Tits and Old Bones!

Wednesday 9^th May – The LGB’s birthday.  We were awake on and off with the rain last night and enjoying a cup of tea and a read at  5 am. Still, it was a good start to the birthday boy’s day.  A delivery arrived at 8 am and the rain dried up.  It has actually been a scorcher today. We finished the sides of the doorway and tomorrow we will put the lintel across.  The winch is working a treat.  

Brendan had to leave a hole in the wall for a blue tit family who have made their nest inside a concrete block and are feeding their chicks.  The poor things must have set up home when it was nice and quiet and now they must feel like they are living in a war zone.  For those of you who read the title of this post I am afraid that is as exciting as the 'tit bits' get.  Sorry if you are disappointed. :)

The blue tit nest inside the block

Access to the nest

On the subject of wild life today we have evicted two slugs, a spider, a snail, two unidentified bugs, two bees and numerous ants.  Perhaps they have heard about the ark. To be honest the ants weren’t actually evicted, they were eliminated. The LGB said we should put down some ant powder.  I feel this will be all in vain as he is unlikely to eradicate every ant on our site, not to mention the ones in the farmer’s fields that are probably totally unaware that there are any boundary lines at all.  A mole has also come up into the awning.  Is he blind?  Can’t he see there is already somebody living here?  I don’t know how many attempts it must have made before finally finding a gap and tunnelling through; it must have quite a headache because we have laid chipboards and then laminated on top.  There’s posh!

Our uninvited guest

Thursday morning we tackled the three stones (nicknamed Jagger, Richards & Charlie Watts), that would make up the lintel across the door.   They behaved very well and went nicely into place.  

Richards and Watts

And Jagger caps it off

An Unexpected Delivery.    At 3pm on Thursday a lorry arrived with the roof trusses to the main house. We had arranged with Metiers du Toit to call them when we were ready for them . Of course, having had so much rain we are behind schedule (what schedule?) so hadn’t rung them, but they sent them anyway!  Another puzzle to ponder.

That evening we headed off on our ‘jolly’, a weekend with Mary and Alan to a little place close to St. Nazaire where they were starting another mammoth bicycle ride.  In a nutshell they are following the Rivers Loire and Danube and ending up in Romania in two months.  I’ve just made that sound like a doddle haven’t I?  It probably will be for them compared to their adventure last year.  I am exhausted just writing about it! 

This expedition is only 4,000 kilometres!  Their last one was 7,500 kilometres!  Some people just aren’t consistent are they?  They also have a blog called Old Bones On Bikes Have a peek at their progress and if you really feel generous you can dip your hands in your pockets and give them a few pennies for their chosen charity ‘Medicins sans Frontieres’.

Mary & Alan
The Old Bones on Bikes

The harbour at Pornic

We had three lovely days.  We discovered a beautiful area of France (Loire and Vendee).  The weather was amazing and we played a teeny weeny part in M & A’s latest adventure.  I have, however, now lost my most ardent blog follower, Alan. 

Their car is now safely parked up back on their drive.  The boot polish has done wonders to cover the scratches and scuffs! Good Luck to you both!

I would like to say we are now rested, but the LGB and I tend to try to pack as much as we can into our ‘jollies’.  We have at least had a change of scene and will be going hell for leather whilst the weather will allow us to do so.  Did I mention it had hit 35 degrees on Thursday?  I want to say that is far too hot for me but after all my moaning about the rain……………..

Drowning!

Did my last post mention something about being ever the optimist?  Well let me tell you, I am well and truly pessimist off with this weather!

We have now been holed up in this caravan for three weeks.  It has rained every day and every night bar one.  It serves us right really.  We are always very smug about the wonderful weather we enjoy here with our own little micro-climate, whilst those of you in foreign parts are usually experiencing a less clement climate.  Well, please feel free to gloat, it is like Armageddon here.  When we were watching Independence Day it was like being an extra in the film.  The caravan was shaking, the awning was billowing.  We were a-rocking-and-a-rolling.  I was expecting to go to sleep in Canvas and wake up in Oz with Dorothy waiting to greet us in her little red shoes.  (Did you like that little play on words?? Canvas/Kansas? Oh, never mind!)

