UK tour 2007

Well it's over two weeks since my last posting and we've travelled nearly 2,000 miles since leaving home on the 11th December. We had a good trip up to Calais & the circumnavigation of Paris went like a dream. The only worry was when my navigator Babs asked, as we were entering a tunnel, did I think that this was the boulevard soleil? We arrived at the ferry 2 hours early and the check in clerk was already full of Christmas spirit as she allowed us on the earlier ferry with no extra charge. Our first night back in the UK was spent at Matthew's and it was straight to the local Indian restaurant for a long awaited curry.

Wednesday we headed north to Blackpool to stay with Barbara's mum for a couple of nights and do our first bit of Christmas shopping. Barbara was well organised and had ordered the majority of this year's pressys over the internet and Father M & S had made an early delivery to Blackpool so it meant that thankfully it was only bits & pieces we needed to pick up. Next stop on our tour was Scotland where we spent a couple of nights with N & A in East Kilbride. When we arrived on the Friday night it was warmer than when we'd left Blackpool, perhaps we should keep heading north. We had a great couple of days & on Sunday afternoon we headed south again and spent the rest of Sunday & Monday with C & S in Carlisle. As usual C had been busy baking & there was as always a great selection of cakes & by the time we get back to France I think we'll be getting the diet books out. We left Carlisle on Tuesday and headed over to P & C's loaded down with a delicious looking home made Christmas cake; thanks. On Wednesday we had a trip into Newcastle during the day and called over to see B & L in the evening. Thursday it was time to return south with a car loaded down with curtains (thanks Ca) and cakes (thanks Ch) and after a quick visit to S & J's we hit the A1. All went well until we hit the rush hour traffic entering the Blackwall tunnel, it's not a journey I'd want to do everyday & made me think of those quiet French country roads. Thanks to everyone who made our UK tour so enjoyable & we look forward to seeing you all out in France in 2008.

Once back in London we started what was a bit of a busmans holiday. We'd recently completed on a small flat in Tunbridge Wells & along with Matthew set about pulling the kitchen out & fitting a new one. It's amazing how much easier it is negotiating prices in Wickes & B & Q where they speak English, although in a very strange southern accent. Saturday we had to hit the shops in Ealing for the 'last minute' presents & food shopping. What fun that was & when we asked the local green grocer for a turnip and he said he only had 'Scottish turnips' & handed us a swede I thought we were back 'up north' where everyone seems to get their turnips & swede mixed up!

Have a great Christmas & New Year and if you're heading to south west France in 2008 make sure you call in and see us.

Barn again

This last few weeks it's been a real struggle to come up with anything original to put in the blog. Working hard on the bedrooms & en-suites has meant that we've hardly ventured across the threshold and have little to report on apart from placo & plaster. On Tuesday we did hit the high spots of La Fouillade and called in to chase M. Regourd, our electrician & plumber. We were ready for them to fit the bathroom & electrical fittings and were hoping that they'd be able to get the job finished before we set off for the UK, you'd think by now we'd have realised we were being a tad optimistic. They did turn up on Thursday but only had time to fit the electrics so although we could now take a shower with the light on we were not going to be able to have a long well earned soak in the bath. There was a promise to return early next week & to have all the first fix plumbing completed for when we return in the new year. We'd also received a call from the builder we're using to open up the windows & doors in the barn to say he'd be with us Monday morning so it looks as if the site is going to be a hive of industry in our absence. Let's hope he gets the holes in the right places & we don't return to a pile of rubble!

Saturday we took time out to stock up on the Christmas essentials we promised to take back to the UK with us, namely wine, beer & duck. The wine merchant had obviously dealt with lots of Brits taking wine back to the UK & suggested we'd find it easier to pack the car if we bought the wine in boxes rather than the normal plastic kegs. He was right & we were able to get even more wine in than we planned. Next call was the supermarket where we picked up a good supply of duck breasts, confit de canard & cheese all of which are significantly cheaper here in France. With the car fully loaded all I hope now is that the car's suspension holds out for the duration of our trip.

Well here we are in December & I can't believe we've been over here in France for nearly a year. It really doesn't seem that long ago that I left Antalis and joined the massed ranks of the unemployed and then went dishing out the wine at M & S. It's been an interesting 12 months during which time we've had many ups, downs & lots of 'what the hell are we doing'. It's certainly been a steep learning curve & we've learnt a lot (apart from the French language) but there is still so much more for us to learn. We're looking forward to seeing all our friends back in the UK and are both quite excited about the next few weeks & no doubt by the time we arrive at Rebecca & Alan's on Christmas Eve we'll have put back on all the pounds we've lost through months of hard labour. I hope to be able to update the blog between now & when we return in early January so watch out for the update emails.

A bedroom at last

Another week of fitting plasterboards, plastering & at long last painting. There's still the second bedroom en-suite & small bedroom to finish boarding but with visitors expected on Sunday it was out with the tin of varnish & tubs of paint. While P & I continued boarding Barbara had worked extremely hard to meet the self imposed completion deadline of 28th & had she worked until midnight on Wednesday we'd have made the deadline. As it was we were only a day late (wish the roofer had been the same) & the first lick of paint was applied on Wednesday and early Thursday it was on with the second and the first of 2 coats of varnish to the bedroom floor. Barbara was up early on Friday morning brush in hand applying the second coat to the floor & then standing guard outside the bedroom door to make sure we didn't stray on to the wet floor. There are still one or two finishing touches required, the main one being an electricity supply, but after spending Saturday afternoon moving beds & furniture about we were at long last able to spend our first night in our very own bedroom. Whoopee! Having lived in one room for the last six months it seemed strange climbing the stairs to go to bed & having a living area without a double bed in the middle of it.

After a week of hard labour it was time for a rare treat & on Saturday night we booked a table with P & C at the local tearooms that do themed dining evenings once a month. Those of you who have read the blog since the beginning will remember we'd attended a Burns night when we first arrived here. This time it was an Italian themed meal with fruits de mer (not very Italian I thought) lasagne & tiramisu. I did ask for a bottle of Chianti but as is normal there was a wide range of wines available, as long as it was French!

Sunday morning we managed a bit of lie in. We'd only just got up when a car pulled in and 2 pompiers (firemen) got out. 'Quick turn the fire down' Barbara said 'it must be causing too much smoke and they think it's on fire'. She shouldn't have worried because they were selling a calendar & after a donation for the local fire & ambulance station. It was a great mountain biking morning, not too cold, a little damp & lots of mud about & I managed to do a few kilometres. I'd not been out long when I came round a bend & was met by a man out walking his dog & two goats. The goats & man were quite friendly but the dog would have got a lovely kick had the owner not managed to catch it & put it on a lead. Back at the house it was a quick tidy up as we were expecting visitors from the UK. Peter, an ex colleague & skiing buddy, and his wife Angie were on their way to Spain and were staying with us over night. We had been a little concerned that they'd find our 'facilities' a little basic but as it turned out we needn't have worried as they'd spent Saturday night sleeping in their van in a French motorway services! It hadn't been one of Peter's better ideas and one I think he will be reminded of on numerous occasions in the future. After a quick tour of Najac we called into to see P & C and finished off a relaxing day with a lovely meal cooked by yours truly.

B & Q, Varnish & Bl***y Placo

Monday morning and it was off the VDR to track down the cheapest place for a trailer full of placo. I headed for the builders merchants we'd used for the insulation as they were the new boys in town & were keen to establish themselves so hopefully they'd be open to doing a deal. The same man we'd spoken to last time was behind the desk & I was welcomed with 'Bonjour M. Hill, sa va, café?' After making me an espresso & getting the croissants out he asked if this was the sort of service that I'd have got at B & Q? I gave him my shopping list and after a few minutes on the computer he came up with a very competitive price and the deal was done. So it was back to Lagarrigue and on with a week of placoing and plastering, it really is becoming a little boring and very difficult to come up with anything interesting to put in the blog. I could bore you, even more than normal, with all the different plasters we've looked at; ready mixed, quick drying, extra sticky... the list could go on and on but I won't for a change. With P here we've made really great progress and without his help getting some of those 1,200 x 2,400 plasterboards in place would have been a real challenge.

