It's raining again and again and again...

What an experience the last couple of weeks have been and it's taught me a couple of very important lessons. Never agree to work outdoors in Le Havre, Normandy in November and, although I already knew food was important to the French, nothing else

matters. Le Havre is a mixture of rain from Manchester (although to be honest even Manchester isn't that wet), wind from Newcastle and the numerous petrochemical plants and heavy engineering of Middlesbrough. What a picture that must conjure up? There is, however, an abundance of excellent seafood and fish restaurants one of which we were lucky enough to eat at for Sunday lunch. The choice of seafood was extensive but being the ever unadventurous Brit I chose the chevre chaud salad followed by moules and frites, boring I know.The restaurant was also famous for its beer and after a couple of 'small ones' it was time to visit the little boys room. French toilets can be 'different' but this had something I'd not witnessed before, a latrine half way up the wall with silver handles on either side. Obviously the inhabitants of Le Havre were either very tall or good shots. Had I had the camera with me at the time there would have been a picture here but I suppose being caught in a mens toilet taking photographs would have been difficult to explain, 'well you see officer I write a blog that no one reads and wanted a reminder of my visit to Le Havre'. Anyway it turns out the 'toilet on the wall' is for those patrons who have had a couple too many Ricard's and want to make space for their dessert. It's either that or I'm going to wish I'd kept off the mussels.

Despite the appalling weather we managed to get the job finished and enjoyed some excellent food. I find it's always a good idea at times like this to take a retired chef with you who has worked in some of the best London restaurants and been the development chef at M & S, so 'not just any chef'. Although you would not believe the incredulous reaction there was when coq au vin was made with chicken and not cock. Everyone in Normandy was made aware of this and I'm sure I saw a piece on 'Look Normandy'. As always the hospitality has been exceptional with one exception, the house where we've been working. Despite the horrendous weather and record rainfall there wasn't one offer of coffee, something I've not experienced in France before. I've been told that the citizens of Normandy are well known for their deep pockets and short arms and the residents certainly lived up to the Normans reputation.

The trip 'up north' has also given me the opportunity to watch a bit of French telly. Hearing Homer sound like Homer but in French and CSI New York dubbed in French and renamed 'Les Experts Manhattan' mixed with Agatha Cristie's Poirot the only thing that was missing was Allo Allo.

Whilst I've been toiling away in a wet Le Havre Barbara has been enjoying herself in the North west Rivera. Much progress has been made in the painting of our house there and carpets and blinds have been fitted. From the pic's I've seen it's all looking good and I'm looking forward to seeing it in late December.

Car troubles

Having enjoyed getting out on the bike over the last few weeks I thought I'd perhaps watch for a second hand bike (hopefully Barbara won't read this) and I can't believe my luck. A couple of weeks ago we went with P & C to the annual Tractormania event in nearby Caussade. Not normally something I have a great interest in but it was a glorious day and I'll do anything to avoid gardening. Among the hundreds of ancient tractors & other rusting agricultural machinery I spotted this bargain. The owner said he'd not been out on it for a while and it had done no more than a few kilometres in the last 50 years. Think it'll be a while before it's ready for the Tour de France.

It's been a busy couple of weeks work wise as we continue to renovate a small house in a nearby hamlet ready for conversion in to a gite. I'm now an expert at mixing concrete and can offer an excellent service at competitive rates. Whilst I've been beavering away Barbara has not been idle. She's worked hard getting the garden ready for spreading grass seed (yes we know it's not the best time of year to plant) and, having picked up what we thought was a bargain in Aldi, was looking forward to getting the seed sowed. It was only when she opened the boxes of 'grass seed' that she thought she better check the English/French dictionary. Turns out our bargain engrais is in fact grass fertiliser. So if you know of anyone who's looking for 10 boxes of high quality fertiliser email me now and I'll arrange prompt delivery!

It's also been a frustrating week in the car department. The Land Rover has been in the local garage for over a month now waiting for them to prepare it for it's CT, the French MOT. Fortunately this runs for two years so we should get more than a couple of months use out of it. To be without one car is irritating but manageable but to be without both is bl***y frustrating. Last week the Focus broke down and spent 4 days in the garage waiting for parts, all €1,960.00 of them. Fortunately the fault was under warranty an Henry forked out for them. Which is just as well. Barbara was heading back to the UK on Sunday night from Toulouse and you can no doubt guess what happened. We'd travelled about 50 kms when the engine died and the car came to a stop on the hard shoulder of the A20 motorway. Oh dear!!!!! I won't bore you with the details but after making a phone call to Ford assistance and being told we'd need to get off the motorway to receive free recovery I had another go at starting the car and it worked, well at least long enough to drop Barbara off in time for her flight. On the journey back home, avoiding motorways, it cut out four times. Needless to say it's booked to go back in the garage.

