Sink Saga...

We finally found a couple of freestanding sinks, for a reasonable price, that looked OK in the Ikea catalogue...

[If you don't mind spending thousands of pounds, it's quite easy to find nice sink units, but we want something to last until we can get around to fitting a kitchen, so something that costs more than the whole kitchen will seems a bizarre choice, so "No!" to John Lewis of Hungerford and your ilk.]

We live reasonably close to Ikea in Croydon, so went along to have a look at the sinks "in the flesh", and hopefully buy one to take to France on our last trip.

They had two of the three possibles on display, neither of which we liked: one looked like a catering sink, but felt a bit feeble [industrial looks without industrial build quality; not what we were aiming for!], and the other one didn't have any kind of rim/lip to stop water overflowing [having occasionally managed to soak the floor using sinks with a rim/lip, I wanted that "safety" feature"].

The second sink we just didn't really like either - the cupboard you could add wasn't very aesthetically pleasing, and added to the cost, so that was also a "No".

Before setting off for Wembley or any other store I thought I would check availability, so that if we liked the third (as yet unseen) sink we could buy one there & then.

The website "availability checker" showed quite a few of both the sink and the base in stock.

Being somewhat paranoid (and wanting to avoid a wasted journey), I telephoned the store to check that they were in stock & we could just come and collect a set if we liked the look of the combo...

A very helpful lady said "Yes!" no problem.

What she really meant was: "You will get to the store, decide you like the item, copy down the location, but need to queue up for nearly an hour to speak to the one kitchen assistant working [to find the location for the waste, which wasn't shown]. You will be told by that assistant that the location in the warehouse you have copied down doesn't exist, and that you need to speak to someone down in the warehouse to find the correct location, but yes they are in stock".

She seemed a bit frustrated that this process was something she'd explained frequently, and customers who weren't happy probably had bent her ear on more than one occasion!

Another, though much shorter wait, we learned from the (equally helpful) chap in the warehouse that yes, both items were in stock, but we could only have one of them!

We could collect a sink - if he called through to his colleagues in the outside store, we could pick up the sink in 30-40 minutes...

The base was in an "air location" [a high shelf] that could only be accessed by the forklift driver - a process that they weren't allowed to do whilst there were customers in the store.

Fair enough: health & safety requirements seem sensible, but why not advise customers [who have taken the trouble to find out if they can take an item away before schlepping to North London] that they have to order the base one day for collection the next day?

So, we said "Please will you ask them to get one down for us" and "Where will it be when we come back tomorrow to collect it?"...

The helpful assistant said that the best they could do was ask the forklift driver to leave it near their desk, IF they got it down. [There seemed to be a lot of doubt whether the request would be actioned or ignored.]

[Again, we got the impression the staff suffers at the hands of frustrated customers who can't just buy items, and this wasn't a one-off "glitch"!]

Could we have our name put on it to reserve it?

No.

What's to stop someone else taking it?

Nothing.

Well, we asked for them to get one down...

Next day I spoke again with the helpful lady in Rotherham to see if I could contact the warehouse desk to see if the base was waiting there for us to collect.

I muttered a bit about the air location, and why couldn't they let us know, but it wasn't her fault, so I just asked for the name of the CEO. [No-one in store could tell me the name of the store manager, or the CEO - at that point I thought the problem was inefficiency at Wembley not Ikea's "system".]

The lady told me the name, so I could write to him [turns out he left last September - I Googled the spelling to find that he'd moved on], and said she couldn't contact the warehouse desk, but she or one of her colleagues would call me back, when I explained about the doubt whether the base would have been taken down to floor level.

She did say she could try to organise delivery, but that was going to be over £70, so I thought, "let's have one last go at collecting it first"...

Later that day I received a call from another lady in Rotherham: there were no bases in stock in Wembley, and no plans to get any more.

I didn't know what to say!

[I consulted the online availability checker the next day - which was still showing the same level of stock as when I first looked, so I don't know whether the people in store were misinformed/lying, or whether the lady from customer services at head office was.]

It was all a bit frustrating - not knowing whether they would have a sink anywhere near London, and if so whether I could collect one.

I never think moaning achieves anything, but I still have a moan anyway because it gets it out of my system!

But this time it was productive - I was telling mum about the Ikea "system" [how can anyone run a business that way?], and saying we'd have to keep looking on eBay till I found one we liked & could afford.

