At Last!!!!! The Roof

He's arrived!!!! It's been just short of 12 months since we gave M. Huguenot, the roofer, the go ahead & at 8:00 on Monday 24th September 2007 he finally arrived. It wasn't without some pressure that he turned up. We'd been telephoning and leaving messages & on the last three Saturdays we'd called in to his house to see if we could catch him. Last Saturday we struck lucky & caught M. Huguenot working on his van, there was no way he was going to avoid us this time. In our very best French we played the sympathy card and told him with winter approaching we really needed a new roof & that showering with snow falling was going to be no fun. It must have worked as he said he would be with us on Monday. And he was!!! The first job was to remove all the lauzes & slates. The slates would be disposed of but the lauzes have to be sorted in to different sizes by hand & one more chap sat on the floor all week using a piece of wood with nails in to size them. Next all the old timber had to be taken down & new sarkin boards fitted. There's no scaffolding used, just a Manitou, and watching the men clambering over the roof with a chain saw in one hand whilst holding on to a rope with the other puts a different spin on health & safety. They hadn't even bothered with hard hats & high viz jackets! We're having 4 chien assis or lucarnes fitted and on Friday two were in place and the roof was beginning to take shape. The only problem we'd had all week was the lack of satellite signal as some planks had been placed above the dish. With England playing on Friday night I asked if over the weekend the planks could be removed so we could watch the match. 'Of course but why bother, England are not playing very well at the moment' he replies (in French)!!!! You can imagine the mess and all the dust there's been this week but we both agree it's worth the hassle & although it would be stretching things to say it's been worth the wait we're glad M. Huguenot has finally started work.

Once again it's been a busy week on the social side with our neighbours still here, P & C here until Wednesday and S & J visiting us from the UK. They arrived on Sunday lunchtime having successfully navigated their way to our door. This was despite my directions which told them to leave the N20 at the junction signposted 'Cahors Nord'. Turns out there's no such sign and they ended up going miles out of the way, Still it was a very scenic route (sorry)! We had a good week with them visiting the market in VDR & Cordes. I've mentioned Cordes before and that it's well worth a visit. Even out of season most of the shops, galleries & restaurants remain open which is very unusual in this part of France. S & J stayed at the hotel in the middle of Najac, L'Oustal del Barry, & although the weather was mixed (on Thursday it was down to 5ºC) they were able to get this fantastic picture of the château from their bedroom. We've been here 9 months and not seen such a picturesque view. It was great to see S & J and we were sorry to bid them farewell on Saturday morning.

We've been getting things in place ready for building the bedrooms & on Tuesday we headed off to VDR to source insulation and timber for when the roof is finished. We trailed round the normal list of builders merchants to get the best price and ended back at the company we used for the Perlibeton. They're new to the area and are obviously trying hard to establish themselves and offered the best price, after some arm twisting, and free delivery. Having spent 30 years having customers screw you down on price & delivery it makes a pleasant change to have the boot on the other foot. Delivery was arranged for Friday PM & this time all the items we ordered arrived so we're now ready to start work on the bedrooms. I also had to obtain a couple of parts for the Lightweight so I could fit a normal tow bar to it. After trawling the net I found the items at a dealers in the UK & was pleasantly surprised at the cost of delivery, just £5.00 to get an item weighing over 10 kgs here. It arrived in two days, what great service.

Next week we're off back to the UK. Barbara is heading up to her mums for a couple of days & I'm following on Wednesday & meeting her in London when we'll spend a few days with Rebecca & Matthew. We're both really looking forward to the trip & I just hope M. Huguenot doesn't take advantage of our absence.

Lightweight, Lightening & Hangers

It's all happened this week & we're now the proud owners of 3647 PF 12, a Land Rover Lightweight. After waiting for what seems an eternity I finally got to test drive the car on Tuesday. All went well & the owner agreed to throw in a spare set of tyres, assorted parts & several French Land Rover magazines which, if I could read French, would I'm sure be very useful. As you would expect it's not just a case of sending the vehicle registration document off to the French equivalent of Swansea here you have to visit the prefecture and produce the documents listed in last weeks blog. We did this on Thursday the horror stories we've heard & read about French bureaucracy we were in & out in 10 minutes fully registered & €145.00 worse off. There's no annual road fund fee in France as you pay a one of fee, calculated on the car's horsepower & age, at the time you register the vehicle. With the carte gris in place all we needed to sort out was the insurance but as it was 11:55 it would have to wait until Friday. Back at the house on checking the post we found the documents had arrived for the trailer & that we'd need to return to the prefecture tomorrow! Sorting the insurance out went well until we mentioned that we wanted to tow a trailer. If it has a gross weight in excess of 750kgs it needs to be declared on the insurance documents & an additional fee paid. Ah well it has to be done & at least there's no charge or limit on the number of drivers that can drive the car. The Lightweight is going to be a great workhorse and will mean that we'll be able to collect most of the materials we need to move the project on.

Thierry Roussel was as usual indispensable during the negotiations for the car & when we called to arrange the test drive we were welcomed with a smile & taken to see his newly erected hanger. It was the one he'd removed for us & had finally got round to putting it up. As far as these things can, it looked great & he was all ready to fill it with straw for the winter.

We've been trying to move things along with the barn & this week we spoke to the architect to ask his advise on splitting the electric & water supply between the two properties. He offered to write a couple of letters for us & forward them to the appropriate suppliers. We've been told that asking the state owned water & electric companies for anything that's a little different, & splitting the supplies is viewed as 'different', can take some time. We'll keep you informed on the progress. On the building, well demolishing front, I've been swinging the sledge hammer this week & have managed to knock down all the stalls on the ground floor of the barn. It was hard work & I think we'll be dropping in at the tool hire centre next week to see how much they'll charge for a drill & compressor. On Monday builder Thierry turned up to collect his scaffolding. As we were unloading his trailer the heavens opened and we were caught in the middle of yet another spectacular thunderstorm. Unloading metal scaffolding on to a metal trailer didn't seem like a good idea to me but when I suggested we take a break and wait for the storm to pass Thierry gave a typical Gallic shrug & told me to get on with the job. After, we were rewarded with 3 very large Ricard's and I was grateful that Barbara turned up to carry, sorry drive, me home.

Socially it's also been a busy week. Our neighbours arrived on Tuesday to spend two weeks working on their house and as Ikea haven't as yet delivered their kitchen we invited them in for something to eat. They've a lot of painting to do but with the sun continuing to shine it looks like they'll be able to make good progress. P & C are also here with C's mum & husband & G & S have friends visiting and we were invited round for supper on Thursday. On Friday it was Barbara's birthday & we had an easy day, apart from the visit to the prefecture, and visited the shops in VDR & had the obligatory coffee in one of the bars. The cafés & bars are all busy about 3:30 PM as the local students meet for an after college coffee or un citron pressé. They all seem so polite & always greet their friends with either a handshake or three kisses on the cheek depending the norm in L'Averyon. Some things must be the same the world over as this week we've been plagued by telesales calls trying to sell us double glazing & plumbing insurance but as soon as they realise we're English there interest disappears & they hang up. At least we don't have to be rude to get rid of them.

Vache, Occitin & Gaillac

The vache are back and after M. Guilbert & friend had finished setting up the electric fence to keep them in we were invited in for a coffee. We've always struggled to understand M. Guilbert & listening him talk to his friend we really thought we'll never master the language. Mme. Guilbert explained that her husband & his friend were talking patois so it's no wonder we couldn't understand a word they were saying. Many of the road-side signs announcing the name of a village are written in Occitin & amongst many older residents is in common use and makes life very difficult for those of us struggling to learn French. As if it wasn't hard enough trying to concentrate on the conversation we were offered a sample of the local home-made liquor to go with our coffees. We couldn't quite work out what it was & given that it was only 11:30 in the morning & I had to climb back up the scaffolding we declined the offer. As always we're made very welcome and thanked for letting them graze their cows on our land. We try to explain that they are doing us the favour and that we're very appreciative. I think we managed to get our message across & as we walk home we reflect once again on how friendly & generous people have been in the area to us in the last 8 months.

