Apples & Pears

No, not Cockney rhyming slang, actual apples and pears!

"Friandise"

We went to Brogdale Farm Apple Festival on Sunday: we are hoping to find ideas for what sort of apples (and other fruit) to grow when we get the potager more sorted out...

[We spoke with Vincent who was recommended by Bernard, the mayor, who says he can dig us a trench to bury a membrane (thinking 600mm damp proof course) to prevent pernicious weeds from recolonising the ground I spent so much time clearing in the summer; so hopefully the weeds will stay in the meadow, and we won't have to spray the couch grass and bindweed.]

"Blenheim Orange"

We aim to plant trees next autumn, so need to taste apples now.  I think at Brogdale Farm we can order grafted trees from any of their stock; a tailor-made solution.

It turns out that I really like cooking apples and crab apples [I knew that anyway, but it came as a surprise just how fussy I was in turning my nose up at virtually all the "eating" apples!]

"Swan's Egg"

We did the walking tour, and Alan was wonderful with his talks and tasting sessions; I think we'll schedule a visit if they do an Open Day in the plum season.

We also loved the marquee where there was a display of an incredible variety of apples, old and new, including continental ones (good to have the German speaker with me).

I think we probably spent the most time of all the people choosing a bagful of apples, but we're doing research, not just eating yummy fruit!

Of all the varieties in the tent where we could taste samples and buy apples, our favourites were:

• "Friandise", a really tatty looking small apple with a good crunch and sharper taste
• "Blenheim Orange", 'proper' red-and-yellow apple
•  "Swan's Egg", a non-gritty flavoursome pear, and
• "Balder", a yummy, crunchy cooking apple

On the tasting walking tour we really enjoyed:

• "Bergamotte Fondante d'Été", a can't-get-enough pear
• "Great Expectations", a really crunchy tart-enough eating apple
• "Ananas Reinette", a sweeter apple
• "Gorgeous", which really was a gorgeous, red crab apple
• A302/2, another crab apple

"Balder"

So it's given us plenty to think about.  A gentleman there said we could plant this autumn, but I think I'd rather be sure that the ground is clear [and the membrane is in place] and order some "bespoke" plants after we've had a chat to someone when they are less busy.

But it feels as though we are really moving forward; I can't wait to have our own apple trees, and am even looking forward to the challenge of creating our own espaliers [huge difference in price if someone else has done that initial training] - just need some posts and wires!

Updating

[A bit.]

We came back from France last Monday, and I've since been trying to get the house in Maidstone sorted [another "work-in-progress", sadly].

Plan A was to get the kitchen at «Chez le Baron» thoroughly cleaned and arrange the various buffets in a better position and particularly to impose some order on their contents!  We've known this had got to be done, so had got into a habit of just stuffing things out of sight, rather than only keeping kitchen-related items in there...

For instance, I know exactly where to find a grape-picking basket, white spirit, furniture brushes and all my spare bocaux and empty bottles for when I get around to decanting some more liqueurs.  I don't know where there are more than two soup plates, or the bulk of our tea-towels (or indeed other towels and more than one spare set of bedding; we're washing one set as we're using the other). 

Another change in plan, though, when we looked at the wall having moved the first buffet out of the way: it was in a frightful state - it's the only remaining wall from before the workmen started, and it showed.  There were black splashes over a quarter of it, a massive crack running from ceiling until just above the floor, gobs of hemp-lime insulation [as though someone who likes porridge as much as I do had thrown a hissy fit (and their breakfast!)], and lumps of plaster and mortar.  Not to mention chunks taken out as though a different maniac had been allowed to practise using a cold chisel...  Or the huge gap at the bottom to admit rodents.

So, I spent half a day scraping off the extraneous gunk, and using up boxes of filler I'd got left over from decorating Leander Road and Ormonde Court.  It being France, we had a lull on Sunday as two half [large] boxes of filler was not enough, and France doesn't open on a Sunday, and Monday was spent applying another box and a half of filler.

