Another flying visit

Has it really been two weeks since I last sat down and did a bit of blogging? Tempus fugit, as they say, especially when you've dashed back to the UK for a few days and knocked the odd wall down. When we were back in the UK at the beginning of the year we'd put an offer in on a house near Barbara's mum in Blackpool and had completed on it in late April. It needs a fair amount of work; a bathroom, a central heating system, a kitchen, new windows & doors, decorating (all sounds very familiar) and plastering. With Barbara and her mum heading back to the UK it seemed like an ideal opportunity to return with them and make a start on the next project. It turned out to be a flying visit but I did manage to demolish a wall in what will be the kitchen/dining room, strip the walls of paper that must have been there 30 years, organise the plumber and electrician (no we're not flying Stephané Regourd over), sort the doors & windows and order a kitchen from Wickes. With Barbara off 'country cousining' and everything done that could be done for now I booked my ferry and hotel and headed back to France on Thursday. This time the best laid plans of mice and Chris didn't quite work out. As I hit the road the gentleman Barbara was looking after was taken in to hospital, not sure that'll look too good on her references, and she was able to take a few days off and returned to Blackpool. Well at least the plastering will get done!

It was a pretty uneventful journey back apart from turning up at the wrong Premiere Classe hotel in Rouen. They really all do look the same, both inside and out, but fortunately the two hotels were only two kilometres apart and on this occasion I can't blame it on the satnav. If you put the wrong address in it's your own stupid fault! It always surprises me how many 'GB' plated cars you see as you travel up and down the autoroute. This time was no exception and despite the press coverage that says everyone's holidaying in the UK this year there were still plenty of Brits heading south and at both the hotels I visited there were several cars with GB plates on parked up for the night. Perhaps there are a few green shoots out there.

Meanwhile back in Lagarrigue the tiling had gone well and I'd finished putting all the full tiles in place before leaving for the UK. Now I'm back it's out with the tile cutter and adhesive and time to lay the last few cut tiles but as the temperature on the terrace at 8:15 this morning was 25°C I think it's going to mean a couple of early starts. Still there's plenty to do and I'm sure there'll be a few items on my to-do list that are in the shade. When the carpenter had been here fitting the staircase we'd asked him to prepare a devi for the fitting of a balcony off the living area and he'd dropped it in whilst we'd been away. For once the devi was near enough what we'd budgeted for so on Monday I'll be tracking him down and asking him to get started with it at soon as possible. I want to be sipping my G & T on it before the summer is over.