!
I’m hoping to spend a few weeks getting on top of the weeds/garden, and David will come down with me and come back by train to work and return the following weekend, so all I need to do now is master by fear of driving so that I can run him to the station/collect him rather than using taxis! But that is another story…!
I’m not convinced I understand that quote! All I do know is that it gets harder to leave the house, and I’m less inclined to do it; I haven’t yet dropped to my knees pleading to be allowed to stay, but I can imagine it coming to that if I don’t pull myself together! I can foresee that when the place is dust-free (what M. Boyer is promising us as the goal for the end of Phase I), I shall be even worse! Oh well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Driving back up to Calais, it really came upon me that summer was fully here – at least a month too early, according to the neighbours. The grapes are where they should be late May/early June (I’m sure that’s summer?). All the trees were fully out (when I’d come down, a few were just starting) and it felt so warm. We even used the air-conditioning! OK, so most of that is to do with motorway speeds and the need to use the A/C regularly, but still!
David had booked us on the 9.50pm shuttle, knowing that if we missed that they were every half-hour until just after midnight. So we took advantage of the late start to finish off the last bits in the garden/tidy the house/wash up/have a shower, etc. etc. etc. That’ll learn us! We got to the shuttle terminal at 10.20pm to find that the next train was 1.43am… Hmmm! We got to the pizza place just before it closed its doors and had a couple of slices of surprisingly nice pizza, and sat to wait in the car (it was warmer than the terminal building). They unloaded the shuttle before ours (we saw all the cars coming the “wrong” way through the barriers, and they had the previous letter on their tickets), so at least we hadn’t had that happen – I think I would have been much more cheesed-off if we’d been that close to going home & had it snatched away!
Finally got to bed at 3.30am, but slept easily in the absence of weed-filled nightmares!
I’m hoping to spend a few weeks getting on top of the weeds/garden, and David will come down with me and come back by train to work and return the following weekend, so all I need to do now is master by fear of driving so that I can run him to the station/collect him rather than using taxis! But that is another story…!
April visit 11
Meeting with M. Boyer:
The usual topic of conversation cropped up immediately – we will be wholeheartedly relieved when Dominique (D) is no longer the bête-noire of our project – but we can’t really start to do anything until the issues over his work have been resolved. We would, ideally, like him to refund some money so that we are not totally out of pocket, and officially agree to have nothing more to do with our job. The system in France is different to England because of the guarantees given by workmen. No one wants to give a guarantee if their work has been done on a foundation started by another firm – if the original work is defective, it will be the chap who finishes the job who will end up having to put it right. We have already become reconciled to the fact that the work will all have to be stripped back to bare bones so that we will be able to find new workmen to finish the job (and because a lot of it is defective), but there is still a danger that Dominique could take us to a tribunal and sue us for the money he would have earned had he finished the job. That feels like adding insult to injury!
M. Boyer has been persistent in trying to pin Dominique down (and preferably get him to give us a refund, rather than insisting on redoing the defective work), but has ground to a complete halt. Dominique is no longer responding to messages or letters (the most recent letter, sent by recorded delivery, asked him to show up on the Saturday of our meeting and return our keys). The last effort M. Boyer made to contact him by phone ended up with Dominique’s mother shouting that there were no problems with the job until M. Boyer started butting in. She then slammed the phone down on him. Part of me wants to write a letter to her pointing out a few home truths: we never would have needed a project manager if Dominique had done good, timely work and finished our (3 to 4 month) job in less than the 2+ years spent so far. I feel quite strongly that she shouldn’t allow her address to be used by Dominique as his business address if she can’t behave in a professional manner! She’s obviously got a blind spot to he “baby”… Either that, or she’s never had him do any work for her! I feel it’s best that I don’t write the letter though!
Part of me wants to write to Crédit Agricole and tell them what a bad job he’s done at our house, but the part of me with experience of CA knows that it’s highly unlikely that anyone will care! So that’s another letter I shan’t write.
M. Boyer has finally had copies of Dominique’s insurance certificates: he wasn’t insured for insulation, metalwork (that will include the rails our plasterboard is mounted on, I’m sure, as well as the RSJ holding up the grenier floor!), plumbing and something else (which I forget). He was insured for building work, I think, but if you discount all the bits he’s not covered for (insulation under floors, metal reinforcing under floors, insulation behind the plasterboard, not to mention the electrics!) that only leaved the doorway between the kitchen and hall that doesn’t need ripping out and starting again! All of the insurance he did have (at the time of doing our work) has now lapsed, probably because he hasn’t paid the premiums. So even if we wanted him to re-do the work on the house, there is no way M. Boyer would let him!
The latest idea is maybe we could claim on our insurance… Which of course has thrown up a new problem: of course we should have checked the documents more carefully at the time (but with all the nightmares that the Halifax were throwing up with their failure to actually send the money they’d agreed we could borrow, [a simple re-mortgage took 13 weeks instead of the promised fortnight!] we seemed to have greater problems!), but it seems that our insurance is for main residence, not second home. We’ve got the photocopy that clearly shows we wanted second home insurance, so we’ll have to get that sorted out, as I doubt we are covered at the moment!!
M. Boyer showed us some more sketches – I feel we are nearly there with the plans. David and I spent all Sunday morning going over the later versions of the plans (M. Boyer had posted the changes to me at the house). We’ve got to send a few minor changes, but if he accepts those I think we’re there!
We both felt more positive after that meeting: we feel as though we may make some forward progress in the not too distant future… I am particularly heartened thinking back to our meeting: he told us to choose sanitary ware, so it sounds as though we may have need of it!! Fingers crossed…
We learnt an interesting thing: apparently “onerous” is NOT as expensive as “expensive”!!
Following our last visit, we bought a new chain (the sort used for securing motorcycles) – that should foil the bolt-cutters! But still no success in getting our keys returned… I think we should change the locks, but we ran out of time!