When we drove down here at the beginning of January all our prize possessions were either in the back of one of the cars or on the trailer we'd purchased before leaving the UK. Since we'd sold the Merc the trailer had been sitting collecting dust but as there's a slim chance that we might be seeing the Lightweight on the road in the near future I decided it was time to get it ready for the road. We'd called at the garage on Saturday & was told the Land Rover had been repaired & the owner had collected it on Friday. We knew Thierry was away on holiday until Sunday night & as he was our only line of communication with M. Pousson I was hopeful of a phone call on Monday morning to arrange the long awaited test drive. Let's hope he's not changed his mind & decided not to sell. Anyway back to the trailer. The rules are different here in France and trailers with a gross weight in excess of 750kgs have to have a carte gris & their own registration number. Thanks to the internet and the numerous forums out there in cyberspace I was able to find out the information required to import and register a trailer in France. It involved getting a CT, the equivalent of an MOT, a certificate of conformity, proof that we're resident in France & a visit to the prefecture to register it. We didn't have the certificate of conformity so after a quick phone call to the trailer manufacturer back in the UK I was given the telephone number of their French office & told to speak to Corrine who would sort out the registration for us. So after speaking to her & forwarding a cheque for €100 we await the arrival of the relevant documentation.

We've finally finished the barn floor! It's been really frustrating having to chase the supplier for the completion of our order. We needed only 3 bags of Perlibeton to complete the job so on Monday headed off to VDR to place yet another order but had to wait until Wednesday before we could collect it. It wasn't a completely wasted day as the 'Foire Expo' was on. This was very similar to an English county show with exhibitions & trade stands covering everything from tractors to fridges. It was quite interesting & we were able to pick up information on escaliers & geothermal heating, something we are considering using to heat the barn with. As usual at these types of events there were several car dealers there & it was with great personal restraint that I managed not to buy the Range Rover Sport that was on display at the bargain price of €68,900.00. I'm sure it wouldn't have been as practical as the Lightweight! Thursday it was straight on with mixing the final batches & laying the last few metres of leger béton & we had a real sense of achievement having finished laying our first concrete floor. Now it was time to move all the tools & bits & pieces from the ground floor of the barn to the newly laid floor & commence work on another new floor. I'd mentioned last week about the openings in the barn & how by reducing the number of openings we were keeping the costs within our budget. On Friday it looked like we could have made even more savings. Thierry, the builder who had done the pointing for us, was working on his property next door & had called across for a coffee in the morning & we'd discussed the work we'd planned to do on the barn. He returned in the afternoon having talked to a friend & said that with my help he would now be able to do the openings. I'd asked him previously if he would be interested in doing the work for us but he'd said it was too big a job for him. It's typical of how helpful he is that he'd gone out & found a colleague who could help us do the job together. Unfortunately I had to tell him that we'd already signed a devis & given the go ahead to another builder. Frustrating as Thierry could have started the first week in October & would, I'm sure, have been cheaper.

On Saturday we headed over to Gaillac having been told there's a Brico Depot there. It's similar to B & Q and always worth a look round as they have some good offers on tools & building materials. It doesn't seem that long ago that we'd have been spending Saturday afternoon wandering round Selfridge's or Kendals in Manchester. How things have changed. Gaillac is the centre of local wine production and I was surprised just how many vineyards we passed on our way there. Wine growers still use traditional grape varieties such as Ondenc, Len de l'el and Mauzac in white, Fer, Duras and Braucol in red. They also use typical grapes from Bordeaux such as Cabernet, Merlot and Sauvignon, and from the south such as Syrah and Muscadelle. Red wines are rustic, white wines dry and aromatic, sparkling wines are fruity & rosé wines are light and easy to drink (M & S wine advisor training coming out there)so we'll definitely be heading back that way and calling in to one of the many vineyards selling wine direct to the public.

Aurillac & Steres

Two big deliveries this week. Another 33 bags of the dreaded Perlibeton and 9 steres of wood. Yes a delivery of winter fuel just as the weather has started to pick up. We've had some beautiful bright mornings with a mist hanging in L'Averyon Gorge which by lunchtime has disappeared & it's been a very comfortable 27ºC. Wood for heating is measured and sold in steres and equates to approximately one cubic metre and costs €50.00. We'd ordered it from Thierry in Najac and when he turned up on Thursday we were a bit concerned as to where we were going to put what appeared to be most of Kielder forest. After stacking the 9 steres, or 1 corde, I certainly hope they'll be sufficient to see us through the long hard winter here in south west France. I'm sure Barbara does as well, grabbing one little mouse in the middle of a few twigs and hearing it squeak was more than enough of a close encounter to the local wildlife for her.

When Thierry was here delivering the wood we took the opportunity to show him the papers we'd found in the barn. He struggled to read the old form of French but managed to decipher that one of the documents was an agreement between two people to lease some land & buildings for the sum of 2 francs & 2 vache. The notaire who witnessed the agreement was paid a fee of 2 centimes. Could do with finding him! I also spoke to Thierry about the Lightweight and he said that he'd called at the garage last week & been told the same story as I was that the wrong part had been delivered. He also suggested that it might be worth looking for an alternative vehicle and mentioned a Land Rover specialist in Aurillac so Saturday we took the day off and headed north in to the Department of Cantal. It's about 120 kms away & took us just over two hours to get there and when we arrived on the outskirts of the town it was quite a bit larger than I thought it would be. We had the name of the garage but no address so panic was now setting in, how were we going to find the garage? I suppose I should have thought about that earlier but we all do these things don't we? As luck would have it I spot an old Land Rover Defender parked up outside a café and thinking the owner may be inside and know where the garage is, we pull over and head inside. Despite there only being a couple of customers know one admits to owning the vehicle and we're about to leave when the waitress comes out with someone's order. In my best French and as usual with a lot of help from Barbara I ask if she knows where the company written on our piece of paper is. 'You are English? I speak English if that helps' she says. She doesn't know the company but heads off to get the pages jaunes. By amazing coincidence the garage is only round the corner and having given us directions we compliment her on her excellent English. 'Thank you, I lived in Salford for 6 years' she replies. Isn't it a small world?

Five minutes later we're looking at very expensive Land Rovers thinking that perhaps the old Lightweight isn't such a bad bargain we just need to get it repaired and ready for the road. Not wanting the day to be a complete waste of time we head off to the centre ville and have a look at the shops & round the market (there's always one). Unlike many British towns there is still a wide range of independent shops in French towns. In Aurillac there seemed to be lots of shops selling umbrellas and it was only when I looked on Wikipedia that I found out why; it's the umbrella capital of France which should also tell you something about the weather round here. One thing for sure there are no M & S's but there are numerous restaurants all serving lunch. We choose one where the plat du jour was pavé du boeuf (think that's spelt correctly), sautéed potatoes & stuffed tomatoes. It was delicious and with a glass of rosé wine, a sweet & coffee to finish off with you really can't complain when the bill comes to €24.00.

I mentioned the Perlibeton at the beginning of this weeks blog and along with more hacking out and scaffold building the laying of the concrete floor has continued. It's been really frustrating having to wait for deliveries and we'd certainly have had the floor finished ages ago if materials had arrived when they were promised. By Friday afternoon we've run out again, this time it's my estimating, and we speed off to VDR to see if we can collect some more Perlibeton. We can only manage to find a further 3 bags before we run out of time and by Sunday lunchtime these have been laid and I'm stuck for bobbins again. Monday it'll be a phone call to a couple of builders merchants to see if they have stock. After much deliberation & debate we gave the go ahead this week to the builder who had quoted us for putting windows in the barn. By omitting another opening we've managed to get the cost within our budget and with a large patio window hopefully we'll have enough light in the living area.

