Friday, March 31, 2006
Wednesday 29 March 2006
We have now moved back into the new kitchen! By the time N arrived on Friday afternoon, it was more or less done apart from one cupboard + drawer, the saucepan drawers and the door for the dishwasher (all of which are still awaited) including the oven, which looks very fine. The artisan was waiting for him to give a hand with the fridge/freezer, which they got into position and plugged in beside the old fridge, having first changed the direction of the doors, towards the work surface instead of away from it. Friday dinner was a little difficult, as I had to keep squeezing between the two fridges, so first thing Saturday morning, N and I ceremoniously transferred all the food from the old one to the new, and then managed to get the old one outside onto the terrace. I found having a brand new fridge/freezer very exciting - I think this is only the second time in my life a new fridge has coincided with a new house.
I also did a lot of washing on Saturday morning, as the washing machine had been out of bounds all week, and towards the end of the morning we set off for Bernay, which I was very glad to do, having been no farther then the village for the last six days. The main purpose was the buying of two redcurrant bushes, which had not been in stock when we’d gone the week before, but we also got some beautiful pale green leaved marine cineraria for the bed beside the front door, an artichoke plant which took N’s fancy and some special offer potting compost.
We made the usual visit to Monsieur Bricolage, to make sure of our parking space; N bought cement and a paint brush on a long roller, and I looked at curtain poles for the kitchen, but decided to leave it till we got to Paris, and bought a dark red lampshade I’d seen before, exactly the the same colour as the study curtains, to go on a wooden lamp stand I’d had for years, which is now in position on the mantelpiece.
While I was in Casa, looking for a vase for the artificial flowers in the bedroom, and finding a little red plastic stool to help me reach my new high kitchen cupboards, N found a little restaurant serving salmon en croûte. He also found an fascinating new publication advertising antiques for sale, which we read over lunch, interestingly served with a vast array of vegetables.
« N is so romantic, he has bought me a wonderful rubbish bin » -he asked me to make sure I put this in! The question of a bin for the kitchen had still not been resolved; ever since our arrival we had been using a plastic bucket under the sink; I favoured the idea of an under-sink bin which would open along with the door - N said this was difficult to get to, and wanted a free-standing one, which I don’t much like the look of. The one he eventually bought from a little kitchen shop in Bernay is a beautiful large Brabantia stainless steel « touch bin » which looks very elegant (« no ugly overwrap », it says) and opens and closes with the press of a finger. Needless to say, it was very expensive, but is guaranteed 10 years and is so large it doesn’t need emptying often. In the same shop I found a lovely cream glazed jug for the bedroom flowers, and we had a discussion with the patronne as to whether it was a cruche or a pichet. She thought the latter, but couldn’t explain why.
It was by then raining very hard and N stayed in the car reading his antiques magazine while I went round the supermarket, and thought of all my washing on the line at home. One of my most important purchases was a chicken for a celebratory first roast chicken dinner in the new oven on Sunday - due to the recent scares over bird ‘flu there are now so many chickens cheaply available that it was difficult to buy just one; nearly all were two for the price of one, or buy two get one free.
In the event, Sunday lunch was very late, partly because of the clocks changing and so losing an hour before we even started; also due to receiving Mothers’ Day phone calls (very nice!) and generally getting up late after having to be up before 8 all the week, and also having to heat the new oven to 250 degrees for 30 minutes and cleaning it, before I could start cooking. Once I did, it took a while to get the hang of it, so, as N said, the chicken was underdone and overdone all at the same time; however it will be better next time! And the gravy was very good, made with « fonds de volaille » powder in a tin from the local shop. The rest of Sunday was spent in having a very good fire (N had at last remembered to bring the bellows from Saint-Denis) and putting a few things back in the kitchen and having supper in the daylight, a real novelty here. I remembered when we put the clocks back last autumn and were in Italy the day of the antiques fair, it all seemed a very long time ago.
On Monday there was very little finishing off to be done in the kitchen, just a few door handles and strips above and below the wall cupboards which made a real difference, so by the afternoon I was able to put everything back - all five or six packing cases of packets and tins, saucepans, serving dishes, spices, plastic freezer boxes, baking things, not to mention the table, bread bin, kettle, toaster, and tea and coffee things. There is still some space in some of the cupboards! The dining room looked wonderfully clear again, and I swept and hoovered in both there and in the kitchen as there was such a lot of dust from the drilling. Monday dinner was a little confusing as I couldn’t remember where I’d put a lot of things, and kept looking for others where they had been in the dining room. I was able to use the grill (in the oven) for the first time, though.
During the afternoon the Artisan was able to start on the bathroom, getting rid of the old bidet and basin, and looking at the plumbing. He called us to see what we thought about a slight change of position for the loo, out from the wall but at a better angle, both for the evacuation pipe and for getting to it - which he demonstrated to us by sitting on it!
On both Monday and Tuesday it was very windy indeed, but N was able to do a lot of work in the garden in between showers, keeping an eye on levels in the new water butt, digging several rows in the vegetable garden and weeding lots of flower beds. My parcel from Lakeland arrived - I’d ordered by phone a wonderful « Peely Bin » which I’d seen in the shop in Ipswich, for collecting vegetable pieces in the kitchen ready to go out to the compost bin. On Tuesday the Artisan was away for some time in the middle of the day finally getting rid of all the broken old kitchen cupboards, the old fridge, loo, basin and bidet plus an old washing machine which was here in the kitchen when we arrived and has been taking up valuable space in the potting shed ever since. The old cupboards seemed to have been standing out on the terrace for ages, including getting covered in quite a lot of snow last week, so it was a relief to see them all gone.
On Tuesday my envelope from the St John Passion organisers arrived, with times, places, instructions and a badge; as I suspected it will be sung in German and I have only ever sung it in English, so a bit of adjustment to do there. The numbering of the chorales, choruses and arias is different on the vocal score from that on my CD so the first thing to do was cross check and mark the corresponding numbers on each, and the next was it fill in the words where missing under the alto line. I can now listen to all the chorales (about 10 of them, I think) while following the score, and will try to do this as much as possible before the final rehearsal on Saturday 8 April.
N went to Rouen for the morning to fetch back the DVD player; obviously I would like to have gone too, but needed to stay with our artisan in case he needed to ask anything, and we thought it should be fetched sooner rather than later. FNAC claimed there was nothing wrong with it at all, and after trying it for a while back home it seemed to be fine. Not sure I dare try the exercise DVD again though, there has been no time for these for so long, as we have had to be up before 8 every morning to unlock the garage doors ready for the arrival of the artisan.
I have also got out and varnished and assembled the three little spice shelves I bought in IKEA last November, but N has been unable so far to drill holes for them in either the kitchen wall or tiles. We have had partial success in putting up more pictures; some walls are very hard indeed. Also finally cycled to the bottle bank (in rain) to dispose of an ever increasing number of bottles and jars which were clogging up the boiler room. If all this sounds a bit haphazard, it is really; it’s been a question of what we can get on with around the house while all the work is going on on the premises.
Thursday 30 March 2006
N went back to Paris after lunch today, so he can do shopping and put on heating before arrival of Clare and Charlotte (daughter and granddaughter) tomorrow afternoon. At present I don’t know when I shall be able to get there; much depends on exactly when the work on the bathrooms will finish, not to mention still waiting arrival of missing cupboards.
The shower room is looking very good, however, especially the little rectangular washbasin with the drawer underneath, and the shower looks large and imposing despite being raised up on the cement socle (this is so that water can drain away properly) N and the artisan think it will need a step in front of the shower door; I can see this will mainly serve for stubbing toes as one comes into the room.
Friday 31 March 2006
All bathrooms and kitchen finally finished! The loo/broyeur was fixed very quickly yesterday afternoon (despite his banging his head on the very low doorway so hard that he saw stars!) and today he has fixed the missing drawers and doors in the kitchen. He even kindly fixed the screws for the spice shelves as our drill was not powerful enough. Also this morning he brought along his father-in-law to help carry away all the superfluous pieces, and help load the van with tools and packaging. The FIL was interested to see the shower room as well, and asked about the house and garden. Talking of which, there are finally daffodils in flower this morning; and a bright pink flower and a half on the camellia by the water butt. The latter is so full it is now turned off, but I have taken some water for my pots of herbs to keep them going while I’m away.
I paid the final cheque, made out to Lapeyre but taken by him, and he left his card, which might come in useful, and handed over the bottle of champagne which N had bought for the purpose, with our thanks.
All this has been finished so a quickly that I am now able to leave on the 13.06 bus and should be in Paris by about 15.30. As always, there are so many things to do here that I am loath to leave - paint to be touched up in both bathrooms, especially on new pipes, but also lots of little accessories to be bought for all three rooms, so I am looking forward - as always! - to the shopping opportunities in Paris.
We have now moved back into the new kitchen! By the time N arrived on Friday afternoon, it was more or less done apart from one cupboard + drawer, the saucepan drawers and the door for the dishwasher (all of which are still awaited) including the oven, which looks very fine. The artisan was waiting for him to give a hand with the fridge/freezer, which they got into position and plugged in beside the old fridge, having first changed the direction of the doors, towards the work surface instead of away from it. Friday dinner was a little difficult, as I had to keep squeezing between the two fridges, so first thing Saturday morning, N and I ceremoniously transferred all the food from the old one to the new, and then managed to get the old one outside onto the terrace. I found having a brand new fridge/freezer very exciting - I think this is only the second time in my life a new fridge has coincided with a new house.
I also did a lot of washing on Saturday morning, as the washing machine had been out of bounds all week, and towards the end of the morning we set off for Bernay, which I was very glad to do, having been no farther then the village for the last six days. The main purpose was the buying of two redcurrant bushes, which had not been in stock when we’d gone the week before, but we also got some beautiful pale green leaved marine cineraria for the bed beside the front door, an artichoke plant which took N’s fancy and some special offer potting compost.
We made the usual visit to Monsieur Bricolage, to make sure of our parking space; N bought cement and a paint brush on a long roller, and I looked at curtain poles for the kitchen, but decided to leave it till we got to Paris, and bought a dark red lampshade I’d seen before, exactly the the same colour as the study curtains, to go on a wooden lamp stand I’d had for years, which is now in position on the mantelpiece.
While I was in Casa, looking for a vase for the artificial flowers in the bedroom, and finding a little red plastic stool to help me reach my new high kitchen cupboards, N found a little restaurant serving salmon en croûte. He also found an fascinating new publication advertising antiques for sale, which we read over lunch, interestingly served with a vast array of vegetables.
« N is so romantic, he has bought me a wonderful rubbish bin » -he asked me to make sure I put this in! The question of a bin for the kitchen had still not been resolved; ever since our arrival we had been using a plastic bucket under the sink; I favoured the idea of an under-sink bin which would open along with the door - N said this was difficult to get to, and wanted a free-standing one, which I don’t much like the look of. The one he eventually bought from a little kitchen shop in Bernay is a beautiful large Brabantia stainless steel « touch bin » which looks very elegant (« no ugly overwrap », it says) and opens and closes with the press of a finger. Needless to say, it was very expensive, but is guaranteed 10 years and is so large it doesn’t need emptying often. In the same shop I found a lovely cream glazed jug for the bedroom flowers, and we had a discussion with the patronne as to whether it was a cruche or a pichet. She thought the latter, but couldn’t explain why.
