Neil has been back in the UK for a few days visiting his family and it's really not the same here without him. I have been clearing the house out so that we can crack on with taking out the floor in the central section as it is totally rotten and weak. We are going to put in a block and beam floor, which is a floor made up of long concrete beams with smaller concrete sections that fit in between. As it will cause an horrendous amount of dust our new cooker is still sat in its wrapper so that it doesn't get ruined before it even gets used.
So as much as I want to get my new kitchen together it makes sense to hold fire with it but my God it's frustrating. More and more the idea of a new build (with someone else building it) is appealing, but I know that we do not want a characterless box and that one day we will have a house we are proud of. It helps knowing there are many of us in the same boat and I was reading Veras blog on http://vera-labartere.blogspot.com/ this morning and it did make me smile. There are obviously quite a few of us 'nutters' about (sorry Vera).
I must go and walk poor Tess, we get so involved with the house she often misses out on a walk, and having a fair amount of land is no excuse for her missing out on the stimulation of a trip out in the countryside somewhere. It will do us both good so I am going to get into gear and take her.
It's true! whilst all the other animals have hidden in housing and dry corners the ducks are resolutely sitting on the plastic on which once stood our pool, loving this sudden downpour that is lashing down outside.
In some ways I am actually quite pleased about this inclement spell, as I had decided to get shot of some old mouldy hay, checked wind direction and set fire to a few bales. Of course no sooner had it taken than the wind swung about so that plumes of smoke drifted across the road that runs along the field. I hid every time a car drove past (which has now reached a grand total of five cars - must be rush hour) in case someone stopped and my poor planning was bought to light and berated.
It has certainly made me think about the power of fire though. Even though it was hammering down with rain the flames licked up resolutely over the large pile of bales. Of course I now have to wait for the flames to die down before I can even think of calling it a day and settling down in front of the woodburner. I have the ducks organised so that I only have to pick up my bamboo cane duck herder for the tribe of ducks to waddle off into their house, but the hens and chicks are far more bombastic and will not be driven into their accomodation until they are well and truly ready.
Tam the kitten is now causing me to have heart failure, as every time I look round he/she/it is performing another death defying stunt on some high up beam somewhere. The sooner we get this house renovated so that he/she/it can't reach these beams the better.
Neil and I have a bit of a habit of biting off more than we can chew and yesterday Neil told me to have a go at tiling and grouting the splashback for the new sink unit. I have never tiled anything before and so felt a bit of pressure to get it right in our freshly decorated room that I had only just finished painting.
Having gone for some funky coloured tiles that necessitated black grout I was rueing my lack of experience, so I hastily 'videojugged' tiling and grouting for some internet assistance. I don't know if you have ever used Videojug - but it can be of valuable assistance for a multitude of tasks, from how to neatly fold a t-shirt to how to chat up someone and beyond.
The video made it look very easy, although I did note that the guy was tiling a flat surface and not tiles hanging on a wall. I thought his grout mixture was a bit sloppy but decided to mix up the grout along the same lines so at least I would have half a chance of pushing it into the gaps. I had a bit of a panic as I slapped the grout onto the tiles and it dripped off and onto my freshly painted wall. Not to worry I decided - that bit will be behind the sink and will only be seen by my mother searching for window cleaner.
In the end it doesn't look too bad, certainly not for a first attempt but definately not a professional job. I actually quite enjoyed it and I was considering what else I could crack on with. I was stopped in my tracks by Neil today though, as I picked up a door handle that needed to go on his newly made door. "That can wait til I get back", he barked, visions of me carving up his door racing through his brain.
Tam the kitten seems to be doing well, and is now behaving as a kitten should rather than sitting around looking miserable and sore. I have to take her*/he*/it * back in a few days for reassesment so that will be another lesson in French humour with the local vet.
*Neil has suggested we amalgamate she, he and it and call it 'shit' until we know its' sex. Poor thing.
I had a phone call at the weekend from a friend of ours who had a visitor who was refusing to leave. This visitor was a tiny kitten, looking rather the worse for wear, with a terrible eye infection and a rather distended tummy. I had noticed the kittens before and had been a bit upset to hear the owner of the barn in which they were residing was regularly throwing water over the kitten and its two siblings in an attempt to get them to push off. The purpose of the call was to ask if I would take the little fella/girl on.
