Day 47

M. Hamid arrived after M. Baty had already told me that he couldn't fit the french window today - that will be either Thursday or Friday next week, because the paint isn't drying any faster than that - and when I told him, he just nodded knowingly and said that we'd been right to hold off breaking through the doorway yesterday!

Messrs Hamid & Jamel left fairly quickly after taking down the shuttering from the "chapeau" on top of the wall; there was nothing else they could do.

I'm going to miss them, particularly M. Hamid...

M. Baty, M, Philippe & M. Jean-Baptiste worked like Trojans [OK, so they didn't hack into my computer, but you know what I mean!] today and we now have windows front & back and door frames in the stable, shutters on the small windows in the back hall & shower room, new windowsills everywhere that they'd warped because of the chaux-chanvre drying out so slowly, a shutter back upstairs, a window embrasure re-lined, and the doors rehung in the small cellar and on the stairs.

Phew!

They deserved a beer [not least for putting up with my "tired" French, which is worse than my "normal" French!], and I was quite sad to see them go.

I wish I could watch the french window being fitted [and the shutters, which sound as if they will follow not too long after], but I'm more than ready to go home.

Just need to get through tomorrow morning's meeting...

Hopefully it won't be too bad, but I have a feeling that I may have to fend off reminders about the project manager's latest bill: David is of the opinion that things we've been waiting for since August mean that a bill sent in late September can wait for our queries to be answered, and I think he's right!

Either way, as he has control of the cheque book, there's no chance of them getting any money before the 15th October.

We're both pretty keen that the plans we paid for over four years ago should be corrected before any more cash is handed over; they knew they were wrong in July, so have had enough time to correct them...

Apparently, J-M is taking the measurements tomorrow, so looks like that cheque is staying put for a while longer!