The usual topic of conversation cropped up immediately – we will be wholeheartedly relieved when Dominique (D) is no longer the bête-noire of our project – but we can’t really start to do anything until the issues over his work have been resolved. We would, ideally, like him to refund some money so that we are not totally out of pocket, and officially agree to have nothing more to do with our job. The system in France is different to England because of the guarantees given by workmen. No one wants to give a guarantee if their work has been done on a foundation started by another firm – if the original work is defective, it will be the chap who finishes the job who will end up having to put it right. We have already become reconciled to the fact that the work will all have to be stripped back to bare bones so that we will be able to find new workmen to finish the job (and because a lot of it is defective), but there is still a danger that Dominique could take us to a tribunal and sue us for the money he would have earned had he finished the job. That feels like adding insult to injury!
M. Boyer has been persistent in trying to pin Dominique down (and preferably get him to give us a refund, rather than insisting on redoing the defective work), but has ground to a complete halt. Dominique is no longer responding to messages or letters (the most recent letter, sent by recorded delivery, asked him to show up on the Saturday of our meeting and return our keys). The last effort M. Boyer made to contact him by phone ended up with Dominique’s mother shouting that there were no problems with the job until M. Boyer started butting in. She then slammed the phone down on him. Part of me wants to write a letter to her pointing out a few home truths: we never would have needed a project manager if Dominique had done good, timely work and finished our (3 to 4 month) job in less than the 2+ years spent so far. I feel quite strongly that she shouldn’t allow her address to be used by Dominique as his business address if she can’t behave in a professional manner! She’s obviously got a blind spot to he “baby”… Either that, or she’s never had him do any work for her! I feel it’s best that I don’t write the letter though!
Part of me wants to write to Crédit Agricole and tell them what a bad job he’s done at our house, but the part of me with experience of CA knows that it’s highly unlikely that anyone will care! So that’s another letter I shan’t write.
M. Boyer has finally had copies of Dominique’s insurance certificates: he wasn’t insured for insulation, metalwork (that will include the rails our plasterboard is mounted on, I’m sure, as well as the RSJ holding up the grenier floor!), plumbing and something else (which I forget). He was insured for building work, I think, but if you discount all the bits he’s not covered for (insulation under floors, metal reinforcing under floors, insulation behind the plasterboard, not to mention the electrics!) that only leaved the doorway between the kitchen and hall that doesn’t need ripping out and starting again! All of the insurance he did have (at the time of doing our work) has now lapsed, probably because he hasn’t paid the premiums. So even if we wanted him to re-do the work on the house, there is no way M. Boyer would let him!
The latest idea is maybe we could claim on our insurance… Which of course has thrown up a new problem: of course we should have checked the documents more carefully at the time (but with all the nightmares that the Halifax were throwing up with their failure to actually send the money they’d agreed we could borrow, [a simple re-mortgage took 13 weeks instead of the promised fortnight!] we seemed to have greater problems!), but it seems that our insurance is for main residence, not second home. We’ve got the photocopy that clearly shows we wanted second home insurance, so we’ll have to get that sorted out, as I doubt we are covered at the moment!!
M. Boyer showed us some more sketches – I feel we are nearly there with the plans. David and I spent all Sunday morning going over the later versions of the plans (M. Boyer had posted the changes to me at the house). We’ve got to send a few minor changes, but if he accepts those I think we’re there!
We both felt more positive after that meeting: we feel as though we may make some forward progress in the not too distant future… I am particularly heartened thinking back to our meeting: he told us to choose sanitary ware, so it sounds as though we may have need of it!! Fingers crossed…
We learnt an interesting thing: apparently “onerous” is NOT as expensive as “expensive”!!
Following our last visit, we bought a new chain (the sort used for securing motorcycles) – that should foil the bolt-cutters! But still no success in getting our keys returned… I think we should change the locks, but we ran out of time!
April visit 10
Other wildlife:
On a much nicer note, I saw (I think; it didn’t stay still long enough for me to fetch the book!) a swallowtail butterfly. It’s an interesting process working out what creatures I’ve seen: spot the quarry, try to remember all the details, look it up in my (French) book [I haven’t managed to find the English equivalent to the Flammarion], hope to recognise the Latin name so I can translate it into English. That does happen (sometimes). The alternative version involves looking up the French common name in the “wrist-breaker” (Oxford Hachette), and failing that Google the Latin when I get back home. It’s a lot easier when I manage to take a photo of the flower/wildlife and can compare my image to the pictures!!
I found out that “bouillon blanc” is the French name for mullein (or as I know it, verbascum), and you can make a tisane from the flower buds for sore throats. But I might Google that before I try it out!
The house seemed plagued by bumblebees. Their buzzing is a particularly irritating thing when one is trying to nest under your bed and you’re trying to sleep! I turfed out about six (or maybe the same 2 or 3 several times each?), and there always seemed to be at least one in the bathroom, one in the bedroom and one or two in the kitchen! Having knelt on a couple of bees as a child (with consequences painful for me and fatal for them), I’m quite keen on removing them from the premises! I think they were nesting, as they seemed obsessed by holes in the woodwork. The smaller bees were irresistibly drawn to the drainage holes in the windows; I may have to clean them all out when we’re actually able to stay there…
On a much nicer note, I saw (I think; it didn’t stay still long enough for me to fetch the book!) a swallowtail butterfly. It’s an interesting process working out what creatures I’ve seen: spot the quarry, try to remember all the details, look it up in my (French) book [I haven’t managed to find the English equivalent to the Flammarion], hope to recognise the Latin name so I can translate it into English. That does happen (sometimes). The alternative version involves looking up the French common name in the “wrist-breaker” (Oxford Hachette), and failing that Google the Latin when I get back home. It’s a lot easier when I manage to take a photo of the flower/wildlife and can compare my image to the pictures!!
I found out that “bouillon blanc” is the French name for mullein (or as I know it, verbascum), and you can make a tisane from the flower buds for sore throats. But I might Google that before I try it out!