The timing couldn’t be worse really with us in the middle of major works and as usual with little money or time to look after yet another animal, especially a sickly one. So the sensible thing was to say on this occasion we would let someone else rescue it. Only of course I can’t be sensible to save my life and no sooner had I put the phone down I was dashing up the road to pick up Judith to go and retrieve the kitten from the jaws of death.
Bearing in mind its rough start in life it was happy to be picked up and fussed from the word go, and purred away as we applied the rapidly purchased wormer and eye drops. We couldnt believe how affectionate it was and put it down to the joy of being rescued from its situation and siblings who were twice its size. A couple of days later though and I wasnt happy with the eye so I decided to take it to the vet. Not the posh English type one (ie expensive) but the local farmers ‘tell it like it is, don’t waste your money’ type vet.
“Did it come from your barn?” The vet asked, “No, someone gave it to me” I replied. “This is not a good present” he said. ”It has a bad heart, it is beating way too fast and he is feeble, I am not sure if he will live… you can try though.” I explained that the kitten seemed quite bright and was always happy and purring. “We have an expression in France, imbecile heureux” said the vet laughing.
Right now I am thinking that it is probably me that is the imbecile heureux.
I read a blog earlier from someone who said that everyone here is out collecting mushrooms. I guess by the fact that there are cars seemingly abandoned everywhere that there is an element of truth to that, but at the moment relaxing walks collecting champignons have been cancelled whilst I get the floor done.
There are so many things that I thought I would have time to achieve whilst living here that simply do not get done. I'm not entirely sure where the time goes. After all, in the UK I worked 12 hour shifts, kept the house tidy, indulged in a variety of pursuits and went to the pub. I don't understand how come, now that I no longer am tied down to a specific employment, I no longer have time to do any of the above. Its like the time out here in France just melts away and no sooner have you lifted you head from the pillow it is time to lower it once again.
I insisted that Neil had a day off on Sunday. Judith came down and let the chickens and ducks out (we are still living a short distance away whilst the work gets done) and we came down later to pick up a couple of things and check on the horses. It was as much as I could do to stop Neil cracking on with something whilst he was here, but I managed it with a guilt trip about how we never give Tess a proper walk at the moment.
I was going to have a massive polytunnel with an all year round vegetable and salad production, I was going to get fit and get regular exercise (although with the arrival of the horses I am now reconsidering this as a priority) and we were going to have quality time to enjoy each others company. Neil is mostly too tired to do anything social at the moment, and he doesnt want to 'waste a day feeling rubbish' which I guess is an inevitable consequence of being social.
It is dawning on me that this life style does not equal any amount of free time. I am sure as we get the house together there will be a bit more quality time but it is not the semi-retirement that people think when they imagine our life here. Sometimes I can't even remember what I did in the morning when I am asked that evening. Its all important stuff though I am sure. I am a much happier bunny these days though. There was a time a couple of weeks ago when we were surrounded by crap and mess and I could see no end to it - but now, things are coming together and I can see again why we are doing what we are doing.
I have been on my knees all morning sanding the kitchen floor. It looks so much better even before it has been treated, and is another step closer to getting the kitchen done. I can see the end in sight, even though it is just one room!!!
Last week there was great excitement for me, though not sure about Neil, when a local girl phoned me up and asked if she could bring down a couple of horses to keep at our house as she is weaning a foal. The horses are beautiful fresians, black and quite stocky. We went riding on friday and saturday and hence I spent the weekend walking like John Wayne and grimacing every time I took my socks on and off!! Its lovely to have horses in the field again, and even lovelier not being responsible for the expense of them. As she owns eight horses and struggles finding the time to keep a check on all of them I am hoping this arrangement might continue for some time.
It is Tess's second birthday this month on the 17th. I might just take her out for a ride with the horses. What a treat!!