It was by then raining very hard and N stayed in the car reading his antiques magazine while I went round the supermarket, and thought of all my washing on the line at home. One of my most important purchases was a chicken for a celebratory first roast chicken dinner in the new oven on Sunday - due to the recent scares over bird ‘flu there are now so many chickens cheaply available that it was difficult to buy just one; nearly all were two for the price of one, or buy two get one free.
In the event, Sunday lunch was very late, partly because of the clocks changing and so losing an hour before we even started; also due to receiving Mothers’ Day phone calls (very nice!) and generally getting up late after having to be up before 8 all the week, and also having to heat the new oven to 250 degrees for 30 minutes and cleaning it, before I could start cooking. Once I did, it took a while to get the hang of it, so, as N said, the chicken was underdone and overdone all at the same time; however it will be better next time! And the gravy was very good, made with « fonds de volaille » powder in a tin from the local shop. The rest of Sunday was spent in having a very good fire (N had at last remembered to bring the bellows from Saint-Denis) and putting a few things back in the kitchen and having supper in the daylight, a real novelty here. I remembered when we put the clocks back last autumn and were in Italy the day of the antiques fair, it all seemed a very long time ago.
On Monday there was very little finishing off to be done in the kitchen, just a few door handles and strips above and below the wall cupboards which made a real difference, so by the afternoon I was able to put everything back - all five or six packing cases of packets and tins, saucepans, serving dishes, spices, plastic freezer boxes, baking things, not to mention the table, bread bin, kettle, toaster, and tea and coffee things. There is still some space in some of the cupboards! The dining room looked wonderfully clear again, and I swept and hoovered in both there and in the kitchen as there was such a lot of dust from the drilling. Monday dinner was a little confusing as I couldn’t remember where I’d put a lot of things, and kept looking for others where they had been in the dining room. I was able to use the grill (in the oven) for the first time, though.
During the afternoon the Artisan was able to start on the bathroom, getting rid of the old bidet and basin, and looking at the plumbing. He called us to see what we thought about a slight change of position for the loo, out from the wall but at a better angle, both for the evacuation pipe and for getting to it - which he demonstrated to us by sitting on it!
On both Monday and Tuesday it was very windy indeed, but N was able to do a lot of work in the garden in between showers, keeping an eye on levels in the new water butt, digging several rows in the vegetable garden and weeding lots of flower beds. My parcel from Lakeland arrived - I’d ordered by phone a wonderful « Peely Bin » which I’d seen in the shop in Ipswich, for collecting vegetable pieces in the kitchen ready to go out to the compost bin. On Tuesday the Artisan was away for some time in the middle of the day finally getting rid of all the broken old kitchen cupboards, the old fridge, loo, basin and bidet plus an old washing machine which was here in the kitchen when we arrived and has been taking up valuable space in the potting shed ever since. The old cupboards seemed to have been standing out on the terrace for ages, including getting covered in quite a lot of snow last week, so it was a relief to see them all gone.
On Tuesday my envelope from the St John Passion organisers arrived, with times, places, instructions and a badge; as I suspected it will be sung in German and I have only ever sung it in English, so a bit of adjustment to do there. The numbering of the chorales, choruses and arias is different on the vocal score from that on my CD so the first thing to do was cross check and mark the corresponding numbers on each, and the next was it fill in the words where missing under the alto line. I can now listen to all the chorales (about 10 of them, I think) while following the score, and will try to do this as much as possible before the final rehearsal on Saturday 8 April.
N went to Rouen for the morning to fetch back the DVD player; obviously I would like to have gone too, but needed to stay with our artisan in case he needed to ask anything, and we thought it should be fetched sooner rather than later. FNAC claimed there was nothing wrong with it at all, and after trying it for a while back home it seemed to be fine. Not sure I dare try the exercise DVD again though, there has been no time for these for so long, as we have had to be up before 8 every morning to unlock the garage doors ready for the arrival of the artisan.
I have also got out and varnished and assembled the three little spice shelves I bought in IKEA last November, but N has been unable so far to drill holes for them in either the kitchen wall or tiles. We have had partial success in putting up more pictures; some walls are very hard indeed. Also finally cycled to the bottle bank (in rain) to dispose of an ever increasing number of bottles and jars which were clogging up the boiler room. If all this sounds a bit haphazard, it is really; it’s been a question of what we can get on with around the house while all the work is going on on the premises.
Thursday 30 March 2006
N went back to Paris after lunch today, so he can do shopping and put on heating before arrival of Clare and Charlotte (daughter and granddaughter) tomorrow afternoon. At present I don’t know when I shall be able to get there; much depends on exactly when the work on the bathrooms will finish, not to mention still waiting arrival of missing cupboards.
The shower room is looking very good, however, especially the little rectangular washbasin with the drawer underneath, and the shower looks large and imposing despite being raised up on the cement socle (this is so that water can drain away properly) N and the artisan think it will need a step in front of the shower door; I can see this will mainly serve for stubbing toes as one comes into the room.
Friday 31 March 2006
All bathrooms and kitchen finally finished! The loo/broyeur was fixed very quickly yesterday afternoon (despite his banging his head on the very low doorway so hard that he saw stars!) and today he has fixed the missing drawers and doors in the kitchen. He even kindly fixed the screws for the spice shelves as our drill was not powerful enough. Also this morning he brought along his father-in-law to help carry away all the superfluous pieces, and help load the van with tools and packaging. The FIL was interested to see the shower room as well, and asked about the house and garden. Talking of which, there are finally daffodils in flower this morning; and a bright pink flower and a half on the camellia by the water butt. The latter is so full it is now turned off, but I have taken some water for my pots of herbs to keep them going while I’m away.
I paid the final cheque, made out to Lapeyre but taken by him, and he left his card, which might come in useful, and handed over the bottle of champagne which N had bought for the purpose, with our thanks.
All this has been finished so a quickly that I am now able to leave on the 13.06 bus and should be in Paris by about 15.30. As always, there are so many things to do here that I am loath to leave - paint to be touched up in both bathrooms, especially on new pipes, but also lots of little accessories to be bought for all three rooms, so I am looking forward - as always! - to the shopping opportunities in Paris.
Friday, March 24, 2006
Saturday 18 March 2006
Before we left for Paris last Wednesday week, Monsieur A came round in the morning with the estimate for the new heater, plus a photograph of it. As expected, it will cost several thousands of euros and I gave him a cheque as a deposit. We also asked him to look at our latest problem, the outside drain by the terrace which takes waste water from the kitchen, which was overflowing. It had never looked very clear since we arrived - full of leaves and débris, but for a couple of days had been flooding the grass. He said he could send someone round to see to it while we were away, as they wouldn’t need access to the house, and also mentioned that the plumber/sweep/heating engineer was his nephew Guillaume.
We drove back to Saint-Denis in the afternoon, and the day after I set off for London on Eurostar. N remarked that I looked much smarter than usual, and I said that was because for once I was not dealing with cobwebs and mud, or grovelling on the floor. It was almost six months since I had left Britain - the longest I have ever been out of the country - and a very interesting and stimulating experience. I was away six nights, and apart from two in Cambridge slept in a different bed every night. I caught up with lots of the family, Cambridge friends and office colleagues as well as College contacts at the dinner on Saturday night, and perhaps most importantly with my ex-cat Albertine, happily settled in her new home further down Ainsworth Street. At first England seemed very strange, the windows looked naked without shutters (I remembered this from living in France before) and I kept coming across things I had completely forgotten about: Posh & Becks, Creme Eggs, Radio Times, the Backstreet Bistro in Gwydir Street…. but gradually got used to everything - and the money, but not the prices - and kept having to remind myself I wasn’t going to pick up my bicycle and cycle back to Ainsworth Street. I had a good shopping afternoon in Cambridge, relishing the thought of not having to go back to the office! and enjoyed spending my Marks & Spencer and Boots vouchers. On Sunday morning I went to Ipswich; the train was replaced by a bus so I had a good view of several Suffolk towns and villages and not only thought of Evreux which reminded me of so many of them, but also felt pangs of recognition on seeing timbered houses with beams just like mine! I hadn’t realised I had become so attached to them. When I saw Victorian houses with long gardens like those I had lived in for so many years I also realised just how used I had become to my large square garden surrounding the house on three and a half sides.
On Wednesday afternoon I came home again on Eurostar - it is strange how the journey « away » and the journey « home » have now been reversed - and N was there to meet me at the Gare du Nord, and whereas in the past I would usually stay about five days now this is « home ». While I had been away N had spent three days in Italy for the final signature for the sale of the apartment; all had gone well, no trouble from the Mafia and the cheques paid into his French bank account. He had also finally received his portrait from the Vietnamese artist, too late for me to take, so it will probably go by car in June now, when N goes to Cambridge for a College feast. He was pleased that these two things which had been going on for so long - the sale of the apartment and the portrait - had finally been resolved in the same week, and said that he could now begin to think about where else we might travel in Europe - one of the reasons for my coming to live here! although ever since I arrived in September we have been either house hunting, waiting for the final sale of the Normandy house, or for furniture from Cambridge or Italy, or the sale of the Italian apartment. And the only other thing we were waiting for - the installation of the new kitchen and bathroom - is happening next week.
I had expected to be travelling back to La Neuve-Lyre on my own by train and bus, and that N would be staying in Paris to play string quartets next Wednesday, but he was keen to see whether the drain had been fixed, and to get on with the garden, so we drove back together on Thursday afternoon in time for the delivery of the kitchen materials on Friday. I was not sorry as my bag had become very heavy by that time, and I was so glad to be able to unpack it and put it away after having lived out of it for ten days.
The drain looked wonderfully clear, but so far we have had no contact with Monsieur A or his entourage, and as usual are compiling a list of what we still need him to do. The kitchen stuff arrived as arranged on Friday morning; many boxes and planks and the new fridge and oven all reassuringly marked « Steele », which are at present all stacked in one of the outhouses.