Our home produce is coming on a treat and Barbara has great plans for this years harvest. Orders for chateauneuf du Hill are now being taken. It'll be a crisp light white with hints of lemons & peach & silky smooth after taste. Had a good night last Sunday with G & S at the local creperie. As I mentioned last week it's the end of the season and this was the last night the creperie was open this year so it was quite busy & the band were performing at their best. If I could work out how I upload a recording I did you could listen to the jazz duet but as I haven't figured out how I do it you'll have to get it from La iTunes.

The Rossignols & weather

No bank holiday for us this week so on Monday we headed off to the builders merchant to order some more stirling boards & to make sure the delivery of Perlibeton would definitely be with us on Thursday. We're told not to worry and that everything is in place for delivery on Thursday afternoon. It better had be as we're both really keen to move things on having seen how well the concrete we laid last Saturday has dried. So with no floor being laid until Thursday it's time to move the scaffolding round to the end of the barn & to start hacking it out. We've been really lucky having the long term loan of the scaffold & I think a large bottle of Ricard for Thierry is called for. It's afternoon when our delivery arrives and it's short by 13 bags of Perlibeton. Once again the driver is full of apologies and says we should have the balance the middle of next week. It's really frustrating as we wanted to get the floor finished so we could move on to the next job. By the time we've used up the materials it's obvious we have under estimated the quantities and we're going to have to order some more cement, sand & Perlibeton (for those of you who are interested you can read all about this wonder material HERE). Although I say it myself I'm really pleased (or should that be delighted) with the work we've done and how level we've got the floor. Investing in a laser level was money well spent as it's made keeping the levels so easy. Get one now if you're planning on laying any new concrete floors in the near future!

In preparation for laying the floor we'd had to clear the barn out. Among the bits of wood, old farm machinery, a pair of clogs and years of dust Barbara had found some old documents. Upon closer examination it turns out that they are 'very' old and one of them is dated 1792 the year the French declared war on Austria during the French Revolution. Others are from 1816, 1877, 1881 & 1901 and all mention Lagarrigue & the name Rossignol. We really need to get someone to have a look at them as they could tell us so much about the history of the house and hamlet. Any offers?

It's well known that the British love to talk about the weather so it's not surprising that there are so many of them out here, there's so much weather for them to talk about. On Tuesday we had a beautiful start to the day with not a cloud in the sky and a temperature of about 21ºc. By lunch time the temperature had gone up to over 30 and it was very humid and cloudy. During the night there's a thunderstorm & we wake in the morning to a chilly 13ºc. The thunderstorms out out here are frequent & often spectacular. Someone had told me that the Averyon region is one of the thunderstorm hot spots of Europe. I can't find anything to substantiate this but we certainly get our fair share. As a bit of an aside I've just been reading one of the many forums on the internet for Brits living in France. I'd just seen another serpent and, given my slight aversion to them, was checking out ways to move them on. One of the correspondents said that she had many phobias & these included snakes & thunderstorms & she also had an allergy to soft cheeses (yes cheese). It begs the question; why did she move to France?

The Rugby Union world cup is nearly upon us & several of the matches are to be played in Toulouse. Unfortunately England won't be playing there which is a shame as the local French equivalent of JJB Sports is selling England shirts & I would have been first in the cue for one had I been off to watch them play. Wonder how many they'll sell? After a few kilometres (I now use kms' as it sounds as if I've cycled further than when you quote miles) out on the bike this morning I met Barbara at the café in Najac & you can certainly tell the season's over & the French are back at work & the children back at school. Last week there were dozens of stalls & hundreds of people about but today it was easy to get a table at the Bar Le Plage & there were only about 20 stalls. It's amazing how short the season is here & it makes you wonder how the hotels & chambres d'hôtes make a living.

PS; Called in to the garage on Tuesday to see what progress had been made with the Lightweight. They were in the middle of working on it only to find out it was the wrong part. One step forward 23 steps back!

Perlibeton & lightweight concrete floors

Despite having had the plans approved for the barn we've still be undecided as to how we should configure the accommodation. We'd made the decision last week to reduce the floors to two & this week we decided to turn everything on it's head...literally. It would be such a shame to lose a lot of the barns character & height by putting in a false ceiling, something I think we'd have had to do if the bedrooms had remained on the first floor. So it's the bedrooms on the ground floor & one large living space on the first floor opening on to a balcony. This will also help to keep things within budget and will mean that we will save money in not having to enlarge a couple of the existing windows. It always brightens the day when we find a way to save a bit of money. Fortunately we don't need to re-submit the plans so we can get on with the preliminary work right away. The first job was to clean the first floor and, with P's help, mark out the levels in preparation for laying the lightweight (no sign of the Land Rover yet) concrete floor. We'd visited a couple of builders merchants to source the materials we needed for the floor and were about to order them from a company called Gedimat but P remembered there was a new company in VDR and we headed off there to see if we could get them to better the prices we had been quoted. It was very quiet when we walked in and the manager was very helpful and after a few shrugs and sighs we managed to get the overall price down. Delivery was arranged for Friday with payment, by cheque, on delivery. Friday at 9:30 the lorry pulls up with all our goodies on and I'm a little disappointed that the lorry isn't full. I'd thought that with the amount of money we were spending we'd at least get a lorry full! As with all delivery drivers we've experienced he was very helpful. Really could have done with him in a previous life but that's another story. Using the lorry's Hiab he's able to place the timber and 'Perlibeton' inside the barn through the doors. Turns out we should have had a full lorry as he only has 14 bags of the Perlibeton. We'd ordered 60 but due to a supplier error the balance wouldn't be delivered until next Thursday which was really disappointing as we'd hoped to have the floor finished by Tuesday night. The driver, who as I said was very helpful, was full of apologies as he handed us a sheet of paper with an explanation of what was going on in English. We complemented him on the English but with a big smile on his face he explained that it had been done on the ordinateur using Google translate.

Before we can lay the lightweight concrete we need to reduce the dip in the middle of the floor. P had suggested we fill the gap with stirling boards supported on 4 x 2 joists so Friday afternoon it's on with laying the floor. It ends up looking like a dance floor and I'm in two mind as to whether to invite everyone round for a barn dance. We were also able to get the plastic sheeting and steel reinforcement in place ready for laying our first concrete floor on Saturday. While we're working away Thierry turns up to cut the grass at the house he has for sale next door and comes across to have a nosey at what we're up to. He's surprised at what we're doing because if it was his job he would remove all the old wood beams and replace them with lovely new concrete ones. Despite this he tells us off for buying a concrete mixer when we could have borrowed his. He also offers to lend us a laser level & a gadget for securing the steel reinforcement together. Saturday morning it's an early start working out the exact quantities we'll need for each batch of concrete & with the laser set we began our first attempt at laying a concrete floor. With a couple of phone calls to P and the the laser making light work of getting a good level by lunch time (admittedly a little late at 2:15) things were progressing well. After a very quick lunch it was back to it and we worked through until we'd run out of Perlibeton. A good days work, lets hope I've got the levels correct!

It's only been three weeks since we had the satellite system installed but it feels like we've never been without it. The only problem we've had with the system has been when it rains and boy has it rained this week (nothing new there). The picture breaks up & we have to talk to each other again. Having the radio & TV easily available is great but it's a bit surreal watching North West Tonight with Gordon Burns in south west France. The one thing we forget is the hour difference and have ended up heading for bed at 12:30 thinking it's only 11:30. No good when you have to be up laying floors in the morning.

