Lovely evening out

We were a bit late arriving for apéros yesterday; we rather got caught up in watching the wedding coming out of the church, and then because of all the cars departing in all their excitement it seemed prudent to wait just a few minutes, then we met M. Demongeot...

Etc!

Still Mme Claude waved aside my apologies; I don't think here it matters too much if you are a little late arriving.

[It's certainly never seemed to bother people working on the house; even a few days doesn't appear to matter in some cases!]

We had a look round her gardens [I think the blokes would have been quite happy going straight into cork-popping mode, but there was no way I'd pass up a chance like that!]; in that typically French way, they have plots separated from the house by the neighbours' land, so she has two vegetable patches, and a wrap-around garden, with the lawn backing onto a field on one side and a vineyard on another.

Lovely views across to our side of the valley [and David said you can see our house from there, but Mme and I were too busy looking at the flax/irises/geraniums/raspberry canes et al.], and I suspect they get more of a breeze on very hot days.

By the time we got indoors, I was already laden down with seed heads for various annuals, a (huge) courgette and some tomatoes.

By the time we left, Mme had added a Mexican Hat Plant, a bucket of windfall pears and a kilo of her own honey.

[As an aside, Wikipedia notes it's a native of Madagascar, and that all parts of the plant are poisonous, but doesn't mention why it's known as a Mexican Hat Plant; I guess I'll never know.]

All totally appreciated, but it did make me feel like the sort of sponging relative who only shows up when there is a will to be read! I know that it's the generosity of people who grow their own produce [I've been the person pressing rooted cuttings from my garden and streptocarpus plants on anyone who is foolish enough to express admiration too often to believe otherwise], but I still felt awkward, as though we'd gone there fishing for gifts.

Not true, but it will take a bit of getting used to I suspect...

We had a lovely chat, and ate some wonderful food: cherry tomatoes [split from all the rain, but none the worse for that], courgette & carrot chunks from the garden, home-made gougères, and little rounds of toast topped with home-made rabbit pâté [with the rabbits from the farm]. And some champagne, obviously!

I think it was the warmest evening we've had in this (wetter) part of the summer, and walking slowly home hand in hand in the falling light was a memory I shall treasure.

It felt like a perfect summer's evening, and I can't wait to welcome them here when I've got the place a bit [LOT!] tidier...

This morning Claude showed up and took us to visit one of his orchards [again French inheritance laws in action, we think], where we collected more pears to replace those we took home with us, so that she could make the pear tart for her grandchildren's Sunday lunch.

We think Claude was in his element, showing us around the fields on the other side of the village, and seeing other villages that we ordinarily only visit by car; I think it's only the second time I've been in an off-roader/4x4 that actually goes off road. At first I was quite nervous, with him driving over ploughed fields, but he clearly knows what he's doing, and by the end I was just thoroughly enjoying myself.

Still don't see that the average person needs a 4x4, but can appreciate how useful they are round here if you regularly go on the farm tracks [that one pulled M. Petitpas' car back to the road when he stopped on a track to have his breakfast one morning], and certainly if you need to drive across fields when the ground has had as much rain as we have in recent weeks.

Speaking of which, it seems to have stopped again, so I might head out and enjoy the day until it starts again!

Obviously, I haven't given irredeemable offence

Mme Claude just called by to see if David was here; I said he was coming this evening [Yippee!!]...

So she invited us (again) for apéritifs on Friday or Saturday. I said whichever is best for her, so we're due round at 6-ish on Saturday.

I'm glad she hasn't given up on me, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that within a month the house will be in a much better state, and I will feel like inviting people round.

I KNOW that most people don't care what state the place is in, but I care, and find it very difficult to relax when guests are in my home and it's a tip. That so rarely happens [place being a tip, and letting people in if it's not tidy], and I should probably be much more laid back, but to me having a beautifully presented home for my friends is a large part of how I demonstrate hospitality.

That, and nice food and/or drink [*delete as applicable]!

It really can't make up its mind

That's assuming, of course, that weather can have a mind!

We seem to have gone from 'summer starting' to 'monsoon season' to 'feels like autumn', and now back to 'seems mostly summery'.

The downside of the torrential rain we've been having is that even when it is nice, the ground is so sodden that it makes working almost impossible. It's very unpleasant, and I know it's not good for the soil structure.

An upside: the little plants I've transplanted at the worst time of year to the worst situation I can put them in [in the gravel at the front of the house], all seem to be thriving!

And the other little plants I transplanted when I was here before and was having to water copiously have all (apart from one gap) survived brilliantly; for that I'm deeply grateful.

12°c at 10am, but the keys in the front doors were warm, and it's 24°c in the sun.

Visit from another of our neighbours

Mme Claude just came to invite us for apéros - I hope I wasn't rude in postponing until David is back; I'm fairly sure [but then again I'm often sure I've understood/been understood and it turns out not to be the case!] that she understands that it would be easier for everyone concerned if I came with my translator!

I'm OK in short bursts, but at the end of a day when I'm tired, the French gets worse [my understanding of the language, not the people!], and more words hide themselves away in the crevices of my brain, and communicating becomes much more difficult. With David there, I can receive a little help if I need it, or I can sit back and let the conversation flow a while as I catch up; we me on my own, that ain't happening!

They'd noticed our absence, and I said it was because we'd become demoralised by the delays, and that I'd painted the flat in London and we'd rented it out and moved to Maidstone. She agreed we'd been busy.

A final word on how lovely our rose is; it's fantastic, clearly being planted at the wrong time last year hasn't done it too much harm.

Once again, I'm left hoping I haven't done the wrong thing, and appeared as stand-offish...

Gardening, and a visit from Lydie

I finally decided to make a start on clearing the potager at the back of the house, mainly because there's nothing else I can really do whilst waiting for the one day's worth of work [sorry, I still feel like emphasising that, for some reason!] before I can begin cleaning up the house and moving everything to it's final resting place.

AND, the potager will look even more of a jungle if I don't make an attempt at controlling it this year!

It had reverted to hot and sunny this morning, so I did a couple of half hour stints digging out couch grass, nettles, thistles, docks and all the other lovelies that had made themselves at home, but I'm trying to leave the bindweed in situ so that we can spray that. Don't think I'll succeed, but I'm giving it a go...

I was driven off by the heat and sun about 2.30, and was just thinking about going and having another bash when there was a knock at the door; I'd locked up the front of the house and was just heading to the back, so very lucky [for me] timing.

It was Lydie, who had come to water the flowers on her parents' grave.

We had a lovely natter, but I was asking how she was coping with her father's death, and she told me that he didn't suffer, he was in an induced coma following a lung infection after his operation, when his kidneys started to fail...

He was on dialysis, but then his liver started to fail too, so the family took the sad decision to stop the dialysis and as his heart got slower he just slipped away. She said it was the 'right' kind of end for him: there was no hint that he wouldn't get better, the doctor reassured him that the coma was just to help him cope with the breathing tube until the infection had cleared, and that everything was progressing nicely.

I'm sad he's gone. I miss seeing him on summer's evenings, particularly; the pair of us would often meet in the road outside the house after he had watered the flowers on Denise's grave and as I was watering the pots in the garden. I have fond memories of chatting in the warm evenings as the light slipped away; I'm glad he got to slip away, too.