Having been away ten days, the garden looks a little greener and more spring-like; more crocus flowers and taller daffodil and tulip leaves, primulas in several colours and buds on some of the shrubs, but not so far advanced as in Suffolk where daffodils were out in the gardens and the countryside was full of snowdrops. N spent almost all day in the garden yesterday, clearing the path in the rose garden, using some spare concrete slabs to make a step, working on the vegetable patch and clipping the hedge round it (very carefully) with his fierce new electric hedge trimmer. Today we have been to the garden centre at Bernay, and made a record number of purchases: currant and gooseberry bushes, rhubarb and an apricot tree - which have all been planted along the far south-facing wall this afternoon - a rake and an edging tool, and - chosen by me - lots of herbs, some for the herb garden at the end of the vegetable plot and some to go in pots on the terrace, thus more accessible from the kitchen. I was really pleased to find them as on our first visit there I looked everywhere for herbs and was resigned to not having any - obviously it was just too early. N also ordered a water butt, a lawn mower and a compost bin which are to be delivered next Wednesday afternoon; the water butt will be « installed » by the man from the garden centre. In order to make room for it by the drain pipe next to the first outhouse N has replanted a camellia into an ornate Italian pot and placed it by the French windows, where it looks very fine. There is a second camellia near the drain pipe, which may have to be removed to a pot too, in which case it will look even better; I like the idea of being « La Dame aux Camélias » (This makes me think of something I heard on France Musique yesterday; an announcer who was introducing a recording by Janet Baker added « Dame Janet Baker » which to English ears sounded like « Damn Janet Baker! »
Perhaps the most important sight at the garden centre however, was the black cat who was so friendly the first time we were there, now happily settled in a cosy pet bed on a chair behind one of the tills, with what looked like water and food bowls underneath and a cat carrier nearby, obviously having got her paws firmly under the table.
Sunday 19 March 2006
This morning I planted all my herbs (two kinds of parsley, chives, sage, mint, thyme and rosemary) in some very fine Italian pots, in the potting shed, the first gardening I have done of any kind since long before I left Ainsworth Street. I carried them all one by one to the terrace but then decided they would be more sheltered and look better on the kitchen and dining room windowsills. They look nice from inside too, and are now even more accessible from the kitchen. N is making great progress in the vegetable garden; it now has a defined border, much of it has been dug over for the first time, and a space has been cleared at the end next to the herb garden ready for the compost bin. At breakfast he said: « I think we need asparagus and strawberries » and I agreed, even though I knew this was a suggestion for the garden rather than a menu. When I went to fetch the bread I saw Monsieur A in his van; he smiled and waved as he well might, considering how much money I must owe him, but at least he knows we are back and hopefully will think to contact us soon. When I went out on Friday I saw a van belonging to Monsieur P the carpenter at the garage, but no sign of him unfortunately. We are still waiting for him to contact us about the shutters.
Monday 20 March 2006
Today our Kitchen Artisan (still haven’t found out his first name) arrived at about ten past eight, while I was still finishing my breakfast prior to getting the last few things out of the kitchen. The dining room looks a little like a shanty town, with things heaped on and under the kitchen table, and the sideboard is full of food which requires no cooking: cheese, fruit, dates, crisps and tins of sardines.
Great progress was made during the morning - everything on the sink side had been removed before midday, but then came doubts and confusions regarding the measurements and the discovery that one cupboard was missing, and leaking pipes behind, which makes me very glad I am having it all replaced. This afternoon we have had a visit from Vincent (Lapeyre’s fitting expert) and all will be OK once the correct cupboards have come; the ones that are here already look so much more robust.
I washed up after lunch in the downstairs washroom, surprisingly not breaking anything, but I suppose there is still time, and then - at the Artisan’s suggestion - cleaned the sink, tap and hob in the garden. I don’t think he really likes replacing existing ones; he would rather install new. N is continuing digging the garden, but after his Herculean efforts over the last few days is stiff and tired and running a little short on energy.
I phoned Monsieur A who said he would be in touch this week to fix a time for the electricians to come, and for someone to build the « socle » under the proposed new shower. The radiator will be fixed at the same time as the new heater, some time in April.
Today’s other news is that N’s daughter and small granddaughter will arrive to stay at Saint-Denis on Friday 31st, which will probably be the next time I go back there. N is going back tomorrow, but says he will come back here on Friday.
Tuesday 21 March 2006
The kitchen is progressing slowly; continuing work on the pipes behind the sink and dishwasher this morning, which meant that the water was turned off for a while, and then each end of the row of units filled in with wood to match the doors. Once the water was on I washed up again in the downstairs washroom, but after lunch was told I could put things in the dishwasher!
Also this morning Monsieur P the carpenter called in response to my phone message yesterday and was able to speak to N about the shutters; he is very busy and said it won’t be before May, which we agreed was better weather for outdoor work, but we were very pleased that he hasn’t forgotten us.
After that I spent an interesting hour at the hairdressers; I was the only client there and had my hair done by the younger woman who cut it the first time. As always it was a pleasure just to relax and be attended to especially considering the chaos at home, and we had an interesting chat about all sorts of things - illnesses of various clients, my kitchen, her house, nearby towns, people in the village, decorating and her job prospects. I learned some good medical vocabulary!
N has just left after lunch to go back to Paris for his quartets tomorrow, and I hope to catch up with several things; in particular the red curtains for the study which I finally managed to start yesterday afternoon. What I am really waiting for is some sunshine so that I can clean the windows and shutters first - there was much made here yesterday both on TV and in the local market of the fact that it was the first day of spring, but today we have gone back to « grisaille » and what the hairdresser called « un vent glaciale ».
Wednesday 22 March 2006
And this morning I woke up to a thick covering of snow, and it’s still falling! So not much chance of sun and window cleaning today. Yesterday afternoon I found a message from Monsieur A saying that the electricians could come today, so I rapidly phoned back to confirm, and they are here now fixing the electric point in the shower room for the broyeur behind the new loo, and then will be working on the lighting in the outbuildings, in the snow poor things. Monsieur P the artisan is here too (his name is Michel; I saw it written on the side of his van) and yesterday he got the work-top under the window in place; it looks very good with the sink and hob in position, and what was more, I was able to use the hob to heat some tortellini for supper - good news as I was just about to open a tin of sardines! No water or electricity there yet though, so I had to light it with matches and fetch and drain the pasta water in the washroom as before. This morning he is fitting the wall cupboards on the window side.
Having French workmen in the house is quite different from dealing with their British counterparts. For a start they need shaking hands with when they arrive and depart, and don’t require cups of tea and coffee throughout the day. They take a respectable two hour lunch break in the middle of the day; this is because - or perhaps why - they begin at 8.00 in the morning - when they usually go home to eat; presumably something tasty rustled up by Maman or Madame.
Yesterday afternoon I made great progress with the red curtains for the study. They are having tab tops, and as I am rather making it up as I go along, I am pleased with their progress. I also hope to have enough material left to make tie-on cushions for the two chairs in the study - one at the computer desk and the other at the writing desk.
Wednesday - later
This afternoon the man from the garden centre came with the red shiny lawnmower which I shut up carefully in the wood shed, the compost bin which we put in its place in the corner of the vegetable garden (not a good idea really as it was in pieces in a cardboard box) and the most interesting thing, the water butt. I stood in the snow and watched him fit it up in between the camellia and the first outhouse; he needed to drill holes for the water to go in and out, and saw through the drain pipe for the joint. Michel the Kitchen Artisan came and had a look at it and we all agreed it was a very good thing. What was really a good thing, was that this was just the day for it; after quite a dry spell I realised that once it was connected all the snow on all the outhouses (N had positioned it well) was going to melt and trickle into it; even as the drain pipe was cut it was going at quite a speed. And now - about three and a half hours later - it’s two-thirds full.
The kitchen is going slowly; Michel went off to an appointment at 10.30 and skidded on a snowy road and damaged his van, lost a lot of time, and may lose more getting it fixed. The missing cupboards and all the stuff for the bathroom arrived at about 5.30, and are all in the garage. But despite this, he is making progress; the wall cupboards on the sink side are all up plus handles, and look very good, especially as they can be seen right from the far end of the grande pièce. He is rather pessimistic by nature, I think though, and when today’s driver arrived - as when Vincent came - he explained again how difficult it all was, and all he‘d had to do. The electricians weren’t happy either, but I think it was more with the previous owners of the property, at least I hope so! Anyway, there are now working lights in all the outhouses as far as the studio, but not yet in the garage, atelier or woodshed, and the mysteries of the cabling along the walls have yet to be unravelled. It was rather a damp, pessimistic day all round, and I’m glad to have the place to myself again, although have to be up even earlier tomorrow, as the garage has been locked because of all the stuff stored in it.
But, exciting news of a totally different nature: on Monday I finally posted off an application to sing in Bach’s St John Passion in Paris on 9 April, after dithering for some while as plans for visiting Britain weren’t definite, and today I received an e-mail saying a place has been reserved for me and that all details are in the post! I first saw the details back in November - the choir and orchestra of the Sorbonne need 1000 singers to sing the chorales of the Passion, the parts that would originally have been sung by the congregation. I have sung the St John Passion several times in Cambridge, and am looking forward very much to singing it again. So the first thing I did was listen to the CD, while doing a bit more of the red curtains. These are more or less finished now, apart from the hems.
Thursday 23 March 2006
A far more optimistic day today - bright sunshine, although still cold and the last patches of snow on the grass were around till lunchtime. I was still worried at not having heard from Monsieur A about anyone coming to construct the « socle » for the new shower, so phoned first thing and he said he would send someone at 8 tomorrow. I passed this message on to the Artisan and said he would be able to tell them exactly what was needed and then I thought I’d better get on with painting the window frame in the washroom (fortunately , as it turned out.) It was ideal weather, and having done that and the little shelf unit too, got on with cleaning the study windows and shutters, which took ages, just as the equivalent ones upstairs had. Marie-Antoinette appeared opposite cleaning hers, and said the weather made you want to be out cleaning the windows, didn’t it? I didn’t think I would shout an invitation to her across the street, but hoped I might catch up with her next week, perhaps when I have a kitchen! I spent a long time moving the chair and desk in the study and repositioning the ladder to get both sets of curtains up to check the hems, and them took them upstairs again to finish, so I didn’t see Michel the Artisan go off at lunch time.
After my own lunch I finally finished the curtains, while listening to the end of the Saint John Passion very loudly, thought I heard voices downstairs but that it was probably the Artisan on his phone; went down as far as the washroom and saw two complete strangers dismantling the loo, with water all over the floor; an older man with glasses and a limp, and a younger one who might have been Indian.
What had happened - I eventually worked out, without much help from anybody - was that these were Monsieur A’s men who had apparently come round a day early at about 11.30, spoken to the artisan about what was needed, gone off to fetch their stuff, and come back in the afternoon, when he was not about, and just got on with it. And in order to have room to build the « socle » they needed to remove the old loo first, with the artisan’s blessing. (What they made of the Saint John Passion, I can’t imagine. Fortunately I wasn’t singing along with it at the time.)
The first thing I did was rescue my newly painted white shelf unit, and fetch cloths for the floor and some sticky tape to stop the water still coming out of the pipe to the former cistern. I then opened the side door to the garden and the poor old leaking loo was laid unceremoniously on its back on the grass, like some animal breathing its last. The « socle », two boards making a square in the corner with cement poured inside up to about six inches, was finished almost straight away, and after carefully cleaning the hall carpet, they were off. By the end of the working day the sink/window side of the kitchen was almost finished, apart from pieces still awaited - door cover for the dishwasher and the saucepan drawers, but all the complicated stuff: sink, oven, hob, water, gas and electricity was in place, together with the work top and the wall cupboards. The other side of the kitchen is much simpler, just floor and wall cupboards with washing machine already in place underneath and new fridge/freezer standing at the end.
