Y Viva Espana

Well that's been a busy couple of weeks and things don't look like slowing down any time soon. Barbara arrived back at Toulouse airport on Sunday and being the ever considerate, romantic and spontaneous chap that I am I'd booked three nights in sunny Spain as a surprise (bit of poetic licence there)! We headed down to Tossa de Mar, about three hours drive from Toulouse. I suppose it's being a Brit' and not being used to crossing borders but I'm always surprised at the lack of controls when crossing from one country to another. At the France/Spain border security is a little less formal than getting back into the UK. There we were honest law abiding British Citizens, passports at the ready and no one gives us a second look. Not sure Mr Griffin would be happy with that arrangement!

We'd picked the hotel from the TripAdvisor website and being located 300 metres from the beach and an easy walk to all the local restaurants and bars the Hotel Reymar proved to be great choice. Having the pool to ourselves for most of the afternoon and the obvious low level of business in the numerous restaurants made us think that perhaps the credit crunch was having an effect on most of Europe. It's a long time since we've been on a Spanish beach holiday and apart from the lack of tourists the other big change was that along with Spanish, French, English and German the menus were now printed in Russian. There were several Russian families staying at the hotel and the only Bentley Continental we saw, apart from our own, had Russian number plates. Must be the prices they get for their gas.

The three days relaxing by the Med soon passed and it was time to head North and get back to work. Jane & Derek, Barbara's sister and brother in law, were due to arrive on Wednesday to spend a few days with us and there were a number of items on the snagging list that had to be sorted so it was out with the plaster and paint. The main job was to repair and paint the plasterboard around the stove chimney and despite Barbara having thought she'd retired from plastering it was out with the scraper and on with the plaster and a vow never to touch the bl**dy stuff again. So with the remaining skirting boards fitted and painted, terrace tiles grouted in 28ºc, beams and windows given another coat of varnish and white walls touched up with magnolia emulsion in error (glad it wasn't me) we were ready for Jane & Derek to arrive. Thursday is market day in Villefranche and with Derek wanting to return our hospitality and cook a meal we spent the morning sourcing ingredients for a delicious 'casserole d' Lancashire' along with some sardines & mackerel for a barbecue. They were also invited to a neighbour's barbecue and were pleased that they'd had a substantial lunch as although we arrived for 'nibbles' at 8:00 we didn't start eating until about 11:00. We had a great night and Jane & Derek certainly witnessed French hospitality at it's best.

Food glorious food

I think everyone must be feeling sorry for me with Barbara being back in UK 'cause I've been out wining & dining a few times over the last couple of weeks. Last week G's daughter & son-in-law were over & I was invited to a barbecue last Sunday. The weather had been lovely for the previous few days but as is always the case when you plan a barbecue it always takes a turn for the worse. The rain held off but the temperature dropped dramatically and we ended up eating inside which was no great hardship and the food, prepared by G's son-in-law and cooked by S was excellent. I really must ask how he managed not to burn everything. I've been helping T out and we were asked to join one of his friends for lunch. A couple of ham salad sandwiches or similar is my usual diet so a typical French lunch came as a bit of a shock to the system. We started with one or two large Ricards, fresh radishes from their garden & saucisson, the first of several items that would do nothing for my cholesterol levels. The entrée was a tomato and egg salad with a olive oil and garlic dressing and was followed by roast chicken and potatoes sautéed in goose fat all washed down with a few glasses of vin rouge. I managed to avoid the cheese but felt it would have been bad form to refuse the home made apple pie. There was time for a quick coffee and after our two hour lunch it was time to return to work. Fortunately T and I were working at ground level but Jo, who's hospitality we'd just enjoyed, is a roofer and was heading back to work on the roof of a local church! Hopefully someone was watching out for him.

