Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Friday 7 July 2006
The temperature was still in the low thirties when we got back here on Sunday afternoon, but now it’s much fresher and a bit cloudy. Up until a few days ago the World Cup was not having much effect on our lives, apart from taking up three-quarters of the TV news each day much to N’s annoyance, but as the French team progresses it’s getting more and more difficult to ignore. During the match against Brazil on Saturday evening we were at Saint-Denis watching a programme about the Medicis on a German channel, but were kept abreast of things by the cheers and fireworks outside the window. We thought perhaps things would be calmer away from Paris, but were wrong; on Wednesday evening after the win against Portugal cars and motor bikes roared up and down the road outside with horns sounding and trumpets blowing until well after midnight. As it was still very warm and thundery we had the bedroom French windows open, and got the full benefit of the noise. I am stoically prepared for another short night’s sleep on Sunday, whatever happens.
Two of the most urgent things once we got back here were contacting Monsieur P the carpenter about the shutters and Monsieur A concerning the unfinished electrical work; to let them know that we were now back for some while, and to find out how soon they were able to come. I was quite prepared for them both to be on holiday, so was pleasantly surprised when I got a call from Monsieur P on Monday morning apologising for the long delay, and saying that he could come on Tuesday morning. Unusually, I already had two appointments for that morning; the delivery of the new freezer at 9.30 and the hairdresser at 11.00 so fitted him in at 10.00. In the event the freezer arrived at 9.15 when we were still having a very warm breakfast outside on the terrace for the first time under a green and white striped parasol from Italy, which gives a lovely holiday feel to the place, especially with the white garden furniture. The freezer fitted well into the place prepared for it in the first outhouse - N had painted the walls white the day before - and the extension lead was put into place and everything switched on.
Monsieur P arrived on time and was here almost an hour, right up to the time I left for the hairdresser. We all three went all round inspecting the shutters on the ground floor; he measured everything in great detail, and we learned a lot of new « shutter » vocabulary. While we were (carefully) standing on the pavement discussing the two grande pièce shutters which front onto the road, Marie -Antoinette came along with her bread and there was some lively banter between her and Monsieur P, during which it transpired that they had known each other a long time, he had fitted her shutters, that he was 57 and due to retire in 10 years time, and that she was about to go and get some « pick your own » strawberries, somewhere between Rugles and L‘Aigle. She said wasn’t I making any strawberry jam this year, and I tried to give the impression that of course I was, whereas in reality N has requisitioned my preserving pan to collect ash from the fire and has promised to replace it but hasn’t done so yet. All this went on while heavy lorries thundered past between us, but we were cheered by Monsieur P saying that the by-pass would definitely come, it was just a matter of when. (Last time he said they had been talking about it for 15 years) I thought perhaps there might be a day in the future when there were no more heavy lorries, and we had fine new shutters and might be able to leave them open and hold civilised conversations with neighbours across the road.
All the while this was going on the sky was getting darker and darker, and by the time Monsieur P was loading old shutters into his van (to re-use the metal joints at the bottom, whose name I have forgotten) rain began to fall in big drops and there were claps of thunder. We lent him one of N’s waterproof jackets, and N put on the other and I carried the board with all the notes and measurements, and then had to say goodbye and leave for my appointment.
He will contact us when replacement shutters have been made, will check they fit properly; N will paint them then Monsieur P will finally fit them. We are very confident this will be a job well done. After the hairdresser - entertaining as usual - I phoned Monsieur A, and said that the box full of wires (found it difficult to describe this) in the boiler room needing closing up and that there were two neon lights to be fitted in the atelier, plus other things to finish, about a day’s work in all. He gave his usual reply; it might this week or next, but he would give us a call. I met him in the Quincaillerie this morning , and he said it would be next week.
The other recurring theme this week has been the freezing of vegetables and vegetable soup, once the freezer was in position to accommodate them. On Monday it was broccoli and cauliflower, on Tuesday lettuce soup, on Wednesday spinach and on Thursday more lettuce soup. Freezing and blanching begins with the boiling of vast pans of water - I feel as though I am preparing for a home birth - and a production line of colanders, sink of iced water, drying in the salad spinner (a good tip) and bags and wire ties to finish it all off. We have also done panic buying of freezer bags and boxes, in Bernay on Tuesday and at Champion at Conches today. We have harvested more peas, beans, spring onions and potatoes and I have rather unsuccessfully made a rhubarb tart, well we were getting a little tired of crumble. Every so often N appears at the kitchen window and hands some produce through; sometimes he asks what will be needed in the kitchen that day, as though he were Head Gardener at a Big House. Which of course he is.