Before we left for Paris last Wednesday week, Monsieur A came round in the morning with the estimate for the new heater, plus a photograph of it. As expected, it will cost several thousands of euros and I gave him a cheque as a deposit. We also asked him to look at our latest problem, the outside drain by the terrace which takes waste water from the kitchen, which was overflowing. It had never looked very clear since we arrived - full of leaves and débris, but for a couple of days had been flooding the grass. He said he could send someone round to see to it while we were away, as they wouldn’t need access to the house, and also mentioned that the plumber/sweep/heating engineer was his nephew Guillaume.
We drove back to Saint-Denis in the afternoon, and the day after I set off for London on Eurostar. N remarked that I looked much smarter than usual, and I said that was because for once I was not dealing with cobwebs and mud, or grovelling on the floor. It was almost six months since I had left Britain - the longest I have ever been out of the country - and a very interesting and stimulating experience. I was away six nights, and apart from two in Cambridge slept in a different bed every night. I caught up with lots of the family, Cambridge friends and office colleagues as well as College contacts at the dinner on Saturday night, and perhaps most importantly with my ex-cat Albertine, happily settled in her new home further down Ainsworth Street. At first England seemed very strange, the windows looked naked without shutters (I remembered this from living in France before) and I kept coming across things I had completely forgotten about: Posh & Becks, Creme Eggs, Radio Times, the Backstreet Bistro in Gwydir Street…. but gradually got used to everything - and the money, but not the prices - and kept having to remind myself I wasn’t going to pick up my bicycle and cycle back to Ainsworth Street. I had a good shopping afternoon in Cambridge, relishing the thought of not having to go back to the office! and enjoyed spending my Marks & Spencer and Boots vouchers. On Sunday morning I went to Ipswich; the train was replaced by a bus so I had a good view of several Suffolk towns and villages and not only thought of Evreux which reminded me of so many of them, but also felt pangs of recognition on seeing timbered houses with beams just like mine! I hadn’t realised I had become so attached to them. When I saw Victorian houses with long gardens like those I had lived in for so many years I also realised just how used I had become to my large square garden surrounding the house on three and a half sides.
On Wednesday afternoon I came home again on Eurostar - it is strange how the journey « away » and the journey « home » have now been reversed - and N was there to meet me at the Gare du Nord, and whereas in the past I would usually stay about five days now this is « home ». While I had been away N had spent three days in Italy for the final signature for the sale of the apartment; all had gone well, no trouble from the Mafia and the cheques paid into his French bank account. He had also finally received his portrait from the Vietnamese artist, too late for me to take, so it will probably go by car in June now, when N goes to Cambridge for a College feast. He was pleased that these two things which had been going on for so long - the sale of the apartment and the portrait - had finally been resolved in the same week, and said that he could now begin to think about where else we might travel in Europe - one of the reasons for my coming to live here! although ever since I arrived in September we have been either house hunting, waiting for the final sale of the Normandy house, or for furniture from Cambridge or Italy, or the sale of the Italian apartment. And the only other thing we were waiting for - the installation of the new kitchen and bathroom - is happening next week.
I had expected to be travelling back to La Neuve-Lyre on my own by train and bus, and that N would be staying in Paris to play string quartets next Wednesday, but he was keen to see whether the drain had been fixed, and to get on with the garden, so we drove back together on Thursday afternoon in time for the delivery of the kitchen materials on Friday. I was not sorry as my bag had become very heavy by that time, and I was so glad to be able to unpack it and put it away after having lived out of it for ten days.
The drain looked wonderfully clear, but so far we have had no contact with Monsieur A or his entourage, and as usual are compiling a list of what we still need him to do. The kitchen stuff arrived as arranged on Friday morning; many boxes and planks and the new fridge and oven all reassuringly marked « Steele », which are at present all stacked in one of the outhouses.
Having been away ten days, the garden looks a little greener and more spring-like; more crocus flowers and taller daffodil and tulip leaves, primulas in several colours and buds on some of the shrubs, but not so far advanced as in Suffolk where daffodils were out in the gardens and the countryside was full of snowdrops. N spent almost all day in the garden yesterday, clearing the path in the rose garden, using some spare concrete slabs to make a step, working on the vegetable patch and clipping the hedge round it (very carefully) with his fierce new electric hedge trimmer. Today we have been to the garden centre at Bernay, and made a record number of purchases: currant and gooseberry bushes, rhubarb and an apricot tree - which have all been planted along the far south-facing wall this afternoon - a rake and an edging tool, and - chosen by me - lots of herbs, some for the herb garden at the end of the vegetable plot and some to go in pots on the terrace, thus more accessible from the kitchen. I was really pleased to find them as on our first visit there I looked everywhere for herbs and was resigned to not having any - obviously it was just too early. N also ordered a water butt, a lawn mower and a compost bin which are to be delivered next Wednesday afternoon; the water butt will be « installed » by the man from the garden centre. In order to make room for it by the drain pipe next to the first outhouse N has replanted a camellia into an ornate Italian pot and placed it by the French windows, where it looks very fine. There is a second camellia near the drain pipe, which may have to be removed to a pot too, in which case it will look even better; I like the idea of being « La Dame aux Camélias » (This makes me think of something I heard on France Musique yesterday; an announcer who was introducing a recording by Janet Baker added « Dame Janet Baker » which to English ears sounded like « Damn Janet Baker! »
Perhaps the most important sight at the garden centre however, was the black cat who was so friendly the first time we were there, now happily settled in a cosy pet bed on a chair behind one of the tills, with what looked like water and food bowls underneath and a cat carrier nearby, obviously having got her paws firmly under the table.
Sunday 19 March 2006
This morning I planted all my herbs (two kinds of parsley, chives, sage, mint, thyme and rosemary) in some very fine Italian pots, in the potting shed, the first gardening I have done of any kind since long before I left Ainsworth Street. I carried them all one by one to the terrace but then decided they would be more sheltered and look better on the kitchen and dining room windowsills. They look nice from inside too, and are now even more accessible from the kitchen. N is making great progress in the vegetable garden; it now has a defined border, much of it has been dug over for the first time, and a space has been cleared at the end next to the herb garden ready for the compost bin. At breakfast he said: « I think we need asparagus and strawberries » and I agreed, even though I knew this was a suggestion for the garden rather than a menu. When I went to fetch the bread I saw Monsieur A in his van; he smiled and waved as he well might, considering how much money I must owe him, but at least he knows we are back and hopefully will think to contact us soon. When I went out on Friday I saw a van belonging to Monsieur P the carpenter at the garage, but no sign of him unfortunately. We are still waiting for him to contact us about the shutters.
Monday 20 March 2006
Today our Kitchen Artisan (still haven’t found out his first name) arrived at about ten past eight, while I was still finishing my breakfast prior to getting the last few things out of the kitchen. The dining room looks a little like a shanty town, with things heaped on and under the kitchen table, and the sideboard is full of food which requires no cooking: cheese, fruit, dates, crisps and tins of sardines.
Great progress was made during the morning - everything on the sink side had been removed before midday, but then came doubts and confusions regarding the measurements and the discovery that one cupboard was missing, and leaking pipes behind, which makes me very glad I am having it all replaced. This afternoon we have had a visit from Vincent (Lapeyre’s fitting expert) and all will be OK once the correct cupboards have come; the ones that are here already look so much more robust.
I washed up after lunch in the downstairs washroom, surprisingly not breaking anything, but I suppose there is still time, and then - at the Artisan’s suggestion - cleaned the sink, tap and hob in the garden. I don’t think he really likes replacing existing ones; he would rather install new. N is continuing digging the garden, but after his Herculean efforts over the last few days is stiff and tired and running a little short on energy.
I phoned Monsieur A who said he would be in touch this week to fix a time for the electricians to come, and for someone to build the « socle » under the proposed new shower. The radiator will be fixed at the same time as the new heater, some time in April.
Today’s other news is that N’s daughter and small granddaughter will arrive to stay at Saint-Denis on Friday 31st, which will probably be the next time I go back there. N is going back tomorrow, but says he will come back here on Friday.
Tuesday 21 March 2006
The kitchen is progressing slowly; continuing work on the pipes behind the sink and dishwasher this morning, which meant that the water was turned off for a while, and then each end of the row of units filled in with wood to match the doors. Once the water was on I washed up again in the downstairs washroom, but after lunch was told I could put things in the dishwasher!
Also this morning Monsieur P the carpenter called in response to my phone message yesterday and was able to speak to N about the shutters; he is very busy and said it won’t be before May, which we agreed was better weather for outdoor work, but we were very pleased that he hasn’t forgotten us.
After that I spent an interesting hour at the hairdressers; I was the only client there and had my hair done by the younger woman who cut it the first time. As always it was a pleasure just to relax and be attended to especially considering the chaos at home, and we had an interesting chat about all sorts of things - illnesses of various clients, my kitchen, her house, nearby towns, people in the village, decorating and her job prospects. I learned some good medical vocabulary!
N has just left after lunch to go back to Paris for his quartets tomorrow, and I hope to catch up with several things; in particular the red curtains for the study which I finally managed to start yesterday afternoon. What I am really waiting for is some sunshine so that I can clean the windows and shutters first - there was much made here yesterday both on TV and in the local market of the fact that it was the first day of spring, but today we have gone back to « grisaille » and what the hairdresser called « un vent glaciale ».
Wednesday 22 March 2006
And this morning I woke up to a thick covering of snow, and it’s still falling! So not much chance of sun and window cleaning today. Yesterday afternoon I found a message from Monsieur A saying that the electricians could come today, so I rapidly phoned back to confirm, and they are here now fixing the electric point in the shower room for the broyeur behind the new loo, and then will be working on the lighting in the outbuildings, in the snow poor things. Monsieur P the artisan is here too (his name is Michel; I saw it written on the side of his van) and yesterday he got the work-top under the window in place; it looks very good with the sink and hob in position, and what was more, I was able to use the hob to heat some tortellini for supper - good news as I was just about to open a tin of sardines! No water or electricity there yet though, so I had to light it with matches and fetch and drain the pasta water in the washroom as before. This morning he is fitting the wall cupboards on the window side.
Having French workmen in the house is quite different from dealing with their British counterparts. For a start they need shaking hands with when they arrive and depart, and don’t require cups of tea and coffee throughout the day. They take a respectable two hour lunch break in the middle of the day; this is because - or perhaps why - they begin at 8.00 in the morning - when they usually go home to eat; presumably something tasty rustled up by Maman or Madame.
Yesterday afternoon I made great progress with the red curtains for the study. They are having tab tops, and as I am rather making it up as I go along, I am pleased with their progress. I also hope to have enough material left to make tie-on cushions for the two chairs in the study - one at the computer desk and the other at the writing desk.
