Come on the reds.

Bit behind schedule this week 'cause I've never stopped! Well that's not completely true but it has been a busy few days. On Tuesday I collected the compressor & sand blasting attachment. All went well & the beams look great but on the way back from dropping the equipment off just the Lightweight decided to play up. The clutch pedal was a bit spongy & by the time I'd made it back to Lagarrigue I couldn't get it out of gear. I'll have to make a phone call to my local Land Rover consultant, Philip, when he returns from Paris & hopefully he'll be able to give a bit of advise. The Lightweight has become an indispensable tool over the last few months & the sooner it's back on the road the better. On Wednesday I'd been helping Thierry finish off Mr P's patio & he'd been confident that Chelsea would win the football as they had more French players than Manchester United. I'd mentioned that I was born just outside Manchester & although not a big football fan I would be supporting the Reds. There followed a lot of ribbing in French, most of it needless to say I couldn't understand, but when we arrived on Thursday football wasn't mentioned & I only wish I'd had a MUFC shirt to wear.

On Saturday we headed back to the UK to make the most of the long bank holiday & catch up with Rebecca & Matthew. It turned out to be a typical English bank holiday in London with lots of rain & a visit to B & Q. Despite this we had a great time and managed to fit in a curry, a film (good old Indie never disappoints), a meal at the youngest ever restaurant to be awarded a Michelin star & a little DIY at Rebecca & Alan's. Barbara had arranged to bring her mum & aunt back with her & we were meeting at St. Pancras station on Wednesday morning. It's a fantastic place & they've done a great job renovating it but I still think Grand Central station in The Big Apple takes some beating. We had a good flight back care of good old Ryanair & were surprised to see that EDF had been out & dug the road up in preparation for fitting the new electric supply. There'd obviously been no bank holiday in France this weekend – now there's a surprise!

Little Britain

Poor old Guilbert. It looks like he's going to end up being the only Frenchman left in Lagarrigue. A couple of weeks ago we'd seen a couple wandering round the houses next to us and I'd gone over to introduce myself, and have a nosey of course. Turned out they were from the North East of England & after a couple more visits and conversations with Thierry, the owner of the houses, they'd put an offer in. Eventually after some negotiation their offer had been accepted and, subject to contract, it looks like we're going to have new neighbours. Lagarrigue is fast becoming Little Britain!

The long bank holiday weekend gave John & I the opportunity to catch up with a bit of gardening & by the time Barbara took him back to Rodez on Tuesday the lawn was looking great & I was contemplating getting the golf clubs out. On Friday Thierry & I calculated the amount of blocks and other materials we'd need to build the bedroom walls & organised the hire of the compressor again, this time with a sand blasting attachment to clean up the the beams, yet another first. Barbara had beat a hasty retreat when Thierry had arrived as he'd brought Gordon with him. Gordon, named after the Gin, is a Doberman and despite understanding 'go away' he makes her a little nervous. Let's hope Thierry doesn't bring him along when we start building the rooms, we'll never get a coffee.

On Friday we had a preview of what it was going to be like when our buyers move in. Peter & Angie, friends from the UK, arrived in their motor-home. They'd left home two weeks ago & had a return ferry booked for late September & in the meantime they planned to amble through France on their way to Italy & Austria. They spent the weekend with us & I think enjoyed the opportunity to have a shower without worrying about whether they'd have enough water in the tanks to brush their teeth afterwards. Monday morning they hit the road to Millau on the next part of their 'Wright Way Round' adventure.

Floors & Holidays

Monday morning I was woken at 7:00 by the sound of a strimmer. Thierry was up early & working on the house next door which, despite the early hour, was a welcome sound as I wanted to see him & arrange a time to start on the barn floor. By 8:15 we'd calculated what materials we needed & he rang through the order for 20 tonnes of sand and gravel, 100 bags of cement, 70 square metres of reinforcing metal & the 40 meters of plastic profile & delivery was scheduled for first thing on Wednesday morning. Thierry carried on with his gardening & I headed to VDR to see the window man as I was a bit concerned that now the floor was going to be laid with an approximate 10mm screed the measurements we'd taken may be a little out. I asked them to hold off making the two large French doors until we'd finished laying the floor. Thierry arrived early on Wednesday morning and by 8:45 he was getting a little fidgety as the delivery promised for 8:15 had still not arrived. After a phone call we were promised that the delivery was on it's way & would be with us shortly, it reminded me of all those times I'd promised moaning printers that their delivery was just around the corner when in fact we were still loading the vehicle. Looked like it was a similar story here as it was another 50 minutes before the lorry arrived. The sand was tipped, the cement lowered in to place with the help of a Hiab & it was on with laying the polythene & metal trellis. It went well and we had an early finish just before 6:00, this after Thierry's obligatory 3 hour lunch.