Things That Go Thump In The Night

Well it has finally happened.  There we were happily watching ‘Boys from the Black Stuff’ when a thump drew our attention to the fact that the awning had finally succumbed under the weight of the rain and collapsed in one corner. We have a stream running through what was our little sitting/kitchen area and now a broom is propping the awning up.  We had months without rain and now it is non-stop.  If there is somebody sitting up there above the clouds in control of meteorology could you not get a little happy medium going for us, please? Something between deluge and drought would be good. 

‘Noah’ good carpenter?

Abandon all hope!  That’s it!  Enough is enough!  We have decided to abandon the construction of the house and build a chuffing ark instead.  All are welcome to join us. We like to keep up with our changing times; therefore, we are not insisting on you coming on board two by two, singletons are welcome.  However, a supplement will be charged if you are travelling alone.  Climb aboard me hearties.
  

Strange Sightings In The Sky

In the words of Dinah Washington - ‘What A Difference A Day Makes’.  After three weeks of rain we have had, oooh at least three sunny days.  It is amazing how a ray of sunshine can lift one's spirits.  It can turn a boggy swamp into the Garden of Eden.   Suddenly all is right with the world.  What fickle creatures we are.

I forsook the paperwork to enjoy some sunshine and Brendan strimmed whilst I weeded.  I trod on the rake and smacked myself full in the mouth just as the neighbour’s sister and mother came over to introduce themselves.  I just pretended I hadn’t done it!  I’m now nursing a swollen lip.  I wouldn’t mind but I did the same thing a couple of weeks ago!

We chatted with Elben’s mother and sister.  I say that so nonchalantly as if the LGB and I were stood there conversing in fluent French.  I cannot mislead you; they, in fact, both speak fluent English!  Amazingly his sister Vi went to Nottingham Trent Uni, where Jack is studying and she still lives in Nottingham. His mother lives in Tahiti.

Trolley Dollies and Steel Toe Caps

When I was cleaning my ‘bathroom’, it suddenly occurred to me that a caravan toilet and an aircraft toilet are almost exact replicas.   The main difference being the caravan toilet doesn’t flush with that violent ‘whoosh’ that has you worried you are going to be sucked bum first out of the aircraft!  Absolutely no comments please about my derriere causing a ‘bouchon’ and therefore that being unlikely to ever happen to me!  Anyway, that set me thinking about my old life.  ‘Builder’s Labourer’ doesn’t sound as exciting and glamorous as ‘Cabin Crew’ or ‘Air Hostess’.  Life as a ‘trolley dolly’ does, however, have surprising similarities to that of a ‘navvy’.  It involved checking toilets mid-flight, serving meals and tidying seat pockets and sometimes dealing with awkward people.  I still serve meals, I still do all the tidying, in answer to your question Alan, tis I who cleans and empties our loo and I sometimes deal with awkward people person.  Whereas we used to climb to 35,000 feet I now climb ladders.  Do I miss my old life?  What, staying in lovely hotels, cheap holidays, a good salary and going to work in high heels and a smart suit?  I still get the odd night in a nice hotel; if we were to take any holidays they would definitely be ‘cheap’ but I no longer earn a salary.  As for the high heels, they play havoc with my gout these days and the heels get caught in the ladder rungs! Now where did I leave my steel toe-caps? Tea? Coffee?

This is a blog about building so I suppose I ought to mention our progress.  None!  Well, a little. We have bought an electric hoist to aid the LGB in his advancing years.  I don’t mean a Stannah stair lift or a personal winch for getting him out of the bed or chair; it is to save his poor old back.  He has had a little play around with it and cobbled together a system to winch the big white shell stones into position around the living room doorway.  He screws a hook into the top of the stone and I operate the hoist whilst the LGB shouts at me and manoeuvres the stone into position. Less of the shouting fella, fingers can very easily slip on these controls!  So there we have it; half a doorway built in three weeks.  After a few calculations I would estimate the build being finished about 2020, by then the LGB will need that hoist.