Apart from cleaning and painting the first outhouse, N has made great progress with some of the others. Thinking now of the possibility of using the two studio rooms for his musical party in August, he has fitted wall and ceiling lights (too long to wait for Emanuel!) and I have covered with one of our surplus bedspreads the old foam sofa which was left there. If only we can get the very large heavy table onto its feet - we are waiting until there are several very strong people here - it will look great. As I write, he is fixing a lock on the door. The room which leads into this which we call The Potting Shed and where all the gardening things are stored also had a makeover yesterday. We took two of the wall cupboards from the old kitchen, put them at either end of the front wall and laid a long piece of work surface (also from the old kitchen) over the top. We put all the empty flower pots underneath, and packets of various products and tools on the shelves of the cupboards. All much tidier looking and more efficient, and a surface on which to plant pots, as opposed to one’s hands and knees on the grass outside.
Indoors, N has now set up his electronic keyboard in his attic study. On Sunday evening he had it in organ mode, and it sounded very choral evensong as I went up the stairs. It was so hot up there that he had taken his shirt off to play, and reminded me of the clip from Monty Python where the naked organ player turns round to grin at the audience. On Tuesday afternoon we went to the Sesame store at Bernay to order a single bed for the attic, ready for August. We had last been there in the winter, to order our mattress and television, and as luck would have it, it was sale time again and we managed to order a reduced-price mattress and base which will be delivered next Tuesday afternoon. On our way out, N saw a computer desk he liked the look of - having finally decided he would have an extra computer up there - so added that to the order as well. We then went on to Lapeyre, also for the first time in ages, to see about blinds for the Velux roof windows in the two attic rooms, and to try and get the product for cleaning the broyeur loo, which we had been unable to find anywhere else. N went back with the measurements of the roof windows yesterday (he had to take his light fitting back to Monsieur Bricolage to be fixed) but we have to collect the sanitising product after Saturday. He also bought two electric fans at Monsieur Bricolage, so will no longer have to take his shirt off to play the organ, but as so often happens, it is now not nearly so hot, anyway. The principal reason for the fans is the comfort of our guests in August, however!
There was a slight accident yesterday, N came to the kitchen window and asked if I’d heard the crash; I thought it must be the rake falling onto one of the cloches again, but I was wrong. He had fitted up a swing which had come from Italy onto a low (apparently hollow) branch of the apple tree, and the whole branch had broken off, and he had fallen - not very far - onto the ground. Fortunately it hasn’t altered the shape of the apple tree too much (and not altered his shape at all), but took a lot of valuable time carting off the broken bits under the wide pine tree; at least they will make good firewood once the leaves have died off. We have also rescued the apples concerned and put them in basket in the outhouse in the hope of using them for mint jelly. When I have a spare moment.
Saturday 8 July 2006
There was a ring at the doorbell just before dinner last night; it was Monsieur P calling in with a detailed estimate of the costs of the shutters. He refused an apéritif, saying it was something he never did; we weren’t sure if he meant apéritifs or alcohol in general. He was wearing his shorts as he had cycled here, and told us how much he was cycling and how much weight he was losing. I explained that I had my bicycle here, but had only gone as far as the recycling area, and he said I could go a little further than that. I have in fact started up what I hope will be regular exercise DVDs again after a gap, and I should think all these « veg & two veg » meals must be doing me some good.
N is trying to clear parts of the vegetable garden to plant second sowings of various things; he has been surprised that some things have grown so early and so plentifully, and I am hoping next year they won’t come quite so all at the same time. We have a huge basket of very pretty purple turnips in the first outhouse; I have frozen a few in chunks and plan to freeze some purée too. Have also frozen more cauliflower florets, and despite its size, the freezer is filling up.
Sunday 9 July 2006
Last night we had Egg Florentine with some very fresh spinach, followed by vanilla ice cream with some of our own currants (red, black and white) sprinkled over the top. This morning I tried a recipe for Sorrel, Pea, Lettuce and Spring Onion Soup, which was excellent and just the ingredients we have to hand. It came from Rick Stein’s French Odyssey cook book, given to me as a leaving Cambridge present by Will at the office; it went into store before I had a chance to read it, and I have only lately consulted it, so if you are out there Will, thank you. (Thank you to Rick Stein too!) Another book proving invaluable at the moment is Jane Grigson’s Vegetable Book, given to me by the Capelin family some time in the late 1980’s; a mixture of dictionary, history and recipe book. This afternoon N has harvested our first (and only, for this year) gooseberries; red and green and very small but sweet. They have been made into two small gooseberry crumbles, one for this evening and one to freeze.