Wednesday - later
This afternoon the man from the garden centre came with the red shiny lawnmower which I shut up carefully in the wood shed, the compost bin which we put in its place in the corner of the vegetable garden (not a good idea really as it was in pieces in a cardboard box) and the most interesting thing, the water butt. I stood in the snow and watched him fit it up in between the camellia and the first outhouse; he needed to drill holes for the water to go in and out, and saw through the drain pipe for the joint. Michel the Kitchen Artisan came and had a look at it and we all agreed it was a very good thing. What was really a good thing, was that this was just the day for it; after quite a dry spell I realised that once it was connected all the snow on all the outhouses (N had positioned it well) was going to melt and trickle into it; even as the drain pipe was cut it was going at quite a speed. And now - about three and a half hours later - it’s two-thirds full.
The kitchen is going slowly; Michel went off to an appointment at 10.30 and skidded on a snowy road and damaged his van, lost a lot of time, and may lose more getting it fixed. The missing cupboards and all the stuff for the bathroom arrived at about 5.30, and are all in the garage. But despite this, he is making progress; the wall cupboards on the sink side are all up plus handles, and look very good, especially as they can be seen right from the far end of the grande pièce. He is rather pessimistic by nature, I think though, and when today’s driver arrived - as when Vincent came - he explained again how difficult it all was, and all he‘d had to do. The electricians weren’t happy either, but I think it was more with the previous owners of the property, at least I hope so! Anyway, there are now working lights in all the outhouses as far as the studio, but not yet in the garage, atelier or woodshed, and the mysteries of the cabling along the walls have yet to be unravelled. It was rather a damp, pessimistic day all round, and I’m glad to have the place to myself again, although have to be up even earlier tomorrow, as the garage has been locked because of all the stuff stored in it.
But, exciting news of a totally different nature: on Monday I finally posted off an application to sing in Bach’s St John Passion in Paris on 9 April, after dithering for some while as plans for visiting Britain weren’t definite, and today I received an e-mail saying a place has been reserved for me and that all details are in the post! I first saw the details back in November - the choir and orchestra of the Sorbonne need 1000 singers to sing the chorales of the Passion, the parts that would originally have been sung by the congregation. I have sung the St John Passion several times in Cambridge, and am looking forward very much to singing it again. So the first thing I did was listen to the CD, while doing a bit more of the red curtains. These are more or less finished now, apart from the hems.
Thursday 23 March 2006
A far more optimistic day today - bright sunshine, although still cold and the last patches of snow on the grass were around till lunchtime. I was still worried at not having heard from Monsieur A about anyone coming to construct the « socle » for the new shower, so phoned first thing and he said he would send someone at 8 tomorrow. I passed this message on to the Artisan and said he would be able to tell them exactly what was needed and then I thought I’d better get on with painting the window frame in the washroom (fortunately , as it turned out.) It was ideal weather, and having done that and the little shelf unit too, got on with cleaning the study windows and shutters, which took ages, just as the equivalent ones upstairs had. Marie-Antoinette appeared opposite cleaning hers, and said the weather made you want to be out cleaning the windows, didn’t it? I didn’t think I would shout an invitation to her across the street, but hoped I might catch up with her next week, perhaps when I have a kitchen! I spent a long time moving the chair and desk in the study and repositioning the ladder to get both sets of curtains up to check the hems, and them took them upstairs again to finish, so I didn’t see Michel the Artisan go off at lunch time.
After my own lunch I finally finished the curtains, while listening to the end of the Saint John Passion very loudly, thought I heard voices downstairs but that it was probably the Artisan on his phone; went down as far as the washroom and saw two complete strangers dismantling the loo, with water all over the floor; an older man with glasses and a limp, and a younger one who might have been Indian.
What had happened - I eventually worked out, without much help from anybody - was that these were Monsieur A’s men who had apparently come round a day early at about 11.30, spoken to the artisan about what was needed, gone off to fetch their stuff, and come back in the afternoon, when he was not about, and just got on with it. And in order to have room to build the « socle » they needed to remove the old loo first, with the artisan’s blessing. (What they made of the Saint John Passion, I can’t imagine. Fortunately I wasn’t singing along with it at the time.)
The first thing I did was rescue my newly painted white shelf unit, and fetch cloths for the floor and some sticky tape to stop the water still coming out of the pipe to the former cistern. I then opened the side door to the garden and the poor old leaking loo was laid unceremoniously on its back on the grass, like some animal breathing its last. The « socle », two boards making a square in the corner with cement poured inside up to about six inches, was finished almost straight away, and after carefully cleaning the hall carpet, they were off. By the end of the working day the sink/window side of the kitchen was almost finished, apart from pieces still awaited - door cover for the dishwasher and the saucepan drawers, but all the complicated stuff: sink, oven, hob, water, gas and electricity was in place, together with the work top and the wall cupboards. The other side of the kitchen is much simpler, just floor and wall cupboards with washing machine already in place underneath and new fridge/freezer standing at the end.
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Wednesday 1 March 2006
It was an eventful journey back to Paris last Wednesday afternoon; the bus which was due at 16.59 arrived early, and when I explained to the driver that my train was at 18.06 he said that would be fine as we already had some time in hand. On coming out of La Vieille-Lyre we were told by a motorist that the road was blocked by an accident, and I had visions of missing the train and waiting 2 hours for the next! I didn’t know the route well enough to know whether we were on schedule or not, but as we arrived at Evreux station a train direct for Paris pulled in. I was surprised but got in, and on consulting my timetable found that I was on the 17.56, a train I had totally discounted as the bus was due to arrive at 17.59! So the driver had made up the time really well. This meant I arrived at Saint-Denis some 20 minutes earlier than expected, surprising N who had not quite got dinner ready.
On Thursday afternoon we went to the local branch of Leroy Merlin and bought a chandelier for the salon; one we had noticed and admired before. We didn’t think there was much else we needed, but as always came away with lots of other bits and pieces. In the evening I met Madeleine the Gare du Nord as planned and we all sat up late watching Olympic skating, and on Friday she and I set off for our day in Paris.
We took the RER train to Châtelet and spent some time in the Forum des Halles shopping centre there, and then walked along the Rue de Rivoli to BHV where we bought several things including a frying pan (M) and some red thread for curtains (me) and had an early lunch at the almost empty restaurant on the top floor with a wonderful view. We walked back to the Etam department store which M was anxious to see, and were there a long time - I found various things I liked which she insisted on buying for me as early Mother’s Day presents: a string of beads, an elegant T-shirt vest and a little tea tray on which was written My Hotel. We had tea in the store, again in a top floor café.
Madeleine had said she wanted to see Parisian icons, not necessarily visit them; by this time we had seen the Hôtel de Ville and Notre Dame; and then went on to the Avenue de l’Opéra so that was added to the list, and we looked round Monoprix. We then went on to the Grands Magasins at Haussmann, where M bought a Longchamp bag and I sat and watched the well-heeled (and well-bagged) customers. It was then almost 6 o’clock and we had run out of steam, so caught the RER back to Saint-Denis.
On Saturday morning she and I went to the local Carrefour to get weekend food shopping before setting off for Normandy, and also so that she could have a look at it. It was difficult to tell whether we would leave after lunch at Saint-Denis or in time for lunch at La Neuve-Lyre; as it was we were ready to leave at 11.30, as I had suspected. The car was so full there was barely room for the three of us - lights and a chandelier, my and M’s bags, the food shopping, N’s viola and the inevitable bags of leftovers and things to take from one house to another.
N suggested - and we readily agreed to - stopping for lunch at our favourite restaurant opposite Evreux station, where we arrived at about 1 o’clock. It was only the third time we had been there, but it already felt familiar, warm and cosy with such good food. This meant that once we arrived at the house there was time to look round without having to rush to unpack food or get lunch, a good thing as with the newly regulated heating the place took some time to warm up. We hung the new chandelier from its hook on the beam in the salon, and N decorated it with all its jewels, rather like a Christmas tree. In fact, it’s like having an all-year-round Christmas tree, as you can sit and admire it in the firelight. The temperature had dropped, both since Paris and since I was here before - by Sunday afternoon we were all sitting round the fire, M under a blanket. She and I only went as far as the supermarket on Sunday morning; it was a pity the boulangerie was shut for its annual holiday. We had Sunday lunch - poule au pot, very good when you don’t have a proper oven - on the new large Italian dining table, with the blue dinner service, and tea round the fire using the blue tea set. The tour of the house and outbuildings took a long time, especially as we included our « secret room » - a Narnia-like first floor attic reachable only through the back of the landing cupboard, which even we weren’t fully aware of until after we had bought the house.
As I had feared, M found the constant journeys from floor to floor between bedroom, shower room and loo rather long and needing forward planning; and I am glad that we will eventually have the extra loo put in the shower room. The attic bedroom was very cosy with its heaters on, and once she had unpacked looked nicely lived-in. It was pleasant too to have someone with me helping in my new kitchen, and she showed us how to print envelopes on the computer, and - having had the DVD player problems explained in detail by N - suggested I play exercise DVDs on the computer in the study. N rang FNAC about the DVD player and decided it would be easier to take it to the branch in Rouen rather than back to Paris.
On Monday we planned to take Madeleine to Evreux station in time for the 1.30 train to Paris to catch her Eurostar, which meant lunch at about 11.45; in the event we had an extremely short and busy morning. We were just awake at about 8.00 when we had a phone call from Monsieur A asking if the electricians could come in 15 minutes, I said we could be ready in 30, and quickly got dressed and opened the garage; unlike when they first came it is now light at 8.30.
N had not met them before - Emanuel brought his apprentice again - but was able to explain the new tasks which needed doing: the chandelier and the ceiling light in the grande pièce as well as the bedroom wall light and extra point, and the replacing of the kitchen light switch. He had forgotten about the electricity needed in the shower room ready for the loo with its broyeur, so I explained this and as I thought it will be no problem, but there was no time that day. We had breakfast while all this was going on, then M and I went to have a look at the market, which took all of five minutes. The fish man - very apologetically - did not have any salmon, but we bought bread from the supermarket and M got cards from the paper shop, and we visited the post office and bought stamps.
As soon as we got home the new lights were ready and needed bulbs, so M and I went back out again to get them and to post her cards; I was glad to give her the opportunity of visiting the Quincaillerie (and showing that it really did look like the Four Candles sketch) I also introduced her to Monsieur A whom we met going in. As we passed the market this time I noticed a chair caning stall, different from the one I had seen before and somehow found myself in conversation with a young man who said of course he could do my chair, so went home to fetch it and back out again for the third time that morning. (He claimed the man who had told me it was the wrong season just didn’t want any work) Anyway, I opted for the real caning « à l’ancienne » rather than the cheap stuff on a roll, and he said it should be done by Thursday and he will call and deliver. He said it was an Italian chair, and that the marks on the arms and back were due to water damage, which didn’t surprise me as it had been found abandoned in the garage, and I had planned to re-stain it anyway once the seat had been re-done.
