Lost en France

Up at 7am and on our way back to the UK at 10 am, after a quick tidy-up and inventory of what we were leaving behind (and therefore didn’t need to bring in our luggage next time). Being a Friday and given the experience of the Peripherique on the way down, we chose to add a nominal 90-minutes to our journey and return via Chartres and Rouen. The journey was uneventful other than for a diversion off a closed section of motorway and a traffic-jam in Rouen that was as bad as the previous one on the Peripherique (though the traffic was far more civilised). We eventually reached the Chateau de Quesmy at around 7 pm – so a 9-hour journey including a 30-minute stop. Alas, the restaurant on the chateau grounds was not open on a Friday night and so ‘dinner’ was nuts, yogurts, fruit, and orange juice – that we had brought from the house. View from our window at the chateau Up at 6:30 on Saturday morning and a 2.5 hour drive to Calais for the EuroTunnel. We arrived early enough

Before we were up, the refuse collection folk had emptied our bin – a mundane milestone, but a milestone – nonetheless. This had taken considerable organising and there was every possibility we would have fallen at the last hurdle. Alas, today is our last full day here. We made sure it was a productive one. Sally did two coats of paint on the kitchen door-frame and a length of skirting and I did two coats on the interior of the kitchen window and frame. We completed the assembly of the IKEA kit and re-organised the kitchen. Kitchen - Before                                        Kitchen - During Study - Before & During Between coats we visited the local dechetterie (tip) to dispose of an incredible amount of recyclable waste accumulated over the past two weeks, It literally filled the back of the car – mostly cardboard from all of the furniture and electrical goods. The guys at the dechetterie were incredibly friendly and helpful. Whilst our local tip

Today we visited Bordeaux or, to be more precise, we visited IKEA in Bordeaux; a two and a quarter hour drive. After 3-hours around IKEA we were ready for home again – so no sight-seeing nor even a lunch out. We did, however, get storage units for the Kitchen a computer desk and chair for me, a couple of bed-side tables, two rugs and a number of other small items. Our bed now has Carrefour Duvet and Pillow Covers - and IKEA bedside tables. We did a little assembly on returning home and then treated ourselves to a meal out at one of the local hotels/restaurants – very nice it was too and reasonably priced too, as in England, wine was expensive.

Great day today. A full day of work from 9:00 till 18:30, Sally was stripping the wallpaper in the kitchen; a pig of a job by all accounts as there were multiple layers of paper and some atypical adhesives in in use. For my part I was painting some of the doors and windows' metal work (hinges etc) black. I also hung the finally fully painted ground floor front shutters and painted the window frame in the kitchen. Sally saw one of our house lizards for the first time; this on top of us definitely being buzzed by a bat last night – and, on a less positive note, it appears we have bumble bees nesting in our walls – time for a bit of internet research as we don’t want to do them any more harm than we need to. The Ground Floor Shutter Finally Painted. Inside and Out. Our dustbins were also finally delivered today – soon I’ll be trying to translate the accompanying letters to ensure we comply with requirements when it comes to using the right coloured ‘sacs’ etc.   

We set the alarm for 08:00 – enough of these lie-ins! We’d decided that we would work in the morning and then go out in the afternoon. The morning saw Sally rubbing down a door frame and the skirting boards in the kitchen whilst I painted the ‘black’ detailing (metal fixings) on the two shutters I had been painting and then I salvaged a new multi socket extension cable that had ceased to work (it is now a single socket extension that does work). Finally I fitted three more padlocks to the garage doors. We had a late-ish lunch and were then going to head to Brive to shop at Conformarama, a furniture shop Sally had seen online, and to pop into Carrefour and see what other interesting shops we could see. Checking online, however, showed the Brive Conformarama was closed for refurbishment. So, instead, we headed an extra 20 kilometres north to Limoges to visit the same stores. Conformarama was disappointing, not inexpensive but rather cheap looking. IKEA is far more our cup of t

