Beware Of The Dreaded . . .

We were doing ever so well after the bride left us to fend for ourselves and returned to the UK to do some work. We did the shopping, cleaned the house, did the clothes washing, built things, yet for all this goodness, still managed to both get the lurgi. Now as all you blokes know, we chaps suffer much more than the ladies in the flu department, hence the sometimes grossly misunderstood and simply devastating ‘man flu’, but a case of the lurgy, well it’s pretty serious stuff is that! Beast and I performed a feat of synchronised rushing to the only toilet in the house all night long and we never once clashed on the stairs, or had to queue (perish the thought) for this only room. We reckon we could represent the UK in the 2012 Olympics if only this sport of champions could be recognised in time!

Monday was therefore an unscheduled rest day as we both fell into recovery and sleep mode and by tea time, after risking some agreeable beans on toast, had an early night, thankful for being cured.

We must have been spotted the next morning driving through he village in Paul’s white van, as Monsieur la Garage patron put his head round the gates as soon as we were back to give us the news that the engine was now an ex-engine, dead, deceased, defunct and no amount of nailing it back on it’s perch would ever make it talk to us again. He was impressed with my new stainless steel exhaust system though and was most emphatic that the truck was not in his way taking up too much space in his workshop and I set off in pursuit of a replacement motor, having politely declined his offer of a 2.0 litre flat 4 Subaru engine he had, which would fit in ‘no problem’. I found a replacement engine inside 5 minutes of looking on the web and spoke to Stuart in Winchester, just 7 miles from our UK base and a deal was struck and a ferry booked to collect the new unit next week. 

I’m trying to be completely optimistic with this, hoping that the new motor is okay and grateful that Paul has a van big enough to get the job done. It will be good to see the bride and the two pussy cats and we can have a little splurge at Screwfix and Waitrose and bring a few more home comforts back to the Loire.

Progress this week might have been slow to start, but we finished on a high and now have a kitchen / diner seemingly twice its previous useful size and two huge bedrooms and one and a half bathrooms upstairs. I’ve moved my bed downstairs into the salon to make room for the work and we will soon, new drainage connection permitting, have three bedrooms and bathrooms available. Just as well too, as my sister and bro’ in law are coming with the bride for Easter, so we’ll have a wonderfully full, happy and noisy household of five for some festive holiday fun ;~)

All the best and TTFN

LC

A very  rare image captured for ever, Mr Beast actually reading the instructions! Whatever next?

The dwarf wall was as high as the fridge and went past the fireplace

No more dust!

Room for singin' and dancin' too ;~)

Of Trucks and Salle des Bains

I used to enjoy snow when I was a kid who knew nothing of how much harder the stuff can make daily living, but now that I’m more adult than kid on most days, I’ve learned the reality of how much harder this cold white stuff makes daily working as well. This particularly applies to building work when one’s extremities tend to be much closer to nature.

One of this week’s missions was to find a stone mason who would understand what we now think we want to do to the main house’s sad neglected facades and since e-mail seems to be treated with suspicion even by those claiming to have it, we wrote carefully worded invitations to a number of local masons inviting them to come and see our project and were in the process of delivering them when the truck started to make some strange creaking noises.

Having found and fixed a leaking coolant hose and topped up the level, we set off to mason number two and by a magnificent feat of navigation, managed to break down in spectacular fashion right outside his workshop door. The right hand head gasket had blown, enveloping the truck in a cloud of steam and as I walked through the mist to the rear of the truck (where the engine is), it was behaving like a living breathing truculent steam locomotive just made to halt to let a herd of cattle cross the track.

The bride thinks I’m a bit crazy liking the truck so much, but he’s handled absolutely everything that’s been thrown at him so far and with ease and despite the heavy fuel consumption, is a joy to drive. Bertie is now practising his French in our local garage and the owner has given us the diagnosis and estimate of time and cost to remove the engine and put it to rights again. It’s a very realistic proposal and if I really can get truck back into service by the end of next week, then I’ll be a very happy man.

I’ve also learned a bit more of the local classic car fraternity and been told of the garage patron’s annual rallye to Mangy Cours in May when he gets to drive his BMW track car around the F1 circuit. I’m thinking Beast and moi may possibly see if we might tag along in the TR and have a bit of fun.