N has been « grass grafting »; having discovered that in a lot of places the lawns overlap the paths by five or six inches, he has been cutting off the surplus while making a very fine edge, and using it to patch up various brown patches and gaps in the middle. The same principle as cutting off pastry round a tart.
We have achieved more indoors too, since we’ve been back here since last weekend. The plates (and some old family photos) are finally up on the walls in the dining room and hall; this has been a long time coming, mainly because I didn’t know where to get extra plate hangers - those little metal springing things which hold a plate in place and hang on the wall - but found some when we were visiting the porcelain factory in Worcester. There are no more spare pictures waiting to be hung now, although there are some spare frames and some lovely old advertising prints from an Italian calendar ready to be framed. Must find some backing paper. I cleaned all the pieces of the golden trolley which we brought from Saint-Denis, and N reassembled it. It looks very much at home in the grande pièce; the wood is a similar colour to the Italian dining room suite and the gold parts are like the yellow walls. It is in a temporary place until the bookshelves arrive.
Monday 10 July 2006
Am pleased to report that as France did not win the World Cup last night, we had an undisturbed night’s sleep! We - unusually - bought a copy of Le Figaro intrigued to read what was being said about Zidane’s behaviour. I am also pleased to say that the warm weather has returned; lunch in the garden under the pine tree for the first time in a while. Today I have frozen beetroot (cooked) and cabbage.
Tuesday July 11 2006
A different sort of day - N said he wanted a day when he didn’t get dirty, so he practised the viola most of the morning and I went to L’Aigle market on the bus. After yesterday’s high temperatures it was grey all the morning, and the bus took a slightly different route due to various road works, the bus-stop temporarily in the flower market, which was more convenient. I visited all the usual stalls and came away with some lovely poached salmon, Italian ham, strawberries, a potato masher (mainly for turnips) a cake tin and some unusual orange flowers whose name I have forgotten. I also bought a camembert cheese - having read that L’Aigle market is the home of camembert, from a stall which claimed to be the camembert stall. The lady serving tested several with her thumb before she was content to let me have one! She certainly knew her stuff; we had some for lunch and it was marvellous, certainly the best camembert I have ever tasted. I stopped and had a pastis at the usual café, before waiting for the bus; the temporary bus-stop home was opposite the curtain shop and the curtain lady came out and shook hands with me - progress! Not so good; having found an art shop where I thought I could get backing paper for my framing, found it had closed early for lunch.
This afternoon the van bringing the new bed and desk arrived about 2.45 and we were pleased to discover that the assembling of the desk was included; we had expected it to take us a good part of the afternoon, whereas it took the driver about 20 minutes. I found another bedspread from our vast collection which more or less went with the colour scheme and laid it over the bed for the moment; the desk fits very well under the eaves, and N has had fun deciding where to put what. The other table he had been using has been put to the left, also partly under the eaves.
While waiting for the delivery to arrive, he had begun to look at the measurements for the laying of the blue/grey mottled lino (found in the hayloft) in the downstairs shower room. This took us the whole of the rest of the afternoon, until about 7.00; laying the lino out on the terrace (weather having improved) cutting out the shape required for the main part, including the fiddly bit round the door. I then did the really difficult bit which went round and behind the loo, trying, as was the case when I painted the pipes, not to get my head stuck between the shower and the cistern; while outside in the garden N took about a centimetre off the bottom of the door so that it could close over the lino. At the moment the lino is just laying there on the floor getting used to the idea; tomorrow we will sweep underneath then stick. We also need a strip to go along the step out into the hall; and N has put a new piece of skirting board in place. The difference, I’m pleased to say, is amazing; the room looks far bigger. This was the room, you may remember, with pale blue and white patterned tiles on the walls and clashing black and yellow checked tiles on the floor. It is also the room which we inherited with no ceiling, minimum lighting and an awful old loo, bidet and hand basin. Apart from fresh paint and the new suite it now also has shelves, plants, pictures and a towel rail.
Wednesday 12 July 2006
Lino is now stuck in place on the shower room floor! Weather still very warm, breakfast and lunch in the garden, including own tomatoes and lettuce; have frozen stewed rhubarb and mashed turnip. Have still not heard anything from Monsieur A as to when the electrician(s) might come; presumably if not tomorrow then next week as national holiday/jour de fête on Friday.