The house seemed plagued by bumblebees. Their buzzing is a particularly irritating thing when one is trying to nest under your bed and you’re trying to sleep! I turfed out about six (or maybe the same 2 or 3 several times each?), and there always seemed to be at least one in the bathroom, one in the bedroom and one or two in the kitchen! Having knelt on a couple of bees as a child (with consequences painful for me and fatal for them), I’m quite keen on removing them from the premises! I think they were nesting, as they seemed obsessed by holes in the woodwork. The smaller bees were irresistibly drawn to the drainage holes in the windows; I may have to clean them all out when we’re actually able to stay there…
April visit 9
Autosuggestion…
I spoke with my cousin, who warned me away from long grass (we’d only got a few clumps of grass, most of them small, in the garden) because there’s a plague of ticks at the moment. Just thinking about them got me itching! And when I came upon a couple of tussocks of longer grass I could virtually feel the little buggers on me. I’m guessing the absence of “passengers” means that it was all in my mind, but it did keep me out of the field. Not that I had time to do anything there, but I did want to cut the long grass down by the hazel trees (and maybe coppice them, but I think I ought to read up on that before starting…), and tidy under the walnuts, so it’s not such a panic in September and we can reasonably ask M. Lorin to collect the nuts for us.
I spoke with my cousin, who warned me away from long grass (we’d only got a few clumps of grass, most of them small, in the garden) because there’s a plague of ticks at the moment. Just thinking about them got me itching! And when I came upon a couple of tussocks of longer grass I could virtually feel the little buggers on me. I’m guessing the absence of “passengers” means that it was all in my mind, but it did keep me out of the field. Not that I had time to do anything there, but I did want to cut the long grass down by the hazel trees (and maybe coppice them, but I think I ought to read up on that before starting…), and tidy under the walnuts, so it’s not such a panic in September and we can reasonably ask M. Lorin to collect the nuts for us.
April visit 8
Little luxuries:
It was really good to have the gas stove – I used it in evenings in the bedroom until I went to bed; a nice warm room, 2 hot-water bottles & 2 (or 3!) duvets & I was perfectly comfortable. OK, ok, I’ll admit to turning into a nesh Southerner! But trust me: duvets are goooood!
We used to go camping a lot when I was a child, and again with my first boyfriend – Stan & I had no money to spare for hotels, so camping meant being able to go away for holidays, so no complaints. But I’ve got out of the habit… Getting old? Probably, but I couldn’t get over how much I missed lights switches! The current regime: find an extension cable and a lamp (or a couple of lamps, and find an adaptor), plug in the extension cable, switch on the electricity at the junction box, and switch on the lamp. Now that we’ve got three lamps and two extension cables, we manage to have light in two rooms. The loo, bathroom and back corridor do have ceiling lights, so there we only need to plug in the extension cable that supplies that part of the house. We have one 4-gang socket that works (that is the entire power supply to the house at the moment): into this Dominique had plugged the immersion heater, the lights to the back of the house, and we have added 2 extensions cables – one to the bedroom, and one to the kitchen. In the kitchen we have bought another extension cable so we can have lights over the table where we eat, as well as fridge & kettle/hob/lamp on the table where we prepare food. I’m sure that people will be having nightmares over the number of plugs leading off the one power source in the house!! Hi John! In mitigation: we unplug most of the stuff when we’re not using it, we switch off the electrics totally when we leave the house, and finally, if there’s too many things plugged in we know that the trip switch works!! Too many things usually means a light, the hob and another cooking source (a sort of flat griddle)!
As I say, I dream of light switches!
Talking of luxuries, I’ve turned into a girl! I’ve started eating chocolate… Weird or what? I think I’ve eaten more chocolate in the last two or three months than I did in the previous decade! It still only averages out at one or two bars a week, but that’s still an enormous increase. Hope it goes away soon. I think it’s probably comfort eating?
It was really good to have the gas stove – I used it in evenings in the bedroom until I went to bed; a nice warm room, 2 hot-water bottles & 2 (or 3!) duvets & I was perfectly comfortable. OK, ok, I’ll admit to turning into a nesh Southerner! But trust me: duvets are goooood!
We used to go camping a lot when I was a child, and again with my first boyfriend – Stan & I had no money to spare for hotels, so camping meant being able to go away for holidays, so no complaints. But I’ve got out of the habit… Getting old? Probably, but I couldn’t get over how much I missed lights switches! The current regime: find an extension cable and a lamp (or a couple of lamps, and find an adaptor), plug in the extension cable, switch on the electricity at the junction box, and switch on the lamp. Now that we’ve got three lamps and two extension cables, we manage to have light in two rooms. The loo, bathroom and back corridor do have ceiling lights, so there we only need to plug in the extension cable that supplies that part of the house. We have one 4-gang socket that works (that is the entire power supply to the house at the moment): into this Dominique had plugged the immersion heater, the lights to the back of the house, and we have added 2 extensions cables – one to the bedroom, and one to the kitchen. In the kitchen we have bought another extension cable so we can have lights over the table where we eat, as well as fridge & kettle/hob/lamp on the table where we prepare food. I’m sure that people will be having nightmares over the number of plugs leading off the one power source in the house!! Hi John! In mitigation: we unplug most of the stuff when we’re not using it, we switch off the electrics totally when we leave the house, and finally, if there’s too many things plugged in we know that the trip switch works!! Too many things usually means a light, the hob and another cooking source (a sort of flat griddle)!
As I say, I dream of light switches!
Talking of luxuries, I’ve turned into a girl! I’ve started eating chocolate… Weird or what? I think I’ve eaten more chocolate in the last two or three months than I did in the previous decade! It still only averages out at one or two bars a week, but that’s still an enormous increase. Hope it goes away soon. I think it’s probably comfort eating?
