Tuesday

It’s Matt’s Birthday – or at least his Northern Hemisphere birthday anyway. His mum rang at 9pm yesterday as that is when is was actually born; which raises the question, if you are born in a different hemisphere when should you actually be celebrating your birthday?! If Matt was born at 9pm then it would be 9am in the UK so the 30th works but should we actually celebrate his birthday here on the 29th, after-all you would if you had been born at 9pm UK time. [Ok, it’s not going to happen – partly due to the fact that it is one month different to mine so makes the 30th easier to remember, but also that’s the day on his passport.]

Anyway Matt was still coughing and tired so only a short call with Muma Camp and then a little more TV and he was off to bed. I had things to do though. Late night preparing a birthday surprise. I got the pork out of the freezer (I had to put it in the fridge as it was still super cold out and the cat can’t be trusted), then had to finish working on a montage of our first year here (much like the blog these things actually take much longer than you expect them to). Eventually it was finished about 1am so time for bed.

Matt seemed to sleep a bit better again last night, still not getting a full night’s rest but more is more as we say and there is plenty of snow about today. Of course being a Tuesday it is a working day so still have things to do and commitments to fulfil, most importantly I need to get the board update out. There was time for his card and a couple of presents. Ok so a shower and tap weren’t overly exciting but he already had his bathrobe when he started getting sick, and I did get him a couple of fancy bottles of wine too – not that he knows the difference between a Corbieres and a Crozes-Hermitage, but in time he will learn. Of course there was also the new car that we bought!

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Apparently Matt’s uptake in sleep has inspired some action, which I can’t say is overdue as I am very sensitive and considerate of his needs, but thank god!

It seems that the number of heating engineers and chimney sweeps basically saying that our kitchen is a lost cause has galvanised a response. It was declared ok when we moved in last year and the main thing is to know that we haven’t had birds nesting in the chimney. Time to try our hands at the skills of a Victorian Chimney Sweep. First off, it is much easier than it looks. The modern fire inserts are heavy and need to be moved out very carefully. Thankfully I grabbed the ‘skateboard’ to take the load, it was more use than I am.

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Having pulled it out Matt’s description of the flu was ‘Ghetto’. I am assuming he’s not too convinced by the quality, but it must have been there for a long time so it can’t be that bad, although it may have seen better days. Once we’d been able to make an initial assessment it seems that a traditional sweeping kit from Brico should do the job. Of course we need two due to the length required. Still, a birthday trip to the Brico, what could be more apt?!

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Since we’re down in Luchon we may as well have a quick look at Lidl. It seems that there are a few exciting things that Matt wanted and since it’s his birthday he can have anything he wants [and it makes a pleasant change from him buying things himself on the run up to his birthday or Christmas.] We also tried the electric charging point but seems you need some sort of special card and that Matt has ordered one – apparently you can charge for free at Lidl and free electricity is, well free, I can only imagine what our bill at home will be. Next stop was Brico and then home. He got a few more gifts though, all pretty much as exciting as the ones he had this morning.

A few emails and a gap between calls so first job of course is to try the new sweep. It is harder than it looks, ok, it is with old school equipment and a still sick boy doing most of the work. He did a pretty reasonable job – or so he tells me – but couldn’t quite get it all the way out the top, I’m pretty sure that it would knock the top off if he had so maybe it’s a good thing or maybe that’s why the old finishes had been knocked off and broken. Time for some more calls.

Now it’s my turn to get inside and get it cleaned up. One big pan out first then to reach up into the flue, gently and only as far as my arm would reach but it pulled out another big pan. Finally just to clean off the top off the insert and give it all a good hoover out and we are ready to put it back in.

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Matt has replaced the rope seal around the door and then also added some sealant around it to hopefully prevent too many gasses and too much smoke escaping into the kitchen. With that done he is throughly exhausted and needs a rest while I have an evening call that I’m already late for and the event we have been organising starts in 15 minutes, I was still wiping carbon and ash off my face as I joined.