Hi-De-Hi! Morning Campers!

Brendan has never understood the idea of dragging a box around on the back of a car to holiday in.  Two nights in the caravan and I can see where he is coming from and that is without us trawling it to a camp-site beforehand. 

Home Sweet Home

In his infinite wisdom the LGB decided that sleeping bags were the new duvets.   Easier to tidy away during the day.  With this in mind we purchased a matching pair in pearl grey with turquoise lining and left hand zipper.  We lay in bed like Tutankhamun and his wife (half-sister!!??).  I felt like I was in a strait jacket.  Some people would say I should be in one!  I had to abandon the idea of sleeping in a bag during the night sometime between gentle strangulation and near death asphyxiation and unzip it into a blanket. I know there are people who enjoy that experience, but it's not my bag (no pun intended). Mind you, I think I could give anyone a run for their money in the sack race now.

King Tut!

Near death experience!

The rain lashed down all night, so between the noise, being strangulated and stubbing my toe on a cupboard every five minutes not a lot of sleep was slept!

The first morning I decided to go for fresh bread for breakfast but got the car stuck in the mud trying to drive off the field (for Alan that will read off of the field!).  I abandoned the car and took the transit van instead.  I secured the last baguette at the local bar/store/restaurant.  A couple of old boys were enjoying a morning tipple – you might find you have a bit of a problem there lads that may need addressing, nothing that a few meetings can’t sort (one day at a time)! 

We have a little fridge in the caravan and the big fridge in the garages.  The distance between the two is roughly 300 feet, which in itself isn’t a vast distance.  In fact it is quite a pleasant strolling distance between shoe shops and chic boutiques, however, when you have to cover it four or five times during the making of a meal it becomes a little tiresome.  By the time I finally served up the scrambled eggs and toasted baguette it seemed only reasonable to add a glass of wine and call it lunch!  I may be joining the old boys in the bar in the morning.

The LGB was not impressed with his first night 'ping' meal!

The second night I moved to the other end of the caravan where there is no toe-stubbing cupboard.  I also opted to abandon the sleeping bag and duly ironed bedding and hunted out the duvet from the garage.  The LGB was adamant he was slumbering in his sleeping bag.  When I asked why he informed me we had bought them so he wanted to use them otherwise it will have been a waste of money!  So he settled on one side of the bed in his sleeping bag and I lay on the other side buried under a heaped up king size duvet. 

As Suzanne and Kevin have no paying guests at the moment we are still going over to shower at the gite.  If you would like to be a paying guest the link to their gite is; www.thegitexcape.com  A huge thank you to them for their kindness and generosity in letting us use the gite, not to mention the lovely meals.

Tonight will be the third night in the caravan.  The LGB is already snoring his head off all cosied up under the king size duvet!

For sale - Two pearl grey sleeping bags.  Hardly used – as new.  Open to sensible offers!!

We were spitting feathers yesterday.  I should have known it would be a bad day when I realised our CT (MOT) on the car had run out in January! We thought after two weeks and no telephone call we would find out if the RSJs had arrived. To cut a long story (and longer wait for service) short, the assistant who finally came to our aid sent us to his boss in the office.  He in turn informed us their supplier no longer dealt with them.  I have a limited command of the French language, however, why does it desert me when I am most in need of it?  I spewed something about them having our telephone number, waiting a long time and nobody phoning.  Then with a very Gallic gesture of my hands I stormed out of the office pushing Brendan ahead of me!  I have been told that the English word I mouthed through the window as I walked past would be universally understood!
 

The wind and rain have been tremendous.  We have only had one night without rain.  It comes in great cloud bursts that wake us during the night.  We have no television, so most evenings we have settled down to watch a DVD.  We had to turn the DVD off one night because we couldn’t hear it for the rain! 

