Vroom-Vroom!
Monday
Up early to start work. Matt is still feeling bad so he’s wrapped up in bed for the day and writing me shopping lists. He’s done an antigen test this morning which was negative, hopefully that’s good news but he’s still going to need to rest and get better even if it is just man flu.
Around 3pm I was heading upstairs to get dressed to go do the shopping, pop to the pharmacy and get some lunch. Just as I started getting ready the phone rings. It was Tesla. Apparently they have fixed the problem panel which had delayed delivery of the new car and it’s now ready to pick up. Of course it’s a 1.5 hour journey so it’s going to be 5pm before we can get there but apparently that’s ok. At least it will get it done and I won’t have to move things around later in the week as we’d previously expected.
Long drive to Toulouse and there it is. It’s quite beautiful, although I’m not going to get a drive of it today as I’ve never driven one before and alone in the dark on a long drive doesn’t seem ideal. We’ve got the walkie talkies with us which was helpful as my phone wasn’t connecting for some reason to pull up the maps so I had to follow Matt and got him to give me advance warning for roundabouts and turnings until we got to the motorway.
Finally back and the house and we’d picked up some Pad Thai for Matt and chicken, vermicelli noodles and a spring roll for me – so lunch became dinner. Matt is still unwell so he’s off to bed while I try valiantly to catch up on the blogs. There’s still so many to write and waiting on Tonia to help finish the last of hers. Anyway I have an early meeting tomorrow with Peter’s boss so time to head off to bed.
[22 November 2021]
Tuesday
Not a good start to the day. Matt has been up all night making some horrible noises, fidgeting around (taking my blanket), getting up and down all night so I pretty much wasn’t able to sleep either until he got up in the morning – best hour of the day!
Had a pretty busy day as needed to get papers out for comment from my Sir and Lord chairs before they go to the wider board. The chimney sweep came today, it was a kind of good news bad news situation. Good news. The fireplace at the back of the dining room has now been cleaned and can be used. As it has no insert or formal fire it will be hugely inefficient but it can be used. Bad news. Due to the rather unconventional design of the fireplace in the kitchen they have said that it is does not comply with the normes (regulations) so they won’t clean it and provide the certificate, meaning we still can’t actually use the fire in the kitchen.
Around lunchtime I was hungry but nothing in the fridge, since I never actually made it to the shops yesterday, and of course, being France, the shops are closed for lunch. I’m therefore going to have to wait until 2:30. Also need to go to the pharmacy to see if there is anything else we can get to ease his symptoms. Pretty much just lozenges and spray so not much more than we have already but anything is worth a shot.
Finally managed to get some food in the fridge and some lunch eventually. Matt is trying to rest on the kitchen sofa as it’s not so cold in here. He’s had some soup and done a little work but he’s still not good. 6pm and it’s off to bed. Around 8 I get an urgent call to come upstairs, he has uncontrollable shivers and is quite distressed. Thankfully love conquers all and some cuddles and comforting and he can catch his breath again. I sat with him for a while and played fetch for the various things he wanted. I also bought him his birthday present – the things he will do to get his presents early are unbelievable – there’s not much point having a nice snuggly warm dressing gown wrapped up downstairs when he needs it the most, it won’t give him much consolation.
I also bought him the cat to keep him company while I went downstairs to book PCR tests for us – lateral flow aren’t recommended when you have symptoms and as we are under the same roof I may as well get mine done at the same time. Maybe Matt will even let me drive the new car!!
Gave Mum and Tonia a quick call to see how they were doing. Seems all is ok back at home. Mum was very insistent I get Matt to the doc for a PCR [France doesn’t send them out, you have to book an appointment and explain that you have symptoms, or live with someone that is positive, or with symptoms.] I was already in the process of doing it while I was speaking to her and we have an appointment in Montrejeau tomorrow at 14:05. No doubt they will call me in the morning to explain everything in French and confirm the appointment – because why let the internet get in the way of also calling people and making appointments on the phone?! In the meantime I’m thinking of putting this on his door…
Back downstairs I’ve dropped Tita (the previous owner) a message to see how they are doing and share an overview of the work on the kitchen. Actually it makes for quite a nice montage but since it’s not finished I will go with the comparison photos, largely since it would be uncouth to send pictures of Typhoid Mary upstairs. It’s funny how much taller it all looks..
Some more runs up and down the stairs to fetch and carry things for his lordship and finally get the blog finished and I’m done for the evening. I bet he wishes we had one of those bell ringers that let the servants know when they were needed. To be honest if I ever saw one of those for sale [at an affordable price] I would love to have one. It may get wrapped in bubble wrap as soon as anyone is actually sick though!
Anyway, that’s all from Florence this evening. Sweet dreams all and get well soon my dear.
[23 November 2021]
Wednesday
Plenty of work in the morning but this afternoon I get to drive the new car.. beep, beep, yeah!
The journey was less fun for Matt of course as he’d rather have stayed in bed but he had to go for his PCR test. Turns out that they won’t test me at the same time if I have no symptoms, he has to test positive first and then I can book a test. So back home and these two curl up for a nap – no he didn’t change his shoes, he wore his slippers to the lab.
