Monday 1st

Having got up at the crack of dawn to let the builders in they didn’t arrive. I wish we’d known or I’d have stayed in bed, this whole early morning and working till late after they have gone – and never getting on the scaffolding for health and safety reasons – has been exhausting. It seems however that they are not coming [May Day bank holiday isn’t an official day off in France, but maybe it is for the Spanish guys, or maybe due to the weather first thing?!] so Matt is off to see what other repairs need doing.

I’m not sure that the other bits desperately needing doing but I fully support anything that prevents us having to get back up there so any preventative patches are good in my book. It’s also gives great views.

Tonie – So, the sun is out and it is time for garden work. The first job on my list today is to (almost) finish the runway for the sunflower barrier between what will be the games lawn and the main reception / meadow area. With a quick 30 second tutorial on how the rotovator worked, I was left to it. As is turns out it was a bit wonky from all the rocks and maybe trying to avoid my co-worker as she (Anya) was supervising my work. A quick rake over to get the green stuff out and it was time to give it another go. Unfortunately I couldn’t take it to what will ultimately be the corner of project runway as there was a massive pile of rocks in my way.

Solution to some of the rock was to create a border to outline the part of said runway. This however went on to prove that my lines were not quite as straight as I may have first thought. With another go on the rotovator, it was a bit straighter, not perfect, but will do for now. Time to move on to a bit of weeding, this is a job that in this garden could take 6 months so and will be an ongoing effort I expect for the duration of our stay. Whilst pulling out a miasma of thistles, I came to changing song titles/lyrics in my head to make them relevant to the task at hand, some of my favourites were: Thistle be the day that I die; Rock around the clock; and Rotor Hell.

Next job, yep, move more rocks… I am pretty sure that lugging tonnes of rocks around should be good in getting rid of the “bingo wings” before the wedding though. This time I was creating a border round the flowerbed near the pool, whilst it looks smarter, there are still a lot more rocks left in that pile, thinking of where we will need / want more rock borders is going on the list for contemplation.

Chan: we can’t all be working the runways, some of us need to concentrate on the more mundane, so I’m in the pottager trying to get it back to useful. The plan this year is to forego the usual fruit and veg to grow lots of flowers that can be used for the wedding.

More work also happening to refit the bell to the outside of the house and in Room 7 on the plastering – I know it looks as though Matt does it all himself but he really doesn’t, he just doesn’t take pictures of me doing it; he’s not as hard done by as you might be led to believe.

[1 May 2023]

Tuesday

The contractors are back and it is time for the scaffolding to come down. We definitely never went up on it, Right!

It’s amazing to see the difference. While it might not be obvious to most it’s night and day to us. Gone are the huge gaps in the masonry that were haven for bugs, bats, wood peckers etc… all of of which is great until they are destroying the building’s architecture (and waking me up).

Tonie – As the other kids are back to their day jobs today, it is over to me to do all the hard labour, I mean it is my holiday right! That said, today is a very exciting day as I have been told that there is one more bit of demo left. As you will probably be aware by now, smashing stuff up is one of my preferred options, and whilst it is very dirty work, destroying things is undeniably therapeautic. As such I am off to the blue bathroom up on my floor (I also like getting work done up there as I swear Chan and Matt sometimes forget it is there). Having moved everything out of the room and a bit of assistance from Matt in getting the vanity off the wall, the demo job on order for the day was to pull down all the old lathe and plaster from the eaves. A job I have done much of on the rest of the floor, so nothing new.

Well… for a while there was nothing new until I located a nest of some description. Fortunately, whilst it does appear to have been a wasps nest, it is also now empty so I don’t need to worry about being stung, or my first worry that it was a hornets nest that we would have to bring someone in to remove. All done and I was allowed outside for a short while to spend some time with Anya who has clearly been neglected all day.

[2 May 2023]

Wednesday

Steve 1, also known as Rick, is working on the bathroom. While Matt and I are hard at work, we’re also discussing the finer points of swimwear. I think we are pretty on point though.

Tonia – Kids are still working away, my first job is to get the windows in Room 3 (at least the ones facing the front of the house) sanded and prepped for painting. As the sun is shining, once that job was done I was adamant my next job needed to be out where I could get some sunshine… if I was going to get a start on the suntan I will need to carry over to the wedding, that had to start sooner rather than later.

Can you guess what was first up? Yes, more rock borders, this time to create a path along the side of the games lawn. With Anya supervising it seemed to be a little straighter this time, thankfully – it is actually really hard to notice a little wobble when you are right on top of it. Annoyingly however when you take a few steps back, 1 stone in the wrong place can make the line go haywire. Anyways, I am not the perfectionist that Chan is, it will do, and if Chan has time to tinker with such things later then that will be up to her.

Pottager is next, the thing is so overgrown that you can barely see a couple of the bed for all the overgrowth. Strimmer at the ready and I was ready to get the place cleared up. Having blocked the strimmer a couple of times with the super long grasses, on to weeding the beds so they are ready for all the new plants Chan has been putting through her 3 tiered “plant school” in the house.

My final job of the day is to head back up to my floor and get all the mess from yesterdays demo cleared up. This will also mean more work on my “chateau fitness regime” with hauling bags of rubble and bins of wood down 2 flights of stairs.

Chan: After work it was time for a quick swim and some dinner. But also work never stops; the scaffolding was expensive and we have a wedding to pay for…

[3 May 2024]

Thursday 4th

Tonie – I am back up on the 1st floor in room 3, back to sanding the windows that I abandoned yesterday for the sunshine. Having gotten the windows in 3 and the main bathroom windows done and wood filled, the next step was to start getting the first layer of white paint on, this would make a massive difference from the current terracotta when looking at the house from where the wedding will take place. Leaning off a 2m ladder and somewhat out of the window with a 10m drop the other side was not really my idea of fun, but as a dedicated sister, I managed to grit my teeth and get it done (think I may let Chan do the next 2 coats).