Brocante & Les Mazieres Fete

What a great time we had at the Les Mazieres fete on Saturday night. We arrived at about 7:30, paid our €30.00 for two tickets and headed for the breeze block built barn where the meal would be served. It was sometime before the meal was served so there was plenty of time for an aperitif and as 4 Stellas & 6 Ricards cost just €15.00 there were one or two consumed. At 9:30 we were all asked to take our seats in the barn & we and the other 400 party goers were served with a clear noodle soup that had the slightest hint of chicken flavour about it. This was followed by half a melon served with Muscat wine in the centre and a main course of pork loin & farse. To accompany the meal there was lots & lots of red, white or rose wine served in large jugs just like the ones we had for school dinners. Cheese was next, Brie & Cantal, a local hard cheese, and this was followed by leaves of lettuce served with a sugar & vinegar dressing. Champagne, ice cream sundaes & coffee brought the meal to an end at about 1:00 in the morning. We sat with Thierry & his wife and some of their friends from around the area who we'd met at his party a couple of weeks ago including an old lady who we were told makes the best foie gras in L'Averyon. One of the French ladies said she always enjoyed these occasions as everyone made the effort to get dressed up & have a shower! There were, as you might have guessed, several English people there, some on holiday and one or two who lived in the area. Amongst the many guests was the old lady who'd lived in our house & had called in last week with her daughter. We went across to talk to her and tried to explain who we were and that we lived in her old home. She'd either had one Ricard too many or was suffering from dementia because we couldn't get her to understand who we were but I suppose it could also be that our French is that bad she didn't understand us. All the waiting on and washing up is done by the young people of the district and they certainly worked hard making the evening one of the most enjoyable we've had since we moved here. We finished the night dancing away to 'Sky Blue', turns out Pierre Gaffeuland, the accordion player, will be playing after the pétanque tournament on Sunday so we'll have to wait for another chance to hear him. We really enjoyed ourselves & were made very welcome and departed for home at about 2:30.

I'm sure everyone was aware that Wednesday 15th August was Assumption day and here in France it's yet another public holiday. It was a nice hot & sunny day so we took the opportunity to have half a day off. There was a brocante in Najac so we spent the morning wandering round the stalls trying to find some bargains. A couple of things caught Barbara's eye, a chandelier & a step ladder. After a little haggling we headed home with both items. It's obvious what the chandelier is for but the ladder is not the sort I'll be clambering up to do a little more hacking out. Barbara has designs on it for a garden ornament which means that the pressure is now on to get the garden a bit more presentable. We made a start with the rotavator Thierry had been kind enough to lend us and turned the area over in front of the house in preparation for seeding it. We had thought with the weather being nice and sunny that we'd be out watering the grass every evening. We shouldn't have worried because on Thursday evening the rain was back with a vengeance and we witnessed one of the best thunderstorms we've seen. Sunday was yet another festival in Najac and we were lucky enough to witness a really spectacular firework display over the château. Sorry I've no photographs, you'll just have to take my word for it.

Meanwhile back at the house things have been moving on. Barbara's been working hard on the garden & I've made a door & with a lot of help from P started some preliminary work in the barn. There's one beam that's rotten at one end and we needed to build a pillar to support it so it was time to swing the sledgehammer & dig out the foundations. Very hot work but at the end of it means that we'll not have to replace the beam & will save ourselves a few Euros. With P here it was also an opportunity to seek his advice on what we were going to do with the barn. We'd got a price from a local builder for opening up the windows and it had come in a little over budget so we were looking for ways to keep the costs down. After a few suggestions and rough sketches we decided to reduce the number of windows and forget putting a third floor in & with each window opening costing €2,400.00 the savings are considerable. We also spent some time working out the best way to fit the first level floor & once again after a great deal of deliberation it was decided we'd fit a lightweight concrete floor. So it was off to the builders merchant for cement, timber, polystyrene & a cement mixer!

Fetes, roofers & brocantes

August is the height of the holiday season in France and which ever way you turn there is an advert for a local fete. Originally I had thought that it was quite a coincidence that the local fetes didn't overlap with each other but apparently each village has an allocated weekend when it can hold an event, consequently it's party week every week during late July & August. All the fetes are heavily advertised with road side banners & signs, some are very professional others, well they're obviously home made but they all have one thing in common. Food! At these events everything revolves around food, whether it's a market selling local produce or a grand gala meal followed by a dance. The one we've been invited to features a disco called 'Sky Blue' & Pierre Gaffeuland an accordion player. Can't imagine they'll be playing many Arctic Monkey or Keane tracks but it's nice to be asked & I'm sure we'll have a great night. I'll report back next week.

Things moved on a little on the Land Rover front this week with Phil, the Land Rover enthusiast we met a couple of weeks ago, having a look at the Lightweight. He was impressed with the condition of the vehicle & said that if I didn't buy it he would. I'm sure he's just saying that but his advise & knowledge were most welcome. While we were looking at the car the garage owner came out & said he was going to have it ready for a test drive this coming Monday. Let's hope he does but as usual when it comes to French tradesman, I'm not holding my breath. Speaking of French tradesman we had hoped to see M. Hugounet the roofer this week but surprise surprise he didn't show up. We were really disappointed as he'd passed a message to us via Thierry that he would start work before his holidays in August and would return & complete the work in early September and until he's been we can't get on with the bedrooms & en-suites. On Tuesday lunchtime we called in to see if he was about but his wife said that he would not return until sometime this evening. We left a message asking if he could get in touch & give us a revised start date. Thursday evening and he's not rang so off we go to catch him before he leaves or his hol's. We get to his house & he's sat on the verandah so there's no avoiding us this time. Ever the polite English we apologise for disturbing him & tell him that we're very disappointed that he hasn't started work & ask when he'll be turning up. He explains that he has a job to finish & that he should be with us on 15th September. Quick as a flash Barbara produces his devis and asks him to write the date down. He does and we we bid him bon vacation & leave him happy in the knowledge that the devis is a binding legal document & we've managed to get him to give us a start date in writing. It's only when we get home & Barbara reads what he's put does she notice the word 'vers'. The translation of vers is 'around'. No wonder he was smiling as we left him!

It's not only the roof we've been waiting for, we've also been without a kitchen sink. Back in early May when we put the kitchen in we've been waiting for a text message from Ikea to say that the sink we'd ordered had come in to stock. Daily checks on their website revealed a distinct lack of kitchen sinks across the whole of France & we were about to make alternative arrangements. I'm sure you're asking why we didn't just go out and buy a sink from another store but as with most things Ikea their kitchen units are a different size to everyone else's & it would have involved us getting a worktop as well. Anyway there I am contently hacking away when Barbara asks if I fancy a trip to Toulouse. She'd been checking the internet and the Toulouse store were showing stock. So Thursday morning at 10:00 we're sat outside Ikea waiting for the store to open. We pick the sink up along with a few candles, something you have to buy when you visit Ikea, have a lovely lunch & head for Brico Depot, a cheap DIY store, in Montauban. It's a bit like an Aladdin's cave and whenever we're passing we call in for cheap tools & materials. This time it's plumbing bits & I'm sure I've got every possibility covered with my shopping list. That sink will be plumbed in & working by 11:00 tomorrow. Every possibility covered? Well not quite all. I had to make a quick dash to M. Bricolage for a waste pipe joint but the sinks installed now and hasn't sprung a leak as yet.

On Wednesday we received some good news from the marie's office. Our plans for the barn had been accepted without any alterations & we can now start work on converting it into a 4 bedroomed house or consider putting it on the market as it stands. We'd been looking forward to the brocante in VDR on Saturday & had arranged to meet G & S there. We had a couple of errands to run so were in the town early and thought it looked fairly quiet considering the fact that there was a brocante on. We parked up easily enough headed off to meet up with G & S. As we're leaving the car park we meet them coming in the opposite direction. 'You really need to brush up on your French' says Sidney. Turns out the brocante was on jeudi and as I'd completely lost track of the date I hadn't realised Saturday wasn't the 10th of August. Ah well we'll just have to wait for the brocante in Najac this coming Wednesday.



