Sunday

Following a negotiation with Matt last night I managed to be in the car ready to go at 9am. Not bad on his part to get me out of bed on a Sunday morning, and pretty impressed I didn’t have to be thrown out the house. However we were on our way.

So, it turns out that maybe, just maybe, Matt was right. I never seen queues like it. All round the circle and nearly back on itself. They’d clearly bumped up the speed of the telecabin however and we were on our way up within 45 mins. Considering how busy it was down there I have no idea where all the people went. I don’t think of it as being a big mountain but they weren’t with us. The weather was glorious and we had fresh snow, what’s not to like?!

Quick hello to Lozza and Seb who were preparing to get slammed, seems it has been the week from hell. Some more skiing and time for lunch. Actually seemed a bit quieter than Thursday, it is hard to get to though as you have to take a big red or black to get there, so at least it removes the riff raff a little 😉

After eating I could have slept for half a day. It was time to get back to the job in hand though, and have another quick beer to aid digestion, then get back on the slopes. The reds down this side were getting pretty sketchy so headed back over the other side. My legs were starting to ache so I wasn’t arguing. It’s a long way over so then decided we needed another run down the morning’s blue/red, it was still really good. But time to head off. We can’t just hang about drinking as someone has to drive home, and apparently we have work to do.

Back at home and it’s feeling pretty balmy, maybe 18 deg. I get the beers and cushions for a quick sit down before we have a quick walk around. Then we have to work. Up to deal with the plasterboard. Seems there’s some sort of issue with how we connect the plate and taps so new plan in place to make a much smaller board for this – 2m long with 2cm clearance behind is apparently not easy. Once we have that cut out Matt can get on with cutting the other boards. My job is to clean and prep the plasterboard in Room 2 that will be behind the radiator.

Well that was unexpected. I was working in the kitchen with my headphones on between meetings and Matt was upstairs working on the ensuite. I heard something but not sure what it was as sounded like a woman’s voice. Matt shouts that there is someone at the door so assume it is our postie. It was not. It was an elderly lady.

Turns out that she has come down from Toulouse with her husband and she used to live here. Of course I invited them in and had a quick chat. It seems that her parents owned the house (?) while it was a nursing home and sold it to the Ates family, who we bought it from. They were doctors and nurses and she lived up on the second floor, maybe she was a nurse too (?) judging by her age she was older than my mother. What we use as the salon was their dining room while the salle a manger (dining room) was the office/reception. The reason for the ‘door’ between rooms 1&2 was to move from maternity to [something] (I’m guessing) where the babies were. The staff and their family(ies) must therefore have lived up on the 2nd floor.

Fun fact – it was her mother that put in the wallpaper in the hallway, that I adore [but mum not so much].

Anyway, 5 minutes before my next call and while I’d have happily been 2 minutes late they were off. Before they did however we swapped numbers, and it turns out she is also a Chantal. I guess I should get used to this being in France but makes it feel as though we were meant to be here.

[20 February 2022]

Monday

Busy day of work but Matt still busy after I’m done. Since we picked up a chicken the other day seems like something I can be getting on with. Fancy roast this evening. I probably ate too much.

[21 February 2022]

Tuesday

Last night I had been browsing the local marketplace and came across an old light fitting. It may not be to everyone’s taste, but we have something very similar already in our entrance hall and the upstairs light fittings are awful – let alone very different. Since the light in the entrance doesn’t do enough a pair upstairs would be perfect.

Of course this is France. So the person ‘selling’ the light is the daughter and I have to call the parents to arrange the pick up. Thankfully it was pretty simple and the father was outside when we were looking for the house to flag us down. Despite being offered a few other lights I finally managed to get the one I was there for. Seems that they had some sort of vide grenier thing going on but I had to get back to work and I’d got what I needed.

It’s also a big day today. We’re off out for Jonny’s [’50th’] so needed to cut my last call short. Worth it though. For the first time ever we arrived on time! Of course knowing us as they do the Huxtables weren’t quite ready, they had intentionally given us an earlier deadline expecting we would be late. Cress looked beautiful though and Jonny’s fantastic mustard trousers made me sad I’d been talked down from my red ones.

The amazing Matt then whisked us off up the road to L’Hibiscus by Jeremy Lassere. It was an amazing dinner, great company and so nice to finally take advantage of one of the local Michelin starred restaurants.

After dropping them off we were back home for a quick port before bed. We rarely get out, so was great to have a good reason and no excuses. We should do this more often. But it’s definitely bedtime (after a short blog update).

[22 February 2022]

Wednesday

Busy working but managed to get a bit more work done on getting the plumbing behind the bath sorted and panel back in, along with getting the wall behind the radiator PVA’d (that’s a first coat so ready to paint now and plenty more layers needed). No rest for the wicked.

[23 February 2022]