April visit 7
Mirabelle
My last task before leaving was to re-shape the mirabelle: I’d thought it was a sucker, and nearly chopped it down when we first saw it. It was only time pressure that prevented me. Luckily! M. Lorin said it was a seedling that was doing much better than the parent tree, and that we should remove the old, worn out, one as it no longer fruited very well.
He very kindly took his chain saw to it last summer (did I mention: I neeeed a chain saw?!), and pulled out the root with his tractor. But of course the sapling had grown away from the mother & was quite wonky, and a bit lanky. I’ve been debating whether to chop out the middle to leave just the bottom few branches (which have healthy new growth), and decided to ‘go for it’. I tried (lots of times) to knock in a metal stake to pull the tree to, in an effort to straighten the trunk, but no chance: there are just too many stones – I gave up after about 8 goes. Now, there’s an interesting (and, I hope, successful) Heath Robinson arrangement involving breezeblocks & baler twine (I finally found a decent length of the stuff, rather than the six to eight inch bits I had a huge collection of!). The tree is currently upright, but we shall have to see whether this will correct the bend, or whether I’ve left it too late. Time will tell….
My last task before leaving was to re-shape the mirabelle: I’d thought it was a sucker, and nearly chopped it down when we first saw it. It was only time pressure that prevented me. Luckily! M. Lorin said it was a seedling that was doing much better than the parent tree, and that we should remove the old, worn out, one as it no longer fruited very well.
He very kindly took his chain saw to it last summer (did I mention: I neeeed a chain saw?!), and pulled out the root with his tractor. But of course the sapling had grown away from the mother & was quite wonky, and a bit lanky. I’ve been debating whether to chop out the middle to leave just the bottom few branches (which have healthy new growth), and decided to ‘go for it’. I tried (lots of times) to knock in a metal stake to pull the tree to, in an effort to straighten the trunk, but no chance: there are just too many stones – I gave up after about 8 goes. Now, there’s an interesting (and, I hope, successful) Heath Robinson arrangement involving breezeblocks & baler twine (I finally found a decent length of the stuff, rather than the six to eight inch bits I had a huge collection of!). The tree is currently upright, but we shall have to see whether this will correct the bend, or whether I’ve left it too late. Time will tell….
April visit 6
Garden progress!
After about 35 hours, I’d got the garden weed-free, and David spent about 8 hours weeding the paths and spraying the drive. We’ve reluctantly taken the decision to spray weed-killer on the drive (and maybe the edges I can’t get to). If we can get the garden under control, and mulch it once it is weed-free for a couple of weeks, I may be able to control the weeds on the drive by hand, but at the moment it is just too much. And if we don’t control them somehow, all the weeds on the drive will just spread seeds all over the garden! I’m not happy about it, but regard it as a short-term emergency measure rather than a permanent solution. I don’t know what else to do…
Every time it got difficult (I got either hot or cold [depending on the time of day and strength of the wind] and tired/achy) and I was demoralised, I reminded myself of Troy Baylis (I often try to be more like him). That guy is an inspiration: generally he seems to be the hardest working chap you can imagine, never complains, doesn’t blame anyone (even when he so easily could) for mishaps & generally finds a smile. The piercing blue eyes and cheeky grin probably don’t hurt, but that’s another story!
His latest exploit was trying to race in the second round at Donington. It was only being forbidden by the race boss & paramedics, who insisted that he go to hospital, that prevented him. He’d ground away most of his little finger in a crash and had to have two bones amputated. I think I’m quite a lot hardier than footballers, but Troy’s a role model and a half!! A weeding blister seems small beer!
Being English, I thought a jardinière was a plant pot stand… And preferably a nice example by Minton or Moorcroft! I found out that I’m a jardinière by accident. When M. Lorin was having his vide-grenier to clear more of his “stuff” out after we’d bought the house, there was a little boy playing with some gardening tools his grandparents had bought, so I mentioned that he was going to be a gardener when he grew up. Thankfully they laughed at my bad grammar! How much worse if I’d had to explain that I thought their little “jardinière” was a boy rather than just getting the feminine wrong…
After about 35 hours, I’d got the garden weed-free, and David spent about 8 hours weeding the paths and spraying the drive. We’ve reluctantly taken the decision to spray weed-killer on the drive (and maybe the edges I can’t get to). If we can get the garden under control, and mulch it once it is weed-free for a couple of weeks, I may be able to control the weeds on the drive by hand, but at the moment it is just too much. And if we don’t control them somehow, all the weeds on the drive will just spread seeds all over the garden! I’m not happy about it, but regard it as a short-term emergency measure rather than a permanent solution. I don’t know what else to do…
Every time it got difficult (I got either hot or cold [depending on the time of day and strength of the wind] and tired/achy) and I was demoralised, I reminded myself of Troy Baylis (I often try to be more like him). That guy is an inspiration: generally he seems to be the hardest working chap you can imagine, never complains, doesn’t blame anyone (even when he so easily could) for mishaps & generally finds a smile. The piercing blue eyes and cheeky grin probably don’t hurt, but that’s another story!
His latest exploit was trying to race in the second round at Donington. It was only being forbidden by the race boss & paramedics, who insisted that he go to hospital, that prevented him. He’d ground away most of his little finger in a crash and had to have two bones amputated. I think I’m quite a lot hardier than footballers, but Troy’s a role model and a half!! A weeding blister seems small beer!
Being English, I thought a jardinière was a plant pot stand… And preferably a nice example by Minton or Moorcroft! I found out that I’m a jardinière by accident. When M. Lorin was having his vide-grenier to clear more of his “stuff” out after we’d bought the house, there was a little boy playing with some gardening tools his grandparents had bought, so I mentioned that he was going to be a gardener when he grew up. Thankfully they laughed at my bad grammar! How much worse if I’d had to explain that I thought their little “jardinière” was a boy rather than just getting the feminine wrong…
April visit 5
Obsessing again?