The plan today was to get up early and head to the 180-stall Bricante in Malemort, near Brive. We’d seen these Bricantes on the likes of Channel 4’s ‘Escape to the Chateau’, and so we were hoping to see such delights as old ‘Victorian’ baths that we could pick up for a song and then renovate. Well, things didn’t go quite to plan. First we overslept (again), second there were no baths nor any other interesting furniture. In fact, this was basically a massive Jumble Sale – not even really up to the standards of a good British ‘car-boot’ and prices were higher than I would have expected. So a bit of a let-down really, and Malemort, as a locale, doesn’t have a great deal to offer. However, just one more thing to put down to experience. In the afternoon, Sally did a great job stripping the lounge-diner and I finished plumbing in the washing machine. The task itself was relatively simple – what took the time was translating the commissioning instructions. It was worth every minute t

Sally arrives today so the order of the day is a general tidy up and finish the vacuuming – 3 hours soon go and then hit the shower, get changed and off to Limoges airport. I arrive 10 minutes before the plane, which is on time. Sally debarks and gives me a wave, 15 minutes later she has cleared Passport Control – incredibly quick for Limoge, believe me. A 50-minute drive home and we pop in Intermarche to do a shop and then we get a pair of pizzas from an ‘Artisan’ pizza kiosk I had noticed a few days ago – very nice they were too. After consuming the pizzas and a couple of bieres, I gave Sally a tour of the work done and then we settled down for the evening. Tomorrow the plan is to visit one of the may Brocantes (think car-boot sales) in the area – we’ve chosen the one at Malmort as it seems at least twice as large as the others we had considered (at Tulle and Brive). The only real occurrence of note was that we got talking to a local ex-pat in Intermarche – and then co

Weeks on holiday are funny things, the first half goes nice and steady; the second half is gone in a blink. So, a week after arriving, what have I achieved? Not a great deal. Two shutters are painted (and I’m now applying black paint to their metalwork). The kitchen window and frame are prepped for painting and the glazing is re-puttied (is that a word?). The window in the lounge-diner has had it old putty removed. The upper two floors have been vacuumed (including walls and ceilings), various doors have had bolts and sash-jammers fitted and the smoke alarms are up. Oh, and the bed and sofa are assembled and the washing machine is pretty much installed. And there was all of that abortive floor chiselling. I say abortive floor chiselling as (on my father’s advice) I have decided to abandon that route and instead lay-down hardboard where we intend to carpet and plywood where we intend to tile e.g. kitchen and shower room. This morning was spent painting, vacuuming and remov

Nice mix of a day, today. Got up at a reasonable hour (7:30 ish). Within an hour I’d chiselled another half of a floorboard and painted one side of a shutter. This was using the Dulux paint we’d tried to colour match with the existing Sikkens’ shade (as required by the local mairie). The match wasn’t perfect but I reckon it will be close enough – and one coat seems to do the job , which is just as well at, if I remember correctly, £26 a litre! Multi-taking was the order of the day again and by 3:30 pm I’d done a side of a second shutter, chiselled a total of 2.5 floorboards (compared with 1.5 on Tuesday), fitted two smoke alarms and put a battery in the one existing one (French law requires one on each floor), fitted sash-jammers to the remaining French door and put a bolt on the interior door to the smaller garage. A stroll into town along the banks of the Vexere Then I treated myself to a stroll into town, along the banks of the RiverVezere, to see if I could find a

Very uneventful day. Last night I ordered a printer/scanner from Amazon France, taking further advantage of the Amazon Prime 30-day free trial (we have Prime in the UK but you have to subscribe separately for France). I hadn’t initially planned to get a printer here for a while but as we’re receiving post, some of which may be important, it will be useful to be able to scan/translate the correspondence. Today I discovered that chiselling the carpet glue at a near 90-degree angle broke a lot of it up – so that is my new approach; chisel what I can and then sand. It is still laborious, time consuming and boring, so I continued the ‘multi-tasking’ approach by interspersing chiselling with removing and replacing the exterior putty in the kitchen windows. What a wonderful medium putty is – I thoroughly enjoyed doing that – practically in inverse proportion to the (lack of) enjoyment chiselling. Today’s progress: one pair of windows puttied up (and did a bit of sanding too) and 1.5 flo