She asked what we wanted, and I explained that we just wanted a self-supporting sink - we didn't want to have to buy a base cabinet, a length of worktop, a jigsaw (to cut the hole in the worktop) and take it to France to assemble it all - so that we didn't have to take the washing up to the laundry room, wash it & bring it back.

Bad enough having to wash up!!

I didn't care what it looked like, as long as it wasn't too expensive; we're planning to think about kitchen layout/style when we are in situ and our heads aren't too full of all the other decisions...

And we've coped without a kitchen for four years already, so another year or two (or five!) won't matter!

Mum said "We've got an old sink in the shed; would you like that?"

"YES!!" [Please]

After measuring the sink and the car, it all looked manageable, so we did the belated Christmas present run (swapped gifts that we never exchanged last year), collected the sink and had another of our 36-hour round trips!

Some Vim powder, a bit of elbow grease and it all looked much better!

It's a catering sink (so we've got the industrial look, but this time with the build quality), with a small hand sink to the side.

The basin is far too large (would have been perfect in the laundry!!), but we can upturn one washing up bowl & put another one on top and it will be great!

M. Huguenot from Schwartz didn't seem fazed by it not having a waste so we're keeping our fingers crossed that it will be fitted next time we visit...

Having the sink in place also means we can have the mini immersion installed too, so it will be luxury!

[The run from the existing immersion heater meant we were having to run the tap for a minute or so each time we wanted hot water - a complete waste - so we are having a tiny one under the sink]

Tardiness explained!

We went to France very early on 2 May - we had a meeting on the Bank Holiday Monday (a rarity: we got a Bank Hol & they didn't!), and wanted to do some weeding before the garden got completely out of control...

Also we wanted to drop off the freebie sink...

[Note to self: remember to post about how Ikea's inefficiency saved us quite a bit of money!]

Just before we went, I'd received a letter saying a surveyor would be in our area to conduct pre-works inspections before Thames Water dig a big tunnel right underneath our house...

This would happen the week commencing 11 May - which gave me the kick up the bum I needed to finish off the decorating at home!

There was only the shelves in the dining room, the bathroom door and the inside of the flat door and stripping the lacquer off the door handles & relacquering to do.

Plus Spring cleaning and reassambling the flat [nice to have the sofa no longer on its side in the bedroom!], obviously!

So how come I managed to work over 12 hours a day for 9 days (quite often doing 15, 17 or 18 hours!), and only stopping on day 9 for a break to go to the pharmacist to get myself patched up?

Top Tip: when you're REALLY tired, don't use a razor-sharp pointy knife to slit open packaging without giving it 110% attention!

The cut was only about 1cm wide, but judging by the blood I found on the knife when I remembered to clean it up, about 1.5cm deep...

Gaped nastily & I couldn't work out how to close the gap without growing a third hand!

It's healing nicely, but for a couple of days, I could type or use my hand, so took a [well-earned?] rest. So lucky not to hit a tendon or nerve!!

[Oh, and the surveyor was really complimentary about the cleanliness/tidiness of the flat (all the effort was worth it!), and highly praised my decorating. Thank You! ]

Anyway, to get back to the point of the blog: the latest builder had been at work just over a week, and at the meeting on the Monday M. Boyer asked him to re-do the pipework for the VMC air inlet (including all the concrete and work in the cellar), and alter the groundworks at the rear of the house...

100% rate of "not-quite-getting-there"!!

Trying so hard not to become stressed by the process, and constantly reminding myself that it must end one day...

Won't it?

Whilst we were there, the new builders were trying to find the drains that left the house put in place by builder number 2...

[M. Boyer very firmly pointed out that they were NOT to connect to the redundant (visible) drains installed by builder 1!]

After an hour or so of chipping away at the subsoil with a pick-axe, and a 'phone call to M. Smail, M. Amin finally found the pipe (which only went halfway through the wall) about 2' away from where it should have been, and about 8" lower!

Not delighted: the pipe comes out at an acute angle, and we are left with a worryingly shallow fall to the sewer (less than 4" over 35-40').

Because the pipe leaving the house is at less than right angles, the elbow to the drain run at the back will also have to be less than 90° - creating a "z" formation; NOT ideal!

The builders and M. Boyer assure us it will work, but if I'm out there with the drain rods more than once in the next year I'm seriously tempted to go to the tribunal this time!

The only thing stopping me getting them to re-route the drains is the fact that all the work in the back hall has been finished, and it would ALL have to be pulled out and started again!