The temperature was still in the low thirties when we got back here on Sunday afternoon, but now it’s much fresher and a bit cloudy. Up until a few days ago the World Cup was not having much effect on our lives, apart from taking up three-quarters of the TV news each day much to N’s annoyance, but as the French team progresses it’s getting more and more difficult to ignore. During the match against Brazil on Saturday evening we were at Saint-Denis watching a programme about the Medicis on a German channel, but were kept abreast of things by the cheers and fireworks outside the window. We thought perhaps things would be calmer away from Paris, but were wrong; on Wednesday evening after the win against Portugal cars and motor bikes roared up and down the road outside with horns sounding and trumpets blowing until well after midnight. As it was still very warm and thundery we had the bedroom French windows open, and got the full benefit of the noise. I am stoically prepared for another short night’s sleep on Sunday, whatever happens.
Two of the most urgent things once we got back here were contacting Monsieur P the carpenter about the shutters and Monsieur A concerning the unfinished electrical work; to let them know that we were now back for some while, and to find out how soon they were able to come. I was quite prepared for them both to be on holiday, so was pleasantly surprised when I got a call from Monsieur P on Monday morning apologising for the long delay, and saying that he could come on Tuesday morning. Unusually, I already had two appointments for that morning; the delivery of the new freezer at 9.30 and the hairdresser at 11.00 so fitted him in at 10.00. In the event the freezer arrived at 9.15 when we were still having a very warm breakfast outside on the terrace for the first time under a green and white striped parasol from Italy, which gives a lovely holiday feel to the place, especially with the white garden furniture. The freezer fitted well into the place prepared for it in the first outhouse - N had painted the walls white the day before - and the extension lead was put into place and everything switched on.
Monsieur P arrived on time and was here almost an hour, right up to the time I left for the hairdresser. We all three went all round inspecting the shutters on the ground floor; he measured everything in great detail, and we learned a lot of new « shutter » vocabulary. While we were (carefully) standing on the pavement discussing the two grande pièce shutters which front onto the road, Marie -Antoinette came along with her bread and there was some lively banter between her and Monsieur P, during which it transpired that they had known each other a long time, he had fitted her shutters, that he was 57 and due to retire in 10 years time, and that she was about to go and get some « pick your own » strawberries, somewhere between Rugles and L‘Aigle. She said wasn’t I making any strawberry jam this year, and I tried to give the impression that of course I was, whereas in reality N has requisitioned my preserving pan to collect ash from the fire and has promised to replace it but hasn’t done so yet. All this went on while heavy lorries thundered past between us, but we were cheered by Monsieur P saying that the by-pass would definitely come, it was just a matter of when. (Last time he said they had been talking about it for 15 years) I thought perhaps there might be a day in the future when there were no more heavy lorries, and we had fine new shutters and might be able to leave them open and hold civilised conversations with neighbours across the road.
All the while this was going on the sky was getting darker and darker, and by the time Monsieur P was loading old shutters into his van (to re-use the metal joints at the bottom, whose name I have forgotten) rain began to fall in big drops and there were claps of thunder. We lent him one of N’s waterproof jackets, and N put on the other and I carried the board with all the notes and measurements, and then had to say goodbye and leave for my appointment.
He will contact us when replacement shutters have been made, will check they fit properly; N will paint them then Monsieur P will finally fit them. We are very confident this will be a job well done. After the hairdresser - entertaining as usual - I phoned Monsieur A, and said that the box full of wires (found it difficult to describe this) in the boiler room needing closing up and that there were two neon lights to be fitted in the atelier, plus other things to finish, about a day’s work in all. He gave his usual reply; it might this week or next, but he would give us a call. I met him in the Quincaillerie this morning , and he said it would be next week.
The other recurring theme this week has been the freezing of vegetables and vegetable soup, once the freezer was in position to accommodate them. On Monday it was broccoli and cauliflower, on Tuesday lettuce soup, on Wednesday spinach and on Thursday more lettuce soup. Freezing and blanching begins with the boiling of vast pans of water - I feel as though I am preparing for a home birth - and a production line of colanders, sink of iced water, drying in the salad spinner (a good tip) and bags and wire ties to finish it all off. We have also done panic buying of freezer bags and boxes, in Bernay on Tuesday and at Champion at Conches today. We have harvested more peas, beans, spring onions and potatoes and I have rather unsuccessfully made a rhubarb tart, well we were getting a little tired of crumble. Every so often N appears at the kitchen window and hands some produce through; sometimes he asks what will be needed in the kitchen that day, as though he were Head Gardener at a Big House. Which of course he is.