Needless to say, the idea that we could sand off the next day and get some Stain Stop on the black marks, before giving a coat of paint on Wednesday soon became obvious as flawed: the filler finally dried out by the following Sunday, so I spent a couple of hours on Monday sanding away all the excess.  I'm not impressed with the French filler, but it looks a lot better.

Given the time the filler took to go off, we decided to leave the Stain Stop till the next visit, and then we can be absolutely sure that it's fully dry.

Luckily, the weather was fantastic, so we took advantage and did some gardening.

The last time I was there I managed to find homes for most of my fiction books (by assembling two large Ikea bookshelves in what used to be the bedroom, but is now the study/guest bedroom), and we got the bedroom in some sort of order, so it is starting to look more like home.

But as always, I'm getting more practice at being zen and patient!

Plumber: missing-in-action, but being actively stalked!  Sad we have to do that, but until we've had it confirmed that there are no leaks in the central heating pipes, we daren't switch on the heating and leave the house.  Given temperatures last November/December dropped to nearly -20°C [and in January to -27°C], we're really keen to make sure the heating can be left on constantly on the lowest setting to avoid freezing the pipes/sanitary ware...

So, we're trying to arrange a visit to allow M. Torelli to check the pipes, and for ourselves to do some more kitchen-cleaning [not that I haven't done enough of that in Maidstone; it's always galling to clean a place after tenants move out (that should be done by the tenants), but moreso when they are someone else's tenant!  Oh, well, Daniel has blown getting any more of his mail taken to the agent so they can forward it to him; it can sit in a pile until we can be bothered to send it back (and I suspect that will be as urgent to me as cleaning up his mess was to him).].

Hmm, the joke about "which Christmas?" when we say we want the work finished for Christmas looks like it will run and run!

We kicked off the process in December 2009, and still don't know when it will be finished.

We did have another email from T+B: apparently Jean-Marie is also being made redundant, and they want us to pay the last outstanding invoice.  Thankfully, Joëlle had included itemisation of what had been 100% completed, so we were able to email back a list of all the things that we haven't recieved (that have been allegedly done) including official sign-off that the work has been completed satisfactorily, and the approval for that from the Mairie.  Oddly, it's gone quiet from them since.

I know David would probably pay the last invoice were we to get all the officially-required paperwork, but as it hasn't been done, I think that's unlikely.

And of course the plans still need correcting on the electronic version...

Still feels like being in limbo, but at least the house is coming together as a "proper" home, and the garden is becoming more established.  It will be lovely to spend Christmas there!

Hi, I'm crawling back!

Ooh, in my absence they've changed Blogger, and now I'm lost!

What finally gave me a kick-start was an offer for 50% off from Photobox that landed in my inbox this morning...

Valid until 5pm today, so I got the hurry-up to use up one of the photobook credits I bought [to make me update the photobook; I couldn't see it happening otherwise!].  I know that the special offers aren't available to use together, but sometimes the website lets you use two of them...

I think it's kosher: the 50% off, only comes on the bit of the photobook I haven't already paid for, but either way, the website let me use it, and I chipped away a bit at my "To Do" list!

So, I'm not posting about the house [which is looking way better] just yet, but having 'broken radio silence' I'm sure I'll get around to it within the next couple of days...

Just have to figure my way round the new-look Blogger, first.

I've crashed and burned

Sorry, no posts for a while; low morale/energy - will post again when things get better...

[Hopefully soon.]

Scrubbing

Beams, lintels, blue & black lines off walls, & floor tiles; 8¾ hours and I've got the bedroom looking more like a room, rather than a building site.

I'm icing my wrist [yes, I know it was stupid, but sometimes you have to go through the pain (stupid?) barrier to get things done], going to cram some dinner down, (hopefully) get a (much needed; pew) bath and drive to Vendeuvre in time to fetch my beloved husband.

If I still had my superpower of endurance-in-the-face-of-sense-and/or-pain, I would have assembled the bed & made it up, but for once I'm being (more) sensible...