I'm comforted that one of my final recollections is of making him laugh about my hill-climbing "prowess"! The Tour de France was passing through a couple of the neighbouring villages, and we were discussing the mountain stages, and I recounted my struggles to get up the hill behind the house without stopping or getting off to push, and how I daren't set out when Isabelle's boys could see me because I was so embarrassed by the "speed" I achieved.

He had a real laugh about that; he was very supportive, and said it's a steep climb [which it is, but not like the mountains], and we decided it was my own personal "Alp".

That memory's helping me now, but I don't suppose laughing will make the legs work better when I finally get my bike out of the grenier!

Il pleut

Apparently, when David left yesterday he took the summer with him!

He has nice weather in London [what does he need that for; he's in an office?], whereas I have rain.

Oh well, might as well take this opportunity to upload some photos to Flickr®.

Enjoying another glorious day, but sad...

The day started much warmer: 14°c at 8am, 22° at midday, and 28° by 2pm. Oddly, it still only reached 34° in the sun out front.

We saw M. Waeber yesterday; he came to drop off the bill [with his nice new computer, that seems to take a lot less time than the old handwritten ones!], and he mentioned that Sunday night into Monday had dropped to 8°, so we really haven't had a lot of heat this summer.

The lizard who lives by the kitchen door was busy sunning him/herself this afternoon, and quite frankly I don't blame him/her!

The sad part of my day was waving David off just before 4pm, as he's going back to the UK; once again we will have missed the Route du Champagne en Fête.

Next year, we won't be having to plan around workmen and we will be aiming to do some of the more interesting tourist things on offer.

One thing I need to watch out for as I'm staying here: David saw a (baby?) red squirrel in our cour anglaise by the bathroom window, so I want to keep an eye out for him/her.

A minor (major?) niggle has just landed in my inbox: the check in report for our flat notes that there is some food on the oven racks, and crumbs to the grill tray - I'm seriously NOT happy about that. The whole flat was very clean, but not clean to a letting standard [I hadn't buffed the taps/bath/basin, and the oven just needed a final going over as we'd used it a couple of times after I cleaned it a week or so before moving out, but the kitchen units I'd left, knowing that we had to pay for cleaning]. We've been charged £250 for a "professional" cleaning, and if they haven't even wiped in the oven will they have cleaned the windows/carpets bathroom, and kitchen cabinets?

I doubt it. Not looking forward to a battle, but seriously if the very minor level of mess I left behind hasn't been dealt with, I want a refund!

Of course, the check in report might have been done before the cleaning, but in that case why are there photos of furniture and the date was two days after the cleaners had done their bit?

Seriously pissed off that Maidstone and now Ormonde Court have been "professionally" cleaned, but left not clean!

As soon as I find out who the cleaners were, I will be naming names!

August now, so progress over (for the time being)

M. Torelli and Jimmy have worked their last day for a while, as the whole of the country goes into "screensaver" mode for the month of August. We were pretty astonished that they even intended to come, but weren't going to say 'non'.

They've managed to connect up the bath, as promised, which I really appreciate; soaking away the kinks after a long day's gardening works so much better than taking a shower, especially when I can barely stand up straight!

The loo is also fitted and working, but the shower screens will have to wait, so M. Torelli has tried the taps to check they work, but then cut off the water [sensible man]. Sadly, another thing installed to the exact specification of the project manager is the totally-unsuitable-for-us water filtration system...

The immersion heater is full of limescale, apparently, and the pipes to it choked enough that it's making an alarming noise when it fills. M. Torelli is going to run through better options when he returns [hopefully the last two days of August]. More expense, and given that I've been here about eight months out of the last 24, and David has been here less than two months that seems a pretty bad example of matching what is needed by your clients!

As an aside, an interesting snippet we've picked up regarding progress on the Salle Polyvalente (the equivalent of a Village Hall): there was a note from the Mairie in our letter box when we arrived saying that the meal to celebrate Bastille Day had been cancelled as work on the Salle had progressed more slowly that expected.

Half of me is sad [not that we would have made this year's festivities] that the commune is being let down by Jean-Marie and his team, but the other (much meaner) half is glad that even a government body is being given the same delayed treatment that we experienced from T+B!

Another thing to be glad about that we didn't recommend them.

From M. Waeber we've learned that none of the companies that have done work here are working for the Mairie, and he also reckons that none of those companies will work for Jean-Marie again. I don't know if that's the case [I certainly know of at least one that turned him down flat for a major job] or hyperbole, but it wouldn't surprise me; even the 'devoted followers' (as I think of them) among the artisans seemed pretty disgruntled at his behaviour by the time they'd left our house.

We're just heartily glad he's gone, and that progress has been made.

Just wish perhaps a bit more of it had been achieved before the country shuts down for a month!

Finally feels like summer!

Today started like a proper summer's day, albeit being 10°c at 8am.

At 12.30pm, it's now just above 18°c in the shade, and I'm wearing a dress [rather than track pants, socks, cardigan, etc], and we have all the doors and windows open. In the courtyard at the front of the house (and so in full sun) it's 34°c; perfect weather for being a lizard!

Oops, spoke too soon!

M. Torelli called us in to have a look at the basins: despite being "identical", one pedestal is higher than the other, and obviously so!

So, I did get to see the bathroom before it's finished [more on that, below]. It was a tricky question of whether to risk trying to take a centimetre off the too-high column, or just take it as they are. The other side of the coin, of course, is that the basins are not flat; a difference in height of 1cm at the front is less than half that at the back. In fact, against the dark tiles you hardly see the discrepancy.

We've decided to just accept what is, and have a laugh about it. We have so many 'faults' that are down to bad decision-making on the behalf of Jean-Marie, that we can cope with a manufacturing "tolerance".

I think a special mention, though, should go to Sarreguemines who in the 21st Century with all the technological advances in equipment and processes can still manage to produce two of the same item so different in size and shape! Cheap clothes from the Third World, I expect that, but France with all its logistical prowess should be able to manage better, no?

I think the French have a word for people like me: naïve!

Things that aren't great:

• M. Torelli and Jimmy have a day off tomorrow;
  
• Because M. Waeber took longer than expected, M. Torelli won't be able to finish our work before his holiday, so we will have to wait till late August to have that remaining day's work done;
• I can't start my cleaning and re-assembling this week if I want all workman-related mess to be finished before I get my pinny on;
• M. Torelli thinks we have much too small an immersion heater, and we could have had one that runs off the central heating as a secondary source of hot water;
• The cold pressure is likely to be insufficient to cope with the shower.

That last point in particular pisses me off: I repeatedly asked Jean-Marie & M. Petitpas whether the cold pressure was adequate, and one of the much-delayed "sondages" was to check that the water pressure was OK. Turns out it's half what it should be...

Hmmm!

At least we have a positive: M. Torelli says that we can fit some sort of tank/pump in the cellar and that will be half a day's work and would completely rectify the problem.

Coming from Leander Road with no hot pressure [combi boiler at the same level as the shower] and then Ormonde Court with no cold pressure [whatever pump the block has isn't up to the challenge of a decent flow rate/volume on the fourth floor] I was used to fairly feeble showering, but here it seemed in a different [lower] division...

You know when someone convinces you that you're imagining something? Well, turns out that low pressure wasn't all in my head!

Perhaps the investigation was another thing we got charged for that never happened...

Anyway, I want to end on a positive note, so please enjoy the photos of our oh-so-nearly-finished bathroom, and then I'm off for an apéro!