Thursday was VE day & a public holiday so our timings had all fallen into place for a change. I was heading down to Carcassonne to collect Barbara & John. It was a lovely day & judging by the number of cars on the road it seemed as if all of Toulouse was heading for the coast to enjoy a long weekend, Monday was Pentecost and another public holiday. With a 7:00 start on Friday we made good progress with laying the concrete and had Philip, who'd 'volunteered' to help, not had a previous appointment the floor would have been finished by the end of the day. Another 7:00 start on Saturday saw the floor finished & the first step up the side of the barn in place and by 11:00 we were able to head for Cordes for lunch & a little site seeing with John.

Being a holiday weekend there were several fêtes & events organised our nearest being a Brocante in Najac. Despite it being a nice warm sunny day there weren't that many stalls and we managed to resist splashing out and purchasing any items for the barn. Anything we bought would after all have to be packed away shortly & I'm sure there'll be plenty of opportunities to pick up a bargain or two in the future.

Moving on

The last 7 days have had us on the edge of our seats & every time the phone has rung during the day it's been answered with a little trepidation & a sigh of relief when it's not been the estate agent. On Friday she did ring with the great news that our buyers money had arrived & they hadn't changed their minds. Whoopee!!!!!!!!!! She was surprised that we'd been on tenterhooks all week as in over 20 years or business they'd only ever had one couple change their mind in the seven day cooling down period, something she could have told us last week!

Although we hadn't wanted to count our poulet before they'd hatched we had started the ball rolling with the visits I'd mentioned last week. M. Hugonnet the window manufacturer (we're hoping he's not related to M. Hugonnet the roofer & working off the same calendar) called on Monday afternoon & has promised the windows & doors will be ready in approximately 3 weeks. We also called into see M. Regourd and arranged for him to visit on Tuesday afternoon to measure up & prepare a devis. We'd asked them to prepare a quote for the plumbing, electrics & heating and when we mentioned that we were considering oil fired central heating Mme. Regourd told us that there had been a spate of thefts locally involving central heating oil and that we should make sure the oil tank was well secured and the local gendarmes were now investigating. M. Regourd was there as promised on Tuesday afternoon & after a little arm twisting he also agreed to return on Wednesday morning & fit the waste pipes. With that job out of the way I could get on and lay the 12 tonnes of stone I'd ordered and which was due for delivery late Wednesday morning. Just as the Regourds were packing up the lorry arrived with the stone so it was a quick lunch & out with the barrow & spade. It was hard work but with intermittent showers throughout the afternoon it kept the dust & perspiration levels under control but on Thursday it hotted up considerably & by the time I'd finished the temperature had crept up to 22ºC. I was definitely ready for a cold beer.

With a distinct improvement in the weather you can probably guess that Barbara has headed back to the UK for a few days, funny how in coincided with that delivery of stone. I'd dropped her off at Rodez on Tuesday & she'd caught the Ryanair flight to Dublin & then had to hang about for 4 hours to catch the flight to Blackpool and although it's not very good for her carbon footprint it is cheap. As always happens when Barbara's away I get phone calls from people wanting to arrange a rendezvous, unfortunately it's always tradesmen! This time it was EDF wanting to come and install the new electric supply & after a few s'il vous plaît répéter I managed to understand the time & date they were coming. At the end of the conversation the lady on the other end of the phone confirmed the details of our conversation in English & apologised for not being able to speak it better. It turned out that she'd not used it since she was at school & felt embarrassed about talking to me in case she made a mistake. She's not the one who should be embarrassed! That was the last major thing we needed ticking off and everything should now be in place for a completion date in late June. I'd have popped the cork on a bottle of Champers to celebrate but it's no fun drinking bubbly on your billy.

Saturday I'd been invited out for a meal by G & S and we headed back to the 'Le Four à Pain'. The menu had changed and we had another great choice of freshly cooked food. I had 'simply pan fried coley' and it tasted all that much better because someone else was paying. Thanks G & S it was a lovely night out & I guess we'll not be bumping in to Boris in the local bar again for a while, well at least not for the next 4 years, as I think he's going to be a little busy elsewhere.

Now a request for sponsorship. Rebecca is doing the Cancer Research UK 'Race For Life' on Sunday 11th May at Crystal Palace and you can sponsor her by clicking here. Thanks.