Walking the plank!

Ever the optimist, at least this camping malarkey can only get better. When it stops raining, and the wind stops howling, and the mud dries up, and the sun shines it will be all ‘hi-de-hi’ happy campers!  Watch this space, this oh, so very small, confined space!

If The Egyptians Can Do It!!!

Way Hey!!  We got the oak beam up!!  We thought we may have to call in the cavalry, but with the help of a couple of metal rollers we rolled it inside the house.   We stood it on end and balanced it on the scaffold and then kind of see-sawed it up onto the scaffold.  Then Brendan lifted one end whilst I placed a block under it.  We repeated this each end until the beam was level with the stone where it had to be placed.  I did get the heeby-jeebies a couple of times but it went smoothly - no flying dummies, tantrums or tears!  Unfortunately, it has left the LGB with a bad back again.

Rolled the beam along on metal bars..........

Easy peasy - the LGB upended it..........

Stood and scratched his ar head.........

Et voila!!  All in place

And a close up of his handy work!!  Bravo!

Thursday the floor joists arrived nice and early. I had a close shave when the driver was taking them off the lorry.  Brendan and I were placing blocks down for them to sit on.  The driver bent down to move a block and hit the lever on his controls and the load jerked down hitting me and knocking me sideways.  I escaped with a grazed hand and bruises on my arm and shoulder, although I can feel I have been bashed!

We're moving our belongings from the gite over to the garages and caravan.  This will be our seventh move in ten years!  The next time we move I am taking just a suitcase (and Brendan I suppose).  I am planning to sell this house fully-furnished! When it comes to moving our wordly goods from the garages into the house I am going to be brutal.  I have already drastically reduced my homes and decorating magazine collection much to Brendan's delight.  I have to admit they are a bit of an obsession with me.  I am planning to replace them - the LGB will never notice them coming in one at a time!

Hallway and Brendan's room beyond

Brendan's room

Dining room - I think!

The internal walls are nearly finished.  It does make the space look very different.  Some areas seem smaller and some like the LGB's room look huge.  I am having second thoughts now about the room swap, but it is too late now!

I know the 'we would like to thank' is usually expressed at the end of the project but I would just like to express our gratitude to all our wonderful friends and family who have housed us, fed us, offered us the use of showers, beds, swimming pools, washing machines and given help and encouragement.  You know who you are and we appreciate the huge gestures and the little ones. No-ones offered to pay to have the work done yet though......... Seriously, thank you, we are very lucky to have such lovely friends.

Moving into the caravan tonight.  I am not sure when the next post will be.........xxx

And The Walls Came Tumbling Down....

Don't be alarmed!  UnlIke the battle of Jericho the walls didn't actually come tumbling down but more of that later.

I haven’t written lately because I had mislaid my camera in this chaos that is my life!  The following is written in no particular order because unless I write something every night (fat chance) I forget what we have done and when.

We have a stay of execution, a reprieve from our eviction!  We are staying on in the gite for a couple of weeks whilst Suzanne and Kevin are in the UK.   We are looking after their sweet little cat who is 92 cat years old, a magnificent old lady.

I became a ‘lady who lunches’ for a day.  Jane and I had lunch al fresco in Angouleme.  I am not lying when I say it got too hot to sit in the sun, it was a fabulous day.  We then visited our favourite shops followed by a visit to Emmaus where Jane bought a coffee table to try her hand at mosaicking.  Emmaus is now in the UK.
http://www.emmaus.org.uk/73/history-of-emmaus-early-days-in-france 

http://www.emmaus-france.org/  It is a charity for the homeless based in a huge building selling donated goods from bric-a-brac to furniture.  We went on to another second-hand warehouse where I bought an occasional table that will become a paint project along with the other furniture pieces I have bought when I get some spare time! I could get used to being a lady of leisure.  When we moved here I thought I would have the time to get manicures and put the thousands (no exaggeration) of photos that I have stored in boxes into albums.  What a dreamer! 