PS; We're still struggling with the souris so any suggestions on how we can get rid of them would be appreciated.

Mrs Overall & mice

What a really enjoyable time we had last week with Rebecca here. It gave us the opportunity to visit one or two of the many touristy places in the area. Despite it being Rebecca's last day there was no lie in on Monday. We were expecting the satellite man, but not at 7:45. Fortunately he rang for directions and we had 5 minutes to get ourselves up & dressed. At last we were going to have telly again, I couldn't wait to see who'd been evicted from the house. The installation went well with the dish going exactly where we wanted it. They're always a bit unsightly but I think we've managed to reduce the visual impact to a minimum. Anyway that's the end of the blog this week I'm off to watch the TV Warehouse & the Gospel channels. It's been well worth the wait!

Despite Rebecca returning home on Monday the weather has continued to smile on us and the temperature reached a pretty uncomfortable 39ºC on Saturday afternoon. I'd spent the morning hacking out the far side of the barn thinking that by the time the sun came round I'd be able to work on the second level of scaffolding which would keep me in the shade. Not to be unfortunately and by 2:30 in the afternoon the metal was getting too hot to touch. Barbara had been working away all morning placing large stones round the newly gravelled area and had run out. So in the blazing sun we both go hunting for stones. Definitely a case of mad dogs & Englishmen.

As I'm sat writing this Barbara shouts for me to come outside where's she's watering our newly acquired plants. We have visitors, it's one of the ladies who used to live in the house & her two daughters. They were driving past & thought they'd have a look at what had happened to her old home. We asked her if she'd like to have a look inside and when she walked through the door she nearly fell over. There'd been some big changes since she'd moved out, walls knocked down, kitchen moved, stove fitted, WC fitted and a staircase installed. She was also surprised by the stone 'sink' we'd exposed when the plaster had been removed prior to the walls being finished with crepe. She said it wasn't a sink and that it was used to hold fire ashes and cure ham in. I think she was very impressed with what we've done and we asked her to come back & visit once the new roof was on and we'd finished building the bedrooms. From her reaction I'm sure she'll be back.

For the last few days we've had a very small unwelcome visitor. Mickey's little nephew had escaped from Euro Disney & turned up in Lagarrigue. Barbara was hot foot to Mrs Overall's to purchase a mouse trap. 'Mrs Overall's' is the local shop where despite it's petite size you seem to be able to purchase anything. The owner, a lady in her mid 80's, always wears an overall & has more than a passing resemblance to the Julie Walters character in Acorn Antiques, consequently the shop is now always referred to as Mrs Overall's. There were no traps on display so Barbara asked for a 'souris trap'. Confusion followed as Mrs Overall headed off into the back of the shop & returned with an electric mixer. After a few more hand gestures & pointing at cheese a fellow shopper realised what she was after and a souricière was located. French mice are obviously fairly clever as this one has managed to remove the chocolate we left on the trap without activating it. Think we're going to have to revert to plan B and put some poison down or plan C, get a chat. During the week M. Guilbert's son in law had removed his cows from our field and had turned up the next day & cut the grass. It only took 30 minutes and he said he'd bring the vache back in September when the grass has grown to a reasonable length. He was also pleased to tell me that he'd killed 2 serpants while cutting the grass & as the main food of the Couleuvre d’Esculape are small mammals we may see one or two souris about.

Finally got round to doing a couple of things I promised I'd do when we moved to France. Cycle to the boulanger & buy some croissants and try some French country wine. The ride to the boulanger was easy enough, it's only a couple of kilometres away and the morning was nice and cool, so I decided I'd do a few more K's and headed down into Najac. Going was great, climbing back up the hill laden down with 2 very heavy croissants was a real struggle. I'm sure they were heavy & it wasn't my lack of fitness. Although only costing €1.30 per litre & dispensed into a plastic 5 litre drum from what looked like a petrol pump the wine was very drinkable, probably too much so, and I'm sure we'll be visiting the wine merchant again soon.

Scandal in Najac Sunday market this week when one of the traders was reported for over charging. He was spoken to by a gendarme, who no doubt was on overtime for working on a Sunday, and warned that he must display the prices of his cheese. He'd tried to charge one of the local residents €15.00 for a small piece of the local fromage. Sounds all too familiar!

Cahors, Le Tour & Rebecca

One thing I forgot to mention about the party last week was how polite everyone was. Without exception all the men shake hands on meeting and all the ladies give each other, and the men, three kisses on the cheek. I can't remember the last time I was kissed by so many young ladies. Probably never come to think of it. The other noticeable thing was that all the young ones attending the party smoked and the older ones didn't. Smoking in all public places, including cafés, bars and restaurants, is banned from next February and it's going to be really interesting to see what the reaction of the French people will be.

It's been a busy week with a trip to Toulouse to meet Rebecca, M. Lagarrigue turning up, bit of landscaping, a big surprise in Cahors and just a little progress on the Land Rover front. We experienced the French rail system for the first time on Tuesday when we took a train down to Toulouse to meet Rebecca. It started off well with the train only a few minutes late it was only when we came to buy the tickets from the guard that it looked like things may not go completely to plan. We asked for a day return to Toulouse and were originally told that we couldn't buy a return ticket on the train & would have to purchase single. We acted the dumb English couple (wasn't hard) and after a few shrugs the guard was able to find a way round the problem. She did explain that it would have been much cheaper to have payed for the tickets at the station or booked on line. I couldn't resit seeing how much we would have saved - €1.57! We spent a couple of hours wandering round Toulouse, a beautiful city and well worth a visit, had a spot of lunch & headed back to the station. Rebecca who was on the train from Marseilles having spent a few days with Alan's mum & husband. It was really great to see her and we were able to jump on the next train back to Najac and catch up with what's been going on her life.

Whilst we're in VDR stocking up with food for Rebecca's visit Thierry rang to say M. Lagarrigue was on his way and would be starting work this PM. So it was a quick dash round Hyper U and back to await his arrival. At just before 2:00 he arrived with three machines and after a quick re-cap of what we wanted him to do he was on with the job. It wasn't long before things started to take shape & watching him making the JCB 'dance' made me think we'd made the right decision in getting him to do the hard landscaping for us. Can you imagine what damage I would have done with that machine? By Friday the jobs finished and it's now up to Barbara & I to do a bit of 'soft' landscaping so I think it'll be a visit to the local garden centre once Rebecca has gone home on Monday. These before & after pic's really make us feel like we're eventually getting somewhere.

The weather has been beautiful this week, must be because Rebecca's with us, so Friday we planned to do a little sightseeing with her. We'd passed through Cahors a couple of times but never stopped to have a look round so what better place to head for. It's about 1 hour away and after a late breakfast we got there just before 12:00. 'Seems very busy there must be something on' Barbara says as we hunt for a parking space on the outskirts of the city. We're really lucky as someone pulls away & we make a quick reversing manoeuvre much to the disgust of the driver of larger BMW 4x4. As we wander across the bridge over The Lot it soon became clear what was going on. Le Tour is in town! I had wanted to see the race when it was in Albi but had thought it would be far too busy and we wouldn't get anywhere near the action. I couldn't believe our luck, we arrive at 12:15 get a brilliant viewpoint and the riders pass at 12:30! A text to Matthew informing him that we were watching Le Tour brought the following response 'Try & stop one of them and pick up half an ounce for me. The best one to ask will be the one at the front wearing the yellow shirt & isn't breaking in to a sweat'. When you see all the effort that goes in to the event it would be such a shame if if it were to be cancelled because of the actions of a few & having seen all those bikes I couldn't resist dusting off mine and having a spin on Sunday afternoon. Think it's going to be along time before I'll be joining them, unless of course I get some of that stuff they all seem to take!

