Tuesday

Ugh, nothing like a Tuesday after a bank holiday to remind you how long a day can be and yet also how many more hours you need in a day! It’s a dog’s life right..

Moved some of the plants in the afternoon to get them off the garden and back to where they ought to be, decorating the front of the house. A couple were starting to grow out the bottom into the grass below so needed potting up.

Tonia has been working on the far side of the pool doing the borders again but I have to keep coming to seed it, the seeds are tiny so need to be very thinly spread. Unfortunately, it started raining in the mid-afternoon so Tonia needed a new job while Matt and I were busy working. Thankfully she’s managed to move all our stuff out of Room 5 down to Room 4 so that Steve can get on in 5.

Tonie – Let me add, that all of the stuff up in room 5 was everything we had to decamp from the first floor when I was last here at Christmas for the ceilings to be lowered. This resulted in having to repack and ‘organise’ most of the stuff in the room and about 100 trips up and down the stairs (having had to clean room 4 first to make some space).

Matt’s off up to Super U while Tonia and I finish working upstairs to move things around and clear the next room – which as usual just means shuffling s**t, and it’s chicken burgers for dinner.

[9 May 2023]

Wednesday

Matt and I were working all day. It was rather odd though as when Matt woke up it seemed that Tonia was already out in the garden working… very weird, she knows it’s morning right?! Seemed that she couldn’t sleep so she went out to work on the pool surround. Not sure the dog had any idea why she was up so early either.

Tonie – Having not been able to sleep at all the night before (maybe they didn’t supply enough wine for the worker?), at 6am I decided that tossing and turning was not going to cut it, the sun had come out so it was time to get up, get dressed and back to making the borders. They were starting to look pretty good, even if I do say so myself and also kept making Chan and Matt have a look at how fabulous they were.

By 3pm, it was a quick run to the tabac in St Beat where I [Tonia] also made sure to note the number of the local taxi service for future wedding attendees, then with the rain coming down and having hit a bit of a wall I took myself upstairs for a bit of a lie down.

With no sleep on the horizon, I was back up, this time assembling the new arch that Chan and Matt had just bought. Whilst I got it all together and ensured there were no bits missing this time (with a little help from Chan in holding some pieces for me to screw them together) we found the arch didn’t actually fit the designated pots. As such further instruction from Matt had me dismantling the arch again and miraculously getting it to fit in the original box.

Chan – Busy day. Not much excitement although Cressida did pop around briefly before she leaves to pick up her sunglasses which was probably the highlight. Tonia finally went to bed mid afternoon when it started raining and we just continued working. Matt was cracking away in the downstairs bathroom while I was doing work work and providing consultation/advisory support where needed. After work it was time to make dinner, but wearing glasses is rubbish!

I rang mum in the evening though as have had a message from the dress fitter to go back for final fittings. Looks like it works for her and to come back with Matt so once I have confirmed with the fitter then I can book tickets. And maybe more importantly tickets for us to to NZ for Wedding leg 2; the southern tour.. Weddings are really expensive!!

[10 May 2023]

Thursday

Very busy morning working away but even more projects flying in. Hopefully my new colleague can also take the brunt on this one however I suspect that it may be a stretch too far. Meanwhile I still need to review the work she’s sent from yesterday, add what I know from previous experience and then corale the wider team for their knowledge and input. I have to admit to being a little blind about the difference between gastroenterology and endoscopy and not sure which one is the ‘owner’ of the other.

Anyway, still working on projects until Matt finishes his calls and then I need to get dressed and get ready to join him. Lionel (our pool robot) needs to got to the repair shop unfortunately and that means taking it to Toulouse. The guy was a bit of a jerk to be honest asking why we didn’t post it ourselves as it clearly had an address on it – the other side of France and would have been at significant expense to us – and then was about to just send us off until I insisted that he provide me with a ticket to show that he had our property.

Next stop.. ooh wait.. new Brico we’ve never been to. Guess that deserves a stop in. Matt is basically an expert at knowing the cost of every item he needs from all our local bricos so should know immediately what is good value. He’s very cool like that and managed to get a few of the plumbing bits that he needed. I also found something nice that might be a good alternative to a subway tile to use as the backsplash in the kitchen.