The first tree in the 'orchard'!

How many fruit trees make an orchard?  We have planted seven, so I am calling it an orchard.  We have planted Bramley, Cox’s Pippin and Braeburn apple trees, a Morello cherry, Victoria plum, Conference pear and a peach tree.  We fenced around them because there is evidence of wild boar on the field and to keep the deer out.  Brendan has also dug over his ‘potager’ ready to plant veggies for this year.  There really is nothing like fresh herbs and vegetables straight from the garden.  Remind me that I have written this when I tell him where he can put his hundredth courgette when he proudly presents it to me!

The roof trusses arrived!  We sat on them, plans in hand and scratched our heads.  We then covered them in the event of rain!  We will sneak up on them again at a later date and hope that the big pieces of this giant puzzle fit.  I can feel another dummy heading my way!

Our huge puzzle of roof trusses under wraps'

The LGB started to build the internal walls. As he started the wall to his music room I had a little thought!  The LGB ran for cover.  What if we made his music room the dining room and kept it open plan to the hall?  So, the walls that he had already built or to be precise the blocks he had laid didn't actually tumble down the LGB took them down.  I went to order some limestone for the new opening of the re-sited dining room!  Watch this space.

The LGB now has a larger music room at the front of the house.  He calls it his ‘music room’, but don’t be fooled, he isn’t some musical virtuoso, in fact he doesn’t play an instrument.  Actually, that isn’t strictly true; he does frequently blow his own trumpet.  We like to listen to music at different levels of loudness.  He likes it ridiculously loud.  So he is getting his own little room to deafen himself in!  Don't feel sorry for me, he says I can have the kitchen.

Living room 

Utility room

With the change of plan, we have collected the stone we ordered.  It is a soft limestone with pieces of shell embedded called coquillage.  We worked on this and some we already had, with Brendan cutting it to size and shaping the edge with an angle grinder and I finished it off with a grater and sandpaper.  He is in his element as he loves working with stone and the bonus is that I enjoy it too.  The other bonus is that the LGB actually thinks the change was a good idea!  It is slowing us up but I think it will be worth it.

Detail at the top of the opening (not the block!)

Looking into hallway from dining room

The young man who lives a couple of houses down has been on holiday, so stops by each morning for a chat.  The neighbours across the road ventured over yesterday so I gave them a little tour.  On the other side across a field the neighbours are English.  We have never officially met the parents but we wave, however, the children have a chat when they pass on their bicycles, they are lovely chatty children.  One of the boys asked Brendan if he and his wife were builders.  Brendan replied that he was a builder and his ‘wife’ thought she was!  (I think the sarcasm was lost on someone so young.)  The youngster replied that he thought we were builders because 'the work is very good'!  Aaaah bless!

We have ordered RSJs and will have a little wait for them.  The floor joists arrive Thursday, but we won’t be able to position them until the RSJs arrive.  We have bought and sanded another 3.30 metre oak beam for the dining room opening.  We stood and pondered how we are going to get it up.  We’ll sleep on that one!  As long as it goes up before the next full moon......

Howling At The Moon

He’s thrown the dummy out of the digger!  I blame the full moon, seriously.  The LGB has been a PITA!  And I am not talking Greek bread.  I am talking Pain In The Backside (polite version).  The full moon really does have an effect on him.  It is the only time we come close to arguing.  Back me up on this Mary & Alan; you have seen him under the influence of the full moon.  Well you saw his backside in the light of a full moon!  His hirsute appearance should have been a warning.  It wasn't beard growth; the LGB was under a lycanthropic affliction, a werewolf to you and I.

Let me expand on this........... Tuesday we collected the beautiful oak that we had sized and cut at a local saw-mill.  We are both really pleased with them.  Obviously it is green oak so it will get 'shakes', open and crack, but this all just adds to the character.  These will be used as the lintels over the windows and doors in the single storey part of the house which is the kitchen/breakfast/family room. 