I've mentioned before that Albi is a good place to visit and especially on a Saturday morning when there's a brocante on. We had a good wander about but I think we were a little too late for the bargains. Either that or I haven't got an eye for a bargain & keep thinking of Harry Enfield's character 'I Saw You Coming'. We had a nice lunch by the cathedral & headed back to meet up with G & S who had just returned from the UK. Rebecca was given a guided tour and was most impressed with their home especially the excellent job that has been done on the painting. So much so that I think we'll end up with a few jobs back in Ealing when we spend a few days with her & Alan in October. Sunday it was a very quick visit to St Antonin-Noble-Val because as Rebecca said 'it's busier than Oxford Street on the Saturday before Christmas'. Don't think we'll be back for several weeks. It's been great having Rebecca here and we'll be sorry to see her go, not least of all because we'll have to get back to work.

Baccalaureate party & biscuits

Since we got back from the UK last week the weather has been a little more like you would expect in south west France. It's only rained on one day & we've only had one thunderstorm and that was in the middle of the night. Let's hope the weather's now set for the rest of July & August. We put the scaffolding to good use this week and were able to finish hacking out one side of the barn & it looks like I'll have finished just in time. We had a phone call from Thierry this week to say M. Lagarrigue, the contractor we had asked to do the drive, will be making an appearance early next week. It will mean that all the debris we have accumulated from knocking walls down & hacking out will finally disappear and the land surrounding the house will finally loose the appearance of a building site. Thierry also mentioned that he hadn't heard anything from the owner of the Landrover but the garage had said I wasn't to worry about the Lightweight going as there was no one else interested in it!

On Wednesday M. Mazieres turned up with his facture or at least that's who I thought it was. Turns out he lives in a village called Mazieres & his business, SARL Mazieres Renovo, is named after it. His name is difficult to pronounce so he says it's easier if we call him by his first name, Thierry. A popular name out here & one we'll be sure to use on Saturday night. Barbara was out and had the cheque book so he invited us over to his house for an aperitif and, if the sun was still shining, we could have a dip in his pool. It wasn't by the time we got there but we were able to have a look round his home and all the work he's done to it. It's in a beautiful setting and he's made a good job of renovating what was a derelict house & barn. Sounds familiar. We're looking forward to Saturday night and as long as he keeps his Doberman, who's called Gordon, locked up I'm sure we'll enjoy ourselves. A strange name for a French Doberman you may ask. He's named after his wife's favourite drink, G & T.

Barbara had mentioned that when she'd called in to La Fouillade during the week to pick up the obligatory baguette she'd heard music playing. Now it was either the relaxed lifestyle we were now leading, that was quickly ruled out, or piped music was being played across the village for some reason. On Saturday we found out why. The annual book fair was in progress and the music was blaring away interrupted by regular adverts for the event. There were lots of local authors selling their books but there was no sign of that other major book launched this week. J K Rowling obviously felt that the success of her latest publication did not hinge on a personal appearance at the 10th annual 'Du Livre E De La Bd' in La Fouillade.

What a great night we had on Saturday at the celebration party for Thierry's daughters success in passing her baccalaureate. We were made very welcome and even got a mention in her thank you speech. There was a real mix of ages with her friends from college, grandparents and friends & neighbours of her mother & father all mixing with each other and enjoying the food & wine, of which there were lots. We arrived about 7:30 and were given a glass of Thierry's speciality, a fruit punch made with oranges, passion fruit, liquid sugar & white rum. There was also plates of canopies being handed round and by the time it came to sit down for the meal at 9:00 I wished I hadn't indulged in the nibbles quite so much. The French really do know how to entertain in an informal way and it was midnight by the time we were getting round to the final course, home made fresh fruit salad. It was a good opportunity to practice our French & a couple of other guests complimented Barbara on her efforts with the language. Nobody complimented me! There was a real mix of people there, a man who used to work for Kraft Foods and visited England regularly, the owner of an organic & fairtrade biscuit manufacturer who wanted to know which UK companies would be interested in his products. He pulled his ears forward and told us, in a pronounced English accent, that his major competitor was Charles (Prince) and felt the British market would be a difficult one to crack. You can judge for yourself HERE. There was also a couple, she was French & had met her husband in the UK and had lived there for over 30 years and moved back to France 5 years ago. Her husband was English and had been a TV set designer. He was also in the midst of restoring an old Range Rover and turned out to be a Land Rover enthusiast. We had a good chat and he offered to come with me & give the Lightweight the once over. If that was not enough he was also a mad Apple computer fan. This could turn out to be an expensive night out.

Bit of a lie in on Sunday after a very late night on Saturday but we still made it to the market in St. Antonin-Noble-Val. It was a glorious morning and the market was as busy as we'd seen it. Rebecca is here next week & I think we'll be paying a return visit.

Wildlife, Land Rovers & Manchester

We've had a lot of wildlife around this week, some welcome some not. I'm sure my regular readers have picked up on my aversion to serpants and this week my phobia was not helped when I nearly stood on one of them. I'd been clearing out an area of garden so the builder could point the wall and must have disturbed it. Fortunately I had my armour plated wellies on and I was able to take evasive action as it slithered off in to the cellar. I had planned to clear that cellar out this week but think I'll now wait until October when it will have hibernated. For those interested in the local wildlife it was the same snake I'd seen before and was non venomous, phew! We also had this lovely looking creature in the wood store. Needless to say Barbara was keen to see it removed to the far end of the field. Two other visitors were a bit more welcome. M. Guilbert's son-in-law called in to see if we'd like a couple of vache to keep the grass down. Sounded like a great idea so he said he'd set up an electric fence to keep them in and they'd be delivered in a couple of days. He left us a brochure detailing the high quality of meat the animals were used to produce and you can find more details of 'Averyon & Ségala Veal' HERE. We've been invited round to his farm to have a look round so it could be a while before calves liver or veal make it on to the menu at Chez Hill again.

The pointing was finished on Thursday just as we left to fly back to the UK. It really does look great and we're both delighted with the work that's been done. Once the roof is on, and it still looks like work will start the first week in August, the externals of the house will be complete. It's been really interesting working with the builder and we've got on very well. He says his English has improved dramatically, I just wish I could say the same about my French. We'll get an opportunity to put what little we know in to practice this coming Saturday when we attend the builder's daughter's baccalaureate celebration party. We should be OK as his next door neighbour is English & he has a couple of friends who also speak pretty good English. One of them regularly calls at the house next door and on his last visit when it was throwing down said that there were now so many English in the area that we'd brought our own weather with us. Cheeky bugger!

We met up with the owner of the Land Rover Lightweight this week. He's a local Gendarme and with Thierry's help we were able to glean lots of information from him. It only has 12,000 kms on the clock and everything on it is original. A real collectors item that I'm not sure I can do justice to but it would make a great tow car. I had hoped that we could do a bit of wheeling & dealing but I didn't think talking to a Gendarme about a cash deal was the right thing to do. We've arranged a test drive next week so we'll see how it handles and make a decision then. While on the subject of cars we had the Toyota serviced this week and what a bargain it was. €132.00 for a full service and although they didn't clean & valet it we felt it was a real result considering it was carried out by a Toyota authorised dealer.

We were back in the UK this weekend for a wedding and what a great time we had and although the weather was a little wet, it was Manchester after all, the wedding went really well with the sun shining at all the right times. It was great opportunity to catch up with friends and family and we really made the most of the weekend with a trip to the dentist, a visit to the Trafford Centre where we bumped in to Nita, good job we told her we were back in the UK, and a day in Blackpool visiting Barbara's mum & sisters. We called in to Cafe Nero whilst we were at the Trafford Centre and discovered where Peter Kay gets his material. in front of us in the cue were two senior citizens who had obviously not visited a coffee shop before. Barbara had picked up a packet of crisps to go with her sandwich and one of the ladies nearly passed out when she saw the price. 'You want to get yourself down Asda love, you'd get a packet of 12 for that price' and it got even funnier when they ordered the cheapest coffee on the menu, an espresso. 'What do you call this we wanted proper drinks not a thimble full!' The staff were really helpful and topped their drinks up with hot water and sent them on their way chuntering about Americanas!!!