Boil, pasta, boil!

Hope you have a great weekend; I'm going to - my loving slave chap is going to help me to begin to reassemble the house, and that's the start of getting it all how we want it to look, and I'm looking forward to it immensely.

[Notice how I'm completely ignoring the issue of clear silicon sealant smeared on the newly-cleaned tiles? See, I'm getting good at this zen stuff!]

And in view of the vendange finishing, I think I can wish everyone "Bon Santé", too!

More awesomeness!

I've just had my own personal "petit tour" of tooting to celebrate the end of the vendange; Marianne with her car full and Loïc with Claire's carload of people called on their way round the village and came and turned round in the drive and beeped at me.

I bet they're relieved, and I'm so happy for them.

Happiness all round then, for I'm feeling massively happy that our building project is finally [well, very nearly] finished!

Marvel at the awesomeness!

Before and after shots for today.

M. Torelli has done a brilliant job with the shower enclosure; we would have much preferred one without edges and the bar holding it together, but trying to convince anyone here to do that would have been a stretch too far.

OK, so Chris managed it, but he did it himself in England!

Never mind, it looks great (considering), and I'm happy with that.

The issue with the pedestal for the washbasin is (hopefully) open to persuasion by M. T: Lapeyre say we've had the column too long [bought in July; doesn't matter that the building trade shuts down for a month in August], and even though it's clearly a manufacturing fault, tough!

He's hoping to email them and get a better outcome. Otherwise he has some enamel repair liquid that he will use...

Or I will see how much another *bleep* column costs and fork out for that; to be decided later when David has had a chance to see it.

Owing to an attack of wussiness, the testing for the central heating will happen when the weather is cooler!

He has to come back to fit the taps to the other basin/(hopefully) a new pedestal, and various finishing touches to hide the red and blue plumbing pipes. Mirrors also a sticky point; the plan for that is as Miroiterie Champagne haven't responded to his email he sent in July [they may only just have reopened after a month off], he's going to call in tomorrow lunchtime, on the basis that a big bloke standing in front of the counter is much harder to ignore than an email!

But all the messy bits are done, so I can clean up the bedroom now. But not tonight.

Jill, look away now!

I really don't think the French 'get': "I'm taking photos of spiders". I think all the words add up, and make a sentence that says 'Maria is taking photos of spiders'. but I think it loses a lot in translation!

M. Torelli seemed bemused when he came to fetch me to ask a question, and I was upside down in a lavender bush with my camera.

However, for those of you who do 'get' it, here's a pic of a chap [chapess?] whose web I inadvertently destroyed whilst I was trying to rejuvenate the very dilapidated clump of lavender.

M. Torelli has arrived

I asked him if he'd had a good holiday...

Turns out he hasn't been, yet.

So why did we have to wait four weeks for him to come and do the day and a half left to finish the job?

I really don't understand the mentality behind that.

Quite happy now that David hasn't sent him a cheque!

Well, if we have to wait needlessly, I don't see why he shouldn't have to...

OK, on our part it's the poor service we are receiving from Royal Mail's mail redirection service that caused a delay in us receiving his invoice, but on his part, I'm just mystified.

He's going to speak to the supplier about the pedestal for the basin; on having a better look, the fissure is actually about 8" long. I'm going to be really unhappy if his solution is just to smear some porcelain repair over it.

Hmmm.

M. Torelli DID email us

But as it was nearly 8pm UK time (so 9pm here), I'd already shut my computer down by then.

He's (allegedly) coming this afternoon and tomorrow.

As I will have a cheque for him, it's in his interest for him to show!

Good news

Obviously I have to check it out, but I've just had Claire and Marianne here, and was showing them the bedroom and bathroom [which they think are lovely], and saying that we needed to wait for the plastering to be done before the room will be finished...

They reckon that with the placo, you only need to sand down the plaster covering the joints/screw holes and apply a coat of undercoat and then you can paint or paper it straight away.

Marianne said she's helped Loïc and Guinelle do just that in their homes.