It wasn't only Jo who served up home grown produce. Many people in the area have a plot in their garden where they grow a few vegetables and have some ducks and chickens and the house we were working at was one of them. One morning when we arrived the owners of the house were up and about early and working hard in the garden preparing lunch and they weren't just picking potatoes. I don't know how many people they were entertaining but the 6 ducks they killed and set about plucking looked big enough to feed the whole of South West France. Anyway I'm sure they were delicious and no doubt washed down with a few glasses of wine. The days of drinking at lunchtime continue here in France and the thought of having just a glass of water or a soft drink are very much frowned on.

I was also lucky enough to be invited to Bruno's birthday celebrations last Sunday which meant that I haven't had to cook since. He'd organised a mini bus to take 18 of us to 'Auberge Beauville' in Espédaillac, a small village an hour away in the Lot. The food was typical cuisine familale et traditionnelle,and there was lots of it. Chicken noodle soup, omelette with wild mushrooms and shaved truffles, coq au vin or chicken with farce, roast lamb and potatoes sautéed in goose fat (again), a selection of cheeses and tarte tartin all of course served with lots and lots of local wine. By anybody standards that would have been enough food to keep you going for the rest of the week but I was also invited to the evening barbecue. I won't bore you with details of the evening's menu but needless to say the food was excellent and the wine flowed and flowed. I've really enjoyed the hospitality of all my hosts, including P & P who invited me in for supper last night, but I'm looking forward to a little of Barbara's home cooking next week.

It does seem to be all about eating and drinking on this weeks blog but I have managed to get several items crossed off my 'to-do' list. All the cut tiles are in place, holes have been filled in the oil and wood store walls, paint has been applied & carpets glued down. I've even found time to do a bit of cleaning & washing. Only problem is I think Barbara has taken the iron with her, well that's my excuse for creased shirts! I'm sure when she gets back on Sunday she'll be point out where it's kept.

Another flying visit

Has it really been two weeks since I last sat down and did a bit of blogging? Tempus fugit, as they say, especially when you've dashed back to the UK for a few days and knocked the odd wall down. When we were back in the UK at the beginning of the year we'd put an offer in on a house near Barbara's mum in Blackpool and had completed on it in late April. It needs a fair amount of work; a bathroom, a central heating system, a kitchen, new windows & doors, decorating (all sounds very familiar) and plastering. With Barbara and her mum heading back to the UK it seemed like an ideal opportunity to return with them and make a start on the next project. It turned out to be a flying visit but I did manage to demolish a wall in what will be the kitchen/dining room, strip the walls of paper that must have been there 30 years, organise the plumber and electrician (no we're not flying Stephané Regourd over), sort the doors & windows and order a kitchen from Wickes. With Barbara off 'country cousining' and everything done that could be done for now I booked my ferry and hotel and headed back to France on Thursday. This time the best laid plans of mice and Chris didn't quite work out. As I hit the road the gentleman Barbara was looking after was taken in to hospital, not sure that'll look too good on her references, and she was able to take a few days off and returned to Blackpool. Well at least the plastering will get done!

It was a pretty uneventful journey back apart from turning up at the wrong Premiere Classe hotel in Rouen. They really all do look the same, both inside and out, but fortunately the two hotels were only two kilometres apart and on this occasion I can't blame it on the satnav. If you put the wrong address in it's your own stupid fault! It always surprises me how many 'GB' plated cars you see as you travel up and down the autoroute. This time was no exception and despite the press coverage that says everyone's holidaying in the UK this year there were still plenty of Brits heading south and at both the hotels I visited there were several cars with GB plates on parked up for the night. Perhaps there are a few green shoots out there.

Meanwhile back in Lagarrigue the tiling had gone well and I'd finished putting all the full tiles in place before leaving for the UK. Now I'm back it's out with the tile cutter and adhesive and time to lay the last few cut tiles but as the temperature on the terrace at 8:15 this morning was 25°C I think it's going to mean a couple of early starts. Still there's plenty to do and I'm sure there'll be a few items on my to-do list that are in the shade. When the carpenter had been here fitting the staircase we'd asked him to prepare a devi for the fitting of a balcony off the living area and he'd dropped it in whilst we'd been away. For once the devi was near enough what we'd budgeted for so on Monday I'll be tracking him down and asking him to get started with it at soon as possible. I want to be sipping my G & T on it before the summer is over.