More work and general nursing duties for me. Eventually he got the results and it was great news, it’s not Covid, so clearly just a very bad version of man flu. He’s gone online now though to book an appointment with a doctor. I can’t do tomorrow as I am back to back in meetings all day so he’ll have to wait till Friday.
Some more work and then a lot of time to browse the internet and try to find a 50cm sink and unit for mum’s ensuite. Seems that this is not a regular size and I have honestly spent hours searching site and comparing all the options. Of course Villeroy and Bosch have a lovely one, but it was rather too spendy so back again to drawing board. Time for more blog updates and I am slowly catching up. Still waiting for our guest author to finish her input but she too is balancing work with full time maid and nurse duties so is also rather busy. I know right, we are saints!
Thursday
8:30 meetings start, back to back with a half hour break to get some work done. Well that and to share with my colleague at Lambeth one of Pete’s fantastic hobbies, cutlery sculpture.
Finally calls were done at 18:30. Matt is still sick so generally trying to grab naps whenever his man flu will allow, and clearly the cat is doing her best to make him feel comfortable by copying him.
By the end of the day I was starting to talk gibberish, all words but none of them made sense together. I think that’s me done for the day. Mum was back at the hospital again today so rang her, at least she’s used to me talking rubbish. She’s doing well and Tonia is taking good care of her. After dinner I’ve got Matt to help me drag the reclining chair into the kitchen so I have somewhere to sit. He seems a bit suspicious of me though, or maybe he’s just jealous he’s not well enough to have my glass of wine.
Anyway, Matt is off to bed so I am again making the most of the time to finally get on top of the blog.
[25 November 2021]
Friday
Usual morning meetings till nearly midday. As usual the house is cold however Matt being sick has rather reminded me that we do actually have some insulation in the shed, which seems a rather useless place to keep it. Unfortunately I only had time to put one roll in the house – it was still rolled so not much more help but at least it is inside – before I could do any more we had to leave to go to the doctors, 1 hour away.
Once at the doctors we had to complete the standard new patient form. I’m not sure that these are usually read out loud for all the other patients waiting but then there aren’t that many people that speak a lot of English locally so they probably didn’t understand his history anyway. I was amused by some of the stickers in the waiting room and impressed by the note from the doctor about it.
[I’m paraphrasing the note: The stickers weren’t put there by him but he’s left them as it is a freedom of expression. He won’t answer any questions about it as people are free to make their own decisions about what is best for them. The medical code is to apply discretion.]
Matt had driven up and given the narrow winding road with little space to pass I was happy that Matt was still feeling well enough to drive back the first part to a nearby tile shop. I’ve been looking forward to going to a tile shop for a while, since we are making such strides with the bathrooms now, but also very keen to go to one in Spain where I understand they are much cheaper.
I like this, but for a floor rather than a wall 
The white grey tile is very nice in person and quite unusual/unique
Some good inspiration and getting a clearer image of what the Room 2 ensuite will look like. Of course I’m going to have to do a bit more research. It’s important to see tiles in person though as they can look great on the internet but then rubbish finish etc.
Matt has suddenly gone down hill after a very broken night’s sleep as his pain killers wear off so have to finish up quickly as he’s now waiting for me in the car and I’m driving home. Back in the car it’s now dark and I have no idea where we are. First stop was the pharmacist to pick up Matt’s prescription before we head on home. I’m still learning how to drive the new car. [Yes, it is a car, I’ve been driving one for 20 odd years now, but any new car is a bit weird. Not only am I not used to the size, height, space etc but the location of the speedo, maps and everything is just not where I expect them to be. I’m also used to driving a manual so the whole no-gears thing is a bit weird, and that is before we even add in the super smart cruise control and self steering.]
Once we were back onto the roads around St Gaudens however I was much more comfortable and we arrived home safely. Time to translate all the directions for the suite of drugs that Matt has been given, how could this go wrong?! I think I got it right [on writing it’s Saturday and we’ve had no adverse effects so far so I may have got it right, he also checked a couple of the words, and if in doubt check the number you have and subtract when you think they need to be taken and if you get 0 then you should be good – they do tend to provide the right amount!] Never seen something bottled like this but it’s pretty cool..
As we settle in for the evening Meow has taken up a new position acting as leg stocks. Gave her quite the fright when I leant forward to scratch my ankle and it collapsed under her. Unfortunately her claws naturally came straight out too into my leg so might be a bit slower next time but it took me by surprise too.
Once Matt was off to bed it was time to exchange messages with the kids and update the blog.
[26 November 2021]
Saturday
Ugh, I was not made for mornings. 8:30 the heating engineer was due so Matt basically had me up at dawn – ok, it was actually reminders between 8:10-8:15. Up and ‘dressed’ – in PJs of course – and downstairs by 8:25, loads of time. At about 8:45 I messaged him to see where he was and check he was still coming, he’s on his way [that’s a 15 mins wait and then his travel time I could have been sleeping – Matt owes me at least half an hour’s extra peace tomorrow.] Before he turns up I reminded Matt to pop the new car round the back, large houses always attract higher quotes for any work, and the brand new car isn’t going to help.
