Photos...

I said I would post some pictures of the house now the builders have gone...

The problem is I don't want to, until I've got the place a bit [lot!] tidier.

My self-imposed deadline is Thursday evening; I want it to resemble a home by the time David gets back, so I should be able to take some shots on Friday...

The only delay is I'm getting fed up with cleaning things!

Yesterday I had a break to do "manly" things [saw up some timber/move our demolished floor so I can get the car in the barn again], which cheered me up no end; I like work that shows a result.

A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!

"Felicitations!"

Just had a lovely surprise...

I was checking my emails (have got the computer on the dining table so I can look out of the window whilst "working"), and I saw what looked like M. Lorin going into the churchyard.

It was a white van (and may well have been a C15; who knows [who cares]?), so I kept an eye out to see if it was indeed M. Lorin when he reappeared.

Which it was, so he had an impromptu visit to look around the house.

I had been a bit concerned: it was his house, and we have made some radical changes, but he said it was lovely and congratulated us on the work, our taste and thought/foresight.

I owned up to the news stairs being M. Boyer's idea, and the wall around the back terrace being John's idea.

He said he was happy for us, and he agreed that we'd done what the house needed.

I told him I was so glad to hear that, because it had been his house that we've really knocked about, but he said it's truly our house now; and it feels it.

I'm happy now we've had his blessing.

Hygrometer...

It's fascinating being the proud owner of a hygrometer...

[Although I have to own up to getting my hygrometer confused with my hydrometer; people who know me might leap to conclusions!]

The day I was complaining about the rain (well, not complaining, more commenting on), I'd woken up and the bedroom smelled damp.

OK, slightly damp, and if you sniffed hard, but still more damp than not-damp.

Not being keen on damp, and being the proud owner of a dehumidifier (and a hygrometer), I thought "Aha! Let's see what you can do about this!"

The relative humidity in the bedroom was 94%. The rest of the house was about 68%...

[To put that into context today is less humid-feeling than yesterday and the house is around 50% humidity - comfortable. The cellars were 83/84% yesterday (today 77%), and I was wondering if that was too damp to store my gardening tools...]

I've had the dehumidifier going almost constantly in the bedroom and that brought the level down to 52% (it's now 55% because I switched off the dehumidifier to see what effect opening the window would have instead; it had been too damp for air passing through to dry the room out), so the room is still damper than the rest of the house - it doesn't get air passing through it the same, as the door is near the window.

I've also been noting the humidity when the day feels "dry" to me and when it's been raining...

Conclusion: opening the windows on a dry day seems a lot more effective than a dehumidifier, but if you don't have a dry day a dehumidifier is brilliant!

Oh, and the damp smell in the bedroom passed in less than 24 hours and hasn't come back!

[And when I say damp smell, it's nothing like some of the things I've bought off eBay, so I wasn't too worried; just didn't want it getting any worse.]

Well, I'm fascinated anyway!

It's raining so much...

... that I don't want to go outside...

... that our drive is washing away down the road...

... that even our puddles have puddles!

Wow!

Finally got to take back possession of our house [that reminds me: change locks!] on Friday evening - a lovely feeling that there will be no more workmen for a while!

Not true, of course!

There are a few bit & bobs left to attend to (the HUGE pile of soil in the field, for a start), but nothing to prevent us moving in...

We slept here last night, and are starting to wind down now.

Sadly, David has already left for Paris and onward to London. :-(

And we've had our first visitor!

Alasdhair popped down for lunch (and breakfast as it turned out), and has kindly taken David back with him to Paris (saving David having to leave at 10.30 to catch his train).

Alasdhair really noticed all the changes (he hasn't seen it since we had the loo taken out of the kitchen!), and we'll invite him down again when David's on holiday - should be even nicer then!

Have done more washing up that I normally do in a month, but it's a wonderful thought that we don't have to put everything away again at the end of the summer!

We've got the standard 'English summer' weather (mixed, but predominantly rainy!), but I'm hoping it cheers up soon.

Either way, I'm loving being here.

Will take some photos on a beautiful sunny day & post them then.

Kind regards, and thank you for your interest,

Maria