I watched my minimum-maximum thermometer avidly (I’m such a fan that I’m considering getting one for downstairs – often the temperature is markedly different on the two floors – and one for outside: now that would be interesting!), and the coldest it got when I was there was 6°C. Still pretty nippy! By Tuesday (I’d been there since Sunday afternoon), downstairs was actually warmer at 7am than upstairs: 15°C rather than 11°C; that’s one of the nice things about great thick stone walls – once you get some warmth in there, they do seem to retain it. I’ve got a little second thermometer that only reads the temperature (not highs & lows), so that’s on the mantelpiece in the hall.
Outside (OK, I cheat, I put my other [other other!] thermometer in the sun; but I work in the sun, so I want to know how hot it is!) it was 30°C at 10am and 36°C at midday on Monday (24°C indoors). It was still cold at night; at 7.45am on Wednesday it was only 8°C in the sun, and, with a North wind, that was pretty cold to be hand weeding. Towards the end of the week, I tried to go outside only when the mist had burnt off, but was still wearing t-shirt, jumper, scarf & canvas gardening smock (like a fisherman’s smock) till about 11am/midday! Once I’d warmed up it was back to long sleeves/sun block & hat!
I watched my minimum-maximum thermometer avidly (I’m such a fan that I’m considering getting one for downstairs – often the temperature is markedly different on the two floors – and one for outside: now that would be interesting!), and the coldest it got when I was there was 6°C. Still pretty nippy! By Tuesday (I’d been there since Sunday afternoon), downstairs was actually warmer at 7am than upstairs: 15°C rather than 11°C; that’s one of the nice things about great thick stone walls – once you get some warmth in there, they do seem to retain it. I’ve got a little second thermometer that only reads the temperature (not highs & lows), so that’s on the mantelpiece in the hall.
Outside (OK, I cheat, I put my other [other other!] thermometer in the sun; but I work in the sun, so I want to know how hot it is!) it was 30°C at 10am and 36°C at midday on Monday (24°C indoors). It was still cold at night; at 7.45am on Wednesday it was only 8°C in the sun, and, with a North wind, that was pretty cold to be hand weeding. Towards the end of the week, I tried to go outside only when the mist had burnt off, but was still wearing t-shirt, jumper, scarf & canvas gardening smock (like a fisherman’s smock) till about 11am/midday! Once I’d warmed up it was back to long sleeves/sun block & hat!
April visit 4
Staying on at the house…
David’s such a sweetie! He encouraged me to stay on (the weeding really was assuming massive proportions in my mind – the bit that does worrying; – much more than the thought of the weather turning cold), and made sure we had enough food and things downstairs to be comfortable. We had been taking everything upstairs each time we left (when we had stayed at the house) so that there was nothing in Dominique’s way; nothing that could give him any excuse to not do any work. We’ve got a couple of folding beds (that we cable-tie together to create a really good sized double), and a couple of duvets, sheets, towels, clothes, spongebag and a makeshift kitchen – a trio of tables, a table-top 2-ring burner, kettle, crockery, cutlery & food. All the things that are waiting for the house to be ready so that we can use them, plus a few things we’ve bought specially for camping out there. We’ve got a pair of deckchairs & some flexible lamps, so we can even read in the evenings!
I’m always a bit nervous about staying on my own (it’s got to be done, so I do get on with it, but I don’t sleep as well), and the strange noises don’t help… We found some different kind of animal droppings this time – rats maybe? Or possibly dormice? Not in the house (like the owl poo!), but in the grenier over the bedroom, so that explains the “clog dancing” that I’ve heard a few nights! And I saw a mouse in the kitchen, which would explain the scritching sounds and polythene-bag-rustling when there is no wind… I tried to chase him out of the door, but he came right back in! No point setting traps until we’ve got the holes sorted out, but it made me super careful about putting the lid on firmly when I’d rummaged in our plastic boxes where we store food and clothing.
David’s such a sweetie! He encouraged me to stay on (the weeding really was assuming massive proportions in my mind – the bit that does worrying; – much more than the thought of the weather turning cold), and made sure we had enough food and things downstairs to be comfortable. We had been taking everything upstairs each time we left (when we had stayed at the house) so that there was nothing in Dominique’s way; nothing that could give him any excuse to not do any work. We’ve got a couple of folding beds (that we cable-tie together to create a really good sized double), and a couple of duvets, sheets, towels, clothes, spongebag and a makeshift kitchen – a trio of tables, a table-top 2-ring burner, kettle, crockery, cutlery & food. All the things that are waiting for the house to be ready so that we can use them, plus a few things we’ve bought specially for camping out there. We’ve got a pair of deckchairs & some flexible lamps, so we can even read in the evenings!
I’m always a bit nervous about staying on my own (it’s got to be done, so I do get on with it, but I don’t sleep as well), and the strange noises don’t help… We found some different kind of animal droppings this time – rats maybe? Or possibly dormice? Not in the house (like the owl poo!), but in the grenier over the bedroom, so that explains the “clog dancing” that I’ve heard a few nights! And I saw a mouse in the kitchen, which would explain the scritching sounds and polythene-bag-rustling when there is no wind… I tried to chase him out of the door, but he came right back in! No point setting traps until we’ve got the holes sorted out, but it made me super careful about putting the lid on firmly when I’d rummaged in our plastic boxes where we store food and clothing.
April visit 3
Garden
The garden (if you looked past the weeds - & that took some doing!) was starting to look lovely; there were clumps of about 10 different narcissi, and both kinds of ipheion, and the damson (soon, hopefully, to be removed by M. Lorin & his chainsaw) and mirabelle were covered in white blossom. Very vernal! For every silver lining (it sometimes feels) there has to be a cloud: the “indelible” pen I bought (yes, it was a proper one for writing on labels) turns out to be a joke indelible pen – the only labels that hadn’t washed/faded clean were the few bulbs that I knew the names of anyway! That will teach me to try to be organized! We ran out of time when we were planting the bulbs, so I never managed to draw a little plan of what had gone where, safe in the knowledge that the really big strong yellow labels wouldn’t blow away… They didn’t, but they might as well have done. Oh well, next year I will have to take with me some pictures of the types of bulbs I planted & map them out then.