Next week I'm off on a business trip, something I didn't think I'd be doing again, to Normandy. We're working on T's wife's house in Le Havre & I'll give you a full update on the next blog.

On your bike

I had thought there wasn't going to be much to blog about this week (yippee I hear you say) other than laying concrete floors and digging up old floors in 500 year old French barns but it hasn't been all work and no play. I've been lucky enough to get out on the bike recently, I say lucky but that's probably not the right word when you consider the number of hills there are around here. When you're driving round in the car they're not a problem it's when you've been out for three hours and you know that which ever way you turn it's going to be a climb to get home. It's just as well that whichever route we've taken there's always a welcoming cafe half way round. And no I haven't managed to get Barbara out on one of our 40 mile rides, I've been getting out with a chap who's spent the summer at his house in Najac but unfortunately he's now headed back to 'winter' in the UK and I'll have to motivate myself to 'get out and ride'.

The warm dry weather has continued and everyone (it's not just the British that are obsessed with the weather) has been commenting on the fact that we're still experiencing temperatures in the upper 20's in mid October and this week we had our first significant rainfall in what seems months. In fact I think the last time we had a really dismal day was back in August when we had our party! Speaking of parties we were invited to a meal at the house where T and I have been working. I've mentioned before how meals at lunch time go so you can imagine what an evening at Jo's would be like. There was the normal 7:30 start with lots of Ricard & amuse bouche, which gives me the opportunity to tell this little story. T's daughter has spent the summer working at a French restaurant in the

UK and on her first day she was given plates of appetisers to pass around to guests and told to say 'here are some nibbles' which she did and couldn't understand why everyone burst our laughing. She returned to the kitchen with the empty plates and told the chef what had happened, 'I said here are some nipples and everyone laughed at me, why?' A definite case of the English policeman in Allo Allo but in reverse. Back at Jo's fish soup was followed by two of the biggest plates of seafood I've ever seen, not the best offering for Barbara and her seafood allergy but after a quick explanation and many désolés a mushroom omelette was rustled up. With Jo playing his guitar between courses and the other guests singing along the night flew past and before we realised it was three o'clock and time to head home. Poor old Babs, no fruits de mer or wine all night.

Happy birthday

After all the partying last month I had thought that we'd have time for a little R & R in September. What I hadn't taken into account was that Barbara had a very special birthday on the 21^st. It had been a real struggle to keep our plans a secret from the birthday girl and apart from telling her we were booked on a flight from Rodez on Friday 18^th (it wasn't hard to guess we were off to London as that's the only flight from Rodez) everything else was a big surprise. I'd booked into the Travelodge in Covent Garden (no expense spared) and had arranged to meet Rebecca and Matthew at one of the hundreds of pizza restaurants in the West End. Fortunately R & M had chosen well and the birthday weekend got off to a great start especially as it was two pizzas for a tenner. Saturday morning and it was time to hit Regent Street which, despite there being a 'credit crunch', was heaving with people, most of them with bags full of purchases. I took the opportunity to don my anorak and headed for the Apple store and watched a very interesting presentation on Snow Leopard!! After a very nice lunch at Princi it was time to reveal the first major surprise of the weekend, tickets for Les Misérables. I didn't think it was going to be my sort of musical, not that it mattered as it was Barbara's birthday treat, but I thoroughly enjoyed despite Susan Boyle and found “I Dreamed A Dream” amazing live. After a quick dash back to the hotel for a wash and brush up we headed for the Oxo tower and cocktails and a

fantastic view of London. Sunday and it was off to Greenwich and the final surprise of the weekend, a visit to the planetarium at the National Maritime Museum, a great finish to a very busy weekend. There was one thing that was missing from what other was otherwise was a fantastic weekend, a pint of good old English bitter. There was certainly no sign of a pint of Boddies at the Oxo Tower, no surprise there, but at one of the pubs we visited they only had Belgian beers on offer! With over 30 brews to choose from you'd have thought they could have at least managed a pint of London Pride.