Snow line is definitely moving down the mountains around us though.
Good news is however that he did arrive! 🙂 Of course he wanted to park around the back for easier access to the boiler – he’s definitely been here more than once – but with the snow line having dropped dramatically over night I am incredibly pleased to see him, you can’t even see the surrounding mountains at this point so must be snowing hard up there.
M. Nogues was promptly down to the ‘cave’ to get the water shut off. This will allow him to drain the heating system to install some new valves. French builders don’t drink tea but they do like a coffee, so I had to get Matt to make it as I have no idea how to brew the black stuff. While he was here he also pointed out that there’s some sort of ‘filter’ that also needs to be cleaned/replaced – not sure what is meant to look like but pretty sure it’s not this.
Job 2, he’s off upstairs to start on the moving of the radiator. I remembered to show him the base for the shower and check where we should be putting the hole for the drain. Having cut the ends off the old radiator pipes that would otherwise go through the new wall and capped them it was time to start putting pressure back into the system and giving at least some of the house, some heating.
I now know that the French to ‘purge a radiator’ is ‘purge la radiator’. I was in charge of looking at a dial in the basement and turning the knob if it went up largely and quickly – I assume that would be to stop the house flooding as we forgot to reattach one of the radiators, but I have no idea. Matt reattached the kitchen radiator now it has been depressurised and is helping to bleed/purge it.
As with anything in this house it took quite a long time, and we’re only firing up 5 of the 20 rooms. At least it should be easier and cheaper to run for a while – if we can contain the heat in those rooms anyway. For some reason he can’t finish the radiator connection in our room – I assume that the parts haven’t arrived – so he is going to come back. At least he didn’t delay the whole thing for one radiator.
With all that work there’s little point in heating the house if it all flies straight out again. My sights are therefore clearly set on at least making the most of the insulation in the shed and I’m not reliant on Matt to do it this so should be manageable in the current circumstances. I really would have preferred that I were sick and he was doing all those hundreds of specialist jobs he has – he hasn’t been keen on me having a go at the electrics oddly.
Matt needs a rest after all that excitement though and so he’s off to bed for a bit. I was catching up on the blog again. Once he woke up we put on a movie, I saw the beginning and the end. I’d been up early, I needed a nap. Once awake again I was keen to get moving on the insulation. Matt however needed a break so a quick episode of Lock and Key and we were on.
With sick boy being, well, sick I was playing fetch and carry from the shed to the back door in the very cold rain. Matt just moved stuff off the stairs and put it in the hallway. He did however make it into the garden with the last one. As I picked it up a rat ran out and second ran towards the shed door, I screamed ‘like a girl’. At least it got Matt’s attention and he saw the one that ran out.
With all the insulation in Matt tried to help take it upstairs, clearly however he isn’t very well and is rather out of breath so I’m going to need to do this. Thank heavens that it is quite literally the lightest thing we have ever moved. With many runs up and down it’s all there.
Before we can put anything down the rooms need clear/cleaning. Matt chipped in for a bit but better for him to pop to the shops while I do the dirty work and get the job done properly.
All done and Matt back it was time to put the oven on and get Room 6 cleared (Tonia’s Room). While Matt went off to finish dinner I laid the insulation, it looks so cozy in its blanket. Hopefully it will keep the heat into our room.
Quick pull of the Christmas decorations from the attic and it’s time for dinner, relaxation, and lots of blog editorial from Matt. He’s then off to bed while I (again) continue to try to catch up on the blog. At least we have another 3 posted this evening.
Now just finishing up I hope that Matt is sleeping safe and sound, and warm[er]!
[27 November 2021]
Sunday
Matt woke me up far earlier than hoped to show me that it had been snowing. Unfortunately it took me another two hours to get back to sleep so I was dropping off when I should have been getting up. Eventually however he came up with a pain au chocolate and can of coke which was much appreciated and gave me the energy required to get up.
Once up I was dressed and ready to pop over to Jonny and Cressida’s to drop off some more lateral flow tests. Obviously I couldn’t go in so I’d got dressed in my warmest clothes and we had a quick chat outside, with masks naturally. Hopefully they will be out the other side soon but seems that it’s not today.
Back at home it was time to refill the heater, it has to be done every day. Then time to eat. Just some simple pasta and pesto but good to see that Matt finally has his appetite back and can eat a bit more than just soup. While Matt’s put the TV on I started on the Christmas shopping. Kids and Nicole are done but no idea about the others as they haven’t provided any suggestions yet. Meow has also found a rather annoying place to sit.
Snow is still falling and definitely pretty white out there, probably as deep as it was on Christmas day last year at this point. As a result I think we’re going to have to let the cat stay inside tonight, she’s been out for a while and just doing laps of the house checking each of the doors. She’s staying the kitchen though and now I’ve had my hot chocolate and watched a terrible Christmas movie (after Matt went to bed), it’s time for me to follow.
[29 November 2021]