We had a quick and early soup, bread and cheese lunch and set off for Evreux station, arriving well in advance with time to get M’s ticket as well as tasteful local postcards showing cider and camembert and the latest edition of the magazine Maisons Normandes. We waved her off on a two-tier train quite different from the one I had taken, and went straight back home to see how the electricians were doing. By the time they left at 5.30 the chandelier and bedroom light were looking marvellous; it is wonderful to have light in that dark corner near the wardrobe and chest of drawers at last, and to be able to distinguish my black socks from my brown ones! Sometimes I look at all my jackets hanging in the smaller section of the wardrobe and wonder what kind of life it was when I wore them so often. With the light in position on the wall there was no room for a picture, but it looked rather bare so I brought in some colourful artificial flowers which had arrived from Italy complete with vase; and decided what was needed was an arrangement of white flowers. With the extra electric point we can have a radio/CD player on top of the chest of drawers too.
It was rather strange to be just the two of us in the house for the first time for some weeks, and although there were - as always - lots of things which needed doing at home, we decided to go to Rouen the next day to take the DVD player to FNAC, as well as having a nice day out.
I had only ever been to Rouen once before, with N from Paris a few years ago, despite having wanted to visit it for some time, not - as suggested by a French friend to glory in the spot where the English burned Joan of Arc - but to identify with Emma Bovary and her ride round the cathedral in a closed carriage. However, no sign of either Emma or Joan today, apart from an car park called Pucelle, which amused me.
It took a little longer to get there than N had planned but this was rectified on the way back. It was a much larger place than I remembered, and it was difficult to find our way into the centre, but suddenly we were in the right street and drove into the underground car park below the shopping centre where FNAC was situated. They took the DVD player in and said they would contact us by letter in 15-20 days.
We looked round and I managed to find some white and cream artificial flowers for the bedroom and N found a book he wanted in FNAC. The cathedral was closed, so we decide to have lunch first; a small crowded cosy restaurant in the cathedral square where they served huge portions - N had duck with a vast jacket potato and I had an enormous salmon salad. While we were attacking these it began to snow; we weren’t surprised as it had been so cold when we were walking round. Afterwards we looked in Printemps for a lighting department as we just had one light left to get - for the study - but no luck. The cathedral was still closed and it was very cold, so we decided to go back to the car.
On the way back we stopped at a supermarket which usefully had a garden centre and DIY shop on the same site. As well as some large and bulky items from the supermarket, N bought a hoe, several heavy bags of earth and compost, and vegetable plants; and I found an excellent light for the study. N also found two thin battens of wood to finish off the bookshelves on the condemned door.
Pancake Day had caught us unawares just like St Valentine’s Day; it was only during the afternoon that we discovered it was that day, and fortunately had all the ingredients to hand, plus some left-over chicken for the filling. They went very well, and I only realised afterwards this was because for the first time in seven years I was cooking them on gas and not electricity!
Friday 3 March 2006
On Wednesday morning we awoke to brilliant blue skies and a light covering of snow everywhere, so different from all the grisaille of recent weeks. We drew the curtains and lay in bed looking at the great fir tree with its branches covered in snow, and tried pretending we were in Switzerland. We managed to do washing and gardening until lunchtime when it got very dark and there was more snow while we ate, and at the end of the afternoon a real snowstorm - N had been pruning shrubs at the front and had to abandon the wheelbarrow full of cuttings; it got more and more covered in snow and was a measure of just how much had fallen in the afternoon.
There was still snow about on Thursday, when I went to the Quincaillerie to get more acetone for N - the nasty lino is now all off the back hall floor but there are still patches of glue to be removed - and met Monsieur A. I said the electrical work was going well, but that we were still hoping he would come and look at the oil heater and sweep both chimneys, and he said how about Friday morning at 8.15? And I said that would be fine. We had planned to go to Bernay on Friday, but decided we could go later on in the day.
Monsieur A’s heating expert/sweep (we never found out his name) and his assistant arrived on time on Friday morning, by which time the snow had melted and it was pouring with rain. They began cleaning in the boiler room with lots of noise, and then announced that they were unable to sweep that chimney as it was not legal. Monsieur A was summoned to take a look at the situation; N was surprised as he had not seen him since the first day he came to the house, and thought he looked much younger then he had remembered.
Anyway, it appeared that the chimney from the oil heater had been fitted in a way which was now illegal, and that if they swept it and there were repercussions they would be held responsible, which obviously they didn’t want. Monsieur A said there were several solutions, and then proceeded to tell us all two of them: either we had a new stainless steel chimney conforming to regulations built above the height of the house, or we had a new oil fuel heater, plus new ground level outlet instead of chimney, which would be much more efficient and economical to run.
He obviously preferred the latter solution, and so did we once we got used to the idea of the enormous cost; the other heater had been there 10 years, and like everything had now been superseded by better and more efficient models. We were surprised as we had understood that it was a good make, but I felt - as with the kitchen - that if it was renewed now it would not need doing again later. Monsieur A left - later ringing to ask if he could bring an agent from the heating company to see us and house on Monday afternoon. Somewhat reeling, we supervised the sweeping of the chimney in the salon (I had only just cleaned it after the electricians’ visit) and covered the sofa and chairs with dustsheets. The sweep/heating technician amused me as he said there were pieces of chimney falling down, but that we were not to worry, it was an old house, and it was quite normal. Later he asked if we had a bucket to put under the boiler as it was leaking a little after the cleaning, but we were not to worry, it was all right. I told him he sounded like a doctor. We then asked him to look at the stone cold radiator in the grande pièce; he said it had been forced and was now blocked and would need a new piece fitting and the whole thing draining. This seemed a very minor thing after all we had heard that morning.
Some time in the middle of all this I had a phone call from the man who was re-caning my chair, it was ready and could he come this afternoon? I said we were planning to go to Bernay and he agreed to come at 1.00 which he duly did; the chair looks (and feels) marvellous but was very expensive; perhaps if I had known about the heater I would have been less reckless. Anyway, I have put it by the phone table in the back hall, and it gives me great pleasure. Will be even better once I have found time to re-stain it. Ever since we arrived last Saturday I have been trying to find time to start on my study curtains, but they just seem to get further and further away. I don’t know where all the time goes, although I found myself thinking this in bed this morning, and then discovered it was ten to nine……
The main reason for going to Bernay was something we should have done before; a visit to the Assurance Maladie offices to get me into the French Health system, about which I have heard a lot, from N and elsewhere. It was not worth doing before Christmas in Saint-Denis as that was not my permanent address and we kept saying we would go once I was settled in La Neuve-Lyre and it has taken this long.
It was not quite as bureaucratic as N had threatened or I had feared; a very fierce lady who refused to return my smile said that everything was in order but she needed to see my birth certificate, and then they would compile me a dossier and I would get the famous Carte Vitale. (This is so important that you needed to insert it into a machine at the door just to get a numbered ticket for your turn; fortunately N used his or we would still be there now in some kind of eternal bureaucratic vicious circle…) I had taken along forms from the UK, EHIC health card, passport, bank details and copy of a letter from water board proving where I live, but although my passport obviously includes my date of birth we have to go back with the birth certificate next week. I hope she is as impressed by it as my notaire Carine, who had never seen such a large British birth certificate before.
While at Bernay we made our regular visit to Monsieur Bricolage to get wood for our latest project - shelves in the landing cupboard ready for linen. (My clothes, which were hanging there having now been promoted to the Italian wardrobe in the bedroom) It was quite a relief, and a sign of progress, I think, that we did not have to buy any curtain poles or light fittings, although there will be more curtain poles to come. We had all the wood cut while we were there, and then with some difficulty got it and us back into the car and set off for the supermarket, to get - amongst other things - some steak to fortify ourselves after such a stressful day.
Sunday 5 March 2006
Yesterday morning I received a letter from Lapeyre telling us that the kitchen & bathroom fitting would start on Monday 20 March at 8.30 am, with delivery of materials on the Friday before, the 17th. Although very welcome this was a little earlier than I had expected; it gives me just one day to get back here from Paris after my trip to Britain. It also meant we suddenly had to paint the kitchen which we always said we would do before the fitting - and realised we had better do it this weekend. N said he had rather forgotten about painting the kitchen and had somehow hoped it would paint itself; I quite thought it would be April or May.
On Friday afternoon and Saturday morning N put up the supports for the shelves in the linen cupboard while I cleared the kitchen and then he painted the kitchen walls and ceiling while I covered the shelves with some leftover wallpaper we found in a cupboard. This was rather like wrapping a parcel, only with drawing pins, and much better and quicker than painting. If only it had matched the wallpaper on the walls inside the cupboard it would have been perfect! There is a space at the bottom for the upstairs hoover, and other cleaning things.
Filling the cupboard with the linen took ages and quite a lot of thought and organisation. Apart from all the stuff I had brought from Ainsworth Street, there were fine white sheets from N’s Italian « inheritance » - many hand-embroidered, and other John Lewis bedding he had bought for the first Italian house, the new IKEA sets I had bought for our bed, plus all sorts of other bedcovers, lots from both Italian houses. I counted 19 bedspreads not including ones currently on beds; there are lots of blankets and dozens of pillowcases. All the pillows went in a grey trunk in N’s attic, and I know from the first sort-out when we moved in that I somehow brought five single duvets from Ainsworth Street; I think they must have been breeding while in store. I did think as I was carrying it load by load past the beams on the landing how lucky I was to have all these beautiful old sheets in such a wonderful house. My other consolation was that it ever there were a houseful at Christmas (which we certainly hope) then nobody need be cold, as there would be plenty of extra layers for all.
Most of this bedding had been temporarily stored in a small built-in wardrobe in the front first floor guest bedroom; emptying it meant that it could be restored to being a guest wardrobe, so N took out the extra shelves and moved up the hanging rail which had been at child level.
Today N has done a second coat on the kitchen walls, and I have painted the window frames and skirting boards. The walls are brilliant white and the woodwork a matt « blanc cassé » (off white), the same as the panelling in the salon, like most of the woodwork in the house. I especially enjoyed painting the big traditionally French window with its central rod and large ornate handle in the middle, and visualising my tomato print curtains hanging up at it. These may be not so far off now as I had thought!
In between times it has snowed again on and off, and we have had some rather thrown-together meals in a dining room full of kitchen paraphernalia. Being taken by surprise meant we had little time to plan, but when the kitchen fitting starts even more will have to be taken out - contents of cupboards and drawers too. We will take the oven and kettle into the dining room, and probably resort to picnic meals from the traiteur again, like when we first came here. N has finally been able to go out in the garden and get on with various unfinished tasks; in between the snow showers it sometimes feels quite spring-like, especially now the mornings are so much lighter. The only sign of spring in the garden is the snowdrops around two of the bushes; they were barely visible a few weeks ago, but now look very confident. There are daffodil and tulip leaves poking through in places, too.