I've gone all superstitious!

M. Waeber finished the tiling yesterday whilst we were at Dijon Prenois for the second of two Track Days, and came this morning to clean off any overspill, and now we have plumbers in action fitting sanitary ware.

We seem so close to the finish, that it's making me nervous: we have seemed to be within sight of the end and then it's got delayed so many times, that I'm frightened to jinx the process by going and watching them at work.

Too much time spent watching cricket/living with a cricket fan? Probably, but I feel that my absence might help it all go smoothly, and if it doesn't, well at least I can't blame myself!

Having said that, I persuaded David [who, I'm sure, thinks I'm weird] to go and take some photos...

Luckily, I have cast iron willpower, so there won't be any peeking!

Which sadly means there won't be any posting, either.

M. Waeber is back, and tiling around the window embrasure. He hopes to have finished by tomorrow...

I must say that he's been putting in the hours, so he may even manage that!

Then all we need is the intervention of M. Torelli.

And he's started with the radiators in the bedroom, and fitted [and then removed so the tiling can be done behind] the towel rail in the bathroom, so fingers crossed.

David saw our neighbour Mme K this morning; apparently she's stubbornly refusing to switch on the heating... That probably tells you what kind of weather we are having on our holiday!

Halfway there with the tiling

M. Waeber has tiled the walls around the bath and loo, and this morning is starting on the other wall of the shower working his way towards the window.

The plumber even showed up!

M. Jimmy has been adding to the collection of cardboard boxes they had started, so there will be no delays once M. Torelli starts taking things out of boxes & attaching them to walls.

Apart from the mirrors, obviously; he was supposed to email us a copy of his preferred supplier's catalogue back in the Spring, but we all forgot about it until yesterday when I was hoping that the lights would be different than the ones in the shower room and realised that we hadn't chosen any!

I have a print-out and am going to look on the website now...

Progress!

I feel like writing that in shouty all caps, and the hugest font I can find, but I'm going to spare you that.

What I'm not going to spare you are the details!

The mystery of the plumber was solved: he didn't come Monday because the delivery of the radiators which was scheduled for today had been rearranged for yesterday. That did happen, so when we got home from shopping there are piles of radiators/towel rail/shower screens and other miscellaneous stuff dotted about the bedroom. He's coming on Thursday to fit the towel rail, then take it off again so that M. Waeber can tile behind it.

He'll then re-fit it some time next week when M. Waeber has finished.

Unfortunately, the plasterboarding is leaving something to be desired: the base of the niche is too low, but M. Waeber has made that up with a chunk of Ciporex, but it's the wonkiness of the walls that is causing him the greatest headache.

He's having to use extra tile cement to level out the walls.

Obviously we never realised that the way SMS had stored the plasterboard would cause problems, but it is doing. We said to M. Waeber that next time we would get M. Roncari to do it, but apparently he's ditched the plastering side of the business and only does painting and decorating now. Apparently, there is a good chap in the Haute Marne, so I must remember to ask for his details for my book.

It's lovely to see tiles going up [and hear the thump of tiles being manoeuvred into place, although David is fearful when he sees them being whacked with a mallet!], and the fact that the plumbing/heating supplies are nearly all here makes me very hopeful that it will be finished within a couple of weeks.

Apart from my bit [cleaning & rearranging furniture, belongings etc], of course!

Couldn't resist posting this photo

Tiler here; working as I type!

I thought we'd got a false start this morning when M. Waeber showed up...

To tell David that he couldn't come till this afternoon.

But he did show up, and is now working. We hope that we're going to have better spaced joints in the bathroom; the middle of the bath and shower taps are going to be mid-tile (rather than at the joints), but that should remove the need for slivers of tiles in any corners...

We solved the mystery of why he'd done the other tiles the way he had: he was making sure the borders matched perfectly! A very French thing to do, it seems to us: a four inch wide [very "busy" looking pattern] looks 'right', but sadly the less-than-an-inch sliver in the corner of the shower for the remaining eight foot height of wall looks [to us] 'wrong'.

So, in the bathroom, we are going to [hopefully] have 'wrong' borders, but 'right' rest of the walls...

Fingers crossed!

I'm just so happy that he hadn't started without us all being able to talk it through, but I'm going to be even happier if he manages to make it look [to my eyes] 'right'.

After the weekend [did I mention my 23 hour 40 minute day as we moved house on Saturday/Sunday before driving down to France], I'm now ready for a holiday!

So I may or may not post about progress...

[Needless to say, the expected plumber has not materialised!]

Phone call last night from M. Waeber

Apparently, he's held up on another job and wants to come earlier to start work at our place.

I really do NOT want that! BUT, David promises he's only going to move the tiles to our house and do preparatory work, and won't start the actual tiling until Monday.

That better be the case!

My main worry is that we've been lied to told things that turn out not to be true too many times to believe any French workmen without seeing proof that what they're telling us is true!

So, once again, I'm focusing on being more zen; letting go of worrying and trusting that the right thing will happen.

[And keeping everything crossed, obviously!]

Tiler

M. Waeber says he's coming on the 18th of July...

Almost believe him, but am waiting for proof!

On the upside, if he blows us out again, my cousin has a colleague/employee [can't remember which] who apparently is a brilliant tiler, is willing to travel and Grant [cousin] reckons he could do the work in one day!!!

Haven't mentioned that fact to M. Waeber, but it's up my sleeve for a "rainy day"; we do NOT want to be like the Bogés who have waited two years for him.

Not gonna happen, and if Grant's colleague/employee [delete as appropriate] is as good as he says, we might even get a better job done?

Now all I need to do is tactfully insist that he does an "English" job [joints sited unobtrusively] rather than finishing to the French standard [joints offset by an inch for emphasis that "we thumb our noses at you English and your fussy ways" or slivers of tiles in corners to draw the eye].

However, having waited since early April (and having a standby lined up), the tactful bit may get left off if he brings any attitude with him.

Please keep your fingers crossed that I can "do fluffy" [Hi, Karen!]...

Bastille Day: a day to celebrate?

David spoke to M. Waeber (with whom I am currently NOT impressed), and he says he can (probably) start our tiling on the 14th of July...

Hmmm!

As I say, I'm severely underwhelmed with him at the moment.

On the positive side, I think I will have no problem persuading David that we should ask someone else to finish off our terrace, when we get around to thinking about it; he's been doing the Bogés' terrace since early April [that we know about], and that's about 50% bigger than ours, so at that rate of progress we'd have two months worth of work ahead of us.

[ETA: After a TWO YEAR DELAY! Apparently, that's how long Caroline and her husband have been waiting.]

I suspect M. Hamid would do it in just over a week?

COMPLETE nightmare

Seriously!

I'm hoping it's just my subconscious worrying about M. Waeber doing our tiling unsupervised, but I had a horrible dream last night: M. Baty had had to alter some of the tiles to accommodate some woodwork, and we were left with chevrons of dull green/red tiles across the floor. He'd also made a "feature" of a blocked up doorway [I think that's an echo of Leander Road; we don't have a blocked up doorway in the bedroom in France, and the one in the study is long since dealt with], building it out, putting architrave around it and there was a full sized professional photograph of me in the middle!

Someone had tiled out the kitchen in two different types of very fancy tiles, and installed one of those elaborate cooker hoods. There were different colours/styles of tiles everywhere.

