Variety is the Spice of Life!

Salut my friends,

 

What a varied and interesting week we’ve had in, alternately, sunny, stormy, windy and wet France.

Last Sunday, our day off! we decided to go exploring the countryside around us. Simon charged up the electric bikes and after around a 45-minute delay in which time he had thrown a great deal of stuff around in The Bat Cave, whilst swearing profusely, in a vain attempt to find a bicycle pump, we set off!

Just a short 7km jaunt along the road and we found this étang (pond to you and me)

It was so peaceful, the dragonflies were in abundance, the birds were twittering and the fish a jumping…

I’d just sat down to enjoy the tranquillity and…

“Come on then, I think there’s a bigger lake around here, up the road a bit” he says, with a twitch of his head.

Back on the bike then. He took me down the rockiest rocky road in the entire existence of France, we rounded the corner and there was this!

Much more Simon’s style, he’s not really at one with nature, it’s not entertaining enough for him but this place was.

Obviously, the lake and its amenities were not in full flow, people were still trying to social distance but you can really imagine it in mid-Summer. We’re planning family BBQs and days out already. Boys, bring your Speedos, that’s the rule in France 🙈

The bike ride home was quite educational. I have learnt that to, ferme ma bouche whilst hurtling down a hill is the best option, otherwise the local insect population fling themselves into your open mouth and attempt to choke you. 

Everyday’s a school day…

On Monday morning we had an appointment with The Boiler Man. No, not a plumbing super hero, just a chap called Paul who knows all things boiler related, (which is a good thing really as he’s fitting it).

After much consultation on the laptop and rifling through brochures we decided on the exact model we would need, a 17kw pellet boiler, which will run the central heating. First though, we have to install the pipes for the radiators…more drilling and dust I presume.

Obviously now Simon’s ever ticking brain is on Operation Utility Room, as this is the central hub for all things plumbing and electric. But I’ll get back to that.

We needed to get that bloody en suite finished, it feels like it’s dragging on a bit but we can see the light at the end of the tunnel now.

I appear to have been allotted the decorating jobs, this is clearly fair as Simon is the brawn of the outfit, his brain is pretty effective too, unless he’s trying to find something and then it doesn’t work at all.

So, I again set about surmounting the summit of the stairs and started wood staining.

We’d decided on a dark oak wax as this is the colour of the original beam. I say we, it was at my insistence, although when I started applying it, I panicked slightly, it looked really dark, but I ploughed on. The problem was the paint that we’d bought a couple of weeks ago was not really going to go with this stain. I pointed this out to Simon with trepidation, he’s not the easiest person to get to change his mind and he’d liked the original colour I’d chosen, so now I had to un-sell it to him. He can be a bit stubborn plus he’s colour blind so the poor bugger doesn’t really know what he's looking at…

Tuesday morning and we set about painting the plaster board white. A non-offensive colour which everyone can agree on.

It didn’t take us long at all, and with that all done we decided that a trip to the big Brico in Montluçon would be the best way to spend the rest of our day.

Because of course Simon had made a new list of DIY goodies that we needed.

It was a gorgeous day, proper Toy Story clouds in the sky.

We loaded up the trolley with plumbing supplies, more paint and we even managed to garble enough French together to get the right size window. Not an easy task at the best of times, let alone with both parties wearing face masks.

Have you ever seen anyone look so happy to have purchased a hot water tank? I doubt it…

When we arrived home, we had the lovely surprise of a parcel from my brother and sister-in-law in Australia.

Knowing they’re both a bit bonkers we did wonder what on earth it could be.

They have been following our DIY escapades and had sent this solid brass bathroom door lock.

But it wasn’t just any old bathroom door lock, there’s a story behind it.

My brother and sister-in-law, aka Drake and Crook, both used to work for the NHS. On their travels in the mental health posts they covered they worked in an institution called Thomas Parr House, a unit in Coldeast Hospital.

When the unit finally closed, Drake helped himself to one of the original bathroom locks. They have carted it about with them, to the Southern Hemisphere and posted back to the North, and now it’s actually being used for its original purpose!

Literally from one madhouse to another!

 

Wednesday was a busy day. I set about the tongue and groove panelling whilst Simon made a wooden bracketed mount for the water tank in the boiler room.

Clearly, this picture does not describe the cursing and general abuse that was being hurled at the stone wall onto which the bracketed was attempting to be mounted.

I’m pretty sure swear words are internationally recognised, like some sort of lexical profane Esperanto!

Meanwhile, I was upstairs having a little music festival and bedecking the bathroom with Dulux.

First coat all done.

Luckily it was only lunchtime and I could get out and quickly hoe the garden while it dried.

The veggies are all growing like mad now, but this also means that the weeds are also going great guns. When I was growing up, we had the same amount of garden as we do here in France and my Dad used to dig the entire lot over to vegetables, whilst also doing a day job. I’m not sure how he did it!

Hoeing complete.

Back upstairs for the second coat, and here it is in all its glory!

On Thursday morning Simon started tiling the en suite floor. He was pretty nervous about it; he’d never laid floor tiles that large before.

Pre-tiling nerves!

So far so good…

The tiles were too thick to use a normal tile cutter, so out comes the trusty grinder.

 

I hadn’t really been able to help too much on this job, so I wandered about doing boring tasks like cleaning the bathroom.

Although I’m easily distracted by other things…

Can anyone guess what these are?

 

Answer at the end of the blog…

 

“Oi! Where are you”

Ah the dulcet tones of my husband.

“We need to go back to Montluçon, I’ve run out of tile adhesive”

And so, we ran to the truck, the weather had taken a definite turn for the worse, and hurtled off again. I think by this point the pickup could get there on autopilot…

A slightly different drive from earlier in the week…

Friday dawned equally gloomy, so much for flaming June!

Simon donned his grinding outfit…

No such luck!

And set to work...

In no time at all he was nearly done...

I did a spot more gardening and made friends with some local wildlife.

I released him back into the wild after warning him of the dangers of hanging around, we are in France after all!

I’m also attempting to sprout some avocado seeds.

I have managed this only once before, after around 6 thousand attempts, but I’m forever hopeful.

 

By Saturday morning the tiles were ready for grouting. Simon did it so quickly he was finished before lunch. At this point he looked at me in a slight panic and said…

“Shall we go to Brico and buy a garden incinerator?”

“Are you worried you haven’t got anything to do this afternoon” I queried

“Errr, yeah”

“You could always start on Operation Utility Room” I suggested

The gleam of a new project flickered in his eyes and he marched off down to The Bat Cave to collect his tools.

 

The sound of banging soon grabbed my attention…

I walked round the corner of the house and there was this on the floor.

“I’m putting in the new window” he says

Well that was apparent.

As usual, there was shit and corruption to deal with first…

But he soon got some wood in the hole and generally made everything look pretty. He’s getting an old hand at this type of thing now.

Here’s the finished window, made to fit, by my very clever husband. Because, as we all know by now, the house’s doors, walls and yes, windows are not a standard size and you can’t buy anything off the shelf to actually fit. Luckily Simon has ingenuity in bucket loads.

I had been upstairs washing off the excess grout… the bathroom’s ready now for the suite to go in but I think we deserve a day off, so you’ll just have to wait until next week to see it all done.

Don’t you just love a cliff-hanger?

Did anyone guess what the things in the picture were?

 

The bath has feet, ball and claw feet!

À bientôt! 😊