As I mentioned last week P is here to work on their new house & on Tuesday 13 window & 3 French doors were delivered all in need of a few coats of wood preserver & varnish. Wednesday it was brushes at the ready and on with the first coat. Thursday morning we finished the second coat of wood preserver on P & C' windows & it was time to hit the high spots of VDR. We needed to pick up some more plaster and the vital supplies of food & wine. The builders merchant couldn't help but comment on the performance of the English football team the night before & in all honesty it was very difficult to find a witty response. Once we picked up more plaster it was off to the wine merchants for the other essential. It's become a bit of a concern to Barbara that the wine merchant now says 'Ah bonjour Monsieur, Cotes de Tarn?' It still comes as a pleasant surprise that you can buy 5 litres of a half palatable red wine for €8.00. We're heading back to the UK for Christmas & New Year & you can be sure we'll be taking one or two litres of Cotes de Tarn with us & the good news is that they've now got 10 litres containers available!

Anyway I must go...more joints to be plastered and I've a lot to do if I'm to catch up with Barbara.

More Placo & The First Fix

After spending Monday morning plaster boarding we headed up to Limogues to collect Paul from the airport. On our way there we were once again reminded how strong and dominant the English language is. Why would a French haulage company have a tag line 'The King Of The Road'? Paul was over to start work on painting the doors & windows for their new house and hopefully between brush strokes he'd have time to give us a expert hand fitting out the chambres & en-suites. On Monday evening we'd received a phone call from the charpentier who was making the dormer windows for us to say they were ready and he would come and fit them on Wednesday afternoon. With the Regourds also due on Wednesday it seemed that at long last everything was coming together. True to their word the Regourds arrived at 8:00 and by 11:30 the first fix was complete and my plans for an easy day pottering about chopping logs for the stove was in tatters. Leaving us to it Stephané said he hoped they'd be able to return towards the end of next week and make a start on fitting the bathrooms. M. Pereira, the charpentier, arrived as promised at 2:00 & set to fitting the windows. They look great & the roof is finally weatherproof & complete.

So it was another full week of plaster boarding and finally we're within sight of sleeping in our own bedroom for the first time in over 12 months. Barbara has issued an ultimatum that come hell or high water skirting boards will be fitted & walls painted by Wednesday 28th November & I for one am not going to disagree with her! With P's help we've made really great progress and the concerns we had about how to fit plasterboards round the windows melted away once P set to with the saw and Stanley knife. While P & I were fitting the boards Barbara made real headway tapping the joints and applying the several layers of plaster necessary to finish the job.

The weather has turned really cold and every day this week we've woken to a hard frost with temperatures down to -5ºC. On Saturday P & I had a day off and headed over to Albi & although there wasn't a cloud in the sky the temperature never got above 1ºC. Although Barbara denied it I have a sneaking suspicion that she was quite happy to see the back of me for the day & enjoyed plastering the joints (perhaps that's stretching it a bit). Sunday morning we usually allow ourselves a bit of a lie in but this week we were woken bright & early by the sound of gunfire. The local hunt was at the bottom of our field in hot pursuit of some poor creature. I didn't manage to see what they were after but with the massed guns of La Fouillade after them I don't think it had much of a chance. Hunting is big in rural France but doesn't involve wearing a red coat and riding a horse, here it's fluorescent base ball caps, camouflage jackets & trousers & I'm sure everything they manage to shoot ends up on the dinner table.

Placo, Placo, Placo.

Well there was a distinct lack of fireworks here on Monday. Don't know why but the French don't seem to make much fuss about Guy Fawkes. They are catching on to the Halloween craze and there were plenty of witch related goodies in the shops although I'm delighted to say we didn't have any trick or treats. We've been greeted this week with some really keen frosts followed by some sunny & bright autumnal mornings. It's a shame we've not been able to get out & enjoy them!

It's been another week of fitting placo and adjusting the metal framework we installed last week. Despite working out all the corners & angles there always appears to be one plasterboard that needs an extra bit of support, fortunately the self-tapping screws make minor adjustments easy. We've been back & forth to the builders merchants for the different types of placo we need, vapour-proof vert for the en-suites, fireproof rouge for round the chimney & plain old buff for the rest of the walls. Using the trailer and backing it into the barn has made life a little easier, it's just a pity there's no easy way to get the plasterboards up the stairs. M. Regourd, our electrician & plumber, had called last week to say he'd be with us on Friday to start the first fix for the bedrooms & en-suites. Not wanting to get in his way I made a start on fitting the insulation to the ceiling of the cellar & by the time M. Regourd arrived at 11:30 (on his way home for lunch no doubt) I'd finished. With an armful of conduit & a crayon he was full of apologies. An emergency had arisen and he now only had time to mark out where we wanted the sockets, lights & switches but promised to return next Wednesday with the bathroom fittings that he'd had in store for us since early May. I think the thought of being able to have a relaxing bath at long last made Barbara feel quite excited.

Friday afternoon we headed into VDR for some vital supplies, food & wine, and whilst wandering round the supermarket we bumped into a lady we'd met a couple of times earlier in the year. She'd moved to France a couple of years ago with her husband and three children. When last we'd spoken to her they'd been waiting for the roofer to turn up, sounds familiar. Turns out he fitted the new roof and then gone bust and as they now had more leaks than before he'd done the work she was feeling pretty low. Added to this the fact that the French authorities are no longer renewing Carte Vitales to foreigners she was feeling pretty down. She was off for an interview as a cleaner, a big change as she'd been a senior manager for Vodafone back in the UK, & hoped that this would solve the health care problem. Having sold up lock, stock & barrel in the UK and as she obviously loves the life here it would not be easy to return to England.

Short one again, hopefully there'll be something more interesting to report on next week.

Tin Snips & All Saints Day

After having had Matthew here for a few days & then Jane & Derek this week has seamed a little flat & very quiet. Jane & Derek headed for Paris early Monday morning, it was great to see them & we had a nice relaxing few days showing them the high spots of L'Aveyron. When they'd gone it was back to work.

This week we finished off the insulation & started in earnest building the bedrooms. The metal system that's used widely here makes life a lot easier when it comes to building the partition walls. With a tape measure, a decent pair of tin snips, lots & lots of self tapping screws, an electric screwdriver & a plumb line the rooms have come together well & we can now see two bedrooms, an en-suite bathroom & landing. Fitting the doors is also relatively easy as the door & frame come as one complete unit with hinges and locks already fitted. I just hope the plasterboard goes on as easily which, with Barbara being all of 5 foot tall, might be a little optimistic. By Thursday lunchtime we were ready for a trip to the local builders merchants to collect some more materials. It's only three kilometres away which is just as well because half way there we remembered that it was All Saints Day, a French public holiday. So it was back to the house & on with a couple of other jobs. To get to Lagarrigue you pass through a small 'Aire de Combe', a picnic area, and despite it being the 1st of November it was a fairly warm day and people were making the most of the holiday and it was quite busy. As with everything food related the French always like to do things in style, not for them a pack of sandwiches from M & S, out comes the selection of cheeses, meats, a fresh baguette & of course, a bottle of wine. I guess they'll be OK today, the gendarmes will also be on holiday.

On Saturday we helped G & S move their remaining bits & pieces out of their house in Najac. The Lightweight came into it's own & with trailer in tow we looked just like Steptoe & Son without Hercules. I guess if Gilly reads this she won't speak to me again, as the items we moved could not in anyway be described as junk!

Well that's it this week, bit short I know, but not much more to report.

Wild Boar, 'Le Segalar' & Albi

After just over 4 weeks the roof is finished and looks fantastic. Monday & Tuesday were spent putting the gutters up, fitting zinc flashing to the lucarnes, pointing the chimney & packing all their equipment away. At last we have our new roof & we can finally get on with building the bedrooms & bathrooms and look forward to living in more than one big room. On occasions it seams like years rather than just 12 months since we moved out of the house in Holcombe Brook we really are ready to get back to some sense of normal living & we'll be working hard to get things finished very quickly now.