I'd left my brother in charge, and I was asking him why on earth he'd let them do it.

In the end I was stomping around refusing to accept it, and insisting that it was ALL taken out and they start from scratch again. I was in a right mood, but wasn't going to put up with that mess!

I think the sooner I can get back to France and oversee M. Waeber, the sooner my dreams will be untroubled again...

I don't want to see results like that again in a hurry.

Having stayed in various gîtes over the years, we've formed the impression that there's an unwritten 'law' about French flooring... Never have fewer than five different styles/shapes/patterns/colours of tiles/parquet/whatever!

We've already (despite our best efforts) achieved the "French style" in our home: two different types of tiles [the delay meant the original choice was discontinued by the time we were ready to order more of them], two different types of stone [tiles (that look like slabs) and original slabs, but that would be three types if you include that we used some original slabs and have since bought some more from Burgundy], and there will be a wooden floor in the entrance hall when we can afford it [and there are already wooden fillets in the doorways from the boo-boo about laying the stone tiles].

Not mentioning upstairs where we've got three different patterns of floorboards (so far).

Going French in the flooring department does NOT mean I'm going to have a (two-tone) brown kitchen, though!

Right, I'm back off to hibernate again.

In limbo, AGAIN

We're waiting for M. Waeber to schedule our tiling job...

I'm not terribly impressed with him agreeing to do it last month and then turning around and letting us down, but that's been par for the course!

[As I side note: it really emphasises how wonderful Messrs Mekki/Luparello & Baty have been, so makes us even more thankful for their contributions.]

It's dragged on for too long now [a bit like the constant problems the interminable Microsoft updates keep causing for my computer!!! At least one update a day for the last 17 days, and many more IE crashes]: we were due to start early April, and finish late May...

2010!

Once more, I've lost all enthusiasm, at the moment, so I'm probably going to "hibernate" my blogs for a while; at least until I have something positive to report (or a sudden surge of energy). The return to cold weather (although entirely seasonal) hasn't helped my mood, either.

So, until I have some more progress to report: enjoy my hiatus, and I hope life is running more smoothly for you guys out there!

New shutters

I've had such problems with *bleep* Microsoft, that I'm just going to load these photos [if that works; I can't face yet another crash & massive loss of my work], and trust that it's obvious what's going on.

Plumber done (nearly) all he can without tiler doing his bit

He's fitted the bath (but not connected the waste, oddly), and done more of the laundry room plumbing, but now he's being held up by the tiler...

David is going to speak to M. Waeber tomorrow to see when he can come; I don't want him working when I'm not here, as left unsupervised he puts some of the joints in *ahem* "interesting" places with regard to mid-lines!

I'd rather be present to make a decision as to whether the tile join should be offset to the middle of the taps etc.

I can foresee that the 2 basin/shower combination could be tricky, so would rather we made the decision that blindly putting our trust in M. Waeber, and I most definitely do want the bath taps to 'straddle' a join even if it means a sliver in the corner [like we have in the shower room!], unless a whole tile spanning the tap would be better.

But that's only a decision that can be made when the tiles are here.

I think arranging for him to work here when we are next here can be done nicely/without hurting his feelings a bit more easily now that the whole house is connected together; he would have to have a key to the whole bit, and he's been giving the key to whoever needs it in our absence, so we could say that now we'd prefer to be here when work is happening.

I hope it will work out that way, anyway!

May flowers and skylarks

I went for a walk just before 7pm - letting the heat of the day dissipate a little now that it doesn't feel like thunder.

I'm still having "issues" with my energy levels: my 15-minute walk is taking half an hour, and my 25-minute walk took an hour. BUT, looking on the positive side, I did go so I feel that that's progress (of a sort).

I enjoyed myself, as I tend to do, and really appreciated seeing the countryside bursting into life, and the wildlife.

The same valley I walked along yesterday in full sun, was today in still shade and the smell of the may flowers [hawthorn] was overpowering; they really are aromatic. The flowers here are very white [almost as brilliant white as the blackthorn], whereas I remember them as being a more creamy shade.

Either I'm misremembering, or they are a slightly different variety here? I'm sure the sloes are different: I've picked kilos of them without getting pricked, and I don't recall that as an 'option' with English sloes!

Along with the may, there was a bush or two of late-flowering blackthorn, and a carpet of wild strawberries; very 'wedding bouquet'.

As well as the flora making my walk a richer experience, the fauna were also putting on a spectacle for me...

A buzzard was lazily riding the thermals close to the ground above a hay meadow, with the occasional drop to the ground; I never saw him catch anything, but I loved watching him try.

A pair of partridge took off at my approach, as did a skylark, who sang his way out of sight.

"Couples" is very much a theme at the moment: the lizards outside the kitchen door have been flirting shamelessly, and I even saw a pair of flies dancing round each other [but that thought I didn't enjoy!]. Lizard 'kiss chase' is fun to watch, as is the tail-shaking 'come and get me' signal that precedes it, with them covering a surprising amount of ground at speed.

The swallows, redstarts and spuggies are all looking for nest materials/sites so I'm valiantly fending off advances from the birds who think this house would make a nice home; it does, chaps, but just not for you!

I'm slightly delaying my "nesting" until the workmen have finished!

Plumbers working overtime?

The plumbers are only just leaving at 5.35pm.

The bath still isn't fitted, but there's a valid reason for that, so I don't mind: there are some sound-deadening panels attached that had come adrift, and M. Torelli wants to make sure the glue he's used to re-attach them will hold before plumbing in the waste.

I totally agree that it's better to wait a day than have them fall off again!

They are coming back tomorrow to fit the bath, and continue with the plumbing for the central heating supply in the laundry, and then we will be waiting for M. Waeber.

Plumber has just arrived

So that's saved David phoning him up to ask where he is!

I'm busy with some other blog stuff, so I'll post more later...

Sparks is here

Another one!

We seem to be meeting the whole of the electrical side of the Schwartz workforce, I think.

I told him that the plumber had pointed out the light/power switch wasn't vertical, but he said that's OK, as part of the making good process for the hole below it (where it was moved up), that will fix that problem.

The other thing the plumber said was that there wasn't sufficient depth for the tiles to go...

I asked the new electrician about that, and he said that the tiler will bring the sockets out when he does the tiling, so that's OK then.

I'm guessing this chap will be long gone by the time that the plumber gets here!

Rumblings of thunder...

A.k.a. "discretion is the better part of valour"!

Having seen the thunder and lightning storms of the two previous days, and having been struck by lightning twice (albeit only down a telephone line both times), I've put on hold my plans to go for a walk.

Yes, it is much cooler, with a refreshing breeze, but if it starts to thunder-and-lightning in earnest [and it sounds as if it's revving up to do that], I really don't want to be out in the open/near any tall trees!

Day off!

Thinking in French all week has left me quite drained; by Friday, I don't think I was making any sense, and I certainly wasn't understanding very much that was said to me until it had been repeated at least once and s l o w l y !

I want to post some photos of M. Baty and his elves' handiwork, but I'd rather do it another day and put some enthusiasm into it.

I have been out and about, foraging, and will post about that as & when.

Sufficient to say, I have a colander full of nettles waiting, ready for my dinner!

Sad now

M. Torelli & Jimmy came and went; I see they've moved the bath, but I'm not convinced that it's fitted [given that it's not butting up against the wall and the waste is not connected]!