Thanks to Ian & Joyce for a really good weekend and making us feel very welcome & relaxed. Ta!

Jazz, crepes & tractors

Last Sunday we were out for a meal at the local crêperie. The menu is extensive and as long as you like crêpes there's something for everyone. With it being one of the rare decent evenings we've had since we arrived here we decided to eat alfresco. It would have been great had the restaurant not been located next to the river and the balmy evening hadn't brought out all the local midges. The restaurant has live jazz music and the evening went with a real swing (apologies for the mixed music genres).

Been having withdrawal systems from TV for the last few weeks so have taken the plunge and sorted out satellite TV. Not going as far as installing Sky but we'll be able to get all the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 & Five so it'll be just like having Freeview and apart from the cost of installation it's free for us as well. We just have to wait now until 30th July to see what's happening on 'The Street!'

M. Mazieres has made excellent progress with the pointing and the outside of the house is now looking as good as the inside. There's still about another weeks work to be done and after spending Saturday morning erecting the scaffold, I finally managed to finish off the hacking out of the house just before my hacking out pick expired. In between running back & forth with the mortar I made a start on hacking out the barn but after working on the top of the scaffolding I began to have second thoughts about pointing the it. I think Barbara & I would struggle to erect a safe platform and as I'm not all that good at heights anyway I think we may be keeping M. Mazieres telephone number handy. So tomorrow it's another 7:00 start and a continued loss of beauty sleep for Babs.

On Wednesday we had a trip in to VDR to have a family haircut in preparation for our trip back to the UK & another wedding we're attending. Hair wasn't the only thing we had to organise the cutting of. As part of our plans for landscaping the land surrounding the barn & house we want to develop a lawned area. I'd spent a lot of time strimming it as you've read and now the time had come to purchase a lawn mower and as we'll eventually be looking at an area of approximately 3,000 sq' metres of grass we weren't looking for a small hover mower. After much deliberation we settled on a small ride on tractor mower and started the process of haggling for a better price. We don't have much luck and when the shop assistant says there's a €45.00 delivery charge Barbara nearly passes out. 'We're spending all this money and you're asking us to pay for delivery?' Obviously he could sense that he was about to lose the business and agreed to reduce it to €20.00. 'It's more than my job's worth to do it for free'. Sounds just like the UK and yes he could speak very good English. The mower was delivered the next day and it must be the first time ever that I couldn't wait to mow the lawn. After making some comment to Barbara about boys & their toys M. Mazieres asked me which was the Englishman's lawn? Bearing in mind that his land is next to our very rough meadow and he seeded his lawn there is no comparison. 'It will be along time before you can play cricket on that' was his opinion.

Couple of bits of good news this week. The roofer is planning to turn up the first week in August and work for a couple of weeks before he departs for his holidays. He will make the roof weather proof which means we'll be able to start building the bedroom & en-suite walls. Looks like our planned camping holiday to south of France is cancelled. I also found out that the Landrover Lightweight is definitely up for sale. I asked Thierry to give the owner a call and enquire about the price. That's when the news wasn't quite so good. As I said last week second hand cars in France bring ridiculous prices and I think it's going to take a significant amount of wheeling & dealing to get the asking price down to a figure we can do business at.

Curry, pointing & early start builders

Barbara had hoped that at least on Monday she'd be able to have a lie in but it wasn't to be. Just before 8:00 we're woken by the sound of next door's front door being knocked down by a couple of men with sledge hammers. Turns out it's our neighbour's builders who have forgotten to bring a key with them & they don't appear that impressed when I turn up with a key just as they brake the door down. The builders are the same company that did a lot of work for G & S and are ran by a Englishman so when it comes time for a tea break & they need water there's no problem understanding them. They'd brought a mini digger with them but no matter how big a hint I dropped they didn't offer to lend it me for a couple of hours. Just imagine what damage, sorry I mean progress, I could make with it.

As promised at just before 7:00 am on Tuesday M. Mazieres, the builder, arrived to start the pointing. It would appear that at last we've found a reliable tradesman. There's no time for a morning brew and it's straight on with the first batch of lime/cement/sand mix. With me labouring and hoisting fresh mix up the scaffold good progress is made and by 12:30 the first section has had the mortar applied and it now has to be left to dry. So off goes the builder for a siesta and says he'll be back at 4:00 to brush off the excess mortar. Watching the builder work it doesn't look that difficult a job so maybe when it comes to the barn we'll invest in some scaffolding and have a go ourselves! By Thursday the upper half of the front of the house is completed and we have time to pop in to the market in VDR. There's a stall that sells every herb & spice you can imagine and as I'm planning on making two traditional English dishes for supper on Saturday night a visit to the stall is essential. We're having Chicken tikka masala and, as there is so much locally grown fresh fruit available at amazingly cheap prices, summer pudding. It's going to be a real treat having a curry as, I think I've said before, Indian takeaways are few and far between in France. In order that we get the right spices I'd gone through the French/English dictionary and made a note of the French names on the shopping list. Despite many of the ingredients having the same names but different spellings the pronunciation is completely different. So much so that in the end the stall holder asks for my list and works through it correcting the French grammar and filling in the gaps.

I mentioned last week that Iggy's dad's son in law was going to come and cut the grass in our field. Turns out that he'd called last week but after doing only half a length of the field had felt there were too many stones and that his equipment would be damaged. Ah well back to plan B and utilising the strimmer that I still had on loan. We're not the only ones who refer to our neighbour, M. Guilbert, as Iggy's dad. When I was talking to the builder he said that he felt 'Iggy's Pop' was struggling with all the English in the hamlet & wished he was young enough to learn some English.

The weather has been really mixed and although we've had yet more rain it's been nothing compared with Sheffield and surrounding areas and at least we've been able to get on with working on the pointing & painting. By Friday the front of the house was finished and it was time to move the scaffold to the gable end and remove the top portion of render & the chimney. Normally I'm OK with heights but when you're climbing up the side of the scaffold with a sledge hammer to knock the chimney down & it begins to sway in the very light wind you hold on very tightly. The view from the top of the scaffold is fantastic but I only have time for a quick look as the top part of the chimney comes down a lot easier than expected & I'm able to get straight on with more hacking out. By the end of Saturday all the render is off and the bottom half of the chimney is consigned to the rubble heap. Now it's time for a well earned curry & rice.

Had time on Sunday for a spin out on the bike & despite doing more physical work than I've ever done it's still a struggle. Didn't do too many miles but found some very pretty hamlets nearby and it made me think I really should make the effort to get out more when time allows. Since the demise of the Merc I've been watching out for a replacement. I called in to the local garage for some petrol for the strimmer and noticed he had an old Mitsubishi 4 wheel drive for sale. It was quite a few years old but, according to the sticker on the window, had a new engine fitted recently. It would make an ideal tow car and would mean that we could get the trailer back on the road. There was no price on the window so I asked the garage owner what he wanted for the car. '4,000 Euros' he replied without even the slightest smile on his face so I took it he was being serious. It's no wonder there are fields of second hand cars all over France. At that sort of price I can't believe they ever sell any. I'll just have to keep on looking in the hope that a bargain will come along soon.

Strimming, Sauveterre de Rouergue & Limogues

Well this week starts much like the last one...hacking out! It must seem as if we're hacking out a building the size of the Empire State, although sometimes if feels like we are, it really is only a small French house. The weather had really hotted up at the beginning of the week and labouring away in the blazing sun meant we were building up a good old sweat and, hopefully, the pounds were dropping off us. Since the sand & lime were delivered last Friday we hadn't seen the builder and as the 15 days were up on Thursday we had decided to give him a call on Saturday. We'd needn't have panicked as on Friday afternoon he arrived with a large cement mixer and said he'd be starting work on Tuesday morning at 7:00. Don't think Barbara was too impressed with the time but the fact that it would be another job crossed off the list made up for the loss of beauty sleep.