Apart from cleaning and painting the first outhouse, N has made great progress with some of the others. Thinking now of the possibility of using the two studio rooms for his musical party in August, he has fitted wall and ceiling lights (too long to wait for Emanuel!) and I have covered with one of our surplus bedspreads the old foam sofa which was left there. If only we can get the very large heavy table onto its feet - we are waiting until there are several very strong people here - it will look great. As I write, he is fixing a lock on the door. The room which leads into this which we call The Potting Shed and where all the gardening things are stored also had a makeover yesterday. We took two of the wall cupboards from the old kitchen, put them at either end of the front wall and laid a long piece of work surface (also from the old kitchen) over the top. We put all the empty flower pots underneath, and packets of various products and tools on the shelves of the cupboards. All much tidier looking and more efficient, and a surface on which to plant pots, as opposed to one’s hands and knees on the grass outside.
Indoors, N has now set up his electronic keyboard in his attic study. On Sunday evening he had it in organ mode, and it sounded very choral evensong as I went up the stairs. It was so hot up there that he had taken his shirt off to play, and reminded me of the clip from Monty Python where the naked organ player turns round to grin at the audience. On Tuesday afternoon we went to the Sesame store at Bernay to order a single bed for the attic, ready for August. We had last been there in the winter, to order our mattress and television, and as luck would have it, it was sale time again and we managed to order a reduced-price mattress and base which will be delivered next Tuesday afternoon. On our way out, N saw a computer desk he liked the look of - having finally decided he would have an extra computer up there - so added that to the order as well. We then went on to Lapeyre, also for the first time in ages, to see about blinds for the Velux roof windows in the two attic rooms, and to try and get the product for cleaning the broyeur loo, which we had been unable to find anywhere else. N went back with the measurements of the roof windows yesterday (he had to take his light fitting back to Monsieur Bricolage to be fixed) but we have to collect the sanitising product after Saturday. He also bought two electric fans at Monsieur Bricolage, so will no longer have to take his shirt off to play the organ, but as so often happens, it is now not nearly so hot, anyway. The principal reason for the fans is the comfort of our guests in August, however!
There was a slight accident yesterday, N came to the kitchen window and asked if I’d heard the crash; I thought it must be the rake falling onto one of the cloches again, but I was wrong. He had fitted up a swing which had come from Italy onto a low (apparently hollow) branch of the apple tree, and the whole branch had broken off, and he had fallen - not very far - onto the ground. Fortunately it hasn’t altered the shape of the apple tree too much (and not altered his shape at all), but took a lot of valuable time carting off the broken bits under the wide pine tree; at least they will make good firewood once the leaves have died off. We have also rescued the apples concerned and put them in basket in the outhouse in the hope of using them for mint jelly. When I have a spare moment.
Saturday 8 July 2006
There was a ring at the doorbell just before dinner last night; it was Monsieur P calling in with a detailed estimate of the costs of the shutters. He refused an apéritif, saying it was something he never did; we weren’t sure if he meant apéritifs or alcohol in general. He was wearing his shorts as he had cycled here, and told us how much he was cycling and how much weight he was losing. I explained that I had my bicycle here, but had only gone as far as the recycling area, and he said I could go a little further than that. I have in fact started up what I hope will be regular exercise DVDs again after a gap, and I should think all these « veg & two veg » meals must be doing me some good.
N is trying to clear parts of the vegetable garden to plant second sowings of various things; he has been surprised that some things have grown so early and so plentifully, and I am hoping next year they won’t come quite so all at the same time. We have a huge basket of very pretty purple turnips in the first outhouse; I have frozen a few in chunks and plan to freeze some purée too. Have also frozen more cauliflower florets, and despite its size, the freezer is filling up.
Sunday 9 July 2006
Last night we had Egg Florentine with some very fresh spinach, followed by vanilla ice cream with some of our own currants (red, black and white) sprinkled over the top. This morning I tried a recipe for Sorrel, Pea, Lettuce and Spring Onion Soup, which was excellent and just the ingredients we have to hand. It came from Rick Stein’s French Odyssey cook book, given to me as a leaving Cambridge present by Will at the office; it went into store before I had a chance to read it, and I have only lately consulted it, so if you are out there Will, thank you. (Thank you to Rick Stein too!) Another book proving invaluable at the moment is Jane Grigson’s Vegetable Book, given to me by the Capelin family some time in the late 1980’s; a mixture of dictionary, history and recipe book. This afternoon N has harvested our first (and only, for this year) gooseberries; red and green and very small but sweet. They have been made into two small gooseberry crumbles, one for this evening and one to freeze.