Having said that we've been doing a little entertaining this week with Matthew with us until Wednesday and Jane & Derek, Barbara's sister & her husband, with us from Thursday. On Tuesday we decided to take Matthew to see the beauty that is Cordes, mentioned here several times. It wasn't quite as cold as the last time we were there with Sue & Jack but at least then we were able to pop into a couple of shops in search of a little warmth. This time Cordes was shut! We walked up to the main part of the village hoping that at least one of the shops would be open and that we'd be able to spend some time 'browsing' for things we had no intention of buying but it wasn't to be. We thought we'd hit the jackpot when we spied one of the dozens of cafés actually open and popped in for a coffee. It turned out that the café owner was the only one winning anything today - €3.00 for a coffee! Having spent such an excessive amount on coffees it was time to search out a reasonably priced lunch. Gilly had told us about a restaurant in Mihars and as it was on the way back from Cordes it seemed the ideal venue for a spot of lunch & what a great place it turned out to be. I had a slice of pizza to start followed by 2 eggs & ham then chicken & chips, cheese & a dessert. This was all washed down with a choice of wine & all for €11.00. The decoration & external appearance might not have been the best but we had such a good meal we returned on Friday with Jane & Derek. Matthew timed his visit well & earned his keep helping us to tidy up & make several trips to the tip. His reward was to take the Lightweight for a spin. Barbara took him back to Rodez on Wednesday while I worked on the loft space.

Thursday brought some more visitors. Jane & Derek arrived a day earlier than planned having made excellent progress on the French motorways. No 6 mile tailbacks on roads here, especially the ones you have to pay to use. As I mentioned earlier, on Friday we headed for the 'Le Segalar' and enjoyed yet another excellent VFM lunch. How do French tradesman manage to return to work in the afternoon having had a five course lunch with wine? Saturday it was off to Albi, home of the Toulouse-Lautrec museum and a really great market. We had a good wander around and picked up some really fresh mussels for supper & what turned out to be some very tasty agneau. For Sunday dinner & in-between mowing the lawn Derek prepared us an excellent Lancashire hotpot; he's definitely going to get a return visit invite. Sunday & it was another trip to the market at St Antonin-Noble-Val. Derek treated himself to a very expensive pullover (it was very cold) and we all enjoyed browsing the stalls looking for fresh vegetables for the hotpot. On the way back to Lagarrigue we had an narrow escape as a heard of wild boar crossed the road in front of us. They'd obviously heard about the wild boar & walnut saucisse we'd picked up at the market last week and didn't plan being on the menu any time soon.

St Antonin-Noble-Val, Blackpool & The Lake District

Despite what I said back in early September about the splitting of our water & electricity supply we've had a response from the water company. I said back then that the state owned water & electric companies don't like anything slightly unusual but I've since found out that the water company is now privately owned & action things far speedier & charge a lot more than they used to. We called into see M. Coletti, the local architect, with the documents we'd received & he was good enough to help us complete the numerous forms all in duplicate. Back in a previous life I had sold a product called 'Idem' and it was only today when M. Coletti was completing the forms for us that I found out that it meant 'same as' or 'ditto' in French. I suppose all my old colleagues already knew this & I was the only un-educated one out there. M. Coletti also mentioned that he was still waiting for a response from EDF to an application he'd made for a new electricity supply back in June! It was a glorious day and as we needed to call into Najac to pick up the obligatory baguette for lunch we couldn't resist popping in for a coffee. Since the end of the holiday season the centre of the village has been very quiet but today we were struggling to get parked. The local farmers were in town & had brought their apple harvest for crushing into juice. A press had been set up connected to a bottling machine and juice was being produced & bottled in the village square. The fresh juice was delicious and judging by how much people were buying they were stocking up for the next 12 months. Being very adventurous we bought 2 bottles.

We're nearly there with the roof & it should be finished by Monday 22nd, 4 weeks to the day since M. Huguenot finally turned up. For the last few days one of his men has been tidying up and, apart from the mess the Manitou has made to the drive & the road, things are looking much better. He's very chatty & on several occasions it's been difficult to get on with things. He speaks English, Spanish, French and his native African language & says English is his favourite one as it's so easy to learn. We had planned to use a local discount DIY store to buy the windows for the 4 lucarnes but now that the openings are finished the sizes don't quite correspond to the stock sizes available. M. Huguenot said the carpenter he used would be able to manufacture windows to fit & arranged for him to call in a measure up. He called round on Friday afternoon and said that he could make the windows in about 15 days & would drop a devis in over the weekend. He wanted to know where in the UK we were from as he'd visited Blackpool & Fleetwood on an exchange visit when he was at school & that they'd had a day trip to The Lake District and it was very beautiful.

We've spent most of the week fitting the insulation & batons in the roof space to attach the plasterboards to and it was also time to use the metalwork again that we'd formed the downstairs WC out of. We had very few crossed words considering the difficulties we had locating the joists under the insulation and it really is time I invested in a cordless drill that doesn't need to be put on charge after every three screws. By Friday we only had a couple more levels of batons to fit & with Matthew visiting us next week there's a distinct chance that he will be press-ganged into giving a little help getting some plasterboards up the stairs & in place.

Saturday it was off to Rodez to collect Matthew from the airport in time to return to Najac for the Rugby World Cup Final. Surprisingly there were not quite so many people in the bar this week but despite the result a good night was had. The last time we visited the market at St Antonin-Noble-Val it was when Rebecca was with us in August & it was that busy you'd couldn't move. This Sunday it was so much quieter and it was very relaxing being able to wander un-hurried around the stalls and select some really tasty wild boar & walnut saucisse. Took the Lightweight on a little off-road adventure on Sunday and snapped this shot from the bottom of the field. Next week we'll see what it looks like without the Manitou & hopefully the same beautiful blue sky.

Allez Angleterre

England 14 France 9 – What a great result & what a fantastic night we had at the local bar watching Jonny & the boys achieve a hard and unbelievable win and really glad I invested €20.00 in that England rugby teeshirt. There were about 10 English supporters & the atmosphere was fantastic with both country's supporters standing and singing their respective national anthems very loudly (the French national anthem is a real sing along 'tune' isn't it?). At half time the home supporters were very bullish and there was quite a bit of banter going on. Second half things obviously get better for us & there was quite a bit of 'merde' flying at good old Jonny. At the end we were given a big cheer by the locals and asked if we were now going to buy all our French comrades a drink? Wish I'd had a tenner on England to get to the finals, someone said they were offering 25-1 at the beginning of the tournament. Oh and we had a celebrity supporter, Boris Johnson popped in to the bar to support the team. He was in the area filming a documentary on Catharism for the BBC which will be broadcast in May next year. It's not a bad job is it? Wandering round France being paid by the BBC having just finished 10 weeks holiday. Wonder what his constituents back in Henley would think? Work on the roof continues a pace with only a couple of wet days last week and a promise that they'll be finished by next Friday. On the night it rained, and it really bounced down we were woken by the drip drip of water on the tarpaulin we'd placed on the upstairs floor. It was a quick dash round with buckets & pans to stem the flood. The good news was that it was the part of the roof that had not had the new lauzes fitted that was leaking. The rest was perfectly dry. Once again I had to ask them to move the planks from above the satellite dish and was greeted with a smile & Gallic shrug & why are you bothered? Can't wait to see them tomorrow!

We'd popped over to Thierry Roussel's on Friday to collect some scaffolding so that I could secure the insulation to the top of the rafters and when we got back there was a bit of a commotion going on back at the house. One of the roofers had caught a couleuvre and was trying to kill it with a gutter support while the other one was running round terrified of it. He eventually managed to skewer it & was disappointed he hadn't managed to remove it's head, the only sure way to kill it instantly. As you know I'm no fan of the creatures so when they said they'd finished for the day & that I should leave it a couple of hours for the snake to die before I attempted to move it I was not impressed. It was difficult to concentrate on fitting the insulation and by 5:00 I plucked up the courage & donned some gloves, picked up the fire tongues & headed for the cellar where I hoped the snake had gone to meet his maker. It was still alive and getting pretty angry! Although I'm no great animal lover I'm not happy seeing any creature in distress and decided that drastic action was called for if the snake wasn't to suffer any longer. So it was out with the long handled spade & after a few well aimed blows to it's head it stopped moving once & for all. Let's hope that put it out of it's misery had earned me a few brownie points in the snake world & they stay well away from me in future.

Took the Lightweight out for it's first mission on Saturday and collected some timber from VDR. It performed well & the trailer was still firmly attached when we got home. It's not the fastest vehicle on the road but we get lots of looks and waves off fellow Land Rover owners. It's also strange driving a vehicle with a steering wheel on the left and carrying French registration plates, there's no longer that extra bit of leeway given by the locals to UK registered cars.