Then B&M, not a great deal of stuff but we got a few more wine coolers. Next 4-Murs, nothing there for Room 1 but a few other options that I liked, just not sure where they are going to go but I will work it out. And finally Leroy Merlin, I checked out the wallpapers but nothing any good for room 1 still and they didn’t have any of the right insulation that we need for Steve 1 to finish upstairs so we’re going to have to order it in which is a pain. We got a few more plumbing bits but a bit of a bust of a trip really. Always find we get more from random trips than when we try to get things.

Back at home and Tonia has planted up about 20 more of the sunflowers for me. Weather isn’t amazing though sadly so we’re going to need to make a priority list of things for Steve and Tonia to work on tomorrow.

Dinner time, first the cat then the people. It was wet so I got her an umbrella, I felt bad that she’s constantly been out in the rain and cold because Tonia’s dog is here. Time to complete my request to exchange my driving licence, check emails, email possible wedding support lady and photographer, and then to tell you about the day. Now time for bed.

[11 May 2023]

Friday

More work. So busy it’s mad. They were asking me if I was working on the weekend it’s that crazy busy, the answer was a firm no. Just because they can’t get themselves together enough doesn’t mean I’m going to start working weekends to bail them out.

Quick trip down to the materiaux place at lunchtime for a quick tonne of sand, which obviously also has to be dug out of the trailer and piled up when we get home. Obviously I am however super strong so while I shovelled Tonia ran the wheel barrow back and forth.

A bit more work and then we’re off to investigate taxis in the area and the cost of minibusses. We managed to get a bit of an answer but we can’t firm anything up until we know exactly what we want and when. Back at the house and we need to do a quick clean of the back of the house again so that we can get the water cube and outside sink back in.

Time for Matt to crack on with the lawn mowing, he loves driving around on his little tractor. I have to go up to the Mairie to check in about the wedding, look at chairs and the village hall – which apparently has been reserved for us in case there is bad weather and we need a fall-back plan. It seems that they do have a collection again this year although apparently not for asbestos which is pain as that is what we need them to collect. Finally there was TV and a bit of relaxation before bed.

[12 May 2023]

Saturday

First thing for the day was to watch three episodes of Doctors. Matt was up at around 9:30 and setting up tarp covers to protect the base of the summer kitchen. So I decided that since he had my iPlayer working I’d make the most of it as I know I’m going to have to get up tomorrow. Tonia apparently was therefore up before me and off out in the garden doing some of the weeding of the games lawn, intermittently with the rain. Meanwhile Matt had been looking at the views – that is our cat, that is not our garden.. silly kitty!

We have a new visitor coming this afternoon and the house looks a mess. So job 1 for me is to do the washing up and make the kitchen presentable, which also required washing the floor twice. Then on to clearing the salon, I’m sure I’m going to need to take her in there to show her a number of things that I’ve already bought. It seems however that there are far too many things in here so with a bit of help from Matt we’ve managed to move the insulation up the second floor bathroom and I’ve cleaned up.

Time for lunch and then to finish cleaning up.

Today’s big job however is making a start on the pouring of the concrete for the summer kitchen. Matt and Tonia are on filling and mixing and I’m in charge of spreading and smoothing.

I had a message from the wedding lady and it seems that she’s going to be a bit late which can only be a good thing as I expect she will want to speak to both me and Matt and we’re pretty in the thick of it. The weather is rubbish and the wedding helper has just arrived. Naturally I look a mess of wet paint, plaster and concrete so hopefully I’m not being judged on this.

1.5 hours later and I think that we’ve discussed everything. It was almost 100% French and she did speak pretty quickly but I do have confidence that she could make this much easier for me and had similar ideas to me which was reassuring. It seems I just simply don’t have enough time to do everything, and keep working all the time, hopefully she’ll be affordable enough that with a few extra days of work I can pay for her and Matt will approve. It would make things so much easier as I forgot that when I organise events I get paid for them and I’m not working another full time job.

Finally time for dinner and a rest but also updating the wedding page. All I need now is for Matt to create the page for everyone to register their meal preferences. Having inducted Tonia into the addictive ‘This is my House’ it’s time for bed as I’m exhausted.