I was trying to work out the last time I had weeded properly – it must have been in the summer some time, and possibly as early as June, so no wonder the weeds had gone mad! At least this year I won’t be digging out for the patio (still have to lay it, but that will be comparatively easy), nor will I have to move the soil mountain (that’s just a distant memory), so I can focus on hoeing and hand weeding. If I don’t plant any seeds, I can just hoe… but how likely is that?!
We saw a nuthatch checking out the blasted tree (another mirabelle, I think) by the snail pits – we think it was inspecting the hole for a nesting site. But that wasn’t our most exciting bird sighting: we were in Troyes, turning into a retail park to look at fireplaces, when we were treated to a bird’s eye view of a bird of prey trying to catch lunch. We think it was a sparrowhawk and a wagtail; they were so close we could see really clearly the markings on the feathers. We were so startled that we didn’t turn round in time to see whether the little bird got away (I’m always on the side of the underdog!)…
The garden (if you looked past the weeds - & that took some doing!) was starting to look lovely; there were clumps of about 10 different narcissi, and both kinds of ipheion, and the damson (soon, hopefully, to be removed by M. Lorin & his chainsaw) and mirabelle were covered in white blossom. Very vernal! For every silver lining (it sometimes feels) there has to be a cloud: the “indelible” pen I bought (yes, it was a proper one for writing on labels) turns out to be a joke indelible pen – the only labels that hadn’t washed/faded clean were the few bulbs that I knew the names of anyway! That will teach me to try to be organized! We ran out of time when we were planting the bulbs, so I never managed to draw a little plan of what had gone where, safe in the knowledge that the really big strong yellow labels wouldn’t blow away… They didn’t, but they might as well have done. Oh well, next year I will have to take with me some pictures of the types of bulbs I planted & map them out then.
I was trying to work out the last time I had weeded properly – it must have been in the summer some time, and possibly as early as June, so no wonder the weeds had gone mad! At least this year I won’t be digging out for the patio (still have to lay it, but that will be comparatively easy), nor will I have to move the soil mountain (that’s just a distant memory), so I can focus on hoeing and hand weeding. If I don’t plant any seeds, I can just hoe… but how likely is that?!
We saw a nuthatch checking out the blasted tree (another mirabelle, I think) by the snail pits – we think it was inspecting the hole for a nesting site. But that wasn’t our most exciting bird sighting: we were in Troyes, turning into a retail park to look at fireplaces, when we were treated to a bird’s eye view of a bird of prey trying to catch lunch. We think it was a sparrowhawk and a wagtail; they were so close we could see really clearly the markings on the feathers. We were so startled that we didn’t turn round in time to see whether the little bird got away (I’m always on the side of the underdog!)…
April visit 2
Obsession with temperature?
This time at the house the temperature had only dropped to -1°C inside. And it had been as warm as 23°C! Downstairs was much colder than upstairs (and, until we get the shutters fixed up there, downstairs is where we stay), so we spent as much time as possible with the doors and windows open, to try to warm it up. I think we managed to get it to about 11 or 12°C in the few days we were there, but it was nice to go outside and warm up! In fact, outside was so lovely and warm that I decided to stay on for an extra week… OK, then, honest reason: there were so many weeds that I couldn’t face the thought of leaving them to grow for another 5 or 6 weeks before being able to tackle them, and it wasn’t cold enough to be put off staying! ;-)
Apparently, this year again we are going to have the prevailing wind as a North wind. There’s one day of the year that dictates wind direction (some time after Easter, I think) and it was a Northerly then. I’d rather not, given the choice, but managed to cope last year. And at least it cools you down when you’ve got hot in the garden!
This time at the house the temperature had only dropped to -1°C inside. And it had been as warm as 23°C! Downstairs was much colder than upstairs (and, until we get the shutters fixed up there, downstairs is where we stay), so we spent as much time as possible with the doors and windows open, to try to warm it up. I think we managed to get it to about 11 or 12°C in the few days we were there, but it was nice to go outside and warm up! In fact, outside was so lovely and warm that I decided to stay on for an extra week… OK, then, honest reason: there were so many weeds that I couldn’t face the thought of leaving them to grow for another 5 or 6 weeks before being able to tackle them, and it wasn’t cold enough to be put off staying! ;-)
Apparently, this year again we are going to have the prevailing wind as a North wind. There’s one day of the year that dictates wind direction (some time after Easter, I think) and it was a Northerly then. I’d rather not, given the choice, but managed to cope last year. And at least it cools you down when you’ve got hot in the garden!
April visit 1
Our latest visit to France:
We went to France again to meet with M. Boyer and look round the house with the sketches he had prepared. On the way down, it finally felt as though spring had started. This year the winter (for me, at least) seems to have dragged out forever; I’ve been longing to see the sun & feel some warmth in my bones. It was lovely before we left London, so I took some warm-weather clothes as well as thermals & cardigans/enormous socks. We had debated staying at the house, but as the last time we went it had dropped to –11°C inside the house – even with our lovely new gas stove, we didn’t feel like risking it! So we booked a gîte in a nearby village - at the last moment, because we had been waiting for the Gîtes de France brochure to arrive (a month later, and we’re still waiting; but that may be owing to the rubbish service we endure from the Royal Mail, some things never arrive, and some things arrive having been opened!). All the gîtes we have used before had bookings, so we tried a new place… It was very quaint, but I don’t think we’ll be recommending it. The welcome was wonderful, but I’m a bit fussy about cleanliness… (It took me about 20 minutes to clean the soles of my slippers when we came home – no, I’m not so anal that I clean the soles of my shoes, but these are sheepskin moccasins where the sole is rubbed smooth like leather, and they had picked up loads of [unidentified] “bits”.) That makes me sound as though I’m a cleaning freak – not so! – but I’m not a massive fan of wading round in other people’s grit… The place was like a dolls’ house, but not as delightful as the gîtes in the 2 villages nearer to the house.