I do hope that's so in our case! [I'm currently having a horror that we have "special" plasterboard that needs plastering before it can be painted...]

I'm not sure who to ask, but I'll find someone.

The general feeling is that plasterboard no longer needs to be plastered, and that Jean-Marie was probably just looking to line his pockets further...

So it looks as though most of the finishing is in my capability.

Yay!

And I think I would regain some of my enthusiasm for decorating if it was to finish off our home for us, rather than to make a place attractive for sale or rent.

I'm sure David has mentioned some lime-based paint that goes straight onto plasterboard...

*Goes off, muttering to self, to look things up on t'internet*

Thank goodness that's done, part 2!

The first lot of vendangeurs have finished their harvest: we've just had a succession of cars go through the village, all tooting on their horns. I suspect they will be back later; normally one go is not enough!

I don't think it's Claire's lot; they promised to come and toot by the house when they were done, so I have that to look forward to.

At least the last few days have been much better for them: we've had the sort of warm (not boiling hot) sunny days that make working outside a pleasure.

[Which has probably added to my grumpiness at being inside, scrubbing!]

Thank goodness that's done!

I've finally finished cleaning the gunk off the tiles in the bathroom - it looks really nice.

It didn't honestly look bad before (just kind of dingy, somehow), but now that everything is shiny, it looks gorgeous!

OK, so it's taken me the best part of four days, but I'm never going to have to do that again; a spring clean is going to be a breeze in comparison.

Still thinking strongly about importing an English tiler (Grant's guy sounds brilliant, and will travel) for the future, and seeing if Henri will travel from the Dordogne; Karen says he's happy to do plumbing for people and earn a bit of extra money in his holidays, so who knows?

Needless to say, M. Torelli's promise to email and let me know whether he is coming tomorrow or Thursday hasn't materialised; and don't think it's because he works till 6pm like my dad used to - he's normally finished by 4pm or 4.30 at the latest.

Ho, hum.

David spoke to M. Torelli

He bought the taps (without consulting us) because with our water pressure he believes the thermostatic valve will be better.

Oh, well, he's managed to charge us an extra €600 or €700 (on which he will make a small profit), but has talked himself out of installing the pump (on which he would probably make a similar profit, but then have his time on top) that he was telling us about!

He's also probably set me off looking for another plumber for the next time we want some work done [which might be the filtration system he recommended or the pump]; I really struggle to work with someone who makes a decision for me without consulting me because it's "best".

If I'm going to have to accept a compromise, at least let me know in advance, don't just force it on me and expect me to be happy.

We have coped with a non-thermostatic shower for the last six and a half years, and would have liked the chance to try the one we wanted. NOT being allowed to try what we want, means I will be thinking that I'd like to try a different plumber next time!

He told David that he has some repair kit for mending the cracked column; I am REALLY unhappy about that idea - if it has enough of a fault that it cracks during firing, it is not a strong item. Had we been charged seconds price for a flawed item, I might feel differently, but coming from near The Potteries, I resent being charged full price for something a reputable factory would have probably smashed.

I can remember why I hate dealing with French workmen: it seems to sap my energy without ever achieving anything. Next time I don't think I'm going to let David talk me out of finding workmen in England and bringing them over to France!

Oh, and he's not coming tomorrow; Wednesday or Thursday, probably...

Plumber re-starting tomorrow?

We don't know, he might mail us at 6pm tomorrow to tell us he's not coming [he's done that before], or he might show up.

But, either way, when he does show, I'm not looking forward to it: we noticed (slowly, admittedly), that he's installed the exact type of shower tap we said we didn't want instead of one that matches the bath tap, and now I've discovered a crack in one of the wash basin columns.

It's on the side, and fairly narrow, but it's dark coloured and 4 or 5" long, so hardly invisible. I can believed that he didn't notice it whilst installing the basins, but having seen it, it's not OK that we pay an enormous amount of money for something that's already broken.

As I say, I'm not looking forward to dealing with him.