There is great progress, I am sure of it, but as the house is still under 4 inches of dust with still more to be created, a finished house is still a long way off. Neil has been working elsewhere, which has been frustrating him beyond belief, but unfortunately the bills still have to be paid and having just had the water meter read, our lounging around in the pool this summer may come back to haunt us.
Today we are (hopefully) plastering the last wall in the kitchen and getting some tiles put up. I have just complicated matters further by dragging out some Fired Earth tile samples, which I would like incorporated in the splashback for the sink. I could tell by the slightly long silence that this would not be an easy task but I’m sure they will be worth the effort. I have a lot of these samples as I couldn’t actually afford just to buy any amount of one pattern in Fired Earth, as the shop is hugely expensive and you felt it necessary to talk in Queens English just to walk through the door in our then local store in Cobham, Surrey. They looked quite bemused when I had ordered some samples and swung into the carpark in my rather large paramedic ambulance to pick them up.
In a bid to meet government targets we were always being sent to random ‘cover points’ so that theoretically you are at a central point for anyone dialling 999, but sitting around at the side of the road waiting for the proverbial accident to happen was much more interesting if there were some nice shops to dive into.
As I have mentioned before we were at a loss to know what to do with our ugly chimney breast, so when Tina was coming to stay (and help) and expressed an interest in doing some limework pargetting I was interested to see what she could do. Fellow blogger Helen encouraged me to have some done and so I did some research on the internet. Some of the designs I saw were a bit fussy and I was a bit worried that it would all be a bit over the top - but we discussed designs with Tina and she wanted to do something that reflected our love of the countryside, and see came up with a theme of oaks and acorns.
Hidden in the design also are a paw mark (for Tess) and also a salamander as we have some in the cellar.
I am delighted with the result, as you can see I still have some pointing to do, but it is a really individual feature for what will become the landing/study area of our house. I would be interested to know what you think. Thanks Tina!
I don't know about autumnal, it feels like winter here right now. We had heavy, heavy rain after what had seemed like an endless summer yesterday. The water butts are well and truly full and overflowing, and whilst the grass really needed the rain, I would like it to stop now!! Although the ducks are in their element, all ten chicks are trying to huddle under their two respective mothers and they are really a bit too big to be trying to do that these days.
The work on the house has come to a bit of a grinding halt today whilst Neil is off doing some paid work for a couple of days, but that gives me some time to try and re-organise and move things around, which is how I have spent many, many days since we started this lark.
Yesterday it all got a bit much when we spent the whole day at our now cold, unheated house with seemingly little progress made. I was sure everyone else in the world must be having at least one day off at the weekend. Neil told me that apparently we had ALL of August off. I know we werent exactly cracking on with the house at the time, but I can only remember one day when we spent it relaxing and not even thinking about the renovation, and that was because we had hangovers. I wish he had it in his make up to relax at least once a month. We don't seem to have many days of quality time together, which I know is ridiculous as we spend most days in each others company, but I would like to have the time to go for nice walks together occasionally.
Still, I suppose it is a good thing we are not the same. If Neil was like me we would never get this place done, and if I was like Neil we would both be burnt out and stressed to a frazzle. I know that we will look back at these times and realise it is all part of taking on a large scale renovation, but at the moment I really feel like a break.
Work continues apace at our house. It has been spurred on by the arrival of Tina, who lives in the virtually unpronounceable village in Wales called Bwlch. She is an artist and picture framer and has handily done lots of courses in limework, and her passion is for something called Pargetting, which is basically forming designs in lime render. Her mission this week has been to kick our arses into gear with some gratefully received enthusiasm, and she is hoping to transform our chimney with Pargetting. The chimney has lovely old bricks in a central pannel, but a mixture of terracotta blocks and new bricks above and below. We were at a loss as to what to do with it, so with Tinas help it may become a bit of a feature.
Anyway, as I said, I am far to busy to be sitting here, so I must be off and hopefully soon will come news of great progress............
It's a voyage of self discovery this renovation lark. I have discovered fundamental flaws in my personality. Often times when you consider renovating a property you have this soft vision of hard but satisfying work, incredibly rapid progress and the enjoyment of standing back and seeing what you have achieved. The reality of it is a seemingly never ending round of shitty, dusty, crappy work.