As the oak lintels were too heavy for us to lift Daisy the digger was put to use.  The first one the LGB put up with the forks on the digger.  No problem there.  The second one he had to hang from the digger bucket with slings and manoeuvre it into place because this door was not accessible with the forks.  All cushty so far.  The third one the LGB decided to do with the slings again.  I am not sure what stick he miss-hit but the oak beam swung through the air like a trapeze artist.  Naturally I was somewhat alarmed and as I didn't want to become part of the circus act being catapulted through the air on the end of an oak log or worse, decapitated I became a little cautious.  A lecture quickly followed the flying dummy!  I was 'given wrong' for being a scaredy cat.  The beam wasn't going to fall on me or fall to the ground, I should have more faith in him, blah, blah, blah!!  The last beam, the largest he put up with the forks and thankfully with no problem.

Beams safely in position

Beams in situ and ring beam concreted

Thankfully his little tantrums don't last long - certainly not as long as my silent treatment!

The blip aside.  We are really chuffed with the oak beams.  I would never have believed I could get so excited about wood, but I love it – the smell, the feel, how it ages.  I wish I was clever enough to be able to make beautiful things out of it.  Before we put them up I sanded them and as I want to keep them looking as natural as possible I thought I would just put a coat of wax on them.  Job done except what I thought was wax was actually polish, but no harm done.

The bungalow

The little French neighbour commented that we were nearly ready for the roof.  She was very shocked when I said we had another floor to build yet, she thought it was a bungalow.  I half wish it was!  I am not looking forward to putting on the roof.  I have managed to help on two barn roofs and the garage roof but they were not two storeys up.  I am not sure I will be much use on the house roof.  The company who are making the roof trusses came out to do a final measure.

When we went to go home the truck wouldn’t start because I had left the lights on!   Craig to the rescue with a jump-start!

Since then we have concreted and put reinforcing metal down the windows, doors and corners of the building.  We have also concreted and put more reinforcing metal around the ring beam and done another couple of coats of bitumen, all jobs that you can't actually see the results of the hard labour, but satisfying for us none the less. 

Our eviction date draws nigh.  Little by little we are moving things over to La Serve.   We are still pondering the dilemma of showering when we are in the caravan.  A season ticket to the swimming baths is looking like the favourite solution!

Next full moon April 6th.  Schedule day off.  Buy some garlic (works for vampires).

Hot Pants

On Monday, the first day back after our break, I spent the morning cracking ice and sweeping it out of the 'house'.  It was still too cold to do any building work so we cut logs, tidied the garage and went to check on a little job Brendan is doing.

I was well dressed as usual to fight the cold.  I had on four tops and four layers down below.  A pair of knickers, long johns, track suit bottoms and a pair of hot pants! They are not literally 'hot' pants - they are called 'hot pants'.  My friend Jacqui gave me a pair that were too big for her!  The last time I wore hot-pants I was about 11 years old, they were maroon and had a bib - these are nothing like that!  They are made of neoprene and the instructions tell you to weigh and measure yourself, wear them for a fortnight and see the results. There is one result I know for sure - after a fortnight they will be minging!!

So I am on site dressed like a surf-dude living in the hope of reducing the footprint of my rear extension.  So watch this space.  The little wafts around my ankles aren't the spring breezes coming from the South and the little whisper of air on the nape of my neck isn't Brendan getting romantic it's just a baffled fart finally finding an exit route from my neoprene knickers!

Here we have them, only I look like the Michelin man in mine!  Not for long though!

We have ordered the roofs.  The roof for the single storey part of the house should be with us mid-March.  No pressure.

After much nagging from Brendan telling me that I have to decide where things are going in the kitchen I have had planks of wood on trestles to set out a kitchen and a pallet for a table .  I think I have made some decisions.  The main decision being that the ergnomical triangle has no place in my kitchen. The big fridge-freezer was the thing that was the problem, but I have now decided to put it in the utility room and get a little fridge for the kitchen.  Sorted!

