Monday

Got rather waylaid with work in the morning so didn’t get a chance to call Anah to book the meeting in for Wednesday before they broke for lunch. Since the office is only round the corner by the station the easiest thing is to drop round as soon as they are back at 2pm. The receptionist was super lovely. All the appointments were booked so she rang the head office to check if we could be tacked on at the end of his meetings, which they did and so we are very grateful.

It’s so much warmer outside than it is inside we’re throwing open the doors to the rooms to warm the house – apart from the kitchen. It’s also advisable to reduce the radon levels so double win.

I have noticed however that at least one of the loquats appears to be growing which is exciting (it’s from the seeds of our neighbours tree in London). It will probably take about 10 years to fruit but then with the progress on the house that doesn’t feel like forever.

[24 January 2022]

Tuesday

Such a frustrating day. I started poorly. The Prof Sir thought my work just ‘looked like a brain dump’. No problem though, it was just a symptom of being so close to the work and ‘in the weeds’ since it’s the product of a long series of meetings. A few minutes later with the process shown and he’s happy with it – sometimes you just have to remember to take people on the journey with you.. Much like this I guess.

I need a walk around the garden to clear my mind. Also a good opportunity to start my garden diary up again. I couldn’t find it last year so not much of a record of what was going on or when unfortunately.

I need to get back to work but seems Matt rather enjoyed being out in the sun and is taking the opportunity to make a small dent in the mass of leaves, and play on the ride on lawn mower.

Got an opportunity at the end of the day to do a little more work on the ensuite. Seems that while I thought I’d bought a sink unit with legs I’d actually bought a suspended one. Unfortunately it’s therefore going to need some bracing for it to attach to in order to take the weight so we’re going to have to take off the other bit of plasterboard but better to realise now. Not sure what was going on with Matt’s maths but it wasn’t right. When he showed me where the sink was going to be it was just over 1m, the max modern height for a bathroom sink is 95cm so with some minor tweaking it was fixed.

Matt was then tidying up some of the plaster, although apparently there were still a few bits that weren’t dry – clearly winter is not a good time to do plastering. Meanwhile I got on with building the draws. Had to take a quick break for a conference call on the brand update and and back to finish them off. Hey presto, they’re done, and a pretty good job if you ask me but I wouldn’t recommend trying to do these things in the dark, it’s really not ideal.

Dinner time and we’re having tapas again, it’s very tasty and today we have patatas bravas tonight too. Then time to unwind and do a bit more blogging.

[25 January 2022]

Wednesday

After my first meeting was done we had a call from M. Julien, he wants us to go now. We meet him at the local government office, it seems that his previous meeting was a no show and since we’d been added as an extra to the list he was keen to get back on track. He was very nice and extremely helpful in talking through the possible grants that we might be able to get to help make the house more energy efficient; he’s also going to check for us to see if there are other grants available to help with the radon as it’s a recognised health risk. We even managed to book him to come to the house on Monday to do the energy diagnostic, it’s like a minor miracle when things actually happen quickly here so fingers crossed it won’t get randomly cancelled.

An hour later and we’re back at home and deep into our work. At 3pm another company turned up to provide a quote for the ventilation and insulation. One of them spoke some English so the more technical stuff was in French and the easier bits in English. The pair of them stayed working on the devis at the kitchen island while I went back to work and answered questions as they arose. About 6pm and they were ready to talk through the quote and explain everything. They were very good and helpful but by the end of the day what with that and Anah I felt as though I’d been on a full day immersive French course, it was exhausting.

Still got a bit of work to do though due to the day’s distractions. Dinner tonight is left over tapas followed by fish tacos, maybe a slightly odd combo but it was good. I deserve a break for a bit and then catch up on the blog for a bit once Matt goes to bed, but it’s been a long day so I’m heading up soon too.

[26 January 2022]

Thursday

Today is a crazy day, I have back to back meetings from 8:30-6:30 without a break – thank god you can turn off your video and audio feeds and if you time it right nobody notices. Matt did a good job in providing me with cups of tea!

[27 January 2022]

Friday

Got my meetings confused and didn’t need to be up as early as I thought so decided to get some fresh air. It seems that Matt’s made a nice pile of leaves for my bin and since I have some time before my ‘next’ meeting, now is as good a time as any. I also trimmed out a few branches and stacked up a load to clear the way for Matt’s next trip out on the lawnmower.

Time for a bit more work on the ensuite and Matt’s now framed up the window. I’m not sure it will make a significant difference but It feels as though it ought to have some sort of natural light, borrowed from the bedroom.

[28 January 2022]

Saturday

It’s been so nice out that today is another good day to get into the garden. Matt’s been out on the mower again to start tidying up the grounds so there’s another pile ready for me.

The problem now however is that the leaf bay is already full. I’m going to have to either make a smaller bay for last year’s or find another way to store it so we can clear the good stuff ready for spring – maybe – if it’s broken down enough. Next he’s off down to look at the massively overgrown quince trees. We made a good start on pruning one of them.

I’d had enough of pulling all the branches out the way and stacking them up so went inside to start tidying up and mopping the floor while Matt (and his filthy boots) were out of the house, and clearly playing with the cat…

We’ve had enough though and feel tired from a busy week so going to take it easy.

[29 January 2022]

Sunday

Matt is back off to work on the ensuite. He’s put in the electrics, sanded and done some more plastering.

There’s not a lot that I can do to help though and since Anah is coming over tomorrow I feel as though the house is due to for a good tidy. It’s incredible how long it takes to do any sort of a job on cleaning this place but after about 5-6 hours I was definitely over it. It does look better though.

I made some nice homemade bread for our afternoon break though which was lovely. Next job is to get rid of all the recycling, including the boxes from the bath which are huge and been in the dining room for ages. Back at the house and I get the stairs and our bedroom tidied but that is definitely it. I’m not sure Matt is aware but I hate cleaning.

It’s been a long and busy day but the place is looking so much better. We didn’t quite have the time to do the video tour update (that we’ve been meaning to do since the 1 year anniversary) but hopefully soon. Time to go collect some more water, or not since there doesn’t seem to be any. At least we got to see some deer – we usually only see them on the cameras in the nighttime at our house.

Time to relax for the evening. Night all x

[30 January 2022]