It was lovely to be able to open our new shutters! Sooo easy! There were still a few spots of damp paint, but never mind about that; I’ll clean that up at some point. Weird, but in a good way, to just lift a lever and push; no bolts, no angle iron, no going outside & shoving hard to get the shutters in place when closing them again. Ahh, happy memories! ;-).
Dominique B has also eased the windows in our absence – they had all swelled up owing to the damp, but there were a couple that really stuck even in the dry weather, and he has planed back a little on a couple of the surfaces that rubbed. I can see that by the time the joinery has settled in properly (and I know we should wait at least a year before having any final adjustments made), it’s all going to go as smoothly as silk. I still can’t get over what a fantastic job Dominique B has done. M. Boyer has already recommended him to one of his other clients!
We went to France again to meet with M. Boyer and look round the house with the sketches he had prepared. On the way down, it finally felt as though spring had started. This year the winter (for me, at least) seems to have dragged out forever; I’ve been longing to see the sun & feel some warmth in my bones. It was lovely before we left London, so I took some warm-weather clothes as well as thermals & cardigans/enormous socks. We had debated staying at the house, but as the last time we went it had dropped to –11°C inside the house – even with our lovely new gas stove, we didn’t feel like risking it! So we booked a gîte in a nearby village - at the last moment, because we had been waiting for the Gîtes de France brochure to arrive (a month later, and we’re still waiting; but that may be owing to the rubbish service we endure from the Royal Mail, some things never arrive, and some things arrive having been opened!). All the gîtes we have used before had bookings, so we tried a new place… It was very quaint, but I don’t think we’ll be recommending it. The welcome was wonderful, but I’m a bit fussy about cleanliness… (It took me about 20 minutes to clean the soles of my slippers when we came home – no, I’m not so anal that I clean the soles of my shoes, but these are sheepskin moccasins where the sole is rubbed smooth like leather, and they had picked up loads of [unidentified] “bits”.) That makes me sound as though I’m a cleaning freak – not so! – but I’m not a massive fan of wading round in other people’s grit… The place was like a dolls’ house, but not as delightful as the gîtes in the 2 villages nearer to the house.
It was lovely to be able to open our new shutters! Sooo easy! There were still a few spots of damp paint, but never mind about that; I’ll clean that up at some point. Weird, but in a good way, to just lift a lever and push; no bolts, no angle iron, no going outside & shoving hard to get the shutters in place when closing them again. Ahh, happy memories! ;-).
Dominique B has also eased the windows in our absence – they had all swelled up owing to the damp, but there were a couple that really stuck even in the dry weather, and he has planed back a little on a couple of the surfaces that rubbed. I can see that by the time the joinery has settled in properly (and I know we should wait at least a year before having any final adjustments made), it’s all going to go as smoothly as silk. I still can’t get over what a fantastic job Dominique B has done. M. Boyer has already recommended him to one of his other clients!
Back in the UK after our March visit
Bad news
We got back from our March visit and almost immediately had a mail from M. Boyer – Dominique wants to re-do the work himself. That was definitely our least preferred option. We know that M. Boyer won’t want Dominique to do any work until he’s received confirmation that Dominique is adequately insured, but we sent M. Boyer a list of criteria that would need to be met before we would let Dominique resume work. This included: a fixed time scale, (punitive) penalties for over-running, starting immediately we’re agreed, he pays for materials (we’ve already paid for one lot!) & a water-tight contract drawn up either by M. Boyer or our notaire.
I have to admit the main reason for sending this list is hoping M. Boyer will communicate these pre-conditions to Dominique and that will be enough to put him off completely! We’d much rather he changes his mind and offers to pay us back some of the money we paid him!
I don’t play poker, but I have a feeling this is what it’s like…?
Depression vs despair/inertia
I’ve been spending some time (an inordinate amount, it feels) pondering the difference between depression (probably seasonal affective disorder) and despair, coupled with inertia. The only conclusion I came up with is that they feel different, but the effect (i.e. nothing happening) is the same…
Was it worth the thoughts? Have you been helped?
Cormorant
I was coming home on the bus, crossing the Thames on Westminster Bridge, when a cormorant flew overhead. It was lovely to see it, but oddly made me think it ought to be in China; I have a feeling I’ve read (or even seen a television programme?) about Chinese fishermen who use cormorants to catch fish. Am I imagining that?
Snow
We had some snow – not very much, but enough to cause chaos on the roads. I hope that we will have some when we are staying at our house this winter (probably a bit optimistic!); that would give me chance to take some new Christmas card photos!
We got back from our March visit and almost immediately had a mail from M. Boyer – Dominique wants to re-do the work himself. That was definitely our least preferred option. We know that M. Boyer won’t want Dominique to do any work until he’s received confirmation that Dominique is adequately insured, but we sent M. Boyer a list of criteria that would need to be met before we would let Dominique resume work. This included: a fixed time scale, (punitive) penalties for over-running, starting immediately we’re agreed, he pays for materials (we’ve already paid for one lot!) & a water-tight contract drawn up either by M. Boyer or our notaire.
I have to admit the main reason for sending this list is hoping M. Boyer will communicate these pre-conditions to Dominique and that will be enough to put him off completely! We’d much rather he changes his mind and offers to pay us back some of the money we paid him!
I don’t play poker, but I have a feeling this is what it’s like…?
Depression vs despair/inertia
I’ve been spending some time (an inordinate amount, it feels) pondering the difference between depression (probably seasonal affective disorder) and despair, coupled with inertia. The only conclusion I came up with is that they feel different, but the effect (i.e. nothing happening) is the same…
Was it worth the thoughts? Have you been helped?
