w/c 22 January 2007

Monday 22nd and a bit of a disaster after I posted the blog yesterday. Caught the car's exhaust and damaged the catalytic converter. Looks like it's going to be expensive. Final day of Paul's help for now so we were up & out early & call at the local garage for an estimate to repair the car; Ouch!! With a joist to patch and floorboards to plane and screw into place we make a good start but have to make a quick dash to VDR (nothing new there) for some more screws and to get the chainsaw sharpened again. It's worth it as the saw makes light(ish) work of cutting the joist. Arranged for the electrician to call and give us an estimate for the electric work, he'll call on Thursday. Called at Ian & Vilia's for a little help speaking to the roofer we have organised to replace the roof. Originally he'd said he could do the job in March/April. Hopefully with the good weather we've had recently he may be able to do it earlier. We'll wait and see. Tuesday 23rd and what a change in the weather. Last week we were sitting out for lunch with a high of 17º, today it's down to -6º C and snow is in the air. Only a couple of hours work today as we're taking Paul & Caroll to the airport. By the time we leave at 1:00pm the snow is getting heavier and we make slow progress to Rodez, let's hope the flight's not cancelled. Unfortunately the flight's on time and we have to let P & C go home and continue the project without their expert help. The last 3 weeks have been hectic and we've done a lot of hard work. Thanks for all the help and see you on the piste at the end of February, I'll be ready for a nice relaxing holiday. It's a slow trip back to Najac & with the snow continuing to fall we're looking forward to a nice warm house. Wednesday 24th and never got above -2º C. Is this the same place that was 40º C last July? Well wrapped up & with a flask of hot tea we head off to the house to measure up for the electrics. We've arranged with Sidney, another friend from England who speaks French, to help us out when the electrician calls tomorrow. So it's round to his house to go through things with him and then back to P & C's house to draw up the plans. Not physical work but it takes us two & half hours to plan where the sockets, lights, switches etc. are to go. Thursday 25th and still pretty darn cold. Got on with a few minor jobs this morning; removing the old wiring & nails from the roof joists on the first floor, filling the screws heads in on the floorboards & keeping warm! Good meeting with the electrician, he was really impressed with my drawings! Although he didn't comment on my French translation of electrical terms; a 2 way switch is a 'Interrupter va-et-vient' and a 'Prise De Courant' is a power outlet, not bad eh? With Sidney's help M Regourd said he would have a devis to us by the end of next week. I'm sure that'll make good reading with the help of my dictionary of French building terms. We'd also arranged for a wood burning stove supplier to visit this afternoon and give us an estimate. Barbara had just finished cleaning up when he arrived. He assessed what was required by removing a grill at the bottom of the chimney, it's contents of many years emptying on to the recently cleaned floor. Glad is wasn't me! Anyone know if Dick Van Dyke is still cleaning chimneys & will visit France? Friday 26th and now it's even colder, -7º C, and I don't think this was what Barbara had in mind when we discussed moving to the South of France. It's to cold to work so we check out the local building suppliers for plaster board and stud partitioning then it's back to house, after the obligatory 2 hour lunch, to measure up. We'll collect what we need tomorrow morning and hopefully make a start in the afternoon. Off to a Burns night tonight and a bit of networking. A Burns night in France? Saturday 27th and a bit of a surreal experience last night. Having a haggis cooked by an Irish woman paraded round an English tea room by a Scotsman, in kilt & all the trimmings, and with translations into French for the 6 local residents it all seemed a little un-real. Good night out but not much achieved in the way of networking. Minus 10.5º C at 10:00 this morning so it was a quick dash to VDR to collect the placo (plasterboards). Called in at the chainsaw sharpening man on the way back to see what he wanted for the second-hand strimmer I spotted earlier in the week. Try to ask the price in French only for him to answer in English but with an American accent. Turns out he's Iranian, was taught English by Americans & his brother lives in the USA. He went on to say that a lot of his customers are English & his daughter is studying to become an English teacher. Sure M. Chirac will be impressed! Called to see I & V for help in writing out our first French cheques and ended up helping him paint the landing. Don't feel to bad now asking for help with translations. Sunday 28th and not quite so cold so cleared the barn out, tidied up the house in preparation for building the stud partition wall and spent the afternoon at Gilly's doing some odd jobs.

Have posted a few photographs at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Airbourneuk/LagarrigueProgress Hope the link works this time.