Hold that plane

What a busy week it's been. A trip to Toulouse and Bordeaux, plastering, painting, digging holes, fitting the cellar door, cooking & trying to keep the house tidy. On Tuesday Barbara was heading back to the UK to be with her mum while she has a small operation & was booked on an Easyjet flight from Toulouse to Gatwick & then on to Manchester with BA. That was the plan & had we got to Toulouse airport on time I'm sure it would have all worked out perfectly. But thanks to hold ups at the toll booths, road works, construction work at the airport & the fact that we set off late we arrived 2 minutes late & the check-in had closed (yes I know we should have checked in online). We tried in vane to convince the check-in clerk that we were a needy case & that she should re-open the gate & let Barbara on the flight. It's not often that Barbara swears but I'm sure you can imagine how blue the air was as we walked away from the desk looking for the film crew from 'Airport'. The next Easyjet flight out of Toulouse was 9:20 PM & for an additional €50.00 we could transfer to that but Barbara would then miss the connection to Manchester. BA also fly to Gatwick and their flight would mean that the connection could be made so it was off to their customer service desk. 'Yes we have seats available on the 12:00 flight & that will be €830.00'. The air turned even bluer! Trying to think 'out of the box' we rang Rebecca & asked her to check flights from other airports that were within driving distance. There was only one, an Easyjet flight from Bordeaux to Luton at 4:30. The check-in staff must have overheard our conversation & offered to transfer Barbara's booking for the standard charge of €50.00, a saving of €60.00 on the price Rebecca had been quoted & so it was hot foot to Bordeaux, fortunately it was motorway all the way & this time we made it in plenty of time. Barbara eventually arrived in Blackpool at 11:30 PM just 3 hours late but a few pounds worse off & what should have been a mornings trip for me ended up with me driving 420 miles & taking the whole day. At least the weather was beautiful & under different circumstances it would have made a lovely day out.

Wednesday it was back to work & making a start on the long list of jobs I wanted completed by the time Barbara got back. One of the things I planned to do while she was away was to fit the windows in the barn but on Monday we'd received the devis from the company we'd been to in VDR & too say we were surprised at the price is an understatement. It included fitting & had come in ever so slightly more than we thought we'd have had to pay for just the large front door & window we needed. Although the Brico Depot window fitting had gone well the quality did not in anyway compare with the ones from VDR so it looks like I'll be removing a window rather than fitting more. I think I'm making good progress with the other jobs & have only had a couple of distractions. Wednesday I received a telephone call from the surveyors wanting to arrange a rendezvous to come & split the land up and although I managed to understand some of the conversation there were some questions I was struggling with. It's always easier face to face so off to VDR I went to hopefully get a better understanding of what was going on. I did & the meeting is scheduled for Tuesday at 2:00. The other phone call was from EDF, once again to arrange a rendezvous to come and install the electric supply for the barn. That conversation was easier & they're calling on Wednesday between 8:00 & 10:00. Things are moving fast.

On Monday we'd had the local estate agent round to give us a valuation for the house. We were pleased with the price he thought the house would achieve & if he manages to get it sold by the end of the summer we'll be even happier. Sunday I treated myself to a morning off & hit the road on my bike. It must be nearly 6 months since I've been out for a serious ride & it wasn't perhaps the best idea to do 38 kilometres, especially as there was a strong wind & it was very cold. There were no holes dug in the afternoon & it was even a bit of struggle to get the painting brush out.