Fluffy Bits and Damp Squibs

A lovely evening on the site

Come out, come out whoever you are!

I have to say I am amazed and stupefied that the ramblings (disguised as a blog) of a middle-aged female builder’s labourer  has had over 5,200 views (5,263 to be precise but who’s counting)!  I am not so naïve to think they are all avid readers, probably 4,999 are visits from surfers who have misinterpreted some of my blog titles, such as ‘Tits and Old Bones, Kerb Crawlers and Short and Curlies’ had a quick glance realised it didn’t meet their needs and left very disappointed.  Sorry about that! I have only 12 signed up members and another handful who I know are reading the blog. I constantly get  hits from the United States as well as other more obscure locations. Being the nosey parker that I am, if you are reading the blog I would love to know who, where and why?  If you are shy and  don’t want to come right out of the closet and close the door behind you (by becoming a member) just poke your nose a little way round the door and drop me an email at deborahmathias@yahoo.co.uk to satisfy my curiosity.  Be brave, come and say hello and put me out of my misery.

I'm Rankled

Monday morning found us once again buying electrical supplies.  All the way through the build I have just handed over the bank card or signed a cheque without much thought to it being real money leaving the coffers.  We needed it, so we bought it.  However, for some reason it is irking me to be spending so much on electrical materials and I am not sure why.  One length of cable alone cost 260€ today.  At this rate I will have no money left for the fluffy, pretty bits.  Perhaps that is the reason I am peeved.  I have always pictured the finish of the build with cushions, curtains and pictures whereas the LGB sees an empty plastered room.  All the money spent on electrics and plumbing will be hidden (I hope) behind plaster boards so we won’t see what our expenditure has bought.  It is all far more essential than the fluffy bits I know but it still rankles! 
  

But is it art?

The Tardis and the Tea Urn

The LGB has been working on yet another shower.  This time we have a water heater as we can no longer heat our water with the sunshine on the garden hose.  As a temporary measure the LGB has hung the heater on the wall in the dining room.  We had a French electrician come round to advise us on some things and he didn’t even bat an eyelid at the boiler adorning the wall in the salle à manger!  I can only assume he has either seen it all before, thinks it is a huge tea urn (Brits do like their cuppa), thinks it is a piece of modern artwork or he thinks the English are raving loonies!  Answers on a postcard.  The shower cubicle is on loan from the Old Bones on Bikes and is nestled in the corner of the dining room looking like a phone booth or Dr Who’s tardis.  When the LGB came to fit the toilet he was a little disheartened to find the cistern doesn’t line up with the fixing holes.  Pack it all back in the box!

Sorry, you must have the wrong number.

When the clock strikes three...

everything stops for tea!

It’s a good job the French don’t celebrate Guy Fawkes night because there would only be damp squibs here. No rockets or firecrackers for us, we watched a DVD tonight, Monday, but will have to watch the second half again because we couldn’t hear it for the rain!  It is still raining, I am still peeling snails and slugs from the side of the caravan, chucking out creepy crawlies (okay, the LGB is chucking out the creepy crawlies), mopping water from the awning floor and in charge of emptying the loo.  All a bit déjà vu isn’t it. 
  

                              

                                        Spot the snail top right after a quick cuppa!

 

Some friends, Jane and David, popped round today.  They haven’t been here since the summer.  It always gives me a little boost when people are surprised at the progress because sometimes the build can seem to stand still for us when there are no huge developments.

Tuesday night we were in bed by eight thirty entwined like our frisky slugs (read the older post).  Nothing romantic you understand it was just an effort to get warm.  If we could have fitted into the same pair of pyjamas for extra warmth we would have done so.  With me as the LGB's belly warmer, him snuggled up behind me, I felt like I had gone to bed wearing a ruck sack. Crikey, it doesn’t bode well for when the really cold weather comes, does it?
 

The insulated plaster boards have been ordered and will be delivered on Monday.  I have no idea where we are going to put them.  I have been mooching about since our return from the UK but that is about to change and it will be full on again soon.  Oh joy!

Hear Ye!  Hear Ye!

A momentous development on site today.  You’d think the LGB was  JLB, John Logie Baird himself (more like Yogi Bear) because he has the television up and running.  He has torn Kevin away from his electrical duties to set it up.  Would you believe he is watching football?  Kevin has kindly loaned us a television but as it is the size of a small car I objected to it being in the caravan, it was me or the TV.  It was a scary moment when he hesitated before agreeing to putting it in the house!  The LGB said it would be cold watching it in the house.  I have told him to pretend he is actually at the football ground and dress up nice and warm armed with a pint and a pie.  Sorted!

All ready for the rugby Six Nations