The London, 'Shibboleth' & curry

Work continues a pace on the roof with the first lauzes being put in place a week ago Monday just as Barbara headed off to Toulouse for her flight back to the UK. They look really good & I'm sure we'll both be looking forward to seeing how much progress has been made by the time we return next Monday. Talking to the roofer he says that within 10 years there will be no more lauzes to lay as the only way of getting hold of them these days is by locating old derelict properties & demolishing them which is a real shame as it will mean a long standing trade will be lost. With still no sign of scaffolding & plenty of use of the Manitou our lovely new drive has taken a real hammering. Thank goodness the rain has stayed away and we're not looking at a return to the mud bath we had earlier in the year.

I had hoped to get the trailer up & running last week but the UK dealer sent the wrong part so I was unable to take it on it's inaugural trip to the tip. I'd offered to take next doors rubbish as well & wish I had. They'd called in to the tip after a long days painting & said to the man who tells you where to put your rubbish that they were ready for a relaxing beer. 'Come with me' he says and takes them to his office where he gets three chilled beers from his fridge! What service?

I headed back to the UK on Wednesday to meet up with Barbara & visit Rebecca & Matthew for a few days R & R in that lovely, quiet, secluded, village called London. We had a great weekend visiting Borough Market, the door used in the Bridget Jones films, Chiswick, Tate Modern where we were a couple of days early to see the 'crack' (click this link to see 'Shibboleth') but people spotted Richard Curtis, Kevin McNally & Neil Dudgeon, & enjoyed a lovely long awaited curry. We left Rebecca's just before 9:00 on Monday and caught the Piccadilly line into London. What a complete contrast that journey was to the last few kilometres heading towards Lagarrigue.

At Last!!!!! The Roof

He's arrived!!!! It's been just short of 12 months since we gave M. Huguenot, the roofer, the go ahead & at 8:00 on Monday 24th September 2007 he finally arrived. It wasn't without some pressure that he turned up. We'd been telephoning and leaving messages & on the last three Saturdays we'd called in to his house to see if we could catch him. Last Saturday we struck lucky & caught M. Huguenot working on his van, there was no way he was going to avoid us this time. In our very best French we played the sympathy card and told him with winter approaching we really needed a new roof & that showering with snow falling was going to be no fun. It must have worked as he said he would be with us on Monday. And he was!!! The first job was to remove all the lauzes & slates. The slates would be disposed of but the lauzes have to be sorted in to different sizes by hand & one more chap sat on the floor all week using a piece of wood with nails in to size them. Next all the old timber had to be taken down & new sarkin boards fitted. There's no scaffolding used, just a Manitou, and watching the men clambering over the roof with a chain saw in one hand whilst holding on to a rope with the other puts a different spin on health & safety. They hadn't even bothered with hard hats & high viz jackets! We're having 4 chien assis or lucarnes fitted and on Friday two were in place and the roof was beginning to take shape. The only problem we'd had all week was the lack of satellite signal as some planks had been placed above the dish. With England playing on Friday night I asked if over the weekend the planks could be removed so we could watch the match. 'Of course but why bother, England are not playing very well at the moment' he replies (in French)!!!! You can imagine the mess and all the dust there's been this week but we both agree it's worth the hassle & although it would be stretching things to say it's been worth the wait we're glad M. Huguenot has finally started work.

Once again it's been a busy week on the social side with our neighbours still here, P & C here until Wednesday and S & J visiting us from the UK. They arrived on Sunday lunchtime having successfully navigated their way to our door. This was despite my directions which told them to leave the N20 at the junction signposted 'Cahors Nord'. Turns out there's no such sign and they ended up going miles out of the way, Still it was a very scenic route (sorry)! We had a good week with them visiting the market in VDR & Cordes. I've mentioned Cordes before and that it's well worth a visit. Even out of season most of the shops, galleries & restaurants remain open which is very unusual in this part of France. S & J stayed at the hotel in the middle of Najac, L'Oustal del Barry, & although the weather was mixed (on Thursday it was down to 5ºC) they were able to get this fantastic picture of the château from their bedroom. We've been here 9 months and not seen such a picturesque view. It was great to see S & J and we were sorry to bid them farewell on Saturday morning.

We've been getting things in place ready for building the bedrooms & on Tuesday we headed off to VDR to source insulation and timber for when the roof is finished. We trailed round the normal list of builders merchants to get the best price and ended back at the company we used for the Perlibeton. They're new to the area and are obviously trying hard to establish themselves and offered the best price, after some arm twisting, and free delivery. Having spent 30 years having customers screw you down on price & delivery it makes a pleasant change to have the boot on the other foot. Delivery was arranged for Friday PM & this time all the items we ordered arrived so we're now ready to start work on the bedrooms. I also had to obtain a couple of parts for the Lightweight so I could fit a normal tow bar to it. After trawling the net I found the items at a dealers in the UK & was pleasantly surprised at the cost of delivery, just £5.00 to get an item weighing over 10 kgs here. It arrived in two days, what great service.

Next week we're off back to the UK. Barbara is heading up to her mums for a couple of days & I'm following on Wednesday & meeting her in London when we'll spend a few days with Rebecca & Matthew. We're both really looking forward to the trip & I just hope M. Huguenot doesn't take advantage of our absence.

Lightweight, Lightening & Hangers

It's all happened this week & we're now the proud owners of 3647 PF 12, a Land Rover Lightweight. After waiting for what seems an eternity I finally got to test drive the car on Tuesday. All went well & the owner agreed to throw in a spare set of tyres, assorted parts & several French Land Rover magazines which, if I could read French, would I'm sure be very useful. As you would expect it's not just a case of sending the vehicle registration document off to the French equivalent of Swansea here you have to visit the prefecture and produce the documents listed in last weeks blog. We did this on Thursday the horror stories we've heard & read about French bureaucracy we were in & out in 10 minutes fully registered & €145.00 worse off. There's no annual road fund fee in France as you pay a one of fee, calculated on the car's horsepower & age, at the time you register the vehicle. With the carte gris in place all we needed to sort out was the insurance but as it was 11:55 it would have to wait until Friday. Back at the house on checking the post we found the documents had arrived for the trailer & that we'd need to return to the prefecture tomorrow! Sorting the insurance out went well until we mentioned that we wanted to tow a trailer. If it has a gross weight in excess of 750kgs it needs to be declared on the insurance documents & an additional fee paid. Ah well it has to be done & at least there's no charge or limit on the number of drivers that can drive the car. The Lightweight is going to be a great workhorse and will mean that we'll be able to collect most of the materials we need to move the project on.

Thierry Roussel was as usual indispensable during the negotiations for the car & when we called to arrange the test drive we were welcomed with a smile & taken to see his newly erected hanger. It was the one he'd removed for us & had finally got round to putting it up. As far as these things can, it looked great & he was all ready to fill it with straw for the winter.

We've been trying to move things along with the barn & this week we spoke to the architect to ask his advise on splitting the electric & water supply between the two properties. He offered to write a couple of letters for us & forward them to the appropriate suppliers. We've been told that asking the state owned water & electric companies for anything that's a little different, & splitting the supplies is viewed as 'different', can take some time. We'll keep you informed on the progress. On the building, well demolishing front, I've been swinging the sledge hammer this week & have managed to knock down all the stalls on the ground floor of the barn. It was hard work & I think we'll be dropping in at the tool hire centre next week to see how much they'll charge for a drill & compressor. On Monday builder Thierry turned up to collect his scaffolding. As we were unloading his trailer the heavens opened and we were caught in the middle of yet another spectacular thunderstorm. Unloading metal scaffolding on to a metal trailer didn't seem like a good idea to me but when I suggested we take a break and wait for the storm to pass Thierry gave a typical Gallic shrug & told me to get on with the job. After, we were rewarded with 3 very large Ricard's and I was grateful that Barbara turned up to carry, sorry drive, me home.

