French entertainment at it's best

Sorry to disappoint you all but the move to the Mac has gone very well and the blog's back sooner that I'd anticipated. I guess you'll not be able to tell the difference, the spelling and grammar will still be as bad as ever, but it's a fantastic machine!

Well that's the last of the crepeing done and what a difference it makes. It's been a long time coming but it's been worth the wait and the outside of the barn finally looks complete. That is apart from the cave doors! The cave walls are made from concrete blocks and hanging the two heavy doors on to them proved to be a little difficult. Having tried conventional plugs and screws and epoxy resin filler without success it was time to visit the local hardware shop and seek out some advise. Attempting to explain what we needed proved a bit of a challenge and it was only when another customer grasped what we were after that things fell into place. He offered to follow us back to the house measure up what was needed and fabricate the parts that afternoon. He was as good as his word and we called at his house at 7:00 there were the parts all nicely painted and waiting for us.

Stop press; The joiner rang yesterday to say he was on his way with part of the balcony. Think it'll be a good idea to wait for the banister to be fitted before sampling a G & T on it.

Whilst I've been busy labouring away on the outside of the house Barbara and Matthew, who arrived last week, have been working hard preparing for our big thank you party on Sunday 9^th. Since moving to Lagarrigue we've enjoyed the hospitality of lots of people and when you're living on one floor of a converted barn it's difficult to reciprocate. Now with the house nearly complete it was time to say a very big thank you and a Sunday lunchtime in early August seemed to be a great time to do it, sun guaranteed! So with tables and chairs borrowed, bottles of Ricard and several bottles of wine purchased we were ready for the big day. Problem was, yes you've guessed it, the weather forecast said rain, lots of it. For once the French met' office had it right and we woke to a grey overcast sky and rain falling. Ah well good job we'd decided to keep the upstairs of the barn open plan and big enough to seat 22 people. The day went well with our French & English friends enjoying traditional British cuisine of baked beans on toast. Just kidding. The Coronation Chicken was a great talking point with the French and despite it's mild curry flavour it was very quickly devoured.

Matthew had driven down with a couple of friends and had spent a few days exploring the local villages and bars. They were blessed with great weather and on the Wednesday night were able to enjoy the delights of Najac night market and some very exciting street theatre. Watching someone juggle a baguette was, I'm sure, the highlight of their holiday.

I hate manure

I'm sure the last thing anyone in the UK wants to read about is the glorious weather we're having here in south west France. 37ºc again today with a light breeze and not a cloud in the sky, just the weather for sitting by the pool and sipping gin and tonics. We haven't got the pool so we'll just have to make do with the G & T. With so little rain over the past few weeks the ground has become as hard as stone and the landscaping that desperately needs to be done is having to wait. It sounds like a good excuse I know but getting motivated to do any strenuous jobs in this weather is a real struggle. Fitting a gutter to the cave in preparation for crepeing is about the height of my exertions recently. Just need a little rain now to see if it works. I'm also hoping for a drop in the temperature next week as pushing wheelbarrows of mortar about is not what I want to be doing in the upper 30's. Having said that there are worse things you can put in your barrow and last week Sidney rang to ask if he could have the services of a man and his trailer. 'Course you can, what do you want to move?' was, as it turned out, my far too hasty reply. 'There's some very mature horse manure going free at a local farm and I could do with a bit for my rhubarb'. Amazingly I managed to resist cracking the old 'custard on mine joke' and arranged to meet on Sunday morning on the understanding I wasn't going to start shoveling s#*t on the Sabbath and that Sidney would be able to eat his dinner off the trailer when we'd finished. As it turned out having lunch on the terrace when we'd finished was a lot more civilised even though the trailer was left spotless.

We were off back to Rodez again last week to collect Rebecca. She was over for a few days of chilling out and relaxing and hadn't thought to bring any work clothes with her! Let's hope her brother is a bit more organised as he plans to spend most of August with us and I'm sure will be more than happy to move a few rocks about. We also had a quick dash down to Toulouse to collect my aunt who has been staying with us for few days and never wanting to miss an opportunity we headed to Ikea to stock up on few essentials. I know I've said it before but you really could be anywhere in the world once you've gone beyond those blue & yellow doors.

The 'fête' season is back in full swing and we've had two good nights out recently. The local football club in Najac hosts a Bastille Day meal where for €14.00 per head you get melon & ham, veau & aligot, a Cornetto and as much wine as you can drink but if you thought that was a bargain the following week in Lunac we attended the local pétanque club meal & tucked in to 4 courses with free wine all for €5.00. You'd think by now I'd have sussed what goes on at these meals but when we'd received the invite I'd been told that there would be just a bowl of country cheese soup and bread so I made sure that when seconds of soup was offered I took a good spoonful. When the next 3 courses arrived it was real struggle to get them down but you have to do your best as it would be impolite to refuse anything. I've also managed to get a few miles in on the bike this week which is jus as well with all this eating. Had an early start along the local railway track, nice and flat, and ended up at just before 12:00 climbing what felt like the longest hill I've every ridden up in a 30c temperature. Made me think perhaps a wet & windy UK wasn't all that bad.

You'll probably be delighted to hear that this could be my last blog for a while as I'm about to cross over to the other side and take delivery of a Mac computer. Who's knows when I'll have mastered it and be able to get blogging again.