Back at Lagarrigue it was time to get the work clothes back on (not a suit and tie) and earn a few Euros. I'd been asked to help renovate a couple of barns with a friend and it looks like it'll keep us out of mischief until at least the end of the year which will do nothing for my waistline. The barns belong to Jo who, some of you may remember from previous posts, is very hospitable and insists on an aperitif before lunch and another one before we clock off for the day. Ah well taping away on a laptop creating Powerpoint presentations seems a long long time ago.

We're now the proud owners of a fully completed balcony. The carpenter arrived with the banister last week and after a couple of coats of varnish it was time to enjoy a gin and tonic in the last few days of summer sun. Makes all that crawling about in years of merde de vache worth it.

All fêted out

A month since the last blog, bet you can't believe it! The sun continued to shine throughout August and as I write this it's still beaming down which is just as well as we now have Barbara's mum and aunt staying with us. It looks like they'll be the last in a long list of visitors we've had this year and hopefully they'll enjoy a spell of hot & sunny weather.

Traditionally August is the peak month for fêtes and parties and this year was certainly no exception. As I mentioned in the last posting we had a 'little' get together and that was followed by a birthday party on the Thursday where the meal was sun dried salted cod with sea snails and langoustine, not the ideal menu for Barbara and her seafood allergy. Rebecca arrived in Rodez on Saturday afternoon and had to quickly get her party dress on as we off to a party at P & P's, our next door neighbours. I offered to drive as Barbara always ends up behind the wheel at these events and I thought if I made the offer I'd done my bit for another 12 months! We had a great time and with several guests, including Matthew, deciding that with the temperature still in the upper 20's at midnight it would be a great time for a dip, the night went swimmingly! The night markets in Najac continued with one of them culminating in an evening of Irish music and dancing in one of the local bars. We also attended the fête in Les Mazières, another late night of eating, drinking, music and dancing all for €15.00. As I mentioned Rebecca had flown out to join her brother, there's no show without punch, and they certainly had a good week and amidst all the partying she did manage to get a bit of a sun tan.

The partying continued when we headed back to the UK for the wedding of P & C's daughter in Newcastle. The day went without a hitch (apart from the obvious one) and it was great to see the wet and windy north east again. The reception was held at the Baltic and with amazing views down the Tyne it's difficult to think of a better venue. Never being ones to miss an opportunity we also gave the house we'd bought in Blackpool a first coat of paint, organised some wall tiles and I had a haircut. Not that there's anything wrong with French barbers, it's just that they are so expensive and always want to give you a rouge tint!

It's not been all partying, although it feels like it, we have had a couple of trials and tribulations at the barn. Despite not having seen any major rainfall for nearly two months and with all the local streams having dried up we were concerned to see we were still getting water in the corner of the cave and had also noticed damp patches in the earth at the side of the barn. Upon removing the manhole cover from the water main stopcock we noticed a lot of water and decided it was time to contact the local water company. Their local surveyor was here within a couple of hours and after a very quick look he decided that the water main was leaking and he'd have to get a team out to repair it. At 9:00 the day after two vans arrive with a

mini

digger in tow and the within an hour there's a great big hole in the parking area full of water (sorry no pictures as we didn't want to give the impression we were recording their work!). It turns out that when they connected our new supply the joint wasn't sealed as well as it should have been and 22,000 litres of water had been escaping, not sure whether this was in total or per day, week or hour! Anyway after wading through a metre of mud and water the leak was plugged and the cave is now as dry as bone.

Not many new pictures this blog but will try harder for the next one.

French entertainment at it's best

Sorry to disappoint you all but the move to the Mac has gone very well and the blog's back sooner that I'd anticipated. I guess you'll not be able to tell the difference, the spelling and grammar will still be as bad as ever, but it's a fantastic machine!

Well that's the last of the crepeing done and what a difference it makes. It's been a long time coming but it's been worth the wait and the outside of the barn finally looks complete. That is apart from the cave doors! The cave walls are made from concrete blocks and hanging the two heavy doors on to them proved to be a little difficult. Having tried conventional plugs and screws and epoxy resin filler without success it was time to visit the local hardware shop and seek out some advise. Attempting to explain what we needed proved a bit of a challenge and it was only when another customer grasped what we were after that things fell into place. He offered to follow us back to the house measure up what was needed and fabricate the parts that afternoon. He was as good as his word and we called at his house at 7:00 there were the parts all nicely painted and waiting for us.

