w/c 23 April 2007

Monday 23rd – Another beautiful day and when we call at the shop & cafe in La Fouillade it's very hard not to stop and enjoy a café in the morning sun but with lots to do it's on to the house and work. We're just in the middle of fitting the second French door when the Regourd family turn up. I'm sure they have a good laugh, in French, at the English couple lifting the door on and off it's hinges at least a dozen times before their happy with the fit. One thing I've learnt over the last few months is to only take the minimum off when sawing, sanding, planning or cutting anything. You can always take a little more off, you can't put it back on. By 12:00 they're off and Stephané tells us his father & brother will return later in the week to finish off fitting the gas for the cooker & water supply for the fridge. We've worked out that your average French tradesman must have several jobs on the go at once & by turning up at least twice a week at each he manages to keep most of his customers happy. Barbara spends the afternoon undercoating the doors & windows and painting several bits of wood various colours to see which one she likes best. Glad I don't have to make the decision on which hue of green or blue we'll end up with as most of them look the same to me. I just fancy a shade without a stupid name. What colours are 'string' & 'wheelbarrow'? Back to Najac to pack our bags for a weeks change of residency. Paul's mum & brother are here for a week from tomorrow & Gilly has been good enough to put us up. It's a bit like going on your holidays. I also manage to speak to France Telecom, they have an English speaking help desk, and organise a phone line for Lagarrigue. They give me our new telephone number and make an appointment for the engineer to call on Thursday between 1:00 & 3:00. This seems great service from the company that all of France holds in contempt. No denationalisation here just yet but who knows what will happen when the new President is in place. Come to think of it there seemed little in the way of election fever here yesterday and with the local man, José Bové, polling less than 1.4% of the vote perhaps there'll be perhaps even less interest for the second round on May 6th. Bové is a local hero who spent three weeks in jail after he led activists in the destruction of a branch of McDonalds. For Bove, the golden arches represent the industrialisation of food production & the worst of "malbouffe - bad food". He's obviously got something right.
PS; I didn't manage to find a red rose to wear today so had to make do with my England rugby union tee shirt.

Tuesday 24th – Off to the house on my billy this morning while Barbara gets the house at Najac ready for the arrival of P & C, Paul's mum & his brother Martin. I spent the morning burning paint off & then sanding down the other French door. Once again it's a beautiful morning with the sun beaming down and I'm glad that I'm able to work on the door undercover. Back to Najac for lunch and collect Barbara and then off to drop our cases off at G & S's as they've been kind enough to put us for the week while P & C's family are in town. We then spend the afternoon at Lagarrigue burning off, sanding & painting & work on until 6:30 when we head back for the first bath we've had this year! It's most relaxing and then we're off to P & C's for supper and to meet his mum & brother.

Wednesday 25th – I had hoped today was the day the Merc would be back up & running quietly but it wasn't to be. The garage owner had been in touch with Mercedes and they had told him that it wasn't possible to weld an exhaust system that contained a catalytic converter. Despite getting down on both knees and begging he wasn't going to change his mind I headed off home very disappointed. Off to VDR to delay delivery of the stove and buy an extractor hood for the oven, another pain of glass (Babs again), more paint, we've finally made a decision on the colour and a telephone. Despite all the boxes having descriptions of their contents in English none contained English instructions. We buy a set of wireless ones & hope we can download instructions from t'internet. Back to the house and more caulking & painting. P & C's for supper.

Thursday 26th – Called over to P & C's new house to see if M. Lagarrigue's about. He's not but we see M. Luduc and he says he'll contact M. Lagarrigue and ask him to phone with us. Finished the caulking, for now, Barbara's slapping the paint on and it's another sunny day. The France Telecom engineer turns up at 2:30 and when I do my usual explanation that I don't speak very much French he says it's OK as he speaks English and worked in Ireland for 5 years. A Frenchman speaking English with an Irish accent! He's really helpful & I can't understand where FT get such a bad reputation. It takes him 90 minutes to get the phone installed and it's only when he has to contact the automated exchange that we get a couple of 'merdes'. He explains that the 'robot' isn't working and that he'll have to activate the line tomorrow morning. With the phone now in place it really feels as if things are coming together. Back to Najac & Barbara & Gilly head up to her new house to work on her new doors. I'm sat with my feet up having a beer. It's a great life.

Friday 27th – The FT engineer is as good as his word and the telephone is up & eorking by the time we arrive at the house. Good morning painting & caulking and filling holes with expanding polystyrene foam. What fun that was. It's the first time I've used it and what sticky stuff it is but it certainly does the job & filled some BIG holes. I think Barbara was bit concerned when she saw the foam expanding out of the gaps & I'm sure she was imagining some creature off Doctor Who. By mid afternoon we'd finished the jobs allocated for the day & decided to dash in to VDR to order double glazed units for the front door & pick up some more paint. I've mentioned before how expensive paint is here and I'm sure with the amount of paint we've bought shares in Dulux Valentine must be through the roof. Think a side line of importing paint from the UK could be a nice little earner. Spend a nice evening chatting with Gilly who, when she's back in the UK, lives in Brighton. She has some good stories about the people she's met in the town which, I think it's fair to say, is the gay capital of the UK. Gilly is good enough to let me have a root through her CD collection to see if there's anything I'd like. Bottom of the pile are The Village People Greatest Hits & The Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. She's obviously had some of her Brighton neighbours out to visit her in France.

Saturday 28th – Painting & caulking, there's a surprise, this morning. P & C call in just as Iggy's dad is moving his beasts. There's a great deal of fuss as he doesn't want his cattle to wander on to our land. He stretches some bailing string across the entrance and we await the stampede. Ten minutes later he wanders along with 3 cows and Iggy. At 12:30 we call it a day at Lagarrigue and head back to Najac and pick up a baguette & a trois fromage quiche for lunch. Off to Gilly's new house this afternoon to paint some new windows she's had fitted. On the way back we call to see if Thierry will help us arrange a rendezvous with M. Lagarrigue. We sit in his kitchen and enjoy a cup of PG Tips while he makes a telephone call on our behalf. A meeting is arranged for 7:00 tomorrow night & Thierry says he will be there to help with translations. He's also interested in having our hanger when we decide to pull it down and I think he wants to take the opportunity to check out the building. Once again a good evening at Gilly's with P & C, Paul's Mum & brother calling round for a delicious meal.

Sunday 29th – Up to the house this morning to finish the caulking ready to start painting tomorrow. We also spent some time marking out the drive layout in preparation for M. Lagarrigue's visit this evening. The suns out and it's bot too hot so after a few words with the boss it's out with the bike & on with the bike clips. From Lagarrigue to Najac it's mainly downhill so it was an easy cycle back to Gilly's for lunch. This afternoon we plan to do a little more work for Gilly at her new house in Mazerolles which is at the top of a very long hill. It takes me 20 minutes to cycle up with only one stop for a breather. Not bad for someone who's not been on a bike for nearly 3 months. After a little more painting it's back in the saddle and a very speedy decent, at one point pursued by a mad French dog, to Najac. Think I'll have to make a spin on the bike a weekly event. We meet P & C at Lagarrigue at 6:00 and go through our thoughts for the drive. A few suggestions from Paul & we come up with a final layout just as M. Lagarrigue & Thierry arrive. It's a good meeting and although the work can't be done until the first week in June a devis is promised by Wednesday. Fingers crossed the price is within budget as I don't fancy doing all that digging, even with Paul's able assisitance.