Hopefully he'll be OK, change the taps and column without complaint and all we'll have to contend with is yet another delay...

But sadly my experience of work in France leads me to expect that he'll be unreasonable, try to push us into accepting what we don't want/broken items and storm off in a huff!

Please keep your fingers crossed for me that it's the former scenario I am reporting on when he's next been, not the latter.

Feels nippier this morning

9°C this morning when I opened the shutters; the neighbours all tell us summer is over after the 15th of August, and we're never quite sure, but it certainly feels autumnal today (and the leaves started turning over two weeks ago).

Scrubbing tiles

I've just spent another 7+ hours scrubbing the tiles in the bathroom; they are starting to look much better, and I have done the bits that would be more difficult if I'd left them till after the parois are fitted.

Am cursing M. Waeber, and his infatuation for spreading gunk about: I have found smears all over the place and trickles large enough in various areas to identify three different coloured products!

The purple parts of the shower "tray" I'm not sure I will ever manage to remove, which is a shame as it gives the grout a different finish, and goes completely odd-looking when wet.

The green bits on the bath I'm treating with a non-scratch scratchy and Cif, and hoping that doesn't ruin the coating.

The clear bits on the window I'm leaving until I'm reunited with one of my excellent blue 95p scrapers [or I find a similar thing in France].

Which of the above is smeared all over the tiles, I don't know, but it is highly resistant to removal, and is seriously making me lean towards bringing an English tiler out if we ever get around to doing the planned work upstairs!

Feeling guilty over being sneaky

I told my beloved husband a "lie by omission" if there is such a thing: I said I was probably going to have a bath, and if he called I might be in it, knowing that I might be round at the gîte, more like!

And now I'm feeling guilty about not mentioning it; there's no sinister intent, but I love him finding out things from reading my blog!

And I want him to be proud of me for going out on my own without him there as backup translator; that's a massive step forward for me, and I didn't want to become a wreck thinking about it and talking about it. Sometimes keeping a secret can make you stronger...

Not always, obviously, and it depends what you are hiding, but I'm hoping I am forgiven for trying to be more confident around French people when I don't have him as my safety net.

Speaking of which, I'm currently trying to psych myself up to going to the market!

Lovely meal

I had a wonderful time around at the gîte this evening; Claire had cooked a couple of goats' cheese and vegetable tarts, and we started with some tomatoes from Fabrice's garden - green tiger, orange and red ones - which really brought home to me what I'm hoping to achieve with the potager.

They were very good about me not eating meat/bread/sweet things, and not drinking alcohol or fruit juice. The nearest I could explain is that I'm trying to avoid getting diabetes [which is true; with an uncle and cousin who are insulin dependant, it's a real risk], my French doesn't go far enough to say that the diet I'm [mostly] following is aiming to smooth out the peaks in blood sugar so that the strain on the adrenal glands is lessened. I don't think I'd manage to convince too many English people about that; my acupuncturists both think it's a great idea, and I'm certainly feeling an enormous benefit.

I don't know how open to alternative/complementary medicine they are in France [in Germany I would have no hesitation (should my German be up to it, which it's not!) saying that I'm following a doctor's recommendations via a book recommended by my acupuncturist, and that I'm taking various vitamin and mineral supplements as well and Chinese and Ayurvedic herbs], so I tend to just say 'the doctor recommended it', which is true but not the whole story.

It also gives a bit of legitimacy to what I feel can come across as just plain awkwardness, and makes me feel less of a freak for not eating/drinking things that in all conscience I know don't suit me.

And it's not a weight-loss diet (sadly)!

They understood that I can't eat meat, and the rest I'm avoiding for health reasons, and were perfectly nice about it. I don't think they can envisage not drinking coffee, and were astonished that you can get an English person who doesn't drink tea!

We chatted about this and that, and Eric was telling me about his job in IT for the marines; he's a civilian now, so they don't have to move house every three years, which is a huge relief for them all [particularly Marianne, I suspect!]. He also told me that the English invented humour; I don't think he was joshing me, but it seems so unlikely - he said that a Frenchman escaping the guillotine brought back humour from England.