Can't face that, so am opting to keep my fingers crossed instead...

We had discussions with M. Baty [the damp in the house is undoing his work as fast as he corrects the new window sills & vaulting], and M. Roncari [he stuck a damp-meter in the walls in several rooms - off the scale in every room, apart from the one untouched wall, which is merely 'damp' (as opposed to "wringing") - it would be madness to finish the walls and ceilings that we are having painted with that much moisture still around].

The short of it is that we will get the ceilings finished & painted & the warped woodwork corrected when the house has dried out.

Realistically, this could be next year.

But we'll see what a summer of opening doors & windows can achieve...

We've got our horrible old doors mounted on beautiful new frames in the loo, shower room & boiler room - all we need are door handles, and then we will have some privacy for the first time in nearly 5 years!

Mind you, my mum has only recently fitted a latch to her bathroom door (after almost 30 years), so it's not like I'm not used to lock-free bathing... It was lovely when they replaced the curtain to the bathroom with a door!!

The correct tap has been fitted in the laundry, and the tiling done around the sink, and all the pipework finished off; it looks great.

M. Huguenot [Schwartz] didn't make a fuss about our reclaimed sink, so we're hopeful to have water in the kitchen by the time we can stay there...

Was not looking forward to carting all the washing up to the laundry & back; bad enough having to do it!

Little niggles: the housing for the entrance to the small cave is still too big, but M. Baty thinks he can channel into it to get the bedroom door to fit; the loo leaks (we only found out when they poured water down to try & trace the drains; we can't use it because it's not connected at the "other" end); the cap on the well is really high.

But small points, easily fixed (well, can't change the well-cap, but I can plant around it to hide it somewhat).

The huge bonus was arriving at the house and being able to see out of the back door - the tarpaulin has gone and our decision to glaze the back door was definitely the right one!

OPR

We stayed at the house an extra day (to do a bit of weeding), and then it was Easter, and before you know it, I've forgotten to update my blog till today!

The meeting on Friday was for the Opération Préalable à la Réception (OPR), which is a fortnight before the Réception - that meeting is for agreeing that the work has been completed to an acceptable standard, and officially handing it over to the client [us].

We don't have either (as far as I know) in England, so it's a bit hard to understand the difference between the OPR and a normal meeting (same set of "Yes, that's fine", "No, that's not what you said you'd do" comments and "Oh, yes, I remember" responses), but it had a bit more preamble than usually!

When we have the Réception this is when the guarantees start, but the ten year guarantee only applies to "major" work, such as walls, so won't really affect us: we don't get a guarantee from M. Huguenot (because he went bust before the work was finished), and if other work doesn't last a year, I'll be on the phone to the firm responsible pretty sharply (and probably with some fairly sharp words, too!).

Anyway, that's how it works.

Interesting to see that the work that isn't finished somehow manages to be excluded from the handover, but I'm not sure how that will be included later...

We shall see.

Only minor changes to report:

• All the tiling has been finished (it looks lovely, but I would have put some of the joints in different places had we been there - still, gives it an authentic "French" feel!)
• The boiler has been installed, and the immersion heater (no gas yet; waiting for the builder to dig the trenches necessary)
• The laundry/boiler room sink has been fitted, and the laundry taps were fitted (but have been taken away again as they were the wrong ones, installed too low; the pipework has already been raised)

We have got a start date for M. Luparello: 22 or 23 April, with work likely to finish at the end of May.

Fingers crossed it will be third time lucky for building works!

Sorry if this feels a bit lacklustre: I'm struggling to maintain enthusiasm - we're just over nine months into a four month build - and I'm saving up all my energy to hope that it won't last a year!!

Seriously, can't wait to occupy the house (and be able to flush the loo again!).

Home straight?

Arriving at the house on Friday, only M. Waeber was on site: he has finished all the floor tiling, and was in the process of tiling the bathroom.

Sadly, I think I left my thinking head at home! For some reason I admired the beautiful (finished) kitchen floor but left my camera in its case, so you'll have to take my word for it that it looks nice.

But you can admire my loo!

M. Waeber had finished the tiling in there and Schwartz had fitted the sanitary ware and the towel rail.

It looks good enough to use!

The only "fly in the ointment" is the delay connecting it up to the main drains.

With luck, we will get M. Luparello to start work early April, so that may be resolved next time we visit.

Fingers crossed!