[13 May 2023]

Sunday

Had to get up pretty early today as we were off to the plant sale in Les, straight into proper clothes and to get my travel tea ready. Tonia came down just as we were almost ready to leave so managed to change quickly to come with us. Weather was miserable but I was on a mission to buy plants for me, Cressida and Rane. I didn’t buy as many as I thought I would but Matt did pick up a somewhat expensive (€10) fly eating plant. It’s kind of hard to buy plants for people that aren’t there though as if they don’t like them then you have to keep them, so I guess it can’t go that bad. Tonia also picked up a new pair of work trainers.

Time to head back to the house. Seems however that Matt’s maths was based on having a tonne of sand and tonne of gravats, rather than the sand and melange (mix) that we got. There’s basically no way therefore that we have enough of the mix to finish pouring the base of the summer kitchen.

A quick whiz around the garden to see what elderflower we can find having been inspired by Ed’s vats of elderflower champagne. It’s also raining a lot again though so we’re going to have to instead revert to inside jobs.

My first job is to start to paint the tops of the window surrounds in Room 2. Tonia is removing the last of the paper in the blue ensuite before moving on to do the second floor bathroom. Matt is reattaching the water to the outside sink. With my first job done I decided to start to sand one of the ‘french doors’ in Room 2. It’s too damp to paint it today but hopefully we will get a chance soon as I’m keen that the south side are done before the wedding.

Matt is off to the ground floor bathroom to plaster over the old rubbish that’s there while I do a second coat on the windows. With that done however and Tonia and Matt still working I’m going to need to have a wander around to see what else I can do. Unsurprisingly however it didn’t take me too long as the, almost, final coat of plaster in Room 5 needs to be sanded back.

Matt is down making dinner. I still need to finish the sanding and Tonia is off clearing up all the wallpaper that she’s stripped from the blue bathroom and blue ensuite. I’m still working on sanding of Room 5 though and finished just as Matt beckoned. Apparently however I had to wash my face and hands and take off my jumper before I had dinner, can’t imagine why…?!

After dinner it was clearly time to jump in the shower, and created a song about how I’m the cleanest person in the house. Matt was working on the form for our wedding guests to confirm their meals. Time to swap over and then watch some TV before updating the blog, finishing some work and finally going to bed. It’s so late and I’m so tired. Night night!

[14 May 2023]

Monday

Ugh that rain has been brutal again and been taking a terrible toll on my plants (osteospermum). I hope this isn’t a sign of what’s to come.

Late afternoon and it’s started to dry out a bit. Thank heavens Matt had set up the protection or all our work would have been lost – and potentially washed down the garden. We need to get on with the work on the summer kitchen though or it won’t be ready in time for the wedding. With the last section in it seems only fitting to sign and date it for future prosperity. At least with the wedding being here future owners will be able to find us in the Marignac archives which would be cool.

With us outside all day however Anya has been shut inside just wondering what we are doing and wanting to join. As you can imagine however a dog and wet concrete are not a good mix, I really don’t think it would be good for her to get it on her paws and especially if she then licks them. She can look as sad as she likes but she’s staying inside.

Last job before I get back to work though is to plant up a couple of the white japanese anemones that I got. I’ve put them in the gap where we moved the peaches from and hopefully they will take. The pink ones seem to thrive here so should be good.

[15 May 2023]

Tuesday

A quick break out at lunchtime to confirm tables and chairs and test a couple of ideas for where we might place the ceremony and what the background should be.

We discounted this one. After work we were back to finishing off the last of the concrete and filling the really big dips in the driveway. I don’t expect that they will last too long as individual sections like this do have a tendency to crack up but the huge holes and wet feet from getting the post can’t continue.

We can’t close the gates as the brace would be in the middle of the pour. Thankfully we don’t have any visitors or deliveries planned. Whether it runs down the slope in the rain will be a different matter, but at least it will settle in the dips rather than across the garden so not entirely lost.

Tonia meanwhile, when not being chief photographer, has been working inside. Anya doesn’t seem impressed but Tonia must have been cracking on if her work look is anything to go by..

[16 May 2023]