They're coming back on Tuesday.

On the contrary, the lovely menuisiers have finished and are not coming back; which is making me sad, as I've enjoyed talking with them [and it never hurts when guys are cute, does it?] even if it makes me feel old that I've only heard of The Prodigy and not The Bloody Beetroots.

But then again, I'm not 19, am I?

Jean-Baptiste & Marc back

Yum!

They are so sweet, and they're fixing up our shutters, what's not to like?!

Joiners nearly done for the day

Apparently, Jean-Baptiste has to come back tomorrow to do some finishing touches and fit a different kind of shutter fastener. The one they brought won't fit neatly into the fold of the shutter, so stops them fully opening. There is a flat version, which I can't really imagine but I don't have to for long as one will appear tomorrow.

The issue with the hinges seems to have been resolved, and all the bits of stone they broke drilling holes have been repaired virtually invisibly.

We've now got internal doors, and têtes bergère on all of the shutters, apart from the bathroom one which has a lever to hold it open and M. Baty has installed a new cylinder in the lock, one that can be locked & unlocked from the inside; the old one only locked from the outside, which was fine while that door was being used for access and had no shutters, but not so great now that we've had the passageway unblocked.

David emailed M. Mekki about the stones sticking out where the shutter should go, but that's already been overtaken by events: where we did have sticky-out stones, we now have holes in the wall; but at least the shutter opens properly!

There is a lot of last-minute tidying/little jobs going on, and I'm debating whether it's too early to offer the guys a beer before they head off home. They were here at 8am and that must mean leaving the atelier before 7am, I'm sure, so they've given us a good day's work. Plus, I like having a chat with them when they've finished.

A minor issue

The new shutters look lovely - and are going to be great for privacy/keeping out light/keeping warmth in/out - but there's a problem with folding them back: I think that when they are closed the hinges are in the right place, but completely open the middle hinge is stressing the shutter outwards.

I was starting to wonder how they were going to fix it (or whether it's just one of those things that you have to live with), but M. Baty reckons there's nothing to worry about, and I'm reminding myself that the reason we are paying him so much money is for his skill and expertise; he will fix it somehow and I don't have to try and work out how that will be done.

Everyone has stopped for lunch now, so I'm just relaxing in the warmth [did I mention it was a beautiful day, again?], and as for the proud stonework by the chassis David said he wanted to be more in charge of things, so I'm letting him!

Bathroom window

Having taken five attempts to get the bathroom window right, and having asked Jean-Marie whether there was enough room for the shutter to open and being assured there was, I now need to call M. Hamid back to take out some stones so that the bathroom shutter can open fully without fouling!

Oh, well, I'm sure M. Mekki will understand...

All quiet, now

The three joiners have each put down their noise-making machines drills, routers and planers, and we are currently waiting for the glue/mastic that is holding in the gonds to go off. Not sure what they are in English, but it's an upright bolt that a hinge sits on.

There are three on each of the large shutters, and two on the small one.

Different smells, too, from earlier: this morning I was taken back to my childhood with the aroma of newly-planed wood [Dad was a general builder, so did some woodworking, and my grandfather had a joinery shop behind his hardware store (I used to love seeing the coffins!), and later got into wood carving and turning as a hobby]; now there is the smell of chemicals everywhere.

I think they are using the kind of stuff that's sets like a rock and so will hold the gonds in place; something needs to as the stone was incredibly difficult to drill, and the holes are not as neat as in the bricks.

Just heard from M. Torelli: he's had another incident of health trouble, so will either be coming this afternoon or tomorrow morning. To be honest, it's probably best that he's NOT currently here as I think they might be tripping up over each other a bit if he was!

Thursday, 11.20

Messrs Hamid and Jamel have gone; they finished the joints on the plasterboard that Hamid had replaced/installed yesterday, and that's the builder & plaquiste "lots" finished.

The joiners are all still hard at work fitting shutters and internal doors.

I had a message from the electrician who is stuck on a job at Belfort (195 miles away), so he can't come until next week, but (says he) will call Tuesday to let me know whether he's expected Tuesday or Wednesday.

No news from the plumber, but it's not late yet given that we've still got all afternoon.

Just had a call from M. Mekki, checking that everything's OK, which it is, so all I had to do was thank him for sending Hamid and Jamel and wish him a Happy Easter. Hopefully he will come and look at the work for himself next week, so we can say a proper 'thank you' for all his hard work and willingness to fit in around our difficult schedule.

Aaahh!

8am and the joiners arrive: M. Baty, M. Jean-Baptiste and M. Marc. I feel tired but happy!

It took me a long time to settle last night, but now that we will have shutters [and so be totally covered as far as insurance questions are concerned], I think I can take the rest 'as it comes'.

The shutters also mean that when the other work is finished, we can sleep in the bedroom [curtains are so far in the future, I'm pretty much reconciled to their absence], and pad naked to the bathroom should we so wish!

Of course we could do that now, but you never know when someone is going to be working in the vineyards at back (or walking across your field), do you?

I will post photos later, but for the moment want to go and watch the joiners in action (and take more photos, obviously).

Back hall now completed!

M. Hamid pointed the slabs he laid this morning before leaving.

He also replaced the too-close plasterboard by the bathroom window, and put some plasterboard over the rough edges where he knocked through yesterday.

He doesn't know whether it will be he or M. Kadir who comes and finishes the edges/banding, but I suspect it will be Kadir.

I'm going to miss him; I like talking to him and I like his "I will do what the client wants" attitude.

M. Waeber's been and gone

Pointing done, so nothing to stop M. Torelli fitting the bath tomorrow...

If he shows (M. Waeber's words, not mine).

Stone slabs going down...

The argument for having the small (troublesome) pink stone in the middle has been negated; the first joint as you come to the dégagement from the corridor is NOT dead centre, so there is no longer a need to feel we should keep the joints symmetrical.

Accordingly, we are going with our first instinct which is to herd the pinky stones off to the left!

[Of course, that would be the right on the photos: the corridor will be where the wall is, and I just couldn't get a decent shot standing in that space on my tip-toes.]

And, obviously, we are ignoring all the expert advice this end [M. Waeber just showed up, so I asked him, too].

We are the ones who are going to have to look at it, and the small 'pink' stone is definitely less eye-catching when grouped with the others to the side.

Handily, I was able to tell them that "David says so", and I think they are happy with that!

Bods have gone now...

And left me with a new problem: the slabs are all cut to size/shape - so far, so good - BUT when I pressure-washed then, half are grey and half are pink!

[Not to mention the problems of trying to remember to lock the door to the bedroom (previously nothing really to take, so I was just closing it), and going to the room along the back hall! Since February 2009 (and we only broke through in January), we've only been able to access that part of the house by going outside; it seems that hasn't yet worn off!]

They are drying less obviously different, but I need to talk to David to see what he wants to do...

The half of me that likes everything to be "right" is thinking about all the hassle it would take to find another few slabs to cut down, and the half of me that is trying to be more Zen thinks we should just go with the flow, again.

It seems like the wanting-it-to-be-right half is in the minority, given that that's also the tired-out-by-it-all half! Exhaustion with the whole process, I think, will carry the day and we get a pink & grey mix floor and hope that as I'm not planning on washing it too often that it will fade down with a few scuff marks.

Unless David thinks otherwise, of course...

