As you may know, next door is being renivated right now, and it’s coming along very nicely indeed.
This afternoon we were slightly alarmed though when we saw the JCB, which has now become very much a piece of the landscape round here, approaching out house with Bob the Builder Claude le Constructeur in the scoop. Slightly worried that they had been on the pineau at lunch and were about to start attacking the wrong house, we rushed outside.
Turns out that the nice chaps had spotted some loose tiles on our roof while they were up on next-door’s roof and were setting about fixing them for us. For nothing. I know, it just wouldn’t have happened in England.
Note the usual high-priority given to health & safety concerns here…Yes, they are electricity cables overhead. No, he’s not wearing a hard-hat or a harness. Yes there is a small child playing underneath… 
Isn’t it great?
Ah home, sweet home!
We finally made it back to Foussais on Saturday night after 14 hours and 1100km travelling. We had had a strange week back in England - it was lovely to see our family and friends again, and especially for the kids, but 
it all seemed very strange. Like we now have 2 lives and they very rarely meet. Back in the UK we were part of a circle of friends families that all knew each other and now we have that life, but also another over here. We have some great fiends and a while different way of living, but it hasn’t replaced what we have in England, but the 2 lives co-exist. When we returned to Grimsby we just picked up where we left off 5 months ago and I’m sure we will again, although quite when that will be I don’t know.
The journey back home was pretty easy and uneventful. After driving up to England in 2 cars, it was nice to all be together for the return trip (having left the Picasso in the hands of my folks - it’s being picked up any day now) and it meant that we could share the driving. So I had the job of getting us from Grimsby to Dover, then from Dunkerque to Rouen and Lisa got us home from there. On the subject of Dunkerque I have to speak up in praise of Norfolk Line ferries. The return journey cost us just £38 which we were amazed by. The ferries are fairly modern and well stocked, although the port at Dunkerque felt a bit like we were going to be lifted onto a container ship rather than a car ferry - very out of the way in the middle of an industrial estate! The 2-hour journey was just long enough to have a meal and stretch those cramped legs before embarking on the 2nd leg of the journey. Altogether a grand experience.
Upon returning to our house we were excited to see how the builders had got on with finishing Rosie’s bedroom. What a great job they have done. We are all hugely impressed with the work. Having never really done any renovation before, it’s hard to believe that our cold, dusty loft, with holes in the floor and roof, has now been transformed into a large, cosy bedroom. It really is quite a stunning transformation and makes such a difference to the upstairs of the house. If anyone is in the area and looking for good builders, I would certainly recommend them. We will have lots more building work coming up - I need a study, the kids need a play room and Lisa wants her new kitchen! - and they will certainly be top of the list to do the work. The only downside was that they cleaned us out of tea, coffee and milk! On our departure I had said “Help yourself” and they did…emptying the box of milk from the fridge AND the 2 from the store. Not a huge problem - a quick trip to St Hilaire des Loges on Sunday morning did the trick - but would have been nice to have breakfast in the morning without having to go for a drive first. But hey, they were a great team and I can’t grumble.
Our other surprise was not quite so exciting - we had had visitors while we were away…Ants! The kitchen was awash with the little blighters. I set upon them with the kitchen spray to stem the tide and managed to clear most of them away, only to find them back again in the morning. All part of the fun of living in the countryside I guess… A kettle full of boiling water over their entry point on the outside wall seems to have slowed them down for now until I can get out to buy some proper stuff… Anyone got any tips for shifting Adam and his mates?
Of course, having been away for about 10 days, the grass, of which we have plenty, had grown rather substantially, so I tackled that little job next. The grass by the back-door was first - rather quickly done due to the multitude of buzzing insects round there. I fear we may be providing bed and board for the local populations of bees and wasps in our un-renovated rooms. That’ll be more fun to come. Although I did spot a rather interesting looking red beetle tightrope walking along the washing line, who didn’t buzz and stoood nice and still for a photo…
Anyway, the grass got half-way cut when suddenly with a loud TWANG the mower stopped. Somehow the drive belt had snapped!
So much for our nice short grass - I hadn’t even got round to the front yet, which was the bit that really needed doing. And of course, it being Sunday, there was nowhere open to get a new one, so the now-useless machine went away and we sat in the sun and drank wine and beer with Peter and Judith instead…a much better prospect. I do love Sundays over here…
The chaos continues chez nous…
We have the builders in. well, to be precise, at the moment they are outside doing something, I know not what. But they have kindly left the back door open, so time for me to don another jumper methinks.
The job in hand is forming a bedroom for Rosie out of half our loft space. At the moment she is sharing with her sister and it’s not ideal. So we made her room the top of the list when it came to getting building jobs done in the house. Sadly my office will have to wait for another year and I shall remain snuggled in amongst the Playmobil and Lego…
So the builders arrived yesterday. In the end we went with a local english guy who was recommended to us by a friend. The same friend had also recommended some local French builders, but, although they are clearly true artisans and would have done a beautiful job, they were hugely expensive and couldn’t start work for another 3 months. So, sorry folks, but quick and cheap wins the day. Not that the guys we have will do a slap-dash job. They have been working on a house nearby and done a great job, so I have no worries at all.
The first task for them was to knock through the wall from the loft into the upstairs corridor to form a doorway. Now, it only seems like a small gap, but when the walls are almost 3 feet think, that’s a heck of a lot of stone to remove. About 3.4 tonnes of it to be precise! As we had a small hole in the floor of the loft anyway we suggested they made it a bit bigger and just flung the rubble down into the wood-store below. Unsurprisingly this was seen as an excellent suggestion - carting 3.5 tonnes of rock along the corridor and down the stairs was going to take quite some time! As it was, they managed to open the doorway up in just a few hours, which was quite well ahead of schedule I think.
Now, perhaps that’s why there doesn’t seem to be much happening today. yesterday it was all banging, tapping, crumbling, crashing etc. Many cups of tea and coffee, chirpy French radio blasting out all day. But today there are a few yells from outside and not a huge amount of action. Think I’d better go check…
