So it’s not the worst view to wake up to, even if you are waking up in the kitchen!

I have to admit – it got VERY cold. Matt woke up at 5:30 to put the last of the wood on the fire but it wasn’t really enough. We definitely underestimated how much we would need for the night and the compressed fibre logs we thought would last an hour went up in minutes.

Matt had some errands to run in the morning so I was looking forward to a lie in. Nope – damned efficient Poles calling at 9 to say they were nearly here. Dragged from my bed I pulled on my clothes over my pyjamas – I thought being in France I might get more ‘chic’ but so far it’s not working so well – and got up to meet the movers.

Bloody hell they were efficient! It doesn’t look like much in a big room but it took up most of the ground floor in London…

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Clocking in at 1.8 Tonnes believe me it was plenty of work and they even took the bed and mattress upstairs, Matt gave them a wink and they were more than happy to extend beyond their contractual obligations just to get it into the house.

Thanks to Simon and Jolanda for helping coordinate the UK end, it was a massive help!

That’s them off and a lot of boxes for us to sort through (161 to be exact). I wonder what is the one thing we will search every single box for first??

So with all that piled up it was time for a saunter around the garden. Found a couple of interesting things.

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Also noticed what I believe are a three foxgloves (only leaves atm), a couple of hydrangeas and possibly cornflowers dotted all over the place which is nice.

Attestation – quick dash to the shops (one of Matt’s previously planned errands). Unfortunately the sewing machine he saw was already gone by the time we got there. Did get a saw at the Bricomarche though (Matt was very impressed as I walked up to the counter and asked how much it cost in what I can only assure was clearly fluent French).

Back home for lunch and some strategic planning of house domination.

First things first – get some more wood! Took somewhat longer than expected to plan so recording of the ‘Grand Tour’ video of the house has been delayed. We have however found some better densified wood which does seem to last about an hour per log which is a result for our short term needs.

Feeling rather deflated that we didn’t manage to get the sewing machine at the other shop either and were well behind in our tasks for the day. Time to test the oil space heaters we found in a cupboard and chop some of the logs/branches hanging around the garden. I was on chopping duty – I ditched the saw pretty quickly as I do like an axe, it was bloody blunt but I persevered and got a few good ones cut to keep us going tonight. Matt got the heaters working (with my help to fill them), they work surprisingly well now so I’m suitably impressed. It also opened up the option of sleeping in our own bed tonight

Got distracted as I was about to make dinner and…

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It needs to go so that we can open up the randomly blocked door from the hallway that has stopped us getting the little swirly sofa into the kitchen (and would scupper many of our plans, including delivery of the large American fridge we have ordered). Matt wouldn’t let me finish though. He was tired and grumpy and was getting a headache from all the hammering.

Dinner time. Oh! Seems the gas bottle ran out so no go on the hob for our pasta. Bodge job version but it seemed to work. Had to eat out of the pot together as couldn’t risk it getting (more) cold by putting it into cold dishes.

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‘Last’ job of the day, make the bed. Don’t let anyone tell you that there is only one way of making the bed – we had lots of discussion about it. But…

Job done time for a rest. Well, not quite, contacting potential renters for my flat, getting VPN working on all the laptops and, of course, writing and publishing this. But it’s 00:30 now and I need a rest as I have work in the morning.

Night