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.