Water, water everywhere

As I mentioned in the last blog I'd decided that it would be a good idea to ask the carpenter to fit the banister to the new staircase and on Monday last week he returned to complete the task. It wasn't long before he discovered that there were a couple of parts missing and we had a left hand instead of a right hand newel post. So it was off to the stair manufacturer in Montauban and an attempt to explain we had wrong and missing parts. It went remarkably well and, amazingly, I managed to get across what the problem was and even more amazingly there was no argument only an apology! After what Id said about the French never admitting they're wrong in my last blog it looks like I also need to apologise. The story doesn't end there however as the 'lost' parts turned out to be 'misplaced' parts.

On the night we'd been attempting to fit the staircase it rained heavily, nothing new there, and some water had come in to the ground floor of the barn. In our panic to keep things dry we'd moved everything to dry land and the newel posts had got placed in the back bedroom en-suite. It was only when I came to grout the splashback in the en-suite several days later that I discovered them. Whoops! With the posts found I was able to get the carpenter back to complete the fitting of the banister and staircase.

Finding the posts was about the only bit of good luck we had last week. In our haste to get the barn completed we'd not thought things through fully and not listened to advise proffered by P and the water coming in proved to be a costly mistake. We'd laid an external concrete floor above the internal floor level and not left anywhere for water to go. You live and learn and I'll not be making the same mistake again (that's not listening to P and building concrete floors that keep water in!) As I write this it's raining again & we're nice and dry inside. Whoopee! The work that was necessary to rectify our error involved demolishing steps that had taken over a week to lay and watching them disappear in less than an hour with the help of a JCB was a little frustrating to say the least. It hasn't been all doom & gloom as we took the opportunity to use the contractor's time to do a little landscaping and laying of gravel paths. Just need to sort out a few plants and spread some grass seeds here and there.

We've also had Stephané Regourd here fitting central heating radiators in the upstairs of the barn. With such a big area to heat the radiators were always going to be big but I didn't expect it to take two of us to lift them in to place. Just hope the walls are strong enough to hold them. Now they're in place we'll get the carpet laid and finally be able to inhabit both of the barns two floors.

All goes well with Barbara and she's obviously doing a good job of 'Country Cousining' . The people are so impressed with her that they've asked her to return for a further couple of weeks during June. Think I' m going to have forgotten what she looks like. Just seen this on YouTube and having just bought a house in Blackpool to renovate it looks like it's going to be a real home from home. Can't wait to track down the French café featured in the clip, I'm just keeping my fingers crossed they won't be using one of these to produce some fine French cuisine. Who said the French only appreciate good food?