On Tuesday we called in to the Maire's office, and what a nice office it is as you can see from the picture it, with our plans. We half expected to be quizzed about what we had in mind but as it turned out all the staff (and there are a lot of them for a village with a population of only 1,800) were having computer lessons. It's good to know that our tax d'habitation is being spent well. We left the plans with fingers crossed that they wouldn't get mislaid and we'd hear something before the office closed for the annual holidays at the end of July. We got back to the house just in time to see M. & Mme. Guilbert arrive with their daughter. They'd called by to explain why their son-in-law hadn't been able to cut the field. It didn't really need much explanation, it's not been dry enough! Their daughter's English was very good and she said that her own daughter was now learning English at school & she was really enjoying helping her with her homework. She went on to say that when she was at school she'd been on an English exchange to Blackpool. We told her that Barbara's mum lived in Blackpool and that it probably hadn't changed that much since she was there. It's still a sophisticated resort where visitors dress in kiss-me-quick hats & enjoy the best pleasure beach in the world. A world apart from rural France.

With the weather hotting up the grass has started to grow and once again it's time to get the strimmer out. Ever since I bought it it's been a little unreliable and as I don't seem to have much luck with second hand machinery I'm always slightly pessimistic. Things didn't improve when no sooner had I made a start than the dammed thing cut out & couldn't be restarted. Frustrated that it looked like I was going to have a wasted day I decided to take it back to the shop where I'd bought it and have a few words with them as it had already, according to them, been fully repaired. On arrival I have the wind taken out of my sails when the shop owner offers to lend me a new strimmer while he sorts mine out. Can't complain at that especially as the machine he lends me is much bigger than mine. Think it's time to return home and make the most of the loan machine & do a bit of intensive strimming. All goes well until I see something move very quickly, fortunately in the opposite direction, as I approach with the strimmer. I'm not sure who was the most scared me or the Couleuvre d’Esculape or Elaphe longissima snake. I had thought that the dead snake we'd seen on the road last week was the only local inhabitant of the species but I guess that was being a tad optimistic.

The week has flown by and it's Thursday again & time to take Beryl back to the airport. She's been really blessed with the weather & had a nice relaxing time with us. As I'm filling the car with petrol in preparation for the journey to Limogues a lorry driver beckons to me for help. The filling station we use is fully automated and there are no staff on site & the Greek driver must think I'll be able to translate the French instructions for him. I'm able to help him & walk away thinking 'at last, someone who speaks less French than me'. It's a good journey and we have time to call in to a motorway services for lunch. These are not to be confused with British ones where you can only buy litre cups of coffee & KFC's, these are French ones that serve a range of good quality meals at a fraction of British prices and are all offered with a choice of wine or beer! It's always a good idea to forgot the alcohol when you're concentrating on getting out of the way of your average French Autoroute driver who travels at speeds in excess of 150Km/H.

Saturday afternoon and time for a little R & R. We've been before but thought it was time to visit Sauveterre de Rouergue again. Click HERE for further information. It's one of nine of the '100 most beautiful villages in France' located in the Averyon, Najac is another. We were lucky as there was a medieval festival on with the village inhabitants dressed in period costume, although I suppose they could dress like that all the time. There were several arts & crafts stalls selling baskets, pottery & jewellery, there always seems to be lots of jewellery stalls at these type of events, wonder if it's because all their wares can be thrown in the back of the car for easy transportation. Lot easier than having to pack away dozens of wood carvings & baskets.

Mercedes, Albi & Toulouse-Lautrec

Babs was up and away early on Monday morning leaving me with instructions not to go up the scaffold until she returned. My darling ever caring wife was off to VDR for a hard hat. She obviously knows how accident prone I can be & doesn't want to be rushing off to hospital with me in tow. By 11:00 she's back with two lovely hard hats and I'm allowed to get on with hacking out (is it 'B' for boss or Babs?). I think it's fair to say that by the end of the week I'll be well hacked off with hacking out but it has to be done. By Wednesday you can really see the results of all our hard work & it's been well worth the effort. It's just as well we're making reasonable progress as the architect turns up with the revised plans for the barn & we now have to submit them to the local Maire. We can then begin work on the barn!!!

We're having a royal visit this week from Beryl, Barbara's mum, and on Thursday we're off to Limoges to pick her up. Beryl lives in Blackpool and up until a couple of weeks ago Ryanair had a flight from there to Stansted that linked up perfectly with the Rodez flight. Rumour has it that Blackpool airport authority saw how busy the flights were and decided to up the landing fees. In typical Ryanair style they said you can stuff your increased fees and pulled the flight. Let's hope one side comes to their senses and the flight is reinstated, in the meantime it's off to Limoges for us. It fits in quite well as I've arranged to collect the bike mount off the tow bar on the Merc that I was unable to remove before it was collected last week & the garage is just north of Figeac which is on one of the routes we can take to Limoges. The garage owner has said he'll leave the part in the back of my old car which he'll park up just off the road. What a sorry site it makes when we get there with all the carpets gone, back seats removed and door panels missing. It almost makes me want to give him his money back, but not quite.

Although we've passed Limoges a number of times it's the first time we'll have been in to the city. Well as it turns out we don't get to see much of the town as the airport is well to the west and by the time we get there Beryl's flight is due in 20 minutes, good timing. I was expecting an airport of a similar size to Rodez but it turns out to be much bigger with UK flights from Manchester, East Midlands, Newcastle, Stansted & Liverpool amongst others which must explain the number of British cars in the car park. I know on occasions I can be given to slight exaggeration but there were more British registered cars there than you'd find on the average Saturday at the Trafford Centre! We know of someone who flies in to Limoges regularly and on one occasion he'd stopped counting GB plates when he got to 144. Once in the airport a quick check on the arrivals board shows Beryl's flight is delayed by 2 hours and is now due to land a 5:05. Ah well, time to catch up with the news and there's lots of English newspapers available to choose from. At least we don't have as much time to idle away as the couple we sat next to in the café. They'd missed their flight and would be sat about the airport until the next flight to Stansted which was at 10:00 the following morning. The flight arrives at just after 5:00 and Beryl is the first off looking well & remarkably fresh considering she's been on the go since 6:00 this morning. She obviously pleased to see us both and we hit the road for the drive back and her first viewing of Lagarrigue. As we near the house we can see lightening in the distance and there's rain in the air. We manage to get in the house as the heavens open and there's the biggest downpour and thunderstorm we've witnessed since we arrived. Despite the appalling weather Beryl is well impressed with what we've done and quickly relaxes in to the French way of life with a glass of red wine and a cheese baguette.

Friday we get a rude awakening when a lorry pulls up just after 7:30 with a delivery of sable & chaux in preparation of starting the pointing. We spend a leisurely morning showing Beryl around the local area and in the afternoon we head over to VDR. It's like being on your holidays & I'm getting withdrawal symptoms from not hacking out for a couple of days, what a waste of money those hard hats were. Saturday is another day spent on 'our hol's' with a day in Albi the birth place of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Click HERE for more details of the town and the painter responsible for such titles as 'Woman Pulling up her Stocking', 'The Toilette' and my favourite 'Two Half-Naked Women Seen from behind in the Rue des Moulins Brothel'.

Back to the real world and a little hacking out when we return home while Beryl 'rests' from the days activities. Sunday we can't resist a trip to the market in St. Antonin-Noble-Val where we know Beryl will enjoy wandering around the food & craft stalls. In the afternoon it's a little furniture removing duties as we help G & S move some of their furniture to the house in Mazarolles. It's really coming together for them and they're really looking forward to spending their first night in the house.