Decisions, decisions

Deciding how the stone slabs should be laid in the dégagement between the back hall and the master bedroom has felt like a challenge too far: I've known that I want them to look 'right', without having any clear idea of what looking right would look like!

M. Hamid is being a complete sweetie, as usual, and saying that whatever the client wants is what he will do; I had a complete moment [though thankfully without any blubbing] of needing my dad - he would do what his clients wanted, but could also suggest how it might be done!

In the absence of dad, I phoned David and we decided that the lines of the joints between the stones should run parallel to those of the corridor [any easy decision; how could I have struggled with that?], and any small triangles of stone in the doorway will not really matter [we made a very similar decision about the tiles in the bedroom, and that looks fine; you only notice the odd slivers in the doorway when you look for them, the rest of the time you notice that the tiles follow the only square wall in the place].

And thankfully, we have two largish slabs that can be laid side-by-side with the joint dead centre, then a big piece that can go in the middle of the next row (flanked by smaller stones laid 'vertically' rather than 'horizontally') and I think we're going to wing it with the final row (which is going to be a half-row at best).

M. Hamid also kindly agreed to me pressure-washing the slabs before he lays them, which will save me a massive amount of in situ scrubbing, and I'm grateful and dressed ready for the moment they have finished trimming the slabs down to size.

Forgot the photos from Monday

Gosh, is that only yesterday?

M. Waeber filled in the gap in the floor where the bath is to go with some sort of mortar, and laid the tiles directly on top of it, as far as I could tell. [We'd had it left unfinished in case we did choose the freestanding bath.]

It needs two days to go off, and then he's coming back tomorrow to do the pointing.

M. Torelli is now added to my list of people coming Thursday!

I don't think the various workmen are likely to trip up over each other; they're all working in different places apart from when M. Baty will fit the bathroom door...

I might ask him to do that first, as I'm pretty sure he's going to get here at least an hour before M. Torelli (based on previous arrival times).

I'm sure that even if they do all arrive at once, they can slug it out amongst themselves!

I'm just sitting here enjoying the gentle sound of M. Hamid knocking off chunks from the underside of the stone slabs to make them shallow enough to fit in the "dégagement" between the back hall and the new bedroom.

He's pretty sure that we have enough slabs, so fingers crossed it all works out nicely.

I've never been so pleased to see M. Hamid!

Literally and figuratively.

Admiring the "view" along our hallway, and realising that our house just got bigger: priceless!

Also interested to hear a bit of gossip; I was saying that we are finding out bits that the project manager told us couldn't be done how we wanted them to be done, and then hearing from the artisans later that they had recommended doing exactly what we'd asked for, but were told by M. Boyer that the client insisted it was done his way. So we ended up not happy, the artisans presumably think we're difficult/stupid and the only person who's been getting what they want is the project manager!

Apparently, M. Waeber wasn't happy that the drain for the shower was laid by the builder; M. Hamid said he was ordered here on a rush job to fit it, and we were told that the plumber/tiler insisted that it was done by the builder... Hmm!

Also on another couple of jobs where M. Hamid worked, he'd done what the client asked for and was told by J-M that it was wrong [chaux-chanvre in one house, and a spiral staircase up from a vaulted cellar in a barn] only to have the client insist that they wanted what M. Hamid had done. In one instance, so I'm told, J-M just shut up, and the client in the other case asked how much money he owed J-M and was going to pay him off to stop him interfering!

If I understood correctly, the artisans pay the project manager as well as the clients paying him, but I'm not sure if I've got that right... But if I have, that's a nice little earner given what we've been charged!

It might not look much...

...But to us this hole is HUGE!

The bedroom is finally being joined to the rest of the house!

Must go and watch progress now.

Perhaps I'm getting braver?

I need to leave the house to go and find some other blog supplies, but obviously don't want anyone to have the excuse of "I showed up, but you weren't there, so I can't come again for a month/whatever", so I telephoned M. Mekki...

Now that might not sound like a lot, but it's a biggie for me: when I speak to people face-to-face I can normally tell whether they have understood me or not, I can use my hands as a communication tool and they (assuming they have the minutest level of observation skills) can tell if I'm looking completely mystified myself. This all aids understanding and being understood.

I forgot to add: I do a pretty mean diagram, for when there are no words!

Obviously, given that no-one I need to call has a videophone and nor do we, a phone conversation cuts out all my favourite coping mechanisms. I don't know if it's true (or an "urban myth") that 93% of communication is non-verbal, but I know that if I avoid the telephone we get far fewer misunderstandings!

So, to have spoken with M. Mekki feels like an achievement.

I think I'm safe to leave the house, given:

• Plumber: waiting for tiles to be pointed so he can fit the bath
  
• Tiler: coming Wednesday to grout the floor tiles, and then who-knows-when for the faïence
  
• Electrician: returning Thursday to finish making good and fit the extra socket in the kitchen
  
• Joiner: scheduled Thursday to fit the shutters
  
• Plaquiste: expected tomorrow
  
• Builder: ditto

Now that feels like we've got everyone covered, so I'm safe to leave the house. Lovely day for it, again, so I'm off to enjoy the sunshine!

Life saves me from more dithering; thanks!

David had asked M. Huguenot to link the spot in the "niche" to the centre light, but this morning I countermanded that and asked the electrician to link it to the shower spots.

Then I started having second thoughts [my first thoughts were that if we wanted the bathroom lit up for loveliness-of-display we would have all the spots lit, and otherwise I didn't want the niche lit every time we put the main light on as those spot bulbs are expensive!], and dithered and emailed David to see if he was OK with that.

I was just trying to persuade myself that I hadn't made the wrong decision [and, let's face it, in the grand scheme of things it's really NOT important!], when the electrician came to say that he'd wired it to the shower spots (I'd said I prefer that, but please do whatever was easiest!), as there was a beam in the way and he couldn't connect it (easily) to the centre light.

Phew!

I like it when the decision is taken out of my hands; reduces guilt immensely.

It's like buses...

You wait ages for one, then three come along all at once!

OK, so the second one is a promise (rather than actual), but the electrician's arrival definitely makes it a triple of good news; all feels like progress.

Actually, that needs to be written:

PROGRESS!

Sorry for being 'shouty', but after so long when it seemed as though we couldn't get things to re-start, two men in our bathroom working is wonderful.

Ooo! Shutters are coming!

I just checked my email, and there is one sitting there from David with the heading "pose des nouveaux volets", and as I've seen a few of these (chasing a date from the Batys) I thought he was on the case again.

But, it was one from him replying to Mme Baty letting us know that M. Baty is coming on Thursday.

How excited am I?!

That means we will be able to sleep in the bedroom; oo!

I was going to say "the tiler is here!"

But now I have to change that to "the tiler was here, but he's gone off to find some sand".

A big white van pulled up in front of the bedroom, and as I was expecting M. Antoni I thought it was him. I got the key to open up the door [still no access from the house, but hopefully that will be happening this week!?] and went round there and was surprised to see M. Waeber.

He's only doing the floor tiles; so that M. Torelli can install the bath and seal around it so when the wall tiling is done there are no leaks.

I don't know when he's coming back to do the wall tiling; I am summoning up the "braves" to ask. We need that done before M. Torelli can fit the basins/taps/shower/shower screen/sèche-serviette...

M. Waeber explained that he has to do the Bogé's terrace when the sun is shining, so I told him I was praying for rain!

At least he has come for this bit, so that's a positive sign, surely?

