Monday

Tender due by noon so have to be up early for various calls and sign-off. I’d almost forgotten how stressful this all is. Thankfully all done in time and I can get back to my regular day job. Despite having a lot to do I found time for a short wander in garden to find this caterpillar

while Matt hacked off a lot of the branches of the recently pollarded birch. Looks like a perfect opportunity to try my new toy.

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It makes a very pleasing chomping noise as the blades go round but clear that we need to wait for them to dry out a bit before it’s going to really create some good mulch.

In the evening Matt was having a look at a few more of the boards that he’d cut with help from me about where the sockets would be and at what height. It’s not a lot of progress for one day but it is still progress. We’re exhausted after the weekend of work though so early to bed.

[19 April 2021]

Tuesday

Having been denied my 12 hour sleep on the weekend I turned off my alarms last night. Thankfully woke up 10mins before my 11am call, well that was a stroke of luck! Lots of calls and meetings and the SG this afternoon so still managed a 9 hour working day. My one observation was that my cornichon plants are now touching the top of the plastic cover so have removed it to prevent them going mouldy but not root-bound so think they are ok where they are.

Good to see all the family’s progress with their various planting and growing going on, seems we Chaneys may have a real flair for this. Another early night though as still exhausted.

[20 April 2021]

Wednesday

Another busy day of work. Matt’s been out in the shed putting some more bits of plumbing together.

Nothing I could do to help and slept terribly so had a nap on the sofa and woke up to dinner being ready. Lazy evening watching Gold Rush before bed.

[21 April 2021]

Thursday

Was very excited today, when I came downstairs I saw a package which felt like seed trays. Matt was on a call so decided to investigate and to my surprise and delight it was exactly that. While there were lots of calls getting in the way I managed to fill them all in record time.

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More work and then rang Mum. Matt needed some help in the kitchen though so had to cut things short. A few more plasterboards up though and things are moving forward.

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With the odd sizes of things and wonky walls it seems increasingly unlikely we will manage it all with what we have so hopefully the car will be back next weekend.

[22 April 2021]

Friday

Woken this morning by Matt running up the stairs with the French phone. Seems someone is coming on Monday before 12, from what I could catch however it was about ‘des vetements’ the clothes – so I have no idea what she actually said or meant but I was half asleep. Oh well, will be exciting to see who comes.

During work there was another message on the French phone and it was the geothermal guys who were coming to test the water levels in the well. Fingers crossed this will work as could save us a lot of money if we can use the existing well and have sufficient replenishment. There was a great amount of to’ing and fro’ing, and the cat trying to escape in their van, but unfortunately it seems that we don’t have enough water so are going to have to go with drilling a new bore hole (at no doubt eye watering expense).

Having had some French visitors I was buoyed by the experience and decided to take on the dreaded job of calling round French artisans, surprisingly to moderate success. Wheeling down to read the sign on the way to the supermarket was a waste, apparently he has no time. I did however get a Marignac based mason to agree to come over on Monday evening and the drilling people on Tuesday. I’ve also left messages for another plasterer and the plumber so taking that as a win. Pretty sure Matt was impressed once he’d finished interviewing people too.

Time to head into the house and moving things along. While Matt looked at the plasterboard I rang Mum.

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Time for me to help though as seems we need to run hot and cold pipes up from the new manifolds to the first floor. It may not look like much but I can assure you it was hard damned work. I cut my hand in the first minute on the sharp metal around the holes trying to pull them up, Matt had to cut out some old floor boards, and these things are nowhere near as flexible as they may look. Eventually however we had them up and ready to put back the insulation so that we can start to plasterboard tomorrow.

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While Matt makes bacon and egg pie for dinner I start to tidy the kitchen ahead of having the mason round. Finally dinner is ready and time for a rest before bed. Night all x

[23 April 2021]

Saturday

Basically a day off today. We were meant to be doing the plasterboard in the kitchen but the weather was just too nice to be inside (about 24 deg and full sun).

One job that has been on my list has been to start the garden book, logging what we have and where so that we can make some decisions about what to keep, move and so we know what to expect so off we go on our regular tour around the garden armed with the plant-identifying app. Of course I only thought of it half way through so the front garden will need to be done another day but we have now logged all the trees to the back of the house. The flowers are going to take quite a bit longer to work through. We did however, quite literally, stop to smell the roses, and this one smells beautiful!

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Time for some wine and relaxation on the newly sunny porch. We did take the opportunity to properly survey the old glass canopy over the front door. It was actually much more sturdy than it may have looked but we took out a few bits anyway just to be completely certain.

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With a job done it was time to kick back and relax with some wine. In one of our finer moments we’ve decided that our friends would far rather that we have a pool than to have a completely refurbished rooms so started to peg out a couple of options. We obviously won’t have the funds in the short term to do a full pool but maybe an above ground or slightly sunk option might work for a few years. It’s going to take some more research but we’re pretty resolute that we ought to get approval from the Mairie so that we have the option.

Lots of fun and games, dancing, drinking wine and just messing about. It was a lovely day.

[24 April 2021]

Sunday

Bit of a slow start to the morning as we were both feeling a little tender after yesterday. Weather was a little dreary though and if we are having the stone mason (and potentially plasterer around) on Monday we are going to have to push on. Lots of measuring, cutting drilling etc. but such a satisfying day. Really starting to feel like a proper room again and for once feels like a leap forward rather than inching ahead.

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We didn’t quite get the window frame done as that needs plaster to be mixed etc to attach it but all the pieces are cut and ready to go but it’s after 8pm and Matt’s exhausted. Just as I was starting a round of virtual mini golf the phone rang. Mum finally returned my missed calls.

It’s been a busy week but we’ve got to the end of it and time to unwind. Catch up and time to relax before bed.

[25 April 2021]