Once the panel discussion started however I was free to go onto silent and turn off my video, while at the same time taking on my responsibilities at home. I call this look ‘Cinderella 2021 – for the woman that can do anything’. Brief interruption of cleaning to drop in an early question and spark discussion, then the host wrap up and we’re done. A few minutes later I’d backed myself into the space by the sink and scrubbing the floor was done – it is more work than the pantos make it look!

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Before I can get on with the cooking all the surfaces need to be cleared and cleaned. Obviously Matt is hungry by this point, but thankfully I had pre-empted this. I have canapés and French sparkling for starters.

With starters done and the kitchen cleaned it was time to start on the main; roast pork, roast potatoes, peas and gravy.

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Dinner done, cleared and kitchen back to perfect it’s time to start on desert. What’s a birthday without a birthday cake – or chocolate torte and ice cream, this is France; homemade of course. I couldn’t find the candles though sadly but the kitchen was cleaned again before I could sit down. Nothing but the best for my boy.

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I think Matt enjoyed it all and definitely the best dinner he has had in a while – or at least since he was last out on a date with Brandon 😉

Time to finally have a bit of relaxation before Matt heads to bed and I crack on again with the blog. Shame he wasn’t well enough for a snowball fight, it is getting a bit icy on the tops now though and there will be other days.

Night all

[30 November 2021]

Wednesday

After all the work yesterday I’m feeling exhausted, a bit of a sore throat and my shoulders are aching. While Matt is slightly concerned I rather suspect that it was hours of cleaning the floor and that it is winter! Anyway, work waits for no man, or 2021 Cinderella, so time to get to it and fuel up on the only thing known to make everything better – many, many cups of tea.

Matt’s slight vigour has continued as he’s off drilling into something as I get off my call. On investigation it seems that the answer is that he is replacing the lock on the backdoor. Probably not a terrible idea considering what happened in the summer. Not only is the lock much improved but it comes with 3 keys – one each and one to drop off to Jonny and Cressida.

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I’m on changing and washing the sheets again. Matt goes through two t-shirts a night with his night sweats and I seem to be doing this all the time. I did however manage to convince him to use the last of his enthusiasm to get the first of the plasterboards up for the ensuite. The start of private peeing in the bedroom, that’s pretty exciting in my book – it’s a very odd book I shouldn’t worry or think about it too much if I were you.

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While Matt puts the final screws in I need to finish dinner. We’re now into working through the leftovers in the fridge so it’s pork, carrots, roast potatoes, chicken and gravy. With dinner done I need to go make the bed ready for Matt to retire early but the boiler is on and time for a good shower. I took advantage of Matt having a shower to watch French Christmas shows – it’s a thing. Half an hour of TV and Matt’s off to bed while I get the next instalment of the blog done.

[1 December 2021]

Thursday

Generally busy day of work but a couple of highlights. Matt got a lovely birthday present arrive from work, some rather nice macaroons – sent from Germany I think, which seems odd to me. Something going on with the power lines outside but no idea what, thankfully it didn’t disrupt our supply.

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After work it was time for me to get the first bits of insulation in, it’s not much but it’s a start. Matt also managed to get a bit more plasterboard up. It wasn’t a lot but I’ll take what I can get right now. However this was more than enough for Matt and time for another rest and to relax, clearly Meow is well on message and very happy about the lack of work happening.

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[2 December 2021]

Friday

Lots of pretty snow overnight then it’s off to Montrejeau in the afternoon to get our PCR tests before we travel.

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Back home and there was lots of work to do but finally managed to coax Matt away from work. Having been off sick so long and with his winter break coming up he has a lot to do. But I also have a very long list of jobs that were also meant to happen in the last couple of weeks he’s been sick. Time to get some more of the plasterboard up and get the decorations down from the attic ready to decorate when we get back. Matt was soon off downstairs to get started on dinner while I carried on with the insulation. It’s not great for him to be doing this right now as needs masks and covers. With both in place I am keen to push on, as per an earlier post – more really is more, particularly where insulation is concerned.

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Had a quick call with mum and she seems to be thrilled that it is moving forward. She also very pleased that it is the work on ‘her room’. Next up is finishing the washing, finally remembering our Christmas calendars and then get the packing done before we can relax for the remaining part of the eventing.

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[3 December 2021]