One swallow does not a summer make...

Nor one fine day.

So, I think we can agree with Aristotle that to assume summer was starting would be counting our chickens... [Why am I feeling guilty? Mixing my maxims to the max; ouch!]

But, as we've had more than one swallow, and today seems to be the start of the shouting-at-them-to-make-them-leave-the-house season, I'm guessing that they are preparing to nest. Which tells me they think there will be enough insects to feed a brood, and that it will be warm enough to produce sufficient insects for the duration of filling those hungry little mouths.

The redstart the other day was only foiled in his (her?) attempts to come in and make himself at home by the fact that I'd left the rear window to the kitchen closed; it may be 30°C in the courtyard, but the air is still decidedly "fresh".

Bees also investigating crevices for breeding purposes.

Either way, I really am off this time to enjoy the warmth!

Beautiful weather

The weather is being absolutely glorious at the moment - it's only 15°C in the shade, but as I'm not in the shade I'm there with the lizards absorbing the warmth.

The upside of a south-facing yard in front of the house is that it's like a giant radiator: at the moment, when the sun is shining, the temperature rises to just over 30°C in the sun, and the heating can stay off even though the night time temps are dropping to around freezing.

[Of course, the downside of a south-facing yard in front of the house is that it's like a giant radiator: when it's 30°C in the shade, the thermometer only goes up to 53°C, so I can't tell how hot it is out there; once the mercury has risen above the scale how does one tell the temperature?

But that is something to worry about later in the season/next year/whenever, as it's still a case of 'let's-open-the-windows-and-let-the-warmth-in' warm rather than 'don't-open-the-windows-or-even-the-shutters-in-case-it-lets-in-the-heat' hot.]

We were talking to Mme Koza and Olivier, and he said that he'd woken up in the early hours of Wednesday morning and seen the heaters out in the vineyards. I think when Mme Koza was woken up to see this she was less than delighted; I'm guessing in the twenty-or-so years that she's lived in the house she has witnessed that a few times!

I wish I'd seen it though: apparently there is a layer of black smog that blankets where the chaufferettes are located; it would have contrasted beautifully with the layer of white frost that covered the ground when I woke up at 6.30. I'm not sure they are legal; the pollution is clearly visible, and they are always tucked out of sight however early I wake up.

I think they only do it when the new leaves are starting; from what I understood of Olivier's explanation, the vines only break into growth once, so if checked by frost that's your season ruined in one night. It's quite odd having days that feel like an English summer's day with almost all the greenery in full new leaf (or well on the way), and the vines are still barren-looking.

Our horse chestnut tree is fully out and about to burst into flower, but the walnuts are still completely naked of leaves; perhaps they follow the same calendar as the vines?

Anyway, I'm off to bask with my lacertilian friends [although to keep up the conventions, I will call it "weeding"]; hope you can enjoy some lovely weather, too, wherever you are.

I'm back in France now, and work has re-started!!!

I didn't want to post about it until it had actually happened, as I was having trouble believing the project would ever get going again.

But it has, and I'm so grateful.

We have the "niche" above the loo [designed to make it look as though this was intended, rather than just another of the errors Jean-Marie created for us], and the wall between the bathroom and the dressing room. This is pretty cunning: it looks like a wall, but is in fact half wall, half temporary-wall that can be taken down later!

The reason for this was that we want to get the radiator installed, so need a wall [the solidly-fixed part], but want to leave our options open so that if the budget eventually stretches to my sauna we can remove the only-fixed-at-the-top-and-sides bit and slot the sauna in there (making the dressing room smaller, but I'll be brave if it comes to that!).

We are going to end up with an odd-looking half-tiled half-not-tiled wall, but that we can live with!

What is much more important is that we are getting the bath/basins/shower and rest of the tiling done at this stage; if "Plan A" had come off, we would have waited a couple of years before doing that, it has only been the absence of the loo that made us (well, David, really) think about doing more work now.

Needless to say it hasn't all been plain sailing, but the fact that we've had any sailing at all feels like massive progress.

We've got a light switch for the dressing room in the middle of the bathroom wall, but that will be fixed when M. Antoni comes on Monday, and our tiler looks like blowing us out about the tiling...

We're keeping EVERYTHING crossed that he's just letting off some steam, and will come next week otherwise that puts the plumbing back again. Given that this work has been planned for months, I don't think asking the tiler to come when he said he would is an unreasonable request!

Also, we'd scheduled work around M. Torelli [plumber] and M. Waeber [tiler] and hoped that the plaquiste, builder & electrician would fit in around them. Which they have.

We've also got a minor (and according to M. Luparello, eminently fixable) problem with the window embrasure: the tiles will crack if the plasterboard isn't moved a fraction of an inch. David's in contact with M. Mekki to arrange for M. Kadir to come back and do that so it doesn't start impeding M. Waeber...

Overall, it feels as though we are moving forward.

[Obviously we don't yet have water to the bathroom - but we have another "nourisse" connected up (just not to the existing one!) - and there is a delay on the radiators/shower screens, and the basins haven't arrived yet, but it all still feels quite hopeful.

Helped, no doubt, by the fantastic weather we've been having!]

Got the Taxe Foncière sorted/Another huge thanks to JDK!

We've finally got the areas sorted out for the Taxe Foncière on the house, so massive feelings of relief for all concerned, I think!

The problems were caused by David filling out a form incorrectly [with sizes based on T+B's plans!], and our being unable to work out how the original areas were calculated [nothing we could do would come up with their answer, again using Jean-Marie's plans] so that we could make the changes needed.

Thankfully David persevered, and Mme Gaule in the Tax Office seemed willing to get this straightened out, and another huge thank you to our friend John for sending us (massively quickly) a set of drawings with the areas marked on each section.

[A quick break to rave about John's marvellous Computer Aided Draughting Services: seriously, folks, if you need help with house drawings he is absolutely wonderful - give him a call!]

Seeing the "blocks" of our house with areas marked on them, it all became clear - we could come to the same answer for the original area the tax people were using IF we didn't include the garage [or the bits above the stable/bedroom which aren't included in the house; odd, but true, they're outside but under a roof]. Then both "habitable" space and 'other' space matched perfectly [or within tolerances, anyway].

[The whole question of whether we should have been paying for "habitable" space in a building with no water supply or drainage and only one working electrical socket is another kettle of crabs (as the Germans would have it)... I'm taking the view that my life is too short to right all wrongs, and the level of overpayment vs. the stress it would take to get a refund means that I'm willing to 'pay' to let this one go.]

David and Mme Gaule also agreed the figures for next year: ~60m² will be deducted from 'other' space and added on to habitable space, and again all will be correct. I think Mme Gaule couldn't under stand why if we'd added to habitable space we hadn't added to the grenier space, but David explained that we'd converted a rangement [stable is not a word to use, apparently] into an extra bedroom (so had lost some 'other' space), and then that all made sense to her.

This is, of course, assuming that the work will be finished by the end of the year!!!

[Sorry, too many exclamation marks.]

Given the level of communication we are having with M. Torelli now that Jean-Marie is no longer part of the picture, we are hopeful that if the work isn't completed by Easter it will at least be finished within the next couple of months.