My kitchen table in situ

The run of kitchen units - use your imagination!

Saturday 25th Feb   

What a glorious day!  And I don't mean the fact that Wales have just beaten England at rugby!   I supppose I should also mention Newcastle won today and Sunderland were slaughtered.  (What a big grin you have Brendan!).   I have been working today in a short sleeved T-shirt.  The cranes have been flying over heading North, one of my favourite sights.  The skies are blue.  Happy days!!  That said, today I have felt absolutely shattered and it was a short day (had to get home to watch the rugby).  However, I now have 2 window openings and a wall up to ceiling height.  It is all fiddly work at the moment, with door and window openings and having to make lintels over them which of course takes time. 

Spring is on its way - the cranes flying North

Friday 2nd March

  We now have 13 window and door openings and we are up to ceiling height in the main house and almost there in the kitchen.  We have ordered the oak lintels for the openings in the kitchen.  I painted two sides of the main house with bitumen, a couple more coats to go.  The other side is still too damp to paint.

Keeping Brendan well supplied 

Openings at the back of the house

Window openings on the gable end

The camera was not charged on Friday so I don't have the most up to date photos of how far on the build is.  I will get some tomorrow and upload them soon.

I can't believe at the start of this post I was wearing multiple layers and today it was 20 plus degrees and I was in a vest top.  This amazing change in the weather has  forced me to to peel of a few layers which means I have abandoned my 'hot pants', my oh so very, very hot pants!  

The Cover of the Rolling Stone (Dr Hook)

Well the LGB hasn't had that thrill but he and his younger brother the BGB (big Geordie builder), Chris have had a feature in February's edition of Good Homes.  Not that you would know they had done the job as there is no mention of them.  It was a kitchen extension they did in Twickenham.  I also helped out but can't claim any credit as I mostly laboured.  It looks good and the GBs should feel proud of themselves.  But it's not quite the same as 'the thrill that'll getcha when you get your picture on the cover of the Rolling Stone' is it?

Centre page spread

Back to the development in the house build.  There is none!  In a nutshell, it has been too darn cold.  So we downed tools (well we put them in the boot actually) and hotfooted it off to our friends Mary and Alan to give them a hand with their loft conversion.  There is only so much Jeremy Kyle and daytime television a mere mortal can watch before wanting to act like a Rolling Stone and throw the television out of the window.  In theory it seemed like a good idea to be working indoors, in practise the loft was freezing.  However, it was well worth putting up with the cold for the hot bath complete with candles and bubbly (thanks Al, you old romantic you!) and delicious meals, thanks Mary!

The Monday morning we left their house it was minus 18 degrees.  We had a very slow crawl back to Le Mas in the snow and decided to pack a bag there and then and head back to the UK for a few days to see family.  Apologies to you all for not getting to see you.  We did meet up with Jack and Lily in Nottingham for a nice weekend.  It would have been even nicer if Newcastle hadn't got hammered!

We are back now and the temperatures are at least out of the minuses with just a little snow hanging around on the banks.  Tomorrow will be taken up with unpacking the car.  I managed to squeeze in an old pine unit with glass doors that will be 'upcycled' at a later date and a mirror!  I shall look forward to putting photos on the blog of them in situ.  Boy, that seems a long way off!  I am not sure what the LGB has got planned for next week but I am sure it will involve long johns and thermals on my part and my new earmuffs!  

Bad Backs And Crochet Hooks

I make no apology when I say I dislike houses that have been named by joining family Christian names, like Alary, Stirena, Donally, Fioneve, Suvin need I go on.  You may wonder where this is going?  When we bought the land we bought it as a company.  Without going into too much depth we did it this way on the suggestion of our solicitor.  Because Brendan and I aren’t married and because he has children the inheritance laws are complicated.  The notaire explained ‘If mister dies you missus have a life interest in the company and if missus dies you mister have a life interest in the company’. I came out totally befuddled and none the wiser, all I did know is that madam and monsieur does not sound as sophisticated when translated as mister and missus.  Anyway, to form the company we needed a company name.  We pondered over this and finally came up with Chez Brenorah!  Can you believe that, we did it, we actually took Brendan and Deborah and came up with Brenorah!  Quell horreur!  We have a bank account in the name of Chez Brenorah, every bill has to be addressed to Chez Brenorah and now I have to live with this until the day we sell the house!