By the time I had truck recovered and got home, we had an e-mail response from mason number 2, giving his phone number and asking us to ring to make an appointment. The power of e-mail kind of works and Monsieur D arrived promptly the next day, understood what we wished to achieve without breaking the bank and promised his devis would arrive soon.

Meanwhile, the work is coming along a treat. Too cold o work outside, plan B is working a treat and inside the last 24 hours, an en-suite bathroom has been created in Paul’s bedroom. We’ll shop for a shower tray tomorrow or Friday and pick up a toilet and basin and see if we can and get some plumbing hooked up.

If we can keep up this rate of progress of a room a day, then the gites will be open for business in no time! I’m happy that things are progressing well, but realise that we have a lot of hard work to get through yet. The gites are the relatively easy parts of the project and as Paul and I know one another so well, we are finding it easy to develop construction details and achieve some good features as a result. 

Today’s morning tea delivery to me in the ‘hay loft’ resulted in the bride and me changing our thinking completely about the barn kitchen and we are now moving to the whole of the ground floor being one large kitchen diner with all ancillary functions relocated to adjoining spaces. This will give us the sort of kitchen we’ve always dreamed of and will become the working centre of the house, with direct access to the courtyard and our public spaces.

Saturday recap: an eventful week seeing the end of the snow, a sad temporary demise of truck, an even sadder parting with the bride, as she returned to the UK for business meetings, a window quotation from Lapeyre with half the windows and all the roof lights missing, a new upstairs room and purchase of all the fittings and plumbing supplies for the two new en-suite bathrooms to the big gite, all the 30 year plus old hay removed from the hayloft and barn dig now at 90%. Beast and I are dinning out tonight in Doue la Fontaine and we have a rest day tomorrow.

TTFN

LC

Before you ask why is Paul doing all the work, remember that someone has to take the pictures!

Life In The Deep Freeze

The snow came, stopped, stayed and then came back again. Temperatures sometimes venture into that heady region just above freezing for a few hours before settling right down again and today, six days after it came, the snow is glistening quite majestically under a furiously bright sunny sky at 2 degrees below. Indoors however, Eric Clapton is cheering us on, as we three adventurers prepare to eat the chicken casserole that’s being slow cooking for three hours causing gastric juices to flow with rising anticipation of the hearty glow soon to be within us, while we lay the table and pull corks from bottles.

My friend Paul arrived from Malta last weekend in his white van laden with tools and the bride finally made it late on Tuesday. However, this was after circling the airport at Poitiers while her pilot searched unsuccessfully to find a runway and then spent the next 2 hours being bussed back from Limoges while I slowly turned to ice in a deserted terminal building dreaming up equally strength sapping discomfitures for its architect for deciding that a heating system would have been an extravagance!

We are now three and enjoying the companionship of a bigger family and as suspected, within 48 hours of his arrival, Beast (old nickname with history, fortunately not all bad), has claimed my workshop as his own, installed racking for his tools and built a 3.8 metre long work bench, soon to be the envy of all who gaze upon it. He now only refers to the workshop as, ‘the joinery shop’, and I can see it may take a monumental force of personality ever to put it to my intended use as a home and workshop for my beloved classic cars!  

Having Paul here is a real bonus, as his professional skills are already boosting progress in leaps and bounds. 

The sub zero temperature however has made it impossible to work in the barn, so plan B has been put into place in the main house. The partition between Paul’s and the adjoining bedroom came down in a morning and sadly, the motor bike wallpaper in one room and the Spanish galleons in the other are now history as well. Miraculously, a beautiful limestone block wall was hiding under the wallpaper, this being glued directly to the dressed stonework, which is adding an unexpected additional touch of sophistication to the gites’ décor.

We’re going to investigate hot and cold water plumbing options tomorrow. Copper has ruled itself out due to its prohibitive price here, so it’s between two plastic systems, one of which comes with three entirely different jointing options. Why? Because it’s French!

Keep warm and more soon.

TTFN

LC

Letting the kids choose the wallpaper seemed a good idea at the time

Phil often remembers his day’s as a drummer with Genesis with a warm appreciation.