Not much to report elsewhere: still finding things Schwartz have forgotten to do, so that's an ongoing "snagging" list, and the things that M. Huguenot's men didn't finish (I feel that they would have finished their jobs if they'd been on site a week longer).

We're going back to have the "reception" meeting on Good Friday (oddly, that's a bank holiday that we have and the French miss out on!) - it promises to be a long day, but I'm looking forward to taking back possession of the house...

And cleaning up!

Friday the 13th...

Was it unlucky?

Well, to celebrate one week of having been in pain from the sinus infection/TMJ problem/teethache [it was all the teeth, bar one on the right hand side, so I'm not going to settle for just "toothache"!] I woke up with a raging sore throat, and the feeling that I might get a migraine (nausea, photophobia, feeling of everything being too loud/bright)...

But that was the worst that happened, so no, I don't count it as an unlucky day.

And I woke up on Saturday feeling even worse (succumbed to an attack of the "green lurgy", with laryngitis to top it off)!

So that's definite proof to me that Friday the 13th was actually slightly less unlucky than a normal day. ;-)

We didn't even hit any wildlife on the way home.

Arriving at the house early we managed to have a good look around.

The most obvious thing to see was M. Waeber in the kitchen laying the base for the last two rows of floor tiles.

It looks gorgeous! [IMHO ;-)]

Looking from the entrance hall, the tiles don't really seem to form a pattern, but looking in at the "other" front door, you can see the repeat.

It does draw the eye "into" the room (and rest of the house), rather than leading into a blind corner, so reversing the direction was definitely the right call.

M. Waeber had clearly been busy: the loo and bedroom were tiled.

I think it's Schwartz holding up the process [again] that prevented him from doing the bathroom and laundry/boiler room: the shower tray needs to be fitted before he can do the bathroom, and there's still masses of piping in the laundry that needs to be tidied.

I was a bit worried that by ordering the sink as late as we did, we'd be holding up progress... Hah! Fat chance. At least we picked it up this visit (another 70 mile round trip to Troyes; we'll both be glad when we can give the d-i-y superstores & builders' merchants a miss!), so any delays in fitting it won't be down to us!

M. Waeber had also tiled the space under the stairs, so here's the promised photo of David standing in the stairwell (well, several, as I found it amusing!).

He said it was actually quite nice in there, so that's put the kibosh on that variant of the "naughty step"...


Whilst we were there, M. Luparello arrived - he is a builder M. Boyer has lined up to complete the work...

HOPEFULLY!

We will probably have the base done for a terrace to the rear of the house at this stage; it's more expense (when we don't need it!), but I'm keen to avoid having diggers come back in a year or two's time and have to roll over the drains. I have this idea that any work over piping in the ground is a bad thing.

M. Luparello seemed OK...

But what do we know about builders?!!

I'm still letting M. Boyer worry about that, and not getting too involved...

Where I am getting involved is changing things that don't look right, because of decisions taken in our absence!

Sadly, I want the door in the bedroom replaced where it was (and where we wanted it), rather than in the entrance hall.

One of the main reasons for keeping the woodwork unchanged was to keep what remaining bits of character the house had originally.

So, the bedroom had the original paintwork (we think) on the cupboard, which matched the inside of the door. The outside (hall side) of the bedroom door was a particularly nasty shade of brown, but this matches the other original door in the entrance hall.

Because the housing to the small cellar doorway had become much bigger, there wasn't room to fit the bedroom door in the bedroom, so M. Boyer thought it would be OK to fit in on the other side of the opening, in the entrance hall.

It's not OK!

It means when the door is closed, the brown side is in the bedroom.

And obviously the greeny-grey side is in the entrance hall. Coupled with the newly-fitted door to the kitchen (faded green + "patching"), that means every door in the entrance hall is a different colour: 2 different shades of green, brown, and greeny-grey.

At least by replacing the bedroom door in the "right" location, we will bring the colour clash down to 2 shades of green plus brown.

I didn't want to paint the old front doors, but I really don't like repairs; I am going to see if I can "live" with the alterations, but if they still irritate me I will have to paint the doors to match the new woodwork; something I desperately didn't want to do.

I honestly believed that by telling everyone involved: "Do not TOUCH the woodwork [apart from fixing up the cupboard over the bread oven]!" I would manage to keep the doors looking exactly how they were.

Maybe from a "technical" point of view they are better now, but it's one more instance of diminishing the original character, and they don't work any better than they did (they all worked perfectly, anyway), so what was the point?