There's probably a delay on the radiators: having them in clear-coated bare metal counts as a "special" finish, so they have to be make to order (and the factory waits until they have enough orders to make it worthwhile for them to manufacture a batch), as does the shower screen now that we can't do what we'd originally planned [thanks again, J-M!], but if we can finish the bathroom and knock through to the house, there should be only a day or two worth of work left to finish.

And (unlike Jean-Marie) we think that M. Torelli grasps the concept that you have to finish the job before expecting to receive the final payment, so we are confident that the delays will be kept to a minimum.

Fingers crossed, obviously!

A big thank you to Scotia Seeds!

We had a look around the edge of the meadow to see if we had any primroses in the cleared area by the walnuts/hazelnuts.

We have a real [odd?] mix of hybrids: a few primroses, a few cowslips just starting and some small flowered (browny-orange) polyanths that I think must be a cross between either a coloured polyanth and the primroses or a coloured primula and the cowlips...

No way of knowing, but it's not something that featuress in my wildflower book.

I'd seen white and all-shades-of-pink primulas that look like primroses [and covet them; may have to ask neighbours for seeds...], but didn't want to introduce non-native wild flowers into the pré...

However, if nature has done just that, I don't see why I shouldn't add to the mix!

My primroses in the garden have some odd pinky-yellow or yellowy-pink offspring, so I know how promiscuous they are as I don't have any pink primulas. Must be all those insects I'm encouraging!

So, I'm looking (so far unsuccessfully, but I haven't given up yet) for some primula vulgaris subsp. sibthorpii seeds, as I would like the wild pink primrose to add to my mix, but in the meantime I found the Scotia Seeds website with some Scottish Primroses (primula scotica)...

I'm going to risk it: our neighbours all have a complete mix, so I'm not adding anything too strange, I hope.

I ordered them yesterday (obviously with some other seeds!) and they arrived this morning.

After my current experience with Amazon Marketplace deliveries, I'm absolutely delighted; so a big thanks to Fiona and all her colleagues at Scotia Seeds.

Our meeting went OK on Friday

M. Waeber couldn't make it to the meeting on Friday as he had another job to go to, but he turned up at 8am to drop off the estimates [which we signed & dropped through his letterbox later on our way out].

We only had M. Torelli and M. Luparello, so it was a small meeting!

And M. Luparello only needed to be there because the plasterboard that was installed in our absence [and under the supervision of Jean-Marie, obviously!] was too close to the window; once tiled, the hinges would have been blocked!

It shouldn't be a big deal for M. Kadir to re-do that side of the window opening, and M. Luparello was OK about it [I don't think he was happy, but could see that it needed changing].

No M. Huguenot as he was on holiday, but again his 'input' was only needed for adding a spot to an existing circuit, putting in a temporary light switch, connecting the towel rail and moving the light switches/socket between the mirrors.

So David has emailed him since we got back.

The main part of the meeting was choosing the taps with M. Torelli and confirming what we wanted as far as shower screen/mirrors. He's not keen on the basins we've chosen, but to be honest, I'm not delighted...

BUT we needed something a decent size, in a fairly traditional style and with the raised back we wanted; so that pretty much limited it to a choice of one!

We're going with that, and I will make sure to be careful around the porcelain and if they do prove to be fragile, we'll have a rethink at that moment.

Fingers crossed they will be fine; our other basin from Lapeyre seems to be perfectly OK - no problems yet.

We also confirmed that the start date of 11 April is still OK, and that it will [should!] take two weeks.

[I'm planning to be there for three weeks, just in case.]

IF it all comes together, within a month we should be finished!

As I say, fingers crossed...

We've chosen the taps!

OK, so we had already chosen the taps...

But M. Torelli wanted us to choose some other taps...

Thankfully, his catalogue has some that are just like the ones we'd already chosen [prob a lot more expensive?!], so that's OK: everyone happy!

That obviously won't prevent another meeting, but no-one has cried off from our [re-]start date of 11 April, so fingers crossed.

No, everything crossed!

This has got seriously old, now.

Power station at Nogent-sur-Seine

We took advantage of the second trip to Troyes [to take the tiles back to CVS] to head off into the "Champagne crayeuse".

David said that the only thing at Nogent-sur-Seine was a power station, but that's not true...

There's an old watermill, too!

[Clouds doing their best to provide "atmosphere"!]

Forgot to say

We DID take the tiles back to CVS, if you were wondering!

[This only makes sense if you read the earlier post about choosing new tiles.]

Chink of light?

That was what David emailed me this morning, forwarding a mail from M. Torelli giving us a start date of 11 April!!

[And before anyone asks, it WAS this year; that joke was getting seriously old before we'd hit Christmas!]

Coincidentally, that's just over a year since the work should have started!

With a bit of luck, he should only take two weeks (and so we won't be finishing in late May: exactly a year over-run from when work should have been finished, and 17 months after we started a project for two months work!).

We've had another bill forwarded to us [that was originally addressed to our attention at T+B] since David sent his letter to all the companies saying that T+B weren't forwarding bills, so please send them to us to avoid a delay in paying them.

So that worked!

That's five bills [that we know about] that they haven't passed on at all, and one [M. Mazij snr is a friend of M. Boyer, so maybe that's why his bill was treated differently?] that reached us months after they received it.

Obviously when Jean-Marie had marked it that it was checked, he meant "Oh, we couldn't be bothered to look at it", as the 5% that should have been deducted [some weird thing being held back for a year; we get to pay the balance a year later] had been added on!

Hmmm! But I'm busy not thinking of them; David's plan to just ignore them until work is finished, and Jean-Marie can't cause us any further problems, seems like a good one to me!

Tiles

We did our trip to look at the tiles - they are absolutely fine, thankfully!

But we got another example of how the French 'work'...

We explained to the lady in the tile shop that we were doing up a second home, and could they request a sample of the wall tiles to replace the ones we'd chosen before [that were now discontinued]; she'd pointed them out to us in a catalogue as the nearest equivalent.
Having had previous experience of trying to get a free sample of tiles taking six months, we said that if the company wouldn't send a freebie, please order us the minimum quantity and we would pay for them; we just really needed to check they were right for us.

We told her we lived in London, so it would be an English mobile number we gave her when she asked for a number to call when the tiles had arrived...

No problem!

What we heard was: "I've got to chase the manufacturer up as another customer has requested those same tile samples, I'll order a set for you, too".

What we should have heard was: "Oh, I completely forgot those other people wanted to see the tiles several weeks ago, I know, I'll order one set from the manufacturer, then I'll call you in London so you can make a 700-mile round trip just to check the tiles so as not to delay your job, and then whichever customer arrives first can take the tiles home for several days to check they are what they wanted", with a subtext of "and tough on the other customer if they arrive before the first customer has returned the tiles [if they ever do so]"!

Thankfully, we were the first customer to get there, and after some persuading we were allowed to take the tiles home to look at them in situ [originally, a colleague of the first lady said we couldn't take them to the house to see them against the floor tiles].

And as I say, they're fine!!
I'm practising my zen and focusing on "that all turned out OK, phew!", but I can tell you that this post would be very different if we'd driven 350 miles and found that the one set of tiles had been given to the other couple, and 'oops you'll have to come back next weekend'!

Given that the manufacturer happily & quickly sent a sample of tiles, I find it really difficult to believe they couldn't have sent two of each tile for little extra hassle/cost?

The French bit is the not asking for a second set, and just not caring if a [potential!] customer has to travel from London to see something that you might have given to someone else!