Socially it's also been a busy week. Our neighbours arrived on Tuesday to spend two weeks working on their house and as Ikea haven't as yet delivered their kitchen we invited them in for something to eat. They've a lot of painting to do but with the sun continuing to shine it looks like they'll be able to make good progress. P & C are also here with C's mum & husband & G & S have friends visiting and we were invited round for supper on Thursday. On Friday it was Barbara's birthday & we had an easy day, apart from the visit to the prefecture, and visited the shops in VDR & had the obligatory coffee in one of the bars. The cafés & bars are all busy about 3:30 PM as the local students meet for an after college coffee or un citron pressé. They all seem so polite & always greet their friends with either a handshake or three kisses on the cheek depending the norm in L'Averyon. Some things must be the same the world over as this week we've been plagued by telesales calls trying to sell us double glazing & plumbing insurance but as soon as they realise we're English there interest disappears & they hang up. At least we don't have to be rude to get rid of them.

Vache, Occitin & Gaillac

The vache are back and after M. Guilbert & friend had finished setting up the electric fence to keep them in we were invited in for a coffee. We've always struggled to understand M. Guilbert & listening him talk to his friend we really thought we'll never master the language. Mme. Guilbert explained that her husband & his friend were talking patois so it's no wonder we couldn't understand a word they were saying. Many of the road-side signs announcing the name of a village are written in Occitin & amongst many older residents is in common use and makes life very difficult for those of us struggling to learn French. As if it wasn't hard enough trying to concentrate on the conversation we were offered a sample of the local home-made liquor to go with our coffees. We couldn't quite work out what it was & given that it was only 11:30 in the morning & I had to climb back up the scaffolding we declined the offer. As always we're made very welcome and thanked for letting them graze their cows on our land. We try to explain that they are doing us the favour and that we're very appreciative. I think we managed to get our message across & as we walk home we reflect once again on how friendly & generous people have been in the area to us in the last 8 months.

When we drove down here at the beginning of January all our prize possessions were either in the back of one of the cars or on the trailer we'd purchased before leaving the UK. Since we'd sold the Merc the trailer had been sitting collecting dust but as there's a slim chance that we might be seeing the Lightweight on the road in the near future I decided it was time to get it ready for the road. We'd called at the garage on Saturday & was told the Land Rover had been repaired & the owner had collected it on Friday. We knew Thierry was away on holiday until Sunday night & as he was our only line of communication with M. Pousson I was hopeful of a phone call on Monday morning to arrange the long awaited test drive. Let's hope he's not changed his mind & decided not to sell. Anyway back to the trailer. The rules are different here in France and trailers with a gross weight in excess of 750kgs have to have a carte gris & their own registration number. Thanks to the internet and the numerous forums out there in cyberspace I was able to find out the information required to import and register a trailer in France. It involved getting a CT, the equivalent of an MOT, a certificate of conformity, proof that we're resident in France & a visit to the prefecture to register it. We didn't have the certificate of conformity so after a quick phone call to the trailer manufacturer back in the UK I was given the telephone number of their French office & told to speak to Corrine who would sort out the registration for us. So after speaking to her & forwarding a cheque for €100 we await the arrival of the relevant documentation.

We've finally finished the barn floor! It's been really frustrating having to chase the supplier for the completion of our order. We needed only 3 bags of Perlibeton to complete the job so on Monday headed off to VDR to place yet another order but had to wait until Wednesday before we could collect it. It wasn't a completely wasted day as the 'Foire Expo' was on. This was very similar to an English county show with exhibitions & trade stands covering everything from tractors to fridges. It was quite interesting & we were able to pick up information on escaliers & geothermal heating, something we are considering using to heat the barn with. As usual at these types of events there were several car dealers there & it was with great personal restraint that I managed not to buy the Range Rover Sport that was on display at the bargain price of €68,900.00. I'm sure it wouldn't have been as practical as the Lightweight! Thursday it was straight on with mixing the final batches & laying the last few metres of leger béton & we had a real sense of achievement having finished laying our first concrete floor. Now it was time to move all the tools & bits & pieces from the ground floor of the barn to the newly laid floor & commence work on another new floor. I'd mentioned last week about the openings in the barn & how by reducing the number of openings we were keeping the costs within our budget. On Friday it looked like we could have made even more savings. Thierry, the builder who had done the pointing for us, was working on his property next door & had called across for a coffee in the morning & we'd discussed the work we'd planned to do on the barn. He returned in the afternoon having talked to a friend & said that with my help he would now be able to do the openings. I'd asked him previously if he would be interested in doing the work for us but he'd said it was too big a job for him. It's typical of how helpful he is that he'd gone out & found a colleague who could help us do the job together. Unfortunately I had to tell him that we'd already signed a devis & given the go ahead to another builder. Frustrating as Thierry could have started the first week in October & would, I'm sure, have been cheaper.

On Saturday we headed over to Gaillac having been told there's a Brico Depot there. It's similar to B & Q and always worth a look round as they have some good offers on tools & building materials. It doesn't seem that long ago that we'd have been spending Saturday afternoon wandering round Selfridge's or Kendals in Manchester. How things have changed. Gaillac is the centre of local wine production and I was surprised just how many vineyards we passed on our way there. Wine growers still use traditional grape varieties such as Ondenc, Len de l'el and Mauzac in white, Fer, Duras and Braucol in red. They also use typical grapes from Bordeaux such as Cabernet, Merlot and Sauvignon, and from the south such as Syrah and Muscadelle. Red wines are rustic, white wines dry and aromatic, sparkling wines are fruity & rosé wines are light and easy to drink (M & S wine advisor training coming out there)so we'll definitely be heading back that way and calling in to one of the many vineyards selling wine direct to the public.

Aurillac & Steres

Two big deliveries this week. Another 33 bags of the dreaded Perlibeton and 9 steres of wood. Yes a delivery of winter fuel just as the weather has started to pick up. We've had some beautiful bright mornings with a mist hanging in L'Averyon Gorge which by lunchtime has disappeared & it's been a very comfortable 27ºC. Wood for heating is measured and sold in steres and equates to approximately one cubic metre and costs €50.00. We'd ordered it from Thierry in Najac and when he turned up on Thursday we were a bit concerned as to where we were going to put what appeared to be most of Kielder forest. After stacking the 9 steres, or 1 corde, I certainly hope they'll be sufficient to see us through the long hard winter here in south west France. I'm sure Barbara does as well, grabbing one little mouse in the middle of a few twigs and hearing it squeak was more than enough of a close encounter to the local wildlife for her.

When Thierry was here delivering the wood we took the opportunity to show him the papers we'd found in the barn. He struggled to read the old form of French but managed to decipher that one of the documents was an agreement between two people to lease some land & buildings for the sum of 2 francs & 2 vache. The notaire who witnessed the agreement was paid a fee of 2 centimes. Could do with finding him! I also spoke to Thierry about the Lightweight and he said that he'd called at the garage last week & been told the same story as I was that the wrong part had been delivered. He also suggested that it might be worth looking for an alternative vehicle and mentioned a Land Rover specialist in Aurillac so Saturday we took the day off and headed north in to the Department of Cantal. It's about 120 kms away & took us just over two hours to get there and when we arrived on the outskirts of the town it was quite a bit larger than I thought it would be. We had the name of the garage but no address so panic was now setting in, how were we going to find the garage? I suppose I should have thought about that earlier but we all do these things don't we? As luck would have it I spot an old Land Rover Defender parked up outside a café and thinking the owner may be inside and know where the garage is, we pull over and head inside. Despite there only being a couple of customers know one admits to owning the vehicle and we're about to leave when the waitress comes out with someone's order. In my best French and as usual with a lot of help from Barbara I ask if she knows where the company written on our piece of paper is. 'You are English? I speak English if that helps' she says. She doesn't know the company but heads off to get the pages jaunes. By amazing coincidence the garage is only round the corner and having given us directions we compliment her on her excellent English. 'Thank you, I lived in Salford for 6 years' she replies. Isn't it a small world?

Five minutes later we're looking at very expensive Land Rovers thinking that perhaps the old Lightweight isn't such a bad bargain we just need to get it repaired and ready for the road. Not wanting the day to be a complete waste of time we head off to the centre ville and have a look at the shops & round the market (there's always one). Unlike many British towns there is still a wide range of independent shops in French towns. In Aurillac there seemed to be lots of shops selling umbrellas and it was only when I looked on Wikipedia that I found out why; it's the umbrella capital of France which should also tell you something about the weather round here. One thing for sure there are no M & S's but there are numerous restaurants all serving lunch. We choose one where the plat du jour was pavé du boeuf (think that's spelt correctly), sautéed potatoes & stuffed tomatoes. It was delicious and with a glass of rosé wine, a sweet & coffee to finish off with you really can't complain when the bill comes to €24.00.