N has been « grass grafting »; having discovered that in a lot of places the lawns overlap the paths by five or six inches, he has been cutting off the surplus while making a very fine edge, and using it to patch up various brown patches and gaps in the middle. The same principle as cutting off pastry round a tart.
We have achieved more indoors too, since we’ve been back here since last weekend. The plates (and some old family photos) are finally up on the walls in the dining room and hall; this has been a long time coming, mainly because I didn’t know where to get extra plate hangers - those little metal springing things which hold a plate in place and hang on the wall - but found some when we were visiting the porcelain factory in Worcester. There are no more spare pictures waiting to be hung now, although there are some spare frames and some lovely old advertising prints from an Italian calendar ready to be framed. Must find some backing paper. I cleaned all the pieces of the golden trolley which we brought from Saint-Denis, and N reassembled it. It looks very much at home in the grande pièce; the wood is a similar colour to the Italian dining room suite and the gold parts are like the yellow walls. It is in a temporary place until the bookshelves arrive.
Monday 10 July 2006
Am pleased to report that as France did not win the World Cup last night, we had an undisturbed night’s sleep! We - unusually - bought a copy of Le Figaro intrigued to read what was being said about Zidane’s behaviour. I am also pleased to say that the warm weather has returned; lunch in the garden under the pine tree for the first time in a while. Today I have frozen beetroot (cooked) and cabbage.
Tuesday July 11 2006
A different sort of day - N said he wanted a day when he didn’t get dirty, so he practised the viola most of the morning and I went to L’Aigle market on the bus. After yesterday’s high temperatures it was grey all the morning, and the bus took a slightly different route due to various road works, the bus-stop temporarily in the flower market, which was more convenient. I visited all the usual stalls and came away with some lovely poached salmon, Italian ham, strawberries, a potato masher (mainly for turnips) a cake tin and some unusual orange flowers whose name I have forgotten. I also bought a camembert cheese - having read that L’Aigle market is the home of camembert, from a stall which claimed to be the camembert stall. The lady serving tested several with her thumb before she was content to let me have one! She certainly knew her stuff; we had some for lunch and it was marvellous, certainly the best camembert I have ever tasted. I stopped and had a pastis at the usual café, before waiting for the bus; the temporary bus-stop home was opposite the curtain shop and the curtain lady came out and shook hands with me - progress! Not so good; having found an art shop where I thought I could get backing paper for my framing, found it had closed early for lunch.
This afternoon the van bringing the new bed and desk arrived about 2.45 and we were pleased to discover that the assembling of the desk was included; we had expected it to take us a good part of the afternoon, whereas it took the driver about 20 minutes. I found another bedspread from our vast collection which more or less went with the colour scheme and laid it over the bed for the moment; the desk fits very well under the eaves, and N has had fun deciding where to put what. The other table he had been using has been put to the left, also partly under the eaves.
While waiting for the delivery to arrive, he had begun to look at the measurements for the laying of the blue/grey mottled lino (found in the hayloft) in the downstairs shower room. This took us the whole of the rest of the afternoon, until about 7.00; laying the lino out on the terrace (weather having improved) cutting out the shape required for the main part, including the fiddly bit round the door. I then did the really difficult bit which went round and behind the loo, trying, as was the case when I painted the pipes, not to get my head stuck between the shower and the cistern; while outside in the garden N took about a centimetre off the bottom of the door so that it could close over the lino. At the moment the lino is just laying there on the floor getting used to the idea; tomorrow we will sweep underneath then stick. We also need a strip to go along the step out into the hall; and N has put a new piece of skirting board in place. The difference, I’m pleased to say, is amazing; the room looks far bigger. This was the room, you may remember, with pale blue and white patterned tiles on the walls and clashing black and yellow checked tiles on the floor. It is also the room which we inherited with no ceiling, minimum lighting and an awful old loo, bidet and hand basin. Apart from fresh paint and the new suite it now also has shelves, plants, pictures and a towel rail.
Wednesday 12 July 2006
Lino is now stuck in place on the shower room floor! Weather still very warm, breakfast and lunch in the garden, including own tomatoes and lettuce; have frozen stewed rhubarb and mashed turnip. Have still not heard anything from Monsieur A as to when the electrician(s) might come; presumably if not tomorrow then next week as national holiday/jour de fête on Friday.
# posted by Chez Katherine @ 8:50 AM 
