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...
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
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!)
March visit 4
Dominique Drouot’s insurance
M. Boyer has spoken with Dominique’s insurance company – there is a problem getting copies of his certificates. M. Boyer thinks this is because either Dominique has stopped paying his premiums, or because there is an existing claim being made against him. Either of which doesn’t look good. Apparently M. Boyer needs to contact the head office in Paris to get copies, which he is trying to do. Bureaucracy always takes time!
In the meantime, he believes that Dominique is not insured for: insulation, metalwork, building work and plumbing. So that’s pretty much got our job covered! Obviously this will influence whether Dominique can re-do the work, so we need to know the answer…
M. Boyer has spoken with Dominique’s insurance company – there is a problem getting copies of his certificates. M. Boyer thinks this is because either Dominique has stopped paying his premiums, or because there is an existing claim being made against him. Either of which doesn’t look good. Apparently M. Boyer needs to contact the head office in Paris to get copies, which he is trying to do. Bureaucracy always takes time!
In the meantime, he believes that Dominique is not insured for: insulation, metalwork, building work and plumbing. So that’s pretty much got our job covered! Obviously this will influence whether Dominique can re-do the work, so we need to know the answer…
March visit 3
Meeting with M. Boyer
We went to M. Boyer’s office (I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned that) for an all day meeting (9 –5.30, phew!). It seems as though there were no points left unaddressed, but I’m sure I’ve forgotten most of them by now. We looked at some sketches (by the end, I knew that we’d have to send some scanned alterations, but I can only think in French for a certain time before losing the will to live!), and David has christened M. Boyer “nitpicker pursuivant”. This made me think of a certain beautiful young lady of my acquaintance (hi M – you know who you are!), but nitpicking to the highest level is what we need!
The Boyers took us to see their house; they are in the process of renovating an old house themselves and are keen to use environmentally friendly processes wherever possible. We really liked the hemp/lime wall covering – it’s rougher than plaster, but apparently a really good insulator (doesn’t need rock wool or glass fibre as well). Also, the finish can be left as it is; no painting, I like that idea! If all our insulation/plasterboard has to come out (and it sounds as though it does!), that would be a very good alternative.
While we were saying goodbye to the Boyers, a flight of cranes went overhead; they sure are noisy brutes! It was lovely to see them; perhaps we’ll get around to trying to see them nesting next year… Once we’d seen the first skein, we saw them again several times on the journey home. They fly much more untidily than geese, whose neat V-formation made it comparatively easy to tell the difference. Also, if they are low, the noise gives the game away!
We went to M. Boyer’s office (I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned that) for an all day meeting (9 –5.30, phew!). It seems as though there were no points left unaddressed, but I’m sure I’ve forgotten most of them by now. We looked at some sketches (by the end, I knew that we’d have to send some scanned alterations, but I can only think in French for a certain time before losing the will to live!), and David has christened M. Boyer “nitpicker pursuivant”. This made me think of a certain beautiful young lady of my acquaintance (hi M – you know who you are!), but nitpicking to the highest level is what we need!
The Boyers took us to see their house; they are in the process of renovating an old house themselves and are keen to use environmentally friendly processes wherever possible. We really liked the hemp/lime wall covering – it’s rougher than plaster, but apparently a really good insulator (doesn’t need rock wool or glass fibre as well). Also, the finish can be left as it is; no painting, I like that idea! If all our insulation/plasterboard has to come out (and it sounds as though it does!), that would be a very good alternative.
While we were saying goodbye to the Boyers, a flight of cranes went overhead; they sure are noisy brutes! It was lovely to see them; perhaps we’ll get around to trying to see them nesting next year… Once we’d seen the first skein, we saw them again several times on the journey home. They fly much more untidily than geese, whose neat V-formation made it comparatively easy to tell the difference. Also, if they are low, the noise gives the game away!
March visit 2
New shutters
Dominique Baty has fitted our new shutters – I was so concerned in the last post with getting down the stuff from our meeting with M. Boyer and the “breaking & entering” that I never answered the first question: it was Dominique B who replaced the chain, when he came to do something to the shutters (I think he came back & painted the têtes-bergères and hinges). He had come to the house a couple of days before we got back, and found the chain cut. He had noticed that Dominique D’s stuff was missing, so we think DD must have gone to the house, knowing that we were due there at the weekend. Sneaky, I think just about sums up how I feel about him at the moment!