We're getting there

I love it when a plan comes together and things have certainly come together this week. Barbara and her mum arrived back late on Sunday 24th after three and half weeks back in the UK. I think she was impressed with all the work that had been completed in her absence. The pointing of the barn was finished and the scaffold has finally been dismantled and given back to T with a very grateful and appreciative merci. It feels like the scaffold has been hanging about for a lifetime and to see it finally loaded on to the back of T's trailer gave me a real lift. I'm just hoping that we'll not need it back any time soon. Now the barn's fully pointed it seems so much bigger and looking at it from across the field it's no wonder my hacking out pick was pleading for retirement. It's not just the scaffold we've finished with, Stephané Regourd has also completed his residency in Lagarrigue. With the mega size radiators in place and the essential outside tap installed we could bid him farewell and look forward, not sure that's the right wording, to receiving his final facture. Life just won't be the same without Stephané popping in creating havoc and doing a little plumbing, heating and electrical work. He's called when we've asked and has always been prepared to fit in with our work schedule so I guess we shouldn't complain about the odd oil spill or damaged plasterboard.

Monday and it was back to it for Babs. Before we could make the barn feel completely like home we needed to get the carpet fitted. So with trailer attached it was off to VDR to collect the carpet and by 5:00 Monday it was fitted and looking good. It's typical but just as we'd finished the company we'd ordered the wood burning stove off called to say it had arrived and they would be out on Thursday to install it. They better not make a mess! As it turned out they were really professional and did a fantastic job, it's just a pity that the temperature has been constantly in the mid twenties during the day and with so much insulation in the barn we haven't needed to fire it up (this didn't stop Barbara lighting it on the first night 'just to check it works'). With the stove in place it was time to decamp from the downstairs and finally make the most of the upstairs. Boxes were opened that have been in store for nearly three years (yes I know we've managed without the contents but there are certain things you just can't throw away) and the sofas were brought out of T's barn and manoeuvred in to place. More importantly I was able to get my 'study' sorted and the Hi-Fi in place and working so I can now sit and write the blog in comfort, music playing and with a beautiful view.

Unfortunately I can't spend too much time admiring the view as there is still a fair bit of work to be done. The majority of it's outside so at last we'll have a nice clean and tidy house and I'll have to take my boots off before I'm allowed in! With the temperature reaching 28ºC (yes I've watched the UK weather forecast and know it's lovely there) what better job to start than tiling the terrace in the full blaze of the sun. These are the first floor tiles I've laid unsupervised and even though I say it myself I'm pleased with the way things are going and it won't be long before we can bask in the sun on our beautifully tiled terrace.

Water, water everywhere

As I mentioned in the last blog I'd decided that it would be a good idea to ask the carpenter to fit the banister to the new staircase and on Monday last week he returned to complete the task. It wasn't long before he discovered that there were a couple of parts missing and we had a left hand instead of a right hand newel post. So it was off to the stair manufacturer in Montauban and an attempt to explain we had wrong and missing parts. It went remarkably well and, amazingly, I managed to get across what the problem was and even more amazingly there was no argument only an apology! After what Id said about the French never admitting they're wrong in my last blog it looks like I also need to apologise. The story doesn't end there however as the 'lost' parts turned out to be 'misplaced' parts.

On the night we'd been attempting to fit the staircase it rained heavily, nothing new there, and some water had come in to the ground floor of the barn. In our panic to keep things dry we'd moved everything to dry land and the newel posts had got placed in the back bedroom en-suite. It was only when I came to grout the splashback in the en-suite several days later that I discovered them. Whoops! With the posts found I was able to get the carpenter back to complete the fitting of the banister and staircase.