I mentioned the Perlibeton at the beginning of this weeks blog and along with more hacking out and scaffold building the laying of the concrete floor has continued. It's been really frustrating having to wait for deliveries and we'd certainly have had the floor finished ages ago if materials had arrived when they were promised. By Friday afternoon we've run out again, this time it's my estimating, and we speed off to VDR to see if we can collect some more Perlibeton. We can only manage to find a further 3 bags before we run out of time and by Sunday lunchtime these have been laid and I'm stuck for bobbins again. Monday it'll be a phone call to a couple of builders merchants to see if they have stock. After much deliberation & debate we gave the go ahead this week to the builder who had quoted us for putting windows in the barn. By omitting another opening we've managed to get the cost within our budget and with a large patio window hopefully we'll have enough light in the living area.

Our home produce is coming on a treat and Barbara has great plans for this years harvest. Orders for chateauneuf du Hill are now being taken. It'll be a crisp light white with hints of lemons & peach & silky smooth after taste. Had a good night last Sunday with G & S at the local creperie. As I mentioned last week it's the end of the season and this was the last night the creperie was open this year so it was quite busy & the band were performing at their best. If I could work out how I upload a recording I did you could listen to the jazz duet but as I haven't figured out how I do it you'll have to get it from La iTunes.

The Rossignols & weather

No bank holiday for us this week so on Monday we headed off to the builders merchant to order some more stirling boards & to make sure the delivery of Perlibeton would definitely be with us on Thursday. We're told not to worry and that everything is in place for delivery on Thursday afternoon. It better had be as we're both really keen to move things on having seen how well the concrete we laid last Saturday has dried. So with no floor being laid until Thursday it's time to move the scaffolding round to the end of the barn & to start hacking it out. We've been really lucky having the long term loan of the scaffold & I think a large bottle of Ricard for Thierry is called for. It's afternoon when our delivery arrives and it's short by 13 bags of Perlibeton. Once again the driver is full of apologies and says we should have the balance the middle of next week. It's really frustrating as we wanted to get the floor finished so we could move on to the next job. By the time we've used up the materials it's obvious we have under estimated the quantities and we're going to have to order some more cement, sand & Perlibeton (for those of you who are interested you can read all about this wonder material HERE). Although I say it myself I'm really pleased (or should that be delighted) with the work we've done and how level we've got the floor. Investing in a laser level was money well spent as it's made keeping the levels so easy. Get one now if you're planning on laying any new concrete floors in the near future!

In preparation for laying the floor we'd had to clear the barn out. Among the bits of wood, old farm machinery, a pair of clogs and years of dust Barbara had found some old documents. Upon closer examination it turns out that they are 'very' old and one of them is dated 1792 the year the French declared war on Austria during the French Revolution. Others are from 1816, 1877, 1881 & 1901 and all mention Lagarrigue & the name Rossignol. We really need to get someone to have a look at them as they could tell us so much about the history of the house and hamlet. Any offers?

It's well known that the British love to talk about the weather so it's not surprising that there are so many of them out here, there's so much weather for them to talk about. On Tuesday we had a beautiful start to the day with not a cloud in the sky and a temperature of about 21ºc. By lunch time the temperature had gone up to over 30 and it was very humid and cloudy. During the night there's a thunderstorm & we wake in the morning to a chilly 13ºc. The thunderstorms out out here are frequent & often spectacular. Someone had told me that the Averyon region is one of the thunderstorm hot spots of Europe. I can't find anything to substantiate this but we certainly get our fair share. As a bit of an aside I've just been reading one of the many forums on the internet for Brits living in France. I'd just seen another serpent and, given my slight aversion to them, was checking out ways to move them on. One of the correspondents said that she had many phobias & these included snakes & thunderstorms & she also had an allergy to soft cheeses (yes cheese). It begs the question; why did she move to France?

The Rugby Union world cup is nearly upon us & several of the matches are to be played in Toulouse. Unfortunately England won't be playing there which is a shame as the local French equivalent of JJB Sports is selling England shirts & I would have been first in the cue for one had I been off to watch them play. Wonder how many they'll sell? After a few kilometres (I now use kms' as it sounds as if I've cycled further than when you quote miles) out on the bike this morning I met Barbara at the café in Najac & you can certainly tell the season's over & the French are back at work & the children back at school. Last week there were dozens of stalls & hundreds of people about but today it was easy to get a table at the Bar Le Plage & there were only about 20 stalls. It's amazing how short the season is here & it makes you wonder how the hotels & chambres d'hôtes make a living.

PS; Called in to the garage on Tuesday to see what progress had been made with the Lightweight. They were in the middle of working on it only to find out it was the wrong part. One step forward 23 steps back!

Perlibeton & lightweight concrete floors

Despite having had the plans approved for the barn we've still be undecided as to how we should configure the accommodation. We'd made the decision last week to reduce the floors to two & this week we decided to turn everything on it's head...literally. It would be such a shame to lose a lot of the barns character & height by putting in a false ceiling, something I think we'd have had to do if the bedrooms had remained on the first floor. So it's the bedrooms on the ground floor & one large living space on the first floor opening on to a balcony. This will also help to keep things within budget and will mean that we will save money in not having to enlarge a couple of the existing windows. It always brightens the day when we find a way to save a bit of money. Fortunately we don't need to re-submit the plans so we can get on with the preliminary work right away. The first job was to clean the first floor and, with P's help, mark out the levels in preparation for laying the lightweight (no sign of the Land Rover yet) concrete floor. We'd visited a couple of builders merchants to source the materials we needed for the floor and were about to order them from a company called Gedimat but P remembered there was a new company in VDR and we headed off there to see if we could get them to better the prices we had been quoted. It was very quiet when we walked in and the manager was very helpful and after a few shrugs and sighs we managed to get the overall price down. Delivery was arranged for Friday with payment, by cheque, on delivery. Friday at 9:30 the lorry pulls up with all our goodies on and I'm a little disappointed that the lorry isn't full. I'd thought that with the amount of money we were spending we'd at least get a lorry full! As with all delivery drivers we've experienced he was very helpful. Really could have done with him in a previous life but that's another story. Using the lorry's Hiab he's able to place the timber and 'Perlibeton' inside the barn through the doors. Turns out we should have had a full lorry as he only has 14 bags of the Perlibeton. We'd ordered 60 but due to a supplier error the balance wouldn't be delivered until next Thursday which was really disappointing as we'd hoped to have the floor finished by Tuesday night. The driver, who as I said was very helpful, was full of apologies as he handed us a sheet of paper with an explanation of what was going on in English. We complemented him on the English but with a big smile on his face he explained that it had been done on the ordinateur using Google translate.

Before we can lay the lightweight concrete we need to reduce the dip in the middle of the floor. P had suggested we fill the gap with stirling boards supported on 4 x 2 joists so Friday afternoon it's on with laying the floor. It ends up looking like a dance floor and I'm in two mind as to whether to invite everyone round for a barn dance. We were also able to get the plastic sheeting and steel reinforcement in place ready for laying our first concrete floor on Saturday. While we're working away Thierry turns up to cut the grass at the house he has for sale next door and comes across to have a nosey at what we're up to. He's surprised at what we're doing because if it was his job he would remove all the old wood beams and replace them with lovely new concrete ones. Despite this he tells us off for buying a concrete mixer when we could have borrowed his. He also offers to lend us a laser level & a gadget for securing the steel reinforcement together. Saturday morning it's an early start working out the exact quantities we'll need for each batch of concrete & with the laser set we began our first attempt at laying a concrete floor. With a couple of phone calls to P and the the laser making light work of getting a good level by lunch time (admittedly a little late at 2:15) things were progressing well. After a very quick lunch it was back to it and we worked through until we'd run out of Perlibeton. A good days work, lets hope I've got the levels correct!

It's only been three weeks since we had the satellite system installed but it feels like we've never been without it. The only problem we've had with the system has been when it rains and boy has it rained this week (nothing new there). The picture breaks up & we have to talk to each other again. Having the radio & TV easily available is great but it's a bit surreal watching North West Tonight with Gordon Burns in south west France. The one thing we forget is the hour difference and have ended up heading for bed at 12:30 thinking it's only 11:30. No good when you have to be up laying floors in the morning.

