Saturday

Yay, we got a big delivery today which woke me up early. It’s our wedding present – thank you again to everyone that contributed.

Anyway, back to work. Still so much work to do around the windows.

It pretty much took all day, but meanwhile I also continued to work on the floor in Room 5. We’re tired and Matt wants dinner so I think we’re done for the day. 5 is looking pretty good in my opinion and getting close to being ready enough for the wedding – we’re not expecting to be actually finished.

[17 June 2023]

Sunday

With our new pizza oven having arrived yesterday it seems like a good time to give it a test run. It wasn’t as good as the ones we’ve had at Cressida’s as we haven’t quite got the knack yet but it wasn’t bad for a first attempt.

Time for a wander around the garden after lunch. There’s a couple of lupins out, the day lilies are in bloom and the honeysuckle is well and truly back, there also appears to be a rather large wasp or hornet going into the carnivorous plant which was interesting to watch.

Anyway I really ought to crack on as there are hundreds of plants that need to be put in the ground to create the border between the games lawn and the rest of the garden. Meow is sort of helping but not really. 2.5 hours later and it seems that I’ve hardly made a dent in it but it’s after 21:30 and that’s enough for one day.

[18 June 2023]

Monday

Work in the garden continues, there’s a huge amount to do so that it all looks good for the wedding. The problem is of course that with so many flowers already in bloom they will be well over by the time the wedding rolls around. I have no idea how people plan for Chelsea but trying to garden to a timetable sucks and I have a huge new found respect for them.

[19 June 2023]

Tuesday

Bit more gardening in the morning, and happy to see that the hollyhock is flowering and that one of the Dahlias is showing it’s colours, even if they aren’t the right ones. I have finally finished the row though which is a relief.

Lunchtime and we are preparing the structure for the summer kitchen. Matt is obviously in charge of measuring and cutting while I am there to double check any assumptions, help hold things in place while cutting long lengths of wood, holding up ends while they are screwed in, and finally staining everything up. Obviously the onus for getting things right is on Matt as lead, but he’d be nowhere without me – quite literally holding up the other end.

While Matt goes back to work I spend my time doing a little more sanding of the plaster work. We’re definitely getting closer but at the end of the day, when they come for the wedding, the family will have to understand that it is a work in progress. I’d like it to be as nice as possible but I’m not willing to cut corners or make bad decisions that cost time and money to rectify in the future.

Ugh, it’s hot hard work. Time for a quick shower off before Matt will let me in the pool for a swim – so a rapid and uninviting shower for me as there’s little point waiting for the water to warm up when I’m about to jump in the pool. Pool time is also an opportunity to get my lengths in and a bit more exercise – 50 lengths a day min (it is only 8m though).

Back to work and we’re about done on the framing so on to adding some of the tops. Quite honestly we are far too late to be doing a ‘good’ version of it so we are settling for ‘workable’. By that I mean about €15 for 2m lengths that won’t last a season. But they will last long enough to look somewhere between good and unremarkable for the wedding, and at this point that and the speed of putting them in is a definite win.

It’s after eight, but no time for chocolate mints, it’s time for dinner and some rest.

[20 June 2023]

Wednesday

I’m busy today working on the plastering and sanding in Room 3. Since I’m working alone there’s not really any pictures, but I can assure you that it was hot, hard and mindless. It was also quite enjoyable just to get into ‘the groove’ and just get on with something – with the support of my trusty scaffolding, the number of times you need to even move scaffolding doesn’t bear thinking about so there’s no way I would have got much done if I only had a ladder.

Matt however has also been working incredibly hard doing his actual paid work, so the reward is a big roast chicken dinner. Of course this does take time but I think it was worth it and he enjoyed it, almost as much as I did – resulting my big fat food baby.

[21 June 2024]

Thursday

A bit of real (paid) work, but there was also a big delivery today and it looks as though our new 6x12m marquee has arrived – it worked out to be less expensive than hiring one by my calculations (but then I never was very good at maths).

I saved a bee. Then we did more work on the worktops. We finish installing the worktops and have second roast for dinner – yay for cooking for two days – mum taught me to cook in batches for an army.

After dinner it’s time to head off to the airport to go collect mum who’s coming over for a long weekend to ensure that all the plans are in place for the wedding and that she’s not missing out on anything. She’s on the late flight though so we arrive at the airport for collection around 23:30 and then have the 1.5hr return trip to make. I bought tea with me though in my special cup so it’s still warm and I think I’m doing well.

[22 June 2023]

Friday

Mum’s out doing her part, and clearly having some fun, driving the ride on lawn mower, while I am inside sanding. I know which one I’d rather be doing but I’m pretty certain that she isn’t going to swap.

In the afternoon we went down to Luchon to go and speak to the photographer (who only speaks French). We ran through the plans and what we wanted again before stopping at Billy’s for a quick drink and hello to Loz and Seb.

Back at home and we’re going to make some pizza dough ready for tomorrow. Hopefully this works and tomorrow we should have some lovely bases for some fresh homemade pizza.

[23 June 2023]

Saturday

‘Big’ wedding day planning session today as mum is meeting the wedding planner (who also only speaks French). We’re meeting her up at St Go as she lives up there and it was a nice opportunity to do something other than go to the Emmaus second hand store or Lidl. It was a nice little bar/cafe/restaurant with a great view – a lovely choice by Julie but took us a little while to find it.

She had some interesting ideas and I think mum really enjoyed it. It’s obviously not so easy when happening in a different language but Julie showed her lots of pictures of things and she smiled and seemed to be happy enough. She was also asking some good questions.

After meeting with Julie it’s time to go shopping – mum’s favourite sport. We went to look at all sorts of things, mum seems a bit obsessed with bedding and making sure that we have enough for the million (17) people staying at the house. Meanwhile I’m still trying to get my head around what on earth it will be like having 17 people here rather than the usual 2.

Back at home and it’s time to relax for a bit and have a swim after all that hard work. A couple of hours of full on French can really take it out of you. This is followed by an early dinner before we head out for the evening’s festivities.

First off we’re heading up to La Guin’guetta for a drink with Rane and Ed before we head over for this years Brandon, a fire festival celebrating the summer solstice and a sign of transmission and regeneration. More French chatting with some of the other villagers and the mayor. It seems that everyone in town knows that we’re getting married in just over a month, maybe because all their Airbnbs are booked out by our guests. Afterwards we can hear the music down at Cierp Gaud so we pop over to check out what it’s all about, dropping mum back on the way.

[24 June 2023]

Sunday

Matt is up reasonably early to get the smoker going, he’s very committed to his craft, I’m more committed to my bed. Not much to do today though other than to relax and enjoy the last day with mum before she heads back to the UK.

The weather wasn’t looking great but thankfully it cleared though and stayed dry so we could celebrate mum’s visit with a fantastic BBQ. It was a lovely evening though and good to remind mum again that we have lovely friends here who are always keen to lend a hand and help out. A lovely way to round out her visit.

[25 June 2023]

Monday

Sending mum back up to the airport, it’s been a lovely trip but all good things have to come to an end.

[26 June 2023]