Because it had been so rain-soaked, the paint that Dominique B had touched up was still wet and that, coupled with the knowledge of how the damp upsets new joinery, made us reluctant to open the shutters. So we didn’t! Of course that meant no sun got into the house, so it didn’t warm up much.
Dominique Baty has fitted our new shutters – I was so concerned in the last post with getting down the stuff from our meeting with M. Boyer and the “breaking & entering” that I never answered the first question: it was Dominique B who replaced the chain, when he came to do something to the shutters (I think he came back & painted the têtes-bergères and hinges). He had come to the house a couple of days before we got back, and found the chain cut. He had noticed that Dominique D’s stuff was missing, so we think DD must have gone to the house, knowing that we were due there at the weekend. Sneaky, I think just about sums up how I feel about him at the moment!
Because it had been so rain-soaked, the paint that Dominique B had touched up was still wet and that, coupled with the knowledge of how the damp upsets new joinery, made us reluctant to open the shutters. So we didn’t! Of course that meant no sun got into the house, so it didn’t warm up much.
March visit 1
Journey down
On the journey down, we were amazed at how much standing water we saw. We’d just missed the rain, judging by the road surface, but fields were absolutely sodden, once more, and streams had overflowed their banks. England has had plenty of rain, but had been dry for a while before we left home, so we weren’t expecting that.
Needless to say, the garden was, still (again?), so soggy that we couldn’t get on to it to weed! Boo… It needs it, desperately.
When we chatted with the neighbours, they all told us that the rain had only just stopped before we got there – we’d missed the flooding, but still saw the evidence of enormous rainfall when we were leaving four days later, so they really did have it come down.
My obsession with how cold our house gets was fuelled by a look at the thermometer… –11°C, inside, of course. I think it was down to –15/16°C outside – really must buy another minimum/maximum thermometer!
One thing I found upsetting, not in itself, but in case it had been left for us, was the mummified cat I found upstairs. Thinking it over later, we think it had probably got itself caught in the rafters and an owl (or another cat) had knocked it off much later. I know the wind can’t have blown it, because the house has been shut up, and in the summer I had all the doors and windows propped open, letting a howling gale through on some days. I know it sounds paranoid to think someone might do something as nasty as leaving a dead cat in our house. Until last summer I wouldn’t have thought of such a thing, but we were talking with M. Lorin about his tractor (we’d said he could leave it in our barn again if he wanted), and he said thank you, but no. The last time someone had put sugar in his fuel tank. The thought of someone trespassing on our land to do something that mean was disquieting. Oh, well!
On the journey down, we were amazed at how much standing water we saw. We’d just missed the rain, judging by the road surface, but fields were absolutely sodden, once more, and streams had overflowed their banks. England has had plenty of rain, but had been dry for a while before we left home, so we weren’t expecting that.
Needless to say, the garden was, still (again?), so soggy that we couldn’t get on to it to weed! Boo… It needs it, desperately.
When we chatted with the neighbours, they all told us that the rain had only just stopped before we got there – we’d missed the flooding, but still saw the evidence of enormous rainfall when we were leaving four days later, so they really did have it come down.
My obsession with how cold our house gets was fuelled by a look at the thermometer… –11°C, inside, of course. I think it was down to –15/16°C outside – really must buy another minimum/maximum thermometer!
One thing I found upsetting, not in itself, but in case it had been left for us, was the mummified cat I found upstairs. Thinking it over later, we think it had probably got itself caught in the rafters and an owl (or another cat) had knocked it off much later. I know the wind can’t have blown it, because the house has been shut up, and in the summer I had all the doors and windows propped open, letting a howling gale through on some days. I know it sounds paranoid to think someone might do something as nasty as leaving a dead cat in our house. Until last summer I wouldn’t have thought of such a thing, but we were talking with M. Lorin about his tractor (we’d said he could leave it in our barn again if he wanted), and he said thank you, but no. The last time someone had put sugar in his fuel tank. The thought of someone trespassing on our land to do something that mean was disquieting. Oh, well!
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Testing...
I thought I'd try to see if I can access Blogger - it seems OK so far... So, I'm going to try saving as draft & see if it will let me edit afterwards...
W.T.S!
W.T.S!
This looks as though it could be working...
Now I'm going to try adding a picture
It all seems to be working OK... Now let's see if it posts...
That doesn't mean I'm going to abandon Shoutpost - that's a really friendly site!
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