Brocante & Les Mazieres Fete

What a great time we had at the Les Mazieres fete on Saturday night. We arrived at about 7:30, paid our €30.00 for two tickets and headed for the breeze block built barn where the meal would be served. It was sometime before the meal was served so there was plenty of time for an aperitif and as 4 Stellas & 6 Ricards cost just €15.00 there were one or two consumed. At 9:30 we were all asked to take our seats in the barn & we and the other 400 party goers were served with a clear noodle soup that had the slightest hint of chicken flavour about it. This was followed by half a melon served with Muscat wine in the centre and a main course of pork loin & farse. To accompany the meal there was lots & lots of red, white or rose wine served in large jugs just like the ones we had for school dinners. Cheese was next, Brie & Cantal, a local hard cheese, and this was followed by leaves of lettuce served with a sugar & vinegar dressing. Champagne, ice cream sundaes & coffee brought the meal to an end at about 1:00 in the morning. We sat with Thierry & his wife and some of their friends from around the area who we'd met at his party a couple of weeks ago including an old lady who we were told makes the best foie gras in L'Averyon. One of the French ladies said she always enjoyed these occasions as everyone made the effort to get dressed up & have a shower! There were, as you might have guessed, several English people there, some on holiday and one or two who lived in the area. Amongst the many guests was the old lady who'd lived in our house & had called in last week with her daughter. We went across to talk to her and tried to explain who we were and that we lived in her old home. She'd either had one Ricard too many or was suffering from dementia because we couldn't get her to understand who we were but I suppose it could also be that our French is that bad she didn't understand us. All the waiting on and washing up is done by the young people of the district and they certainly worked hard making the evening one of the most enjoyable we've had since we moved here. We finished the night dancing away to 'Sky Blue', turns out Pierre Gaffeuland, the accordion player, will be playing after the pétanque tournament on Sunday so we'll have to wait for another chance to hear him. We really enjoyed ourselves & were made very welcome and departed for home at about 2:30.

I'm sure everyone was aware that Wednesday 15th August was Assumption day and here in France it's yet another public holiday. It was a nice hot & sunny day so we took the opportunity to have half a day off. There was a brocante in Najac so we spent the morning wandering round the stalls trying to find some bargains. A couple of things caught Barbara's eye, a chandelier & a step ladder. After a little haggling we headed home with both items. It's obvious what the chandelier is for but the ladder is not the sort I'll be clambering up to do a little more hacking out. Barbara has designs on it for a garden ornament which means that the pressure is now on to get the garden a bit more presentable. We made a start with the rotavator Thierry had been kind enough to lend us and turned the area over in front of the house in preparation for seeding it. We had thought with the weather being nice and sunny that we'd be out watering the grass every evening. We shouldn't have worried because on Thursday evening the rain was back with a vengeance and we witnessed one of the best thunderstorms we've seen. Sunday was yet another festival in Najac and we were lucky enough to witness a really spectacular firework display over the château. Sorry I've no photographs, you'll just have to take my word for it.

Meanwhile back at the house things have been moving on. Barbara's been working hard on the garden & I've made a door & with a lot of help from P started some preliminary work in the barn. There's one beam that's rotten at one end and we needed to build a pillar to support it so it was time to swing the sledgehammer & dig out the foundations. Very hot work but at the end of it means that we'll not have to replace the beam & will save ourselves a few Euros. With P here it was also an opportunity to seek his advice on what we were going to do with the barn. We'd got a price from a local builder for opening up the windows and it had come in a little over budget so we were looking for ways to keep the costs down. After a few suggestions and rough sketches we decided to reduce the number of windows and forget putting a third floor in & with each window opening costing €2,400.00 the savings are considerable. We also spent some time working out the best way to fit the first level floor & once again after a great deal of deliberation it was decided we'd fit a lightweight concrete floor. So it was off to the builders merchant for cement, timber, polystyrene & a cement mixer!

Fetes, roofers & brocantes

August is the height of the holiday season in France and which ever way you turn there is an advert for a local fete. Originally I had thought that it was quite a coincidence that the local fetes didn't overlap with each other but apparently each village has an allocated weekend when it can hold an event, consequently it's party week every week during late July & August. All the fetes are heavily advertised with road side banners & signs, some are very professional others, well they're obviously home made but they all have one thing in common. Food! At these events everything revolves around food, whether it's a market selling local produce or a grand gala meal followed by a dance. The one we've been invited to features a disco called 'Sky Blue' & Pierre Gaffeuland an accordion player. Can't imagine they'll be playing many Arctic Monkey or Keane tracks but it's nice to be asked & I'm sure we'll have a great night. I'll report back next week.

Things moved on a little on the Land Rover front this week with Phil, the Land Rover enthusiast we met a couple of weeks ago, having a look at the Lightweight. He was impressed with the condition of the vehicle & said that if I didn't buy it he would. I'm sure he's just saying that but his advise & knowledge were most welcome. While we were looking at the car the garage owner came out & said he was going to have it ready for a test drive this coming Monday. Let's hope he does but as usual when it comes to French tradesman, I'm not holding my breath. Speaking of French tradesman we had hoped to see M. Hugounet the roofer this week but surprise surprise he didn't show up. We were really disappointed as he'd passed a message to us via Thierry that he would start work before his holidays in August and would return & complete the work in early September and until he's been we can't get on with the bedrooms & en-suites. On Tuesday lunchtime we called in to see if he was about but his wife said that he would not return until sometime this evening. We left a message asking if he could get in touch & give us a revised start date. Thursday evening and he's not rang so off we go to catch him before he leaves or his hol's. We get to his house & he's sat on the verandah so there's no avoiding us this time. Ever the polite English we apologise for disturbing him & tell him that we're very disappointed that he hasn't started work & ask when he'll be turning up. He explains that he has a job to finish & that he should be with us on 15th September. Quick as a flash Barbara produces his devis and asks him to write the date down. He does and we we bid him bon vacation & leave him happy in the knowledge that the devis is a binding legal document & we've managed to get him to give us a start date in writing. It's only when we get home & Barbara reads what he's put does she notice the word 'vers'. The translation of vers is 'around'. No wonder he was smiling as we left him!

It's not only the roof we've been waiting for, we've also been without a kitchen sink. Back in early May when we put the kitchen in we've been waiting for a text message from Ikea to say that the sink we'd ordered had come in to stock. Daily checks on their website revealed a distinct lack of kitchen sinks across the whole of France & we were about to make alternative arrangements. I'm sure you're asking why we didn't just go out and buy a sink from another store but as with most things Ikea their kitchen units are a different size to everyone else's & it would have involved us getting a worktop as well. Anyway there I am contently hacking away when Barbara asks if I fancy a trip to Toulouse. She'd been checking the internet and the Toulouse store were showing stock. So Thursday morning at 10:00 we're sat outside Ikea waiting for the store to open. We pick the sink up along with a few candles, something you have to buy when you visit Ikea, have a lovely lunch & head for Brico Depot, a cheap DIY store, in Montauban. It's a bit like an Aladdin's cave and whenever we're passing we call in for cheap tools & materials. This time it's plumbing bits & I'm sure I've got every possibility covered with my shopping list. That sink will be plumbed in & working by 11:00 tomorrow. Every possibility covered? Well not quite all. I had to make a quick dash to M. Bricolage for a waste pipe joint but the sinks installed now and hasn't sprung a leak as yet.

On Wednesday we received some good news from the marie's office. Our plans for the barn had been accepted without any alterations & we can now start work on converting it into a 4 bedroomed house or consider putting it on the market as it stands. We'd been looking forward to the brocante in VDR on Saturday & had arranged to meet G & S there. We had a couple of errands to run so were in the town early and thought it looked fairly quiet considering the fact that there was a brocante on. We parked up easily enough headed off to meet up with G & S. As we're leaving the car park we meet them coming in the opposite direction. 'You really need to brush up on your French' says Sidney. Turns out the brocante was on jeudi and as I'd completely lost track of the date I hadn't realised Saturday wasn't the 10th of August. Ah well we'll just have to wait for the brocante in Najac this coming Wednesday.



PS; We're still struggling with the souris so any suggestions on how we can get rid of them would be appreciated.