When I think about our house I always think of it in terms of the finished product and how wonderful it will look. I have discovered that I am, it has to be said, a lazy worker, who wants to do the minimum amount of work possible to be able to stand back, be patted on the back and handed a large glass of sauvignon blanc.
Neil on the other hand, looks at everything from the polar opposite angle, in terms of the vast array of jobs to be done and he has difficulty visualising the finished product. He is a seemingly tireless worker - he makes me tired just watching him.
I can be hugely enthusiastic if something interests me, but I also have a staggeringly low boredom threshold that makes it difficult to remain at my peak enthusiasm level. I can be artistic and inventive, but if I try something and don't do it well (first time and with minimal effort obviously) I will tire of it quickly. The more I think of it, I don't think I have what it takes to renovate. I certainly wouldn't rush to do another one.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a complete arse and not a bad person, and I am unfailingly optimistic and am sure that we will get this house done, but it's harder than I thought it would be. And perhaps the finished project will be all the more satisfying for that. We will see.
Well any idea my parents had of lounging around in a comfortable cottage were shattered as they walked in the front door to find the hallway stacked up with boxes and everything that had been vacated from the kitchen. They good humouredly ate their tea on a table that had at least a centimetre of dust on it and chatted away with that echo you get in an empty room (save for tools and insulation).
Today I have put them to work picking up the windfalls that have been lying around the garden for some time. I keep meaning to take them along to our local farmer who has pigs and never quite getting round to it. We have been pressing the best looking ones and putting all the others in large bins ready for transportation.
My mother visiting does at least mean the windows will get cleaned - which is a job I detest and didn't bother with as the old windows were held together with packing tape and there didn't seem much point. Now we are the proud owners of double glazed doors and windows I guess I should make more effort (and by that I mean invite Mum out more often as she sees it as her job and who am I to argue).
The chicks are growing up fast, too fast in fact for our one and only black chick who somehow managed to high jump into a bucket that I leave for the ducks to dunk their heads in, and managed to commit suicide. So that leaves us with ten little ones running around for Tess to round up. We are still having trouble persuading our speckled hen that she is in fact a chicken and not a duck. I took pity on her at a market when I was buying a duck and they travelled home together and have been inseperable ever since. She spends all her time with the ducks, squats down like a duck and sits on the edge of the water when they are swimming. It's all very cute and half of me wants to just let her get on with it, but I am worried that the duck accomodation is not adequately sheltered for her as winter approaches. The last few nights we have been grabbing her and forcing her to go in the hen house where she sits unhappily in a nesting box wishing she was a duck.
I really should be sanding more beams, but I have the distraction that my parents are turning up tomorrow night and I am trying to turn my house into something that resembles an abode suitable for habitation rather than infestation. Everything is layered with a fine coat (and in some places not so fine) of dust and dirt that must have coated every surface of our kitchen area for at least the last twenty years I am sure.
I have been like a whirling dirvish with the bleach and sponges this morning, and I was smiling as it reminded me of my old crew mate Lisa, who when we were not out on some emergency (which normally wasn't an emegency) could be found with a cloth and bleach, wiping anything (or one) that was inanimate for more than two seconds. I have never met anyone as diligent as Lisa.
I have the attention span of a two year old (I had put three, but I have just amended that), but everything Lisa did, she did it well and was a superb paramedic as a result. It was wholly down to her that I reached paramedic status as quickly as I did, and we used to be a bloody good team that were able to have a good laugh too. Of course that was in the days when you were allowed to have (a bit) of a laugh in the ambulance service, and patient care was more important than government targets, but thats a whole other issue.
Anyway, as I say, I have a lot of cleaning and tidying to do. Mum very wisely has left a bag full of clothes for her to wear whilst she is here. A brilliant idea, especially as they are flying ryanair with hand luggage only. Has anyone seen it? I think it was supposed to be washed and pressed after the last visit, but of course it was slung in a corner somewhere and forgotten. Why couldnt I be more like Lisa? God, I'm crap! and I've just had to sling the dog off the bed I have just made up for them tomorrow. Normally I'm not this bad - honest!!!