[I wasn't "allowed" to keep the old stairs (yes, the new ones look much better and are wider, so that was a good decision); I wasn't allowed to retain the step up to the back hall (I like small changes in level: makes a place more interesting); most of my original stone slabs have 'vanished'; you may have read an earlier post about the destruction of my beloved floor upstairs (yes, again, the new one is lovely, but that's not the point). If we can ever afford any more work, I'm going to live on site and get in everyone's way on a daily basis!]

I know it seems a small and petty point, but I'm now pretty tired, and deeply fed up of having workmen alter things in my home that were perfectly alright.

AND charging us for the privilege!!

Phew, rant over!

Another decision that M. Boyer made (and that's going to be reversed) is to place the heated towel rails in the loo and bathroom at eye-height.

We're not the kind of people that want radiators as a "feature" [I know we chose quite a fancy finish for the ones at the front of the house, but that was so they blended in better, not "stuck out".], and by having them mounted so high on the walls it prevents me from being able to put a cupboard above them (if we were to find a nice one somewhere).

There is the argument for having them in that position that we can adjust the controls easily (i.e. without bending down), but thankfully David and I are both flexible enough that we can bend down still (!), and I'm not sure that is a valid reason - what about all the other radiators in the house (where the controls as just above the floor)?

Anyway, they are going to be altered, and the wall tiling will hide all the changes (ironically, you can see where the bathroom one had been changed from the original, lower position).

I'm not overjoyed that the place hasn't been fully plastered; I specified [repeatedly!] that I wanted it plastering as I wanted to paint. I feel a bit cross that only the joints have been done - we now have to pay more money to get what I asked for in the first place! I understand that that is how things happen in France [you might want to carpet your ceiling, and then it doesn't need to be "properly" plastered!], but I emphasised that I wanted it fully plastering, so feel aggrieved that this wasn't quoted for [and done].

Hmmm!

Part of the floor upstairs has been fixed (around the landing to the stairs), but we are still waiting for one very small section of floorboard!

Just to balance out my crankiness [please forgive me for that, I think my ill-ness is making me much worse than usual!], we are really pleased with how the vast majority of the work has been done; it really is bringing out the best in the house, and realising the dream!

A big THANK YOU to everyone who has helped achieve this!

Moving our belongings...

...Yet again!!

We're hopeful that this time will be the last time we have to move all our "stuff" [furniture, bedding, clothes, crockery/kitchenwares, books, gardening/d-i-y tools, ornaments, etc., etc.] to permit workmen to carry out their jobs without hindrance (and to keep our possessions as clean as possible).

I know we have to move everything at least one more time [we do plan on using it once this phase of the renovation is finished!], but that will be at our leisure, and will be 'setting up home'.

I'm busy trying not to think about when we can fit a kitchen!!

I suspect that by the time that happens, all the 'removals' will be just a distant memory! And I will be happy to do it if I can put my things into kitchen cupboards.

We stayed at the motel for an extra 2 nights; we had to find a sink on Friday, and thought we'd have the rest of the afternoon off, and planned to do as much as we could [hopefully all of it] on Saturday and then go for a lovely soak in the bath in the evening before setting out for home on Sunday...

Or going back to the house, getting mucky again and finishing it off before travelling home in dusty clothes (let's call that "Plan B").

As it happened, we were incredibly lucky with the weather [Saturday was very sunny, sandwiched between two colder, overcast days], which helped massively: I'd taken the kettle & some mugs so that we could sit in the car (with the engine running, obviously!) with a cup of tea to warm up...

Not necessary!

We even sat outside to have lunch (and I was thankful for the sun-umbrella; David got lightly singed), and it felt as though we might have a summer this year!

Some bulbs in the garden were also glad of the heat from the sun - we'd got a lovely display of crocus "Romance" in the wreckage of my garden (another thing I can't wait to 'attack').

We had a late start, but the fact that the house was warm meant that we managed to work uninterrupted apart from lunch, and finally finished at 7.15.

It felt impossible when David went off to "hunt & gather" for lunch; I'd been vacuuming for over two hours, and hadn't finished, and we hadn't moved a single thing (apart from a few rocks!).

Back to the room for a much-needed soak, and then we tried a new pizza place before completely crashing out!

I'm glad we'd allowed the time on Sunday: we didn't need it for tidying the house, but having a "safety net" eased the pressure, and having a good rest before setting out for home made the journey much more pleasant.