Stop press; The joiner rang yesterday to say he was on his way with part of the balcony. Think it'll be a good idea to wait for the banister to be fitted before sampling a G & T on it.

Whilst I've been busy labouring away on the outside of the house Barbara and Matthew, who arrived last week, have been working hard preparing for our big thank you party on Sunday 9^th. Since moving to Lagarrigue we've enjoyed the hospitality of lots of people and when you're living on one floor of a converted barn it's difficult to reciprocate. Now with the house nearly complete it was time to say a very big thank you and a Sunday lunchtime in early August seemed to be a great time to do it, sun guaranteed! So with tables and chairs borrowed, bottles of Ricard and several bottles of wine purchased we were ready for the big day. Problem was, yes you've guessed it, the weather forecast said rain, lots of it. For once the French met' office had it right and we woke to a grey overcast sky and rain falling. Ah well good job we'd decided to keep the upstairs of the barn open plan and big enough to seat 22 people. The day went well with our French & English friends enjoying traditional British cuisine of baked beans on toast. Just kidding. The Coronation Chicken was a great talking point with the French and despite it's mild curry flavour it was very quickly devoured.

Matthew had driven down with a couple of friends and had spent a few days exploring the local villages and bars. They were blessed with great weather and on the Wednesday night were able to enjoy the delights of Najac night market and some very exciting street theatre. Watching someone juggle a baguette was, I'm sure, the highlight of their holiday.

I hate manure

I'm sure the last thing anyone in the UK wants to read about is the glorious weather we're having here in south west France. 37ºc again today with a light breeze and not a cloud in the sky, just the weather for sitting by the pool and sipping gin and tonics. We haven't got the pool so we'll just have to make do with the G & T. With so little rain over the past few weeks the ground has become as hard as stone and the landscaping that desperately needs to be done is having to wait. It sounds like a good excuse I know but getting motivated to do any strenuous jobs in this weather is a real struggle. Fitting a gutter to the cave in preparation for crepeing is about the height of my exertions recently. Just need a little rain now to see if it works. I'm also hoping for a drop in the temperature next week as pushing wheelbarrows of mortar about is not what I want to be doing in the upper 30's. Having said that there are worse things you can put in your barrow and last week Sidney rang to ask if he could have the services of a man and his trailer. 'Course you can, what do you want to move?' was, as it turned out, my far too hasty reply. 'There's some very mature horse manure going free at a local farm and I could do with a bit for my rhubarb'. Amazingly I managed to resist cracking the old 'custard on mine joke' and arranged to meet on Sunday morning on the understanding I wasn't going to start shoveling s#*t on the Sabbath and that Sidney would be able to eat his dinner off the trailer when we'd finished. As it turned out having lunch on the terrace when we'd finished was a lot more civilised even though the trailer was left spotless.

We were off back to Rodez again last week to collect Rebecca. She was over for a few days of chilling out and relaxing and hadn't thought to bring any work clothes with her! Let's hope her brother is a bit more organised as he plans to spend most of August with us and I'm sure will be more than happy to move a few rocks about. We also had a quick dash down to Toulouse to collect my aunt who has been staying with us for few days and never wanting to miss an opportunity we headed to Ikea to stock up on few essentials. I know I've said it before but you really could be anywhere in the world once you've gone beyond those blue & yellow doors.

The 'fête' season is back in full swing and we've had two good nights out recently. The local football club in Najac hosts a Bastille Day meal where for €14.00 per head you get melon & ham, veau & aligot, a Cornetto and as much wine as you can drink but if you thought that was a bargain the following week in Lunac we attended the local pétanque club meal & tucked in to 4 courses with free wine all for €5.00. You'd think by now I'd have sussed what goes on at these meals but when we'd received the invite I'd been told that there would be just a bowl of country cheese soup and bread so I made sure that when seconds of soup was offered I took a good spoonful. When the next 3 courses arrived it was real struggle to get them down but you have to do your best as it would be impolite to refuse anything. I've also managed to get a few miles in on the bike this week which is jus as well with all this eating. Had an early start along the local railway track, nice and flat, and ended up at just before 12:00 climbing what felt like the longest hill I've every ridden up in a 30c temperature. Made me think perhaps a wet & windy UK wasn't all that bad.

You'll probably be delighted to hear that this could be my last blog for a while as I'm about to cross over to the other side and take delivery of a Mac computer. Who's knows when I'll have mastered it and be able to get blogging again.