The other thing going on in the background has been planning for my trip to Britain, how to fit in time to see all the family, and where to stay when: I still haven’t found anywhere to stay in Cambridge for Friday and Saturday, the evening of the College dinner. I have a long list of things to do before we leave here for Saint-Denis on Wednesday, and I travel to London on Thursday. While I am there N will be in Italy for three days, for the final signature for the sale of the apartment at Soliera. This has involved many phone calls and e-mails in Italian over the last few days; problems caused by the purchasers wanting first of all to pay the deposit with a cheque in dollars, then the remainder with some kind of postal order, and now in cash. N has terrible visions of the Mafia and laundered money or counterfeit notes, or being hit over the head once he has the money in his bag. So all the communications are with the agent to protest and say that he finds all this « molto irregulare ».
Monday 6 March 2006
There are now two yellow crocuses in the garden too! And I now have somewhere to stay in Cambridge, and am crossing things off my « to do before UK » list, starting with « find gown » which I managed to do this morning. I have also managed to track down the Boots and Marks & Spencer vouchers I received for Christmas and had put in a Safe Place, and find my purse with £45 in it; the notes and coins look very odd indeed.
Tuesday 7 March 2006
Yesterday afternoon Monsieur A duly arrived with the man from the oil heater company, and we all had a look at the situation and it was decided it would be OK and Monsieur A will send us two estimates, one for the heater alone and one to include an electric water heating system, which we could use in the summer only and turn the main system off; more economical in the long run but obviously more expensive to install.
We then set off for Bernay in beautiful sunshine, so much more spring-like than last Friday when there was still a fair amount of snow lying about. The horses and cows we always pass in the fields looked much happier than usual. We parked at Monsieur Bricolage as always and this time looked at wallpaper, as this might be the quickest option for brightening up the walls of the back hall. At present they are covered in golden yellow wallpaper, and N had been thinking of repairing them with some spare paper we found in a cupboard, or painting them all over. There are so many golden yellow walls in this house, but much as I like them, it might be nice - and brighter - to have cream walls instead. We also bought some stuff called « crépi » a stiff paint which leaves a bumpy surface, which is all over the veranda walls, as there are big gaps which need redoing; together with an interesting roller with holes in with which to apply it.
We then went back to the Assurance Maladie offices with my birth certificate; a different woman - who I hope will be able to tie up the copy of this with my other papers - said I should contact them if I had heard nothing in two or three weeks. I then went shopping for things prior to my visit to Britain while N went to the garden centre, having finally decided the time had come to buy and plant roses and rhododendrons, to put in various gaps in the garden. They have been planted this morning, and look very fine indeed.
It was an eventful journey back to Paris last Wednesday afternoon; the bus which was due at 16.59 arrived early, and when I explained to the driver that my train was at 18.06 he said that would be fine as we already had some time in hand. On coming out of La Vieille-Lyre we were told by a motorist that the road was blocked by an accident, and I had visions of missing the train and waiting 2 hours for the next! I didn’t know the route well enough to know whether we were on schedule or not, but as we arrived at Evreux station a train direct for Paris pulled in. I was surprised but got in, and on consulting my timetable found that I was on the 17.56, a train I had totally discounted as the bus was due to arrive at 17.59! So the driver had made up the time really well. This meant I arrived at Saint-Denis some 20 minutes earlier than expected, surprising N who had not quite got dinner ready.
On Thursday afternoon we went to the local branch of Leroy Merlin and bought a chandelier for the salon; one we had noticed and admired before. We didn’t think there was much else we needed, but as always came away with lots of other bits and pieces. In the evening I met Madeleine the Gare du Nord as planned and we all sat up late watching Olympic skating, and on Friday she and I set off for our day in Paris.
We took the RER train to Châtelet and spent some time in the Forum des Halles shopping centre there, and then walked along the Rue de Rivoli to BHV where we bought several things including a frying pan (M) and some red thread for curtains (me) and had an early lunch at the almost empty restaurant on the top floor with a wonderful view. We walked back to the Etam department store which M was anxious to see, and were there a long time - I found various things I liked which she insisted on buying for me as early Mother’s Day presents: a string of beads, an elegant T-shirt vest and a little tea tray on which was written My Hotel. We had tea in the store, again in a top floor café.
Madeleine had said she wanted to see Parisian icons, not necessarily visit them; by this time we had seen the Hôtel de Ville and Notre Dame; and then went on to the Avenue de l’Opéra so that was added to the list, and we looked round Monoprix. We then went on to the Grands Magasins at Haussmann, where M bought a Longchamp bag and I sat and watched the well-heeled (and well-bagged) customers. It was then almost 6 o’clock and we had run out of steam, so caught the RER back to Saint-Denis.
On Saturday morning she and I went to the local Carrefour to get weekend food shopping before setting off for Normandy, and also so that she could have a look at it. It was difficult to tell whether we would leave after lunch at Saint-Denis or in time for lunch at La Neuve-Lyre; as it was we were ready to leave at 11.30, as I had suspected. The car was so full there was barely room for the three of us - lights and a chandelier, my and M’s bags, the food shopping, N’s viola and the inevitable bags of leftovers and things to take from one house to another.
N suggested - and we readily agreed to - stopping for lunch at our favourite restaurant opposite Evreux station, where we arrived at about 1 o’clock. It was only the third time we had been there, but it already felt familiar, warm and cosy with such good food. This meant that once we arrived at the house there was time to look round without having to rush to unpack food or get lunch, a good thing as with the newly regulated heating the place took some time to warm up. We hung the new chandelier from its hook on the beam in the salon, and N decorated it with all its jewels, rather like a Christmas tree. In fact, it’s like having an all-year-round Christmas tree, as you can sit and admire it in the firelight. The temperature had dropped, both since Paris and since I was here before - by Sunday afternoon we were all sitting round the fire, M under a blanket. She and I only went as far as the supermarket on Sunday morning; it was a pity the boulangerie was shut for its annual holiday. We had Sunday lunch - poule au pot, very good when you don’t have a proper oven - on the new large Italian dining table, with the blue dinner service, and tea round the fire using the blue tea set. The tour of the house and outbuildings took a long time, especially as we included our « secret room » - a Narnia-like first floor attic reachable only through the back of the landing cupboard, which even we weren’t fully aware of until after we had bought the house.
As I had feared, M found the constant journeys from floor to floor between bedroom, shower room and loo rather long and needing forward planning; and I am glad that we will eventually have the extra loo put in the shower room. The attic bedroom was very cosy with its heaters on, and once she had unpacked looked nicely lived-in. It was pleasant too to have someone with me helping in my new kitchen, and she showed us how to print envelopes on the computer, and - having had the DVD player problems explained in detail by N - suggested I play exercise DVDs on the computer in the study. N rang FNAC about the DVD player and decided it would be easier to take it to the branch in Rouen rather than back to Paris.
On Monday we planned to take Madeleine to Evreux station in time for the 1.30 train to Paris to catch her Eurostar, which meant lunch at about 11.45; in the event we had an extremely short and busy morning. We were just awake at about 8.00 when we had a phone call from Monsieur A asking if the electricians could come in 15 minutes, I said we could be ready in 30, and quickly got dressed and opened the garage; unlike when they first came it is now light at 8.30.
N had not met them before - Emanuel brought his apprentice again - but was able to explain the new tasks which needed doing: the chandelier and the ceiling light in the grande pièce as well as the bedroom wall light and extra point, and the replacing of the kitchen light switch. He had forgotten about the electricity needed in the shower room ready for the loo with its broyeur, so I explained this and as I thought it will be no problem, but there was no time that day. We had breakfast while all this was going on, then M and I went to have a look at the market, which took all of five minutes. The fish man - very apologetically - did not have any salmon, but we bought bread from the supermarket and M got cards from the paper shop, and we visited the post office and bought stamps.
As soon as we got home the new lights were ready and needed bulbs, so M and I went back out again to get them and to post her cards; I was glad to give her the opportunity of visiting the Quincaillerie (and showing that it really did look like the Four Candles sketch) I also introduced her to Monsieur A whom we met going in. As we passed the market this time I noticed a chair caning stall, different from the one I had seen before and somehow found myself in conversation with a young man who said of course he could do my chair, so went home to fetch it and back out again for the third time that morning. (He claimed the man who had told me it was the wrong season just didn’t want any work) Anyway, I opted for the real caning « à l’ancienne » rather than the cheap stuff on a roll, and he said it should be done by Thursday and he will call and deliver. He said it was an Italian chair, and that the marks on the arms and back were due to water damage, which didn’t surprise me as it had been found abandoned in the garage, and I had planned to re-stain it anyway once the seat had been re-done.
We had a quick and early soup, bread and cheese lunch and set off for Evreux station, arriving well in advance with time to get M’s ticket as well as tasteful local postcards showing cider and camembert and the latest edition of the magazine Maisons Normandes. We waved her off on a two-tier train quite different from the one I had taken, and went straight back home to see how the electricians were doing. By the time they left at 5.30 the chandelier and bedroom light were looking marvellous; it is wonderful to have light in that dark corner near the wardrobe and chest of drawers at last, and to be able to distinguish my black socks from my brown ones! Sometimes I look at all my jackets hanging in the smaller section of the wardrobe and wonder what kind of life it was when I wore them so often. With the light in position on the wall there was no room for a picture, but it looked rather bare so I brought in some colourful artificial flowers which had arrived from Italy complete with vase; and decided what was needed was an arrangement of white flowers. With the extra electric point we can have a radio/CD player on top of the chest of drawers too.
It was rather strange to be just the two of us in the house for the first time for some weeks, and although there were - as always - lots of things which needed doing at home, we decided to go to Rouen the next day to take the DVD player to FNAC, as well as having a nice day out.
I had only ever been to Rouen once before, with N from Paris a few years ago, despite having wanted to visit it for some time, not - as suggested by a French friend to glory in the spot where the English burned Joan of Arc - but to identify with Emma Bovary and her ride round the cathedral in a closed carriage. However, no sign of either Emma or Joan today, apart from an car park called Pucelle, which amused me.
It took a little longer to get there than N had planned but this was rectified on the way back. It was a much larger place than I remembered, and it was difficult to find our way into the centre, but suddenly we were in the right street and drove into the underground car park below the shopping centre where FNAC was situated. They took the DVD player in and said they would contact us by letter in 15-20 days.
We looked round and I managed to find some white and cream artificial flowers for the bedroom and N found a book he wanted in FNAC. The cathedral was closed, so we decide to have lunch first; a small crowded cosy restaurant in the cathedral square where they served huge portions - N had duck with a vast jacket potato and I had an enormous salmon salad. While we were attacking these it began to snow; we weren’t surprised as it had been so cold when we were walking round. Afterwards we looked in Printemps for a lighting department as we just had one light left to get - for the study - but no luck. The cathedral was still closed and it was very cold, so we decided to go back to the car.
On the way back we stopped at a supermarket which usefully had a garden centre and DIY shop on the same site. As well as some large and bulky items from the supermarket, N bought a hoe, several heavy bags of earth and compost, and vegetable plants; and I found an excellent light for the study. N also found two thin battens of wood to finish off the bookshelves on the condemned door.