Mrs Overall & mice

What a really enjoyable time we had last week with Rebecca here. It gave us the opportunity to visit one or two of the many touristy places in the area. Despite it being Rebecca's last day there was no lie in on Monday. We were expecting the satellite man, but not at 7:45. Fortunately he rang for directions and we had 5 minutes to get ourselves up & dressed. At last we were going to have telly again, I couldn't wait to see who'd been evicted from the house. The installation went well with the dish going exactly where we wanted it. They're always a bit unsightly but I think we've managed to reduce the visual impact to a minimum. Anyway that's the end of the blog this week I'm off to watch the TV Warehouse & the Gospel channels. It's been well worth the wait!

Despite Rebecca returning home on Monday the weather has continued to smile on us and the temperature reached a pretty uncomfortable 39ºC on Saturday afternoon. I'd spent the morning hacking out the far side of the barn thinking that by the time the sun came round I'd be able to work on the second level of scaffolding which would keep me in the shade. Not to be unfortunately and by 2:30 in the afternoon the metal was getting too hot to touch. Barbara had been working away all morning placing large stones round the newly gravelled area and had run out. So in the blazing sun we both go hunting for stones. Definitely a case of mad dogs & Englishmen.

As I'm sat writing this Barbara shouts for me to come outside where's she's watering our newly acquired plants. We have visitors, it's one of the ladies who used to live in the house & her two daughters. They were driving past & thought they'd have a look at what had happened to her old home. We asked her if she'd like to have a look inside and when she walked through the door she nearly fell over. There'd been some big changes since she'd moved out, walls knocked down, kitchen moved, stove fitted, WC fitted and a staircase installed. She was also surprised by the stone 'sink' we'd exposed when the plaster had been removed prior to the walls being finished with crepe. She said it wasn't a sink and that it was used to hold fire ashes and cure ham in. I think she was very impressed with what we've done and we asked her to come back & visit once the new roof was on and we'd finished building the bedrooms. From her reaction I'm sure she'll be back.

For the last few days we've had a very small unwelcome visitor. Mickey's little nephew had escaped from Euro Disney & turned up in Lagarrigue. Barbara was hot foot to Mrs Overall's to purchase a mouse trap. 'Mrs Overall's' is the local shop where despite it's petite size you seem to be able to purchase anything. The owner, a lady in her mid 80's, always wears an overall & has more than a passing resemblance to the Julie Walters character in Acorn Antiques, consequently the shop is now always referred to as Mrs Overall's. There were no traps on display so Barbara asked for a 'souris trap'. Confusion followed as Mrs Overall headed off into the back of the shop & returned with an electric mixer. After a few more hand gestures & pointing at cheese a fellow shopper realised what she was after and a souricière was located. French mice are obviously fairly clever as this one has managed to remove the chocolate we left on the trap without activating it. Think we're going to have to revert to plan B and put some poison down or plan C, get a chat. During the week M. Guilbert's son in law had removed his cows from our field and had turned up the next day & cut the grass. It only took 30 minutes and he said he'd bring the vache back in September when the grass has grown to a reasonable length. He was also pleased to tell me that he'd killed 2 serpants while cutting the grass & as the main food of the Couleuvre d’Esculape are small mammals we may see one or two souris about.

Finally got round to doing a couple of things I promised I'd do when we moved to France. Cycle to the boulanger & buy some croissants and try some French country wine. The ride to the boulanger was easy enough, it's only a couple of kilometres away and the morning was nice and cool, so I decided I'd do a few more K's and headed down into Najac. Going was great, climbing back up the hill laden down with 2 very heavy croissants was a real struggle. I'm sure they were heavy & it wasn't my lack of fitness. Although only costing €1.30 per litre & dispensed into a plastic 5 litre drum from what looked like a petrol pump the wine was very drinkable, probably too much so, and I'm sure we'll be visiting the wine merchant again soon.

Scandal in Najac Sunday market this week when one of the traders was reported for over charging. He was spoken to by a gendarme, who no doubt was on overtime for working on a Sunday, and warned that he must display the prices of his cheese. He'd tried to charge one of the local residents €15.00 for a small piece of the local fromage. Sounds all too familiar!

Cahors, Le Tour & Rebecca

One thing I forgot to mention about the party last week was how polite everyone was. Without exception all the men shake hands on meeting and all the ladies give each other, and the men, three kisses on the cheek. I can't remember the last time I was kissed by so many young ladies. Probably never come to think of it. The other noticeable thing was that all the young ones attending the party smoked and the older ones didn't. Smoking in all public places, including cafés, bars and restaurants, is banned from next February and it's going to be really interesting to see what the reaction of the French people will be.

It's been a busy week with a trip to Toulouse to meet Rebecca, M. Lagarrigue turning up, bit of landscaping, a big surprise in Cahors and just a little progress on the Land Rover front. We experienced the French rail system for the first time on Tuesday when we took a train down to Toulouse to meet Rebecca. It started off well with the train only a few minutes late it was only when we came to buy the tickets from the guard that it looked like things may not go completely to plan. We asked for a day return to Toulouse and were originally told that we couldn't buy a return ticket on the train & would have to purchase single. We acted the dumb English couple (wasn't hard) and after a few shrugs the guard was able to find a way round the problem. She did explain that it would have been much cheaper to have payed for the tickets at the station or booked on line. I couldn't resit seeing how much we would have saved - €1.57! We spent a couple of hours wandering round Toulouse, a beautiful city and well worth a visit, had a spot of lunch & headed back to the station. Rebecca who was on the train from Marseilles having spent a few days with Alan's mum & husband. It was really great to see her and we were able to jump on the next train back to Najac and catch up with what's been going on her life.

Whilst we're in VDR stocking up with food for Rebecca's visit Thierry rang to say M. Lagarrigue was on his way and would be starting work this PM. So it was a quick dash round Hyper U and back to await his arrival. At just before 2:00 he arrived with three machines and after a quick re-cap of what we wanted him to do he was on with the job. It wasn't long before things started to take shape & watching him making the JCB 'dance' made me think we'd made the right decision in getting him to do the hard landscaping for us. Can you imagine what damage I would have done with that machine? By Friday the jobs finished and it's now up to Barbara & I to do a bit of 'soft' landscaping so I think it'll be a visit to the local garden centre once Rebecca has gone home on Monday. These before & after pic's really make us feel like we're eventually getting somewhere.

The weather has been beautiful this week, must be because Rebecca's with us, so Friday we planned to do a little sightseeing with her. We'd passed through Cahors a couple of times but never stopped to have a look round so what better place to head for. It's about 1 hour away and after a late breakfast we got there just before 12:00. 'Seems very busy there must be something on' Barbara says as we hunt for a parking space on the outskirts of the city. We're really lucky as someone pulls away & we make a quick reversing manoeuvre much to the disgust of the driver of larger BMW 4x4. As we wander across the bridge over The Lot it soon became clear what was going on. Le Tour is in town! I had wanted to see the race when it was in Albi but had thought it would be far too busy and we wouldn't get anywhere near the action. I couldn't believe our luck, we arrive at 12:15 get a brilliant viewpoint and the riders pass at 12:30! A text to Matthew informing him that we were watching Le Tour brought the following response 'Try & stop one of them and pick up half an ounce for me. The best one to ask will be the one at the front wearing the yellow shirt & isn't breaking in to a sweat'. When you see all the effort that goes in to the event it would be such a shame if if it were to be cancelled because of the actions of a few & having seen all those bikes I couldn't resist dusting off mine and having a spin on Sunday afternoon. Think it's going to be along time before I'll be joining them, unless of course I get some of that stuff they all seem to take!

I've mentioned before that Albi is a good place to visit and especially on a Saturday morning when there's a brocante on. We had a good wander about but I think we were a little too late for the bargains. Either that or I haven't got an eye for a bargain & keep thinking of Harry Enfield's character 'I Saw You Coming'. We had a nice lunch by the cathedral & headed back to meet up with G & S who had just returned from the UK. Rebecca was given a guided tour and was most impressed with their home especially the excellent job that has been done on the painting. So much so that I think we'll end up with a few jobs back in Ealing when we spend a few days with her & Alan in October. Sunday it was a very quick visit to St Antonin-Noble-Val because as Rebecca said 'it's busier than Oxford Street on the Saturday before Christmas'. Don't think we'll be back for several weeks. It's been great having Rebecca here and we'll be sorry to see her go, not least of all because we'll have to get back to work.