I'm posting a few photos to show the relocated things (not that you can tell what they are; tarpaulins are great for keeping off bird droppings!), and so you can see the housing for the staircase.

My [current] two favourite people...

...Are M. Suarez and M. Hyvernand (I hope I've got that right!).

We arrived at the house for the Friday meeting, to be greeted by the sight of light falling on our new stairs from the newly-fitted window in the back door.

A few steps closer, and I could see M. Suarez skimming the joints on the stud-partition walls ("cloisons" is so much easier to type!) that have appeared in the back hall.

We now have a bathroom, loo, laundry and cupboards in the space I was beginning to think would never lose its resemblance to that "pipes" screensaver that used to be so popular.

[You might remember the one: different-size tubes with a variety of 'elbows', in several colours, reassembling themselves into new displays whilst you watched... Without ever 'making' anything.]

All the "innards" are now where they belong (inside!), and with access reinstated to the "grenier", the house resembles a house for the first time in ages.

I don't miss that "building site" look!

Don't get me wrong, I loved it for what it meant [work transforming the place into a lovely home], but we've lived with grit & mess for over four years, and that is tiring.

Enough of the past...

M. Baty's assistant, M. Hyvernand was busy in the bedroom (ooh, it's so difficult resisting the temptation to make smutty comments!), re-fitting the front of the cupboard.

There were various assorted bits of wood around the house awaiting fitting: sills; window seats; vaults (is that the right word? For the top of the window embrasures); the old front doors (to be hung as internal doors); hand rail for the stairs.

I love the stairs (just not too sure about the rust on the straight bits of the balusters), and the size of the "tambour" means they feel open enough as well. although it's taken a big chunk out of the space upstairs!

Even with the tarpaulin still covering some of the back door, the new glazed pane lets in a surprising amount of light - definitely the right decision; whatever we do, the back hall will always be quite dark, but having another source of light instead of a solid door will help.

Our small window is back too, and "facing" the right way; much better.

As usual, everyone got in M. Suarez's way and he remained cheerful. He's obviously been busy!

We still haven't resolved the 'missing mason' problem, but, as I said in an earlier post, I am going to let M. Boyer worry about that one...

I could get stressed about that, but it would have to join the queue!

[In fact I am feeling stressed at the moment: we've got too many things going on at the moment, I'm struggling to finish the decorating at home, Windows Vista (if you're a "victim" of this, you'll know what I mean!), etc, etc, but I won't bore you with that. Let's just say that I can't wait for the very nice men to leave my house alone and let me get in there and clean it up!]

We discussed the 'pattern' for the tiles in the kitchen with M. Waeber; we'd wanted just the "ordinary" square layout (like a grid), but both M. Boyer and M. Waeber pointed out that with the non-square room, the regularity of the joints would emphasise the irregularity of room.

And where do you start? Front of the house? Under the beam? Wall by the "poêle"? Whichever choice we made would have made the rest of the kitchen look "wonky"... [It is wonky, but there's no need to draw people's eyes to that fact!]

So, reluctantly, we ruled that option out. The same arguments applied to basket/stretcher bond, so that was out too.

We didn't like the diagonal layout (and we plan that when we can get around to the master bedroom, which is much closer to square).

So, we're going with a 'staggered' design (I don't know what to call it - look at the photo to see what I mean) where the tiles are offset by a third in each row.

Another round of talking about which way it should "go"; at first I felt it was leading you into a corner, but by changing which side the tile stepped out by a third, I no longer noticed my eye being drawn by the joints. And if we do see them when the floor is completed, they will "lead" into the house, rather than to a dead-end by the kitchen.

Sorry if I didn't explain that very well - it's much easier looking at tiles and going "yes", "no", "maybe" or "yuk!" than it is to describe how they look!

Before leaving, we went to see progress in the small cellar: they haven't made much of a mess of the air hole, and the concrete base where the well-water cistern will stand is as out-of-the-way as could be managed.

There are still holes, but they will have to wait for a new builder. [Another new builder!]

That part is causing less concern than the trench at the back: until that is completed we will have no gas supply (and so no heating), and no drains (let's not go into what that means!)...

Oh, well, could be good thing: with the return of some more light & some sunshine I'm hoping to finish the glossing in England & get the flat back to normal (I've also brought the pressure washer back, to clean some of the algae off the garden walls [before we get the hosepipe ban back] and make the outside "green" only where we want it!).

If the French house was liveable, wild horses wouldn't be able to drag me away.