The Little Geordie Builder is suffering!  His back is bad, but he is a martyr to the cause and is carrying on building albeit more slowly than he would like.  My efforts to get him to the kinesiotherapist (I still can’t say that word) have fallen on deaf ears.  Despite this the building is up 5 courses, the door and window openings are visible and I now get a good feel for the size of the house.  The main house will of course be divided into rooms but the kitchen/family room is just the one room and is looking a good size.

The view from my kitchen.

We visualise the house very differently.  Brendan sees the finished house as empty rooms with just plastered walls. I on the other hand see it furnished, including curtains, cushions and pictures!  Having said that I still can’t decide where to put the fridge, hob or oven, although some electric conduit has already gone in on the day of concreting when I had to make split second decisions and say ‘there, there and there’.  However, if I flutter my eyelashes and make a nice apple crumble I am sure I can get the LGB to put more wires in later!

The croquet's orf.

Sadly, we won’t be playing croquet on the lawn this weekend.  It is hard to imagine this sodden muddy heap ever being a lawn. The digger was slipping and sliding and not holding the wet ground well at all.   We have spent a couple of days putting up scaffolding and loading it with blocks.  We collected the stone window sills.  Getting them off the truck with the digger was a little fraught, me panicking that Brendan was going to bash and crack them and him moaning at me panicking!  Job done, no casualties. 

As well as preparing the site for building we cut a load of logs for the fire.  Log fires are lovely and cosy but there is something to be said for flicking a heating switch on when you get in at night.  Not to mention the times we have been out in the freezing snow cutting, chopping and stacking logs.  Perversely there is something satisfying in doing this chore.  Brendan of course loves it.  I don’t love it when he stands on the pile cutting the logs with the chainsaw in his slippers!

After another sleepless and painful night Brendan went to see Monsieur Le Colin the kinesiotherapist.  He saw him a couple of years ago and before he went this time the brave LGB said he would walk out of the surgery if Monsieur Le Colin used ‘that hook thing’ again.  Lo and behold out came the ‘hook thing’ or crochet as Monsieur Le Colin called it.  As Brendan was in just his underpants there was no chance of a hasty escape.  He was in agony.  I have to admit it did look like an instrument of torture.  It must have hurt because it left red welts all along his back.  After having his leg manipulated into the most awkward position, Mr Le C clicked four vertebrae back into position and the LGB walked out a new man!  He spent the rest of the evening telling me how marvellous he felt and how easy it was to bend down, take his trousers off, put his socks on, do the can-can.  He has to take it easy for a couple of days, but is saying he can’t wait for Monday!

It's so good to see the LGB back to his old self

We decided to have the weekend off to give Brendan’s back a rest.  We spent Saturday in Angouleme.  We visited a couple of bric-a-brac shops and some of my favourite shops.  Angouleme was buzzing.  It is the four day festival of the Bande Dessinee which is basically a comic festival.  The French love comic strips and all ages read them.  The festival brings all the comic book artists to Angouleme for the fans to meet.  There are exhibitions and the artists are dotted around the city; in shops, churches and the streets drawing and signing books.  It is the biggest festival of its kind in Europe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angoul%C3%AAme_International_Comics_Festival

http://www.bdangouleme.com/index.php?langue=en

Some of my favourite wall art in Angouleme

I call this one Romeo & Juliet

This one can be seen driving into Angouleme

There are many buildings in Angouleme decorated with this fantastic street art, however I don't think it will be adorning any of our walls.