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!