Finding the posts was about the only bit of good luck we had last week. In our haste to get the barn completed we'd not thought things through fully and not listened to advise proffered by P and the water coming in proved to be a costly mistake. We'd laid an external concrete floor above the internal floor level and not left anywhere for water to go. You live and learn and I'll not be making the same mistake again (that's not listening to P and building concrete floors that keep water in!) As I write this it's raining again & we're nice and dry inside. Whoopee! The work that was necessary to rectify our error involved demolishing steps that had taken over a week to lay and watching them disappear in less than an hour with the help of a JCB was a little frustrating to say the least. It hasn't been all doom & gloom as we took the opportunity to use the contractor's time to do a little landscaping and laying of gravel paths. Just need to sort out a few plants and spread some grass seeds here and there.

We've also had Stephané Regourd here fitting central heating radiators in the upstairs of the barn. With such a big area to heat the radiators were always going to be big but I didn't expect it to take two of us to lift them in to place. Just hope the walls are strong enough to hold them. Now they're in place we'll get the carpet laid and finally be able to inhabit both of the barns two floors.

All goes well with Barbara and she's obviously doing a good job of 'Country Cousining' . The people are so impressed with her that they've asked her to return for a further couple of weeks during June. Think I' m going to have forgotten what she looks like. Just seen this on YouTube and having just bought a house in Blackpool to renovate it looks like it's going to be a real home from home. Can't wait to track down the French café featured in the clip, I'm just keeping my fingers crossed they won't be using one of these to produce some fine French cuisine. Who said the French only appreciate good food?

Stairway to heaven

There I was already to blog at the weekend when we had a minor (I'm hoping it is) crisis. We'd ordered a ready-made staircase and had been all excited on Friday when the shop rang to say it was now in stock and we could collect it on Saturday. We headed off to Montauban, trailer in tow, early on Saturday morning with a shopping list of bits & pieces we required to move the barn nearer to completion. The rain abated as we loaded the staircase on to the trailer and headed home. P arrived early Sunday morning and within a couple of hours the first part of the staircase was assembled & things were looking good. It was when we came to put it in to place that we realised things weren't going according to plan (a French plan that is, that we'd been very pleased with ourselves for being able to follow). Despite having supplied a detailed plan to the shop when we'd placed the order it was obvious that no matter what juggling we did the staircase was not going to fit. Oh dear! (or similar words). There was no taking it back as the assistant had made it clear that the item couldn't be returned and the chances of convincing a Frenchman that he was wrong were zero. Those who doubt this should read chapter one, 'Thou shalt be wrong (if you’re not French) – Why every Frenchman is Monsieur Right, of Stephen Clarke's book 'Talk to the Snail'. So having worked through plans A to Y we resorted to plan Z and made contact with a local carpenter first thing on Monday. He agreed to look at our 'problem' and having taken a few sharp intakes of breath said he could get the staircase to fit and would return later in the week. Fingers crossed he's as good as his word and I'll keep you posted.

In between the trials and tribulations of converting the barn we've had a couple of important visitors. Rebecca arrived for a nice long break on Friday 10 followed by Matthew on the 15. Bit of a hairy flight for Matthew with the plane having to circle above Rodez for 40 minutes waiting for a severe storm to move away from the airport. What a lovely welcome to sunny France. It was great to have them here at the same time and we had a really good time with an excellent belated birthday meal for Matthew at the L'Oustal del Barry in Najac and an even better home cooked wild mushroom risotto on Saturday night. Obviously the good food & not so good wine did the trick and it made twisting arms to give a hand painting and moving plasterboards that much easier.

We've been able to move things along well since we got back and had we not had the staircase fiasco I think we'd now be cooking & eating in our luxury Ikea kitchen. There's one thing for certain, when Barbara gets back from the UK with her mum she won't recognise the place. She headed back to the UK on Wednesday for three weeks to do some more work with 'Country Cousins'. With her working so hard I'll have to make sure I do my bit and have all the items on my extensive to-do list crossed off and completed by the time she gets back.