Cormorant
I was coming home on the bus, crossing the Thames on Westminster Bridge, when a cormorant flew overhead. It was lovely to see it, but oddly made me think it ought to be in China; I have a feeling I’ve read (or even seen a television programme?) about Chinese fishermen who use cormorants to catch fish. Am I imagining that?
Snow
We had some snow – not very much, but enough to cause chaos on the roads. I hope that we will have some when we are staying at our house this winter (probably a bit optimistic!); that would give me chance to take some new Christmas card photos!
March visit 7
Wild flowers
We saw loads of scilla (squills) and hellebores (stinking, I think, but having virtually no sense of smell I couldn’t tell!) in the grass verges. It’s so lovely seeing the wildflowers, not something we’re used to here…
They were wild daffodils in a couple of woods (the Wordsworth kind, narcissus pseudonarcissus). We were in a hurry one day, so I never stopped to take any photos. We went back the next day, and they’d all gone; we’d seen a couple of people collecting them, but I wouldn’t have believed they could strip an entire wood. Someone had… We saw lots of the wild daffodils in florists and in windows, so I suspect they are either not protected like here, or the protection is just ignored. We found another little wood we’d seen from the road – across a field, over a stream and behind a barbed-wire fence – and that still had plenty; so difficult to photograph, but at least no one had managed to pick them all. It was beautiful to see the wood carpeted like that!
Makes me wonder whether I should plant some under our trees…
We saw loads of scilla (squills) and hellebores (stinking, I think, but having virtually no sense of smell I couldn’t tell!) in the grass verges. It’s so lovely seeing the wildflowers, not something we’re used to here…
They were wild daffodils in a couple of woods (the Wordsworth kind, narcissus pseudonarcissus). We were in a hurry one day, so I never stopped to take any photos. We went back the next day, and they’d all gone; we’d seen a couple of people collecting them, but I wouldn’t have believed they could strip an entire wood. Someone had… We saw lots of the wild daffodils in florists and in windows, so I suspect they are either not protected like here, or the protection is just ignored. We found another little wood we’d seen from the road – across a field, over a stream and behind a barbed-wire fence – and that still had plenty; so difficult to photograph, but at least no one had managed to pick them all. It was beautiful to see the wood carpeted like that!
Makes me wonder whether I should plant some under our trees…
March visit 6
Observations on French homes
Following on from thinking about the lovely gîte, there are 2 points I’m not sure about:
1. Brown kitchens
Why? I don’t think anything more needs saying! However, in case anyone doesn’t immediately twig what I mean (you may not have recently been in a French house), let me just say: brown sink (2-tone, of course), brown taps (2-tone, also), brown tiles (worktop, splash-back &, obviously, floor), brown hob, brown oven (if one fitted) and of course wooden (a particularly brown kind; no beech or birch here) doors.
2. Five (at least) different types of flooring
We’ve stayed at enough places now to wonder whether there is some sort of ordinance that decrees you must have at least five different types of floor covering in any home. Preferably at least four different types (shapes, sizes, colours) of tiles and two kinds of wooden flooring. I’ve got pictures to prove it!
Following on from thinking about the lovely gîte, there are 2 points I’m not sure about:
1. Brown kitchens
Why? I don’t think anything more needs saying! However, in case anyone doesn’t immediately twig what I mean (you may not have recently been in a French house), let me just say: brown sink (2-tone, of course), brown taps (2-tone, also), brown tiles (worktop, splash-back &, obviously, floor), brown hob, brown oven (if one fitted) and of course wooden (a particularly brown kind; no beech or birch here) doors.
2. Five (at least) different types of flooring
We’ve stayed at enough places now to wonder whether there is some sort of ordinance that decrees you must have at least five different types of floor covering in any home. Preferably at least four different types (shapes, sizes, colours) of tiles and two kinds of wooden flooring. I’ve got pictures to prove it!
March visit 5
Gîte
We stayed at the gîte belonging to the nephew of M. Lorin, in the next village along the valley. In this part of the world you can’t just say “M. Lorin” and expect anyone to know whom you mean! We know four M. Lorin (Lorins?), and I’m sure there are more out there to discover!
The house has been done up beautifully. The bedrooms are themed: blue toile de Jouy in the main room, yellow and green in the second bedroom and green gingham in the third. The sofa in the lounge confirms I’m right in intending to do up our folding iron bedstead as a sofa! Just need to buy some penetrating oil to free up the joints, then I can sand down the rust, paint it & away we go. That’s, of course, a project for another day!
There’s a large eat-in kitchen with a (non-working) fireplace and all mod cons. The lounge is lovely, but the fireplace not so much. And it doesn’t work – that really does make a difference; we’ve got so spoilt by being able to have an open fire – it wasn’t necessary, with the central heating, but we missed the hypnotic effect of the flames. But overall this is a lovely holiday home; one that we could recommend to anyone! (Unless they’re particularly tight, of course! He he he!)
We stayed at the gîte belonging to the nephew of M. Lorin, in the next village along the valley. In this part of the world you can’t just say “M. Lorin” and expect anyone to know whom you mean! We know four M. Lorin (Lorins?), and I’m sure there are more out there to discover!
The house has been done up beautifully. The bedrooms are themed: blue toile de Jouy in the main room, yellow and green in the second bedroom and green gingham in the third. The sofa in the lounge confirms I’m right in intending to do up our folding iron bedstead as a sofa! Just need to buy some penetrating oil to free up the joints, then I can sand down the rust, paint it & away we go. That’s, of course, a project for another day!
There’s a large eat-in kitchen with a (non-working) fireplace and all mod cons. The lounge is lovely, but the fireplace not so much. And it doesn’t work – that really does make a difference; we’ve got so spoilt by being able to have an open fire – it wasn’t necessary, with the central heating, but we missed the hypnotic effect of the flames. But overall this is a lovely holiday home; one that we could recommend to anyone! (Unless they’re particularly tight, of course! He he he!)
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