Picture as promised

With a leap of DIY imagination the unit to house the TV, the Freesat, the DVD player and the sound system amp is finished and installed. With only several DIY bodgings needed the deed is done and in place. We went down the route of buying a couple of pine 30cm planks and cut then to size ourselves. This would prove to be a smallish DIY problem down the track. We got a supply of plastic right angle joints and a couple of bags of screws. These proved hard to find as we did not go to Leroy Merlin but a local and much smaller Briomarche in NsM. However SOR spotted what we thought we needed.

9.00 am this morning work commenced on cutting up the planks, marking up the shelves, drilling the starter holes for the screws and then assembly. That is when I noticed that the screws had a peculiar "star" head and not the cross-head I thought I had bought. Hmmmm no screwdriver to fit. About to give up and through toys out of pram when I remembered seeing a small set of Screw head bits in a boxset of drills I have and low and behold there was the much needed T20 head, perfect fit for the power screwdriver.

The top goes on fine, as does the first shelf, but the second shelf not...I had not cut it square - much grunting and groaning and planing and it sort of fits, but it does represent the major bodge of the job. The power screwdriver went flat before the job was finished so I had a break while i recharged. Total cost about 20euro and another cut on my thumb!

All this took most of the morning and so we went of to visit Pat and only installed the unit when we got back. As I worked on this SOR applied some varnish (two coats) to the new tongue and grove and in a dim light, with a drink on board, you cannot see the difference. Picture of this will follow.

A snippet from last week

When Sheila, came over a week ago she collected a new television from Darty, a rather nifty 26 inch model which makes it a lot easier to see the subtitles. A job for today is to make a stand for it. Pictures will follow.

The excitement is intense....

Le distribution de les sacs poubelles commence en Lundi and we are here. Zoot alors!

Commune de Marsilly

Just catching up on news from the Maire; during 2008 the commune recorded 27 births, 14 deaths and 12 marriages. This seems about right for a growing community. I guess it depends whether the "naissances" and parents stay in the area.

Depart Nantilly at 5.00pm local time, Ryanair 18.15 flight to Stansted, 19.00 Stansted Express to Liverpool Street, Circle Line to Victoria, 20.21 train to BJ - 21.00 over the threshold. Five hours, beat that!

Taking Stock

We are flying back tomorrow and right now we are relaxing before cooking out Saturday night dinner.
Our original plan had us on the Caen to Portsmouth ferry by now but we are staying on tonight until F&A arrive tomorrow to take over hospital visits with Pat. So flying back tomorrow and leaving the car here is the only way of getting back for work next week.

Poor Pat was rushed to hospital in the early hours of Thursday morning and diagnosed as having a big kidney stone but, more significantly, also a fractured sacrum. She will be on her back for the next six weeks.

So the holiday has basically consisted of four hours of hospital visits each day and dashing about doing stuff in between. Still this is a better pattern of activity than Pat faces, being laid up in country foreign to her and surrounded by people using a language she does not know.

And stuff has got done: the dreaded "bash my head everyday" canopy over the cooker and kitchen sink - has gone, the gradually falling to bits and falling off the wall, kitchen cabinet has gone and replaced with a handsome glass fronted wall cabinet, Leroy Merlin have breathed a sigh of relief as their takings go up, my bike has new handlebars and a shopping basket on the front, we bought two safety helmets for when we are biking, we had a decent 60 minute bike ride and I discovered the cycle route to Esnande, the patio table has new "legs" as I managed to saw through one of the trestles during the DIY, the coat hooks in the main bedroom are up, we cooked moule for the first time - with some success from a Nigel Slater recipe using cider, I fell of the desk stool and broke it, the dehumidifier has stopped auto draining.

But perhaps best in the week was that we were able to recover a bit of the holiday feeling by celebrating Mary T's 65th birthday with an excellent evening at Les Flots in Chatillion Plage and then enjoyed a superb meal at Andre's Bistrot (salle de pientures) on Tuesday - her last night here. What a birthday holiday for her!

Sheila will be flying back next Friday and I will come back on May 1st. We will be based here until May 9th when we will get the car back to England.

The canopy is gone.....

...I have defintely consigned the canopy to the past and we are well on the way to finshing the project. My DIY skills are not really up to the task in terms of finesse, or even quality, or even as a bodger. I have taken lots of pictures....and I have lots of plasters on my fingers.....

The house and things are holding up well

So Pat is in hospital with a fractured sacrum and likely to be laid up, flat on her back, for about the next six weeks. We are gearing up to be around as much as possible during that time. F&A are fully involved and so it is very likely the house will actually occupied by one or some of us right through to the end of May.

Yesterday I had problems with the oil heater and even though the weather is improving it would be good to be able to rely on it as a method for the pretty rapid heating of the downstairs during the inevitable cold snaps to come.

Our caretaker reported a couple of problems: a water leak in the garage and the dehumidifier not auto emptying. I think I have traced the leak to the washing machine supply pipe and may have solved that - testing underway. As to the dehumidifier it may have been a blocked drain or possibly that it was not on a level surface. Testing of this is undeway in the garage. I have noticed just what a heat difference it makes and can understand why it is so effective in the winter.

As previously commented the "Easter" project was to do something about the canopy over the cooking and sink area. Fair progress has been made and before and after picture should soon appear.

Not quite the trip we expected

Easter time in La Rochelle is defiently a quiet time.
Work started to revamp the canopy over the cooker and kitchen sink area and to replace the "failing" wall cupboard in the same area. Early in the execution we decided to do a complete removal of the canopy and end for once and all the chances of me or anyone else hitting their heads on it.
Good progress during "morning one" with Mary T playing a key supporting role. Pictures will follow. We can get more done duting today but will need the DIY stores to reopen on Tuesday to finish off.

Sixteen and a half

In sixteen and a half days Anika will be setting off for the house with Pat and Mary and a couple of days later I will be joining them for a full week of holiday.
A bit like last year we are getting estimated bills from EDF that assumes someone is living there all the time. So we have investigated things a bit and it looks like we can get an external meter reader installed for about 80 euro. Our caretaker is taking things in hand.

Here is a reminder of refuse collection and disposal stuff from our "manual".

Household Rubbish Collection.
The recycle collection is on Wednesday morning(about 8.00am) and all recyclables, plastic, cans, aluminium trays, cartons, newspapers, magazines, should be put into a yellow refuse bag.
There is are collections on Monday and Friday mornings, about 8.00am.
The rest of the refuse (except glass) should be left in "black"plastic bag outside the front door where it can be seen will be picked-up.
Bottles (and glass) should not be put in with the regular rubbish but taken to the various glass recycle points. There is one at the decheterie (see above), one on the road out of Marsilly to Esnande and one on the road down to the "Port".