Having watched the TV programme that was playing in the background, I can believe that their TV is a certain way behind some other nations, perhaps? Lucien was loving the act that spent about three minutes pretending to be drunk and spitting water at each other; but I suspect it truly is aimed at small boys!

Eric, Loïc, Fabrice, Claire and Marianne all seem to have a much more developed sense of humour, and there was plenty of joking; it's nice that I can make a joke and someone gets it, for a change!

Claire and Marianne were so sweet; they walked me home - I would have been perfectly happy walking by myself, but I think the influx of strangers for the vendange probably made them more cautious than they would ordinarily have been. It's weird: I was fine, but after I got in I checked the house all over! I think some of their spooked-ness transferred.

I couldn't have explained if I tried that I'm used to walking home in Brixton (without too many bad incidents, and thankfully each time something might have happened I had an attack of really bad attitude and escaped unscathed), and small-village France doesn't hold too many terrors for me.

We saw an owl, so I regard that (without any supporting evidence) as a good omen!

Goodnight, and I hope you sleep as well as I think I'm going to.

Not-great-things-about-the-French vs great-things-about-the-French

Not great things:

• French workmen are disgustingly messy; I'm trying to polish up the tiles in the bathroom to get everything all nice and shiny, and I don't know what the deposit over half of them is. It's behaving like silicone sealant: an invisible enemy that prevents shininess! I've tried a heavier duty scratchy [vs the non-scratch scratchy that I'm currently using], and that is scratching the tiles; I've never had that happen before. It's not grout, because the odd bits of grout I'm coming across are coming off quite easily, and it's splashed all over the window, too, so I know I'm not making it up. I wish they could leave behind a clean job; what should have taken me half a day will probably take me into next week, and I've had to go and buy additional supplies of Cif and M. Propre!
• French project managers apparently leave their brains in the safe before going to site meetings; OK another beef about T+B - when a client is describing an area as a "potager", if you don't know what this means [despite all other French people seeming to understand the term], please ask instead of instructing/allowing the builders to compact rocks and subsoil around the gas tank. How much easier my life would be if I wasn't trying to dig weeds out of solid clay interspersed with rocks; the soil round here isn't great, but that's the hard to reach stuff that is making up my potager. All the other things have had me mad at Jean-Marie's lack of attention to detail or lack of professionalism, but this just has me thinking the guy must be a moron. And that's not normally how I view people, even people I've come to dislike because their actions are impacting negatively upon me!

Great things:

• Our neighbours are really friendly; even those from out of town - I'm going round to the gîte this evening for a meal with Marianne and Eric and the vendangeurs. It's so kind of them to invite me, and they didn't seem phased by me being vegetarian. I was the bravest I've been at accepting solo invites, and said "yes!" straight away. It helps, of course, that I know Eric speaks English, so if I get really stuck I can always ask for help, and also I'm back on the wagon so I won't be getting one-glass-of-champagne-fuddled-brain!
• Despite the bureaucracy-gone-mad it can be surprisingly easy to get things done; we've had Schwartz come and just move electrical points without any bother, the postie has a key to the letterboxes so can deposit a parcel without me having to trek to Essoyes to fetch it because I missed her visit, and David can just pop along to see Bernard if we need some mayoral advice [I want a trench digging so that I can pernicious weed-proof my potager using damp-proof membrane; I had an idea that would work, but having seen it recommended on a gardening website, I'm much more confident in 'going for it'] and find out if we can take down the trees by the road so we can strengthen the hedge. Also our favourite ex-baker has a key and will let people into the house in our absence!

Putting it that way, it looks as though all things are equal, but they're not; the friendliness of the people far outweighs the idiocy I've come across during the building project, and I can always bribe a tiler to come out from England the next time we want things done!

I'm off to attack another few tiles with the very mild cleaning product and lots of elbow grease, and then bathe so I'm presentable for dinner!