UPDATE – The carpenter was as good as his word and yesterday he arrived at 8:00, took part of the stairs away to cut down to size. He returned just after lunch to fit a new step he'd made and put the staircase in place. To say I was relieved when it slotted in to place perfectly is an understatement. It looks great and although originally I wasn't going to get him to fit the bannister I think a phone call to him on Monday next week is probably a good idea. The phrase 'spoiling the ship for a hapeth of tar' springs to mind.

It's Back To The UK again.

It's been back to work with a vengeance this last two weeks and it's been a bit of a shock to the system after three months off. As I mentioned in my last posting I'd left Barbara back in the UK and headed back to Lagarrigue on Monday 23^rd March with a car & trailer full of items that are either considerably cheaper in the UK or, like Branston pickle and bath panels, difficult to source in France. The days of 'rip off Britain' certainly seem to be long gone. Prior to leaving for the UK at the end of last year we'd done some price comparison checks on the fridge, cooker & extractor fan and decided it would be cheaper to buy them in the UK, along with a trailer, and transport them back. As it turned out with the fall in value of the pound & the extremely competitive market there is in the UK for white goods we were able to buy all the items we needed for less than the fridge would have cost in France. So with all the items safely loaded on the trailer it was off to the ferry and a rendezvous with P & C on the opposite side of the English Channel. There was a moment of slight panic when security in Dover pulled me to one side and asked what I had in the trailer. It would appear there are quite a few items heading over the channel as my cargo was accepted without further comment.

We'd decided that with trailer & caravan in tow, P & C were taking their bait cabin with them, that Paris would best be avoided and so it was satnav's set for Rouen and an overnight stay. As we had the main part of our journey still ahead it was an early start, or it would have been if someone hadn't left the fridge on in the caravan. With no chance of bump starting a large 4x4 with caravan attached it fell to the satnav to locate the nearest garage. I headed off for a set of jump leads and returned in less than 10 minutes praising the wonders of satellite navigation. The convoy left the hotel 5 minutes later, coordinates set & synchronised, and headed south on the A28 toll road. All went well until the first toll plaza when the two identical satnav systems sent us off on different routes, beginning to think they're not all they are cracked up to be. The rest of the trip went well & we arrived in Najac about 18:00 and headed for the Pizzeria.

P & C are here to work on their house and all the training I had with Thierry doing our tiling came in handy as we spent the next couple of days cutting & laying floor tiles. They're now grouted and look great and well worth the effort C put in hand selecting each tile! Back at the barn and fired up with enthusiasm for tiling I finished off the last of our tiling in preparation for the return of the Regourds. They've promised to come on Friday 10^th (not a holiday here) and work on the upstairs plumbing & electrics so it's on with a little more plaster boarding in the WC & utility room. With P & C's help and more than a few thoughts of the classic Only Fools & Horses episode we also managed to fit our new chandelier and it's definitely given the room the wow factor. I'm confident that Bab's will be more than impressed when she sees it in place.

With the Regourds heading our way it was time for a visit to Ikea in Toulouse to pick up the kitchen but surprise surprise they only had one of the four units we required in stock. Disappointing but after a quick check on the internet I discovered that the items were in stock back in the UK and were £371.00 cheaper! And so it was that after only two weeks back in France I was on the road and off to experience the delights of Ikea in both Lakeside and Wembley. The plus side was that I was able to fit in an overnight stay with Matthew, have a well deserved curry in Blackheath and collect Barbara. Despite checking stock on the internet when I arrived at Lakeside, 15 minutes from Matthew's, I was told that stock on the computer didn't always match physical stock and they hadn't got one of the units and the only stock was across London at their Wembley store. Great! Three and half hours later I collected a very fed up Barbara from Dartford and headed to the tunnel only to be told our train had been cancelled and there was an hour delay. Ah well I don't suppose you can grab a bargain without any pain.

We had a great journey back to Lagarrigue and I think Barbara was happy with the work that had been done in her absence. Unfortunately the chandelier couldn't been illuminated for her arrival but it looked great and lighting it will be something to look forward to.