Pancake Day had caught us unawares just like St Valentine’s Day; it was only during the afternoon that we discovered it was that day, and fortunately had all the ingredients to hand, plus some left-over chicken for the filling. They went very well, and I only realised afterwards this was because for the first time in seven years I was cooking them on gas and not electricity!
Friday 3 March 2006
On Wednesday morning we awoke to brilliant blue skies and a light covering of snow everywhere, so different from all the grisaille of recent weeks. We drew the curtains and lay in bed looking at the great fir tree with its branches covered in snow, and tried pretending we were in Switzerland. We managed to do washing and gardening until lunchtime when it got very dark and there was more snow while we ate, and at the end of the afternoon a real snowstorm - N had been pruning shrubs at the front and had to abandon the wheelbarrow full of cuttings; it got more and more covered in snow and was a measure of just how much had fallen in the afternoon.
There was still snow about on Thursday, when I went to the Quincaillerie to get more acetone for N - the nasty lino is now all off the back hall floor but there are still patches of glue to be removed - and met Monsieur A. I said the electrical work was going well, but that we were still hoping he would come and look at the oil heater and sweep both chimneys, and he said how about Friday morning at 8.15? And I said that would be fine. We had planned to go to Bernay on Friday, but decided we could go later on in the day.
Monsieur A’s heating expert/sweep (we never found out his name) and his assistant arrived on time on Friday morning, by which time the snow had melted and it was pouring with rain. They began cleaning in the boiler room with lots of noise, and then announced that they were unable to sweep that chimney as it was not legal. Monsieur A was summoned to take a look at the situation; N was surprised as he had not seen him since the first day he came to the house, and thought he looked much younger then he had remembered.
Anyway, it appeared that the chimney from the oil heater had been fitted in a way which was now illegal, and that if they swept it and there were repercussions they would be held responsible, which obviously they didn’t want. Monsieur A said there were several solutions, and then proceeded to tell us all two of them: either we had a new stainless steel chimney conforming to regulations built above the height of the house, or we had a new oil fuel heater, plus new ground level outlet instead of chimney, which would be much more efficient and economical to run.
He obviously preferred the latter solution, and so did we once we got used to the idea of the enormous cost; the other heater had been there 10 years, and like everything had now been superseded by better and more efficient models. We were surprised as we had understood that it was a good make, but I felt - as with the kitchen - that if it was renewed now it would not need doing again later. Monsieur A left - later ringing to ask if he could bring an agent from the heating company to see us and house on Monday afternoon. Somewhat reeling, we supervised the sweeping of the chimney in the salon (I had only just cleaned it after the electricians’ visit) and covered the sofa and chairs with dustsheets. The sweep/heating technician amused me as he said there were pieces of chimney falling down, but that we were not to worry, it was an old house, and it was quite normal. Later he asked if we had a bucket to put under the boiler as it was leaking a little after the cleaning, but we were not to worry, it was all right. I told him he sounded like a doctor. We then asked him to look at the stone cold radiator in the grande pièce; he said it had been forced and was now blocked and would need a new piece fitting and the whole thing draining. This seemed a very minor thing after all we had heard that morning.
Some time in the middle of all this I had a phone call from the man who was re-caning my chair, it was ready and could he come this afternoon? I said we were planning to go to Bernay and he agreed to come at 1.00 which he duly did; the chair looks (and feels) marvellous but was very expensive; perhaps if I had known about the heater I would have been less reckless. Anyway, I have put it by the phone table in the back hall, and it gives me great pleasure. Will be even better once I have found time to re-stain it. Ever since we arrived last Saturday I have been trying to find time to start on my study curtains, but they just seem to get further and further away. I don’t know where all the time goes, although I found myself thinking this in bed this morning, and then discovered it was ten to nine……
The main reason for going to Bernay was something we should have done before; a visit to the Assurance Maladie offices to get me into the French Health system, about which I have heard a lot, from N and elsewhere. It was not worth doing before Christmas in Saint-Denis as that was not my permanent address and we kept saying we would go once I was settled in La Neuve-Lyre and it has taken this long.
It was not quite as bureaucratic as N had threatened or I had feared; a very fierce lady who refused to return my smile said that everything was in order but she needed to see my birth certificate, and then they would compile me a dossier and I would get the famous Carte Vitale. (This is so important that you needed to insert it into a machine at the door just to get a numbered ticket for your turn; fortunately N used his or we would still be there now in some kind of eternal bureaucratic vicious circle…) I had taken along forms from the UK, EHIC health card, passport, bank details and copy of a letter from water board proving where I live, but although my passport obviously includes my date of birth we have to go back with the birth certificate next week. I hope she is as impressed by it as my notaire Carine, who had never seen such a large British birth certificate before.
While at Bernay we made our regular visit to Monsieur Bricolage to get wood for our latest project - shelves in the landing cupboard ready for linen. (My clothes, which were hanging there having now been promoted to the Italian wardrobe in the bedroom) It was quite a relief, and a sign of progress, I think, that we did not have to buy any curtain poles or light fittings, although there will be more curtain poles to come. We had all the wood cut while we were there, and then with some difficulty got it and us back into the car and set off for the supermarket, to get - amongst other things - some steak to fortify ourselves after such a stressful day.
Sunday 5 March 2006
Yesterday morning I received a letter from Lapeyre telling us that the kitchen & bathroom fitting would start on Monday 20 March at 8.30 am, with delivery of materials on the Friday before, the 17th. Although very welcome this was a little earlier than I had expected; it gives me just one day to get back here from Paris after my trip to Britain. It also meant we suddenly had to paint the kitchen which we always said we would do before the fitting - and realised we had better do it this weekend. N said he had rather forgotten about painting the kitchen and had somehow hoped it would paint itself; I quite thought it would be April or May.
On Friday afternoon and Saturday morning N put up the supports for the shelves in the linen cupboard while I cleared the kitchen and then he painted the kitchen walls and ceiling while I covered the shelves with some leftover wallpaper we found in a cupboard. This was rather like wrapping a parcel, only with drawing pins, and much better and quicker than painting. If only it had matched the wallpaper on the walls inside the cupboard it would have been perfect! There is a space at the bottom for the upstairs hoover, and other cleaning things.
Filling the cupboard with the linen took ages and quite a lot of thought and organisation. Apart from all the stuff I had brought from Ainsworth Street, there were fine white sheets from N’s Italian « inheritance » - many hand-embroidered, and other John Lewis bedding he had bought for the first Italian house, the new IKEA sets I had bought for our bed, plus all sorts of other bedcovers, lots from both Italian houses. I counted 19 bedspreads not including ones currently on beds; there are lots of blankets and dozens of pillowcases. All the pillows went in a grey trunk in N’s attic, and I know from the first sort-out when we moved in that I somehow brought five single duvets from Ainsworth Street; I think they must have been breeding while in store. I did think as I was carrying it load by load past the beams on the landing how lucky I was to have all these beautiful old sheets in such a wonderful house. My other consolation was that it ever there were a houseful at Christmas (which we certainly hope) then nobody need be cold, as there would be plenty of extra layers for all.
Most of this bedding had been temporarily stored in a small built-in wardrobe in the front first floor guest bedroom; emptying it meant that it could be restored to being a guest wardrobe, so N took out the extra shelves and moved up the hanging rail which had been at child level.
Today N has done a second coat on the kitchen walls, and I have painted the window frames and skirting boards. The walls are brilliant white and the woodwork a matt « blanc cassé » (off white), the same as the panelling in the salon, like most of the woodwork in the house. I especially enjoyed painting the big traditionally French window with its central rod and large ornate handle in the middle, and visualising my tomato print curtains hanging up at it. These may be not so far off now as I had thought!
In between times it has snowed again on and off, and we have had some rather thrown-together meals in a dining room full of kitchen paraphernalia. Being taken by surprise meant we had little time to plan, but when the kitchen fitting starts even more will have to be taken out - contents of cupboards and drawers too. We will take the oven and kettle into the dining room, and probably resort to picnic meals from the traiteur again, like when we first came here. N has finally been able to go out in the garden and get on with various unfinished tasks; in between the snow showers it sometimes feels quite spring-like, especially now the mornings are so much lighter. The only sign of spring in the garden is the snowdrops around two of the bushes; they were barely visible a few weeks ago, but now look very confident. There are daffodil and tulip leaves poking through in places, too.
The other thing going on in the background has been planning for my trip to Britain, how to fit in time to see all the family, and where to stay when: I still haven’t found anywhere to stay in Cambridge for Friday and Saturday, the evening of the College dinner. I have a long list of things to do before we leave here for Saint-Denis on Wednesday, and I travel to London on Thursday. While I am there N will be in Italy for three days, for the final signature for the sale of the apartment at Soliera. This has involved many phone calls and e-mails in Italian over the last few days; problems caused by the purchasers wanting first of all to pay the deposit with a cheque in dollars, then the remainder with some kind of postal order, and now in cash. N has terrible visions of the Mafia and laundered money or counterfeit notes, or being hit over the head once he has the money in his bag. So all the communications are with the agent to protest and say that he finds all this « molto irregulare ».
Monday 6 March 2006
There are now two yellow crocuses in the garden too! And I now have somewhere to stay in Cambridge, and am crossing things off my « to do before UK » list, starting with « find gown » which I managed to do this morning. I have also managed to track down the Boots and Marks & Spencer vouchers I received for Christmas and had put in a Safe Place, and find my purse with £45 in it; the notes and coins look very odd indeed.
Tuesday 7 March 2006
Yesterday afternoon Monsieur A duly arrived with the man from the oil heater company, and we all had a look at the situation and it was decided it would be OK and Monsieur A will send us two estimates, one for the heater alone and one to include an electric water heating system, which we could use in the summer only and turn the main system off; more economical in the long run but obviously more expensive to install.
We then set off for Bernay in beautiful sunshine, so much more spring-like than last Friday when there was still a fair amount of snow lying about. The horses and cows we always pass in the fields looked much happier than usual. We parked at Monsieur Bricolage as always and this time looked at wallpaper, as this might be the quickest option for brightening up the walls of the back hall. At present they are covered in golden yellow wallpaper, and N had been thinking of repairing them with some spare paper we found in a cupboard, or painting them all over. There are so many golden yellow walls in this house, but much as I like them, it might be nice - and brighter - to have cream walls instead. We also bought some stuff called « crépi » a stiff paint which leaves a bumpy surface, which is all over the veranda walls, as there are big gaps which need redoing; together with an interesting roller with holes in with which to apply it.
We then went back to the Assurance Maladie offices with my birth certificate; a different woman - who I hope will be able to tie up the copy of this with my other papers - said I should contact them if I had heard nothing in two or three weeks. I then went shopping for things prior to my visit to Britain while N went to the garden centre, having finally decided the time had come to buy and plant roses and rhododendrons, to put in various gaps in the garden. They have been planted this morning, and look very fine indeed.