Sadly, there had also been multiple plant deaths due to the rain and I found Chan in the kitchen lamenting the loss of a whole batch of delphiniums. With all the plants she had no longer viable, I quickly planted up a whole new tray of seeds only to be told there was no chance they would be ready on time – but hey at least I tried, she was really sad!

With the weather still not looking great, I was back up to my floor. Whilst the eaves had been cleared out, the next job was removing the old tiles. This was a bit of a delicate job (at times) as Matt and I were not clear on how many of the tiles Chan would want to keep so the aim was to get as many off in one piece as possible. Having gotten quite a lot down and managing to save about 50%, I was at a patterned tile when Chan came up to see what was happening. As Chan was particularly keen on keeping the patterned tiles and this one wasn’t coming off easily, I handed over to her, but sadly it seems this was one of the few areas that was stuck pretty solidly to the wall and the tile didn’t make it.

Chan: Matt and I are off shopping while Tonia cracks on at home. Obviously I got a few plants but we generally filled up with a whole heap of stuff in preparation for the wedding.

There was so much that we had to start taking it out its boxes to get the last bits in the car and get them home or I was going to have a very long and laden walk back.

Time to set up a little coffee table on the front porch, since it was already out of its packaging.

[4 May 2023]

Friday

Busy working day today. Meanwhile Matt has taken a break this afternoon to go and help Rick and Rane with their windows. They have huge big ‘French doors’ to haul up to their second floor and need extra manpower.

After work I put a new clematis in. I don’t know how well it will go and it’s certainly not going to cover the new fence before the wedding but will be nice to get something starting to grow. BBQ dinner for with caesar salad on the side and he’s started prepping some ribs.

Not sure what Tonia was up to in the garden or why the pics are such terrible quality. Matt cracked on with the second stage of his ribs ready for JC’s upcoming coronation party while Tonia and I enjoyed a drink on the front porch. When I started to take the camelia out I realised that there were actually two plants in there rather than one so I’ve potted them up separately.

[5 May 2023]

Crown Day – Saturday – Also known as the Coronation

It’s party time over at JCs today so the morning is spent hurriedly pulling together all the things that we are taking over – including a TV and the relative equipment to get it to show the coronation and so that we can watch it out in the sunshine, and of course Matt’s ribs.

While Matt goes about setting up the TV I have a roll around with my favourite chocolate pup. I’m not sure who had more fun, him or me.

Having eaten well we watched bits of the coronation, went on an amazing easter egg hunt – I basically stole all the easter eggs as they can’t be hidden on the ground where the dogs can get to them – there was a little more drinking and it all got quite exciting. Nothing quite like belting out a ‘well rehearsed’ set of 90’s classics, such as Bonjovi’s ‘Living on a Prayer’ and other belters. Chief chauffeur decided it was time to take our car load home when Tonia slipped off the arm of the sofa she went to sit on.

Thank you Cress and Jonny, we had a wonderful time and really appreciated everything.

[6 May 2023]

Sunday

Hangovers and relaxation around the pool, no photos!

[7 May 2023]

Monday

Although it’s not a bank holiday here of course it is in the UK so work is rather lighter than normal and we can kind of skive off. Tonia’s been doing some cracking work around the pool tidying up the edges and starting to get the stones and some compost down for the borders. Matt made her a lovely little tool to measure the sides so that it’s nice and even as she works her way down and I have to say it’s worked beautifully.

This might sound like a lovely, easy job, but when you have to dig the border three times through the stones to get it to the right depth and width for both the marble chip layer and the second purple thyme border it takes somewhat longer then one would first expect – plus additional weeding at every stage.

I was only drafted in to help with the sowing of the seeds that are go in. Alyssium odoratum and creeping thyme. Both are very low growing, creeping with white and purple flowers and when walked on the thyme will give off a lovely scent too. I can’t imagine that the stones will stay where they want them or as lovely as they are right now so good that you get to see it at its smartest. Meanwhile though I have been working on the ‘runway’ as Tonia calls it, starting to plant out the hundreds of sunflowers; literally!

Who’s great idea was it to think of having over 100 sunflowers to create a screen and separate areas of the garden? Well obviously it was me, but while in some ways I still think that this was a good idea and will look great one they are grown it doesn’t feel like it right now and if they don’t flower at the right time and I am going to be super cross.

Matt has been working inside on the taping and joining. I feel sorry for Matt but it needs to be done. Once it was however he was outside and doing a fantastic job of trimming the outside hedge. Yes, I know we shouldn’t be cutting it back at this time of year due to nesting but we’re only trimming the very outside and will be required to do so by the Marie soon anyway as it’s encumbering the pathways and driveways. He did however find significantly more miribele plums than we thought we had which is a result. We’re going to have to keep an eye on them as they are quick to turn.

Unfortunately the hedge which was going to form the base of the Secret Gin Bar for the wedding appears to have been massacred by caterpillar. I really don’t know if it’s going to survive which will be such a shame. Anya managed to find some gap in the fence at some point (we are still trying to work out where that is), it seems Anya is a bit of a Houdini when it comes to making sure she can be near her ‘mum’.

Work done it’s time for a good swim and of course practicing our synchronised swimming / handstands.

Having had a long day and a nice chill in the pool, it was time for a quick fried rice dinner before some TV and bed. Guessing it’s hard work being Tonia’s supervisor and a lifeguard for the handstand and synchronised swimming olympics..

[8 May 2023]