A lazy day today. Rough night getting to sleep – no idea why – but then slept in by an hour or more compared to the previous mornings. Did a general 'tidy-up and organise' of the house. The principal reason being the need to move everything out of the lounge-diner in readiness for sanding the floor, but the other benefit is that (despite the need for a total re-decorate), the various rooms are starting to take on a homely quality at last – which is nice. Up until now it has felt as though I am living in an empty house; now it is starting to feel more like a home. Next it was a walk up to the Hotel de Ville to sort the refuse collection. I popped in the estate agent’s en-route to drop off the now redundant ‘For Sale’ sign. It was also nice to see Cassandra again. At the Hotel de Ville the receptionist spoke little English and, unlike most here, didn’t seem inclined to meet me half-way. Fortunately I had prepared a set of translated questions. As soon as she understood the q

Today didn’t quite go to plan but was productive nonetheless. The sofa and mattress were due to be delivered by noon so, rather than do noisy sanding (with ear-protectors) and risk not hearing the door bell, I decided to vacuum (floor, walls and ceiling) what I think will become the study. The idea being that I can then move things currently stored in the lounge-diner into there and then get sanding in that room. The wallpaper in the study looked ready to peel off so, why hoover it when I can strip it? Little did I know that little job would take most of the day. There was layer on layer of paper in certain areas and smatterings of glue and silicone in various places for no apparent reason. Study - Before Study - After  The morning went quickly and before I knew it noon had come and gone – but the delivery men hadn’t. I’ll admit mild panic set in, not so much because I needed food and couldn’t leave the house until they had been (lunch was two slices of toast and a

Rough night with hay-fever, but the evening had been great (despite the Tajine de Boeuf not tasting as nice as it smelt – not bad, just disappointing). Nature provided the entertainment; as dusk fell I was sitting on our main terrace (the garage roof) when I was suddenly ‘buzzed’ by swallows. This continued until night fell. I’m guessing they were after insects. The next act was a pair of bats (OK, they could have been delinquent swallows). The finale was a distant thunder storm – no rain but excellent pyrotechnics. Up not so bright, but early again. Today has been a mix of jobs. The primary one being to see if the belt sander I’ve invested in can clear the carpet glue covering practically the entire first floor. I’m actually quite impressed. It does shift it without the belts becoming too clogged (the glue is set like concrete). Clogging does become an issue when the sander (and the glue) get hot and so I have to stop regularly to let it cool. Rather than waste the time I decide

I hadn’t set the alarm, as I planned to treat myself to a lie-in after the previous days travails. But I was awake at 06:45 (05:45 UK time). First order of the day was a shower, shave and get those teeth cleaned – would there be hot water There was! 20-minutes later I was feeling human again. Plan for the day:          Unpack          Go shopping at the local Intermarche          Make up a couple of extension cables         Vacuum the house top to bottom (literally, the ceiling and walls would get vacuumed to to get rid of cobwebs)          See how I felt (I was going to take it steady after yesterday’s adventures). As I was unpacking, the doorbell went. It was our new queen size bed from Amazon – strange as only yesterday I had had an email notification that it would arrive next Wednesday. Later in the day an RCD device I’d ordered from Amazon was pushed through the door – they had told me that would come on Monday (BTW, today is Saturday). We had

A month since my last visit, I am on my way back to the house. I decided to resign from work and look for contracting opportunities but, before I look in earnest, I am going to have a month off - maybe two - and the first two weeks are going to be spent back in Uzerche. The Channel Tunnel is going to prove much cheaper than the ferry and so we have chosen to open a Frequent Traveller account with 10 crossings. We need to use these up in a year – but we see little challenge there. This trip I will be travelling alone and so we have also invested in a Sanef tag for the tolls. This is going to work out more expensive but will be much more convenient, especially when travelling alone in a right-hand drive car – no need to get out or lean across the passenger seat to pay the toll. The 3.5-hour trip down to the Eurotunnel was uneventful and I arrived nearly two hours early. The next twenty-four hours would not be so simple. The first problem was that on arrival at the por

Well, I've done it. Resigned. There were a few things I wasn't happy with at work so I've taken the nuclear option. Hoping to get back into contracting (IT) but not until July at he earliest as I've taken the opportunity to come back to Uzerche for a 17 days  (Sally is joining me for week 2) and then, after a week at home, I am off to Arizona for eight days- so that is June accounted for. This post is a holding statement really, as I am trying to preserve the phone's limited data allowance. Rest assured, however, that I'll provide a mammoth update on my return, telling you all about our adventures, trials, tribulations and, hopefully, triumphs. The trialls and tribulation started on the drive down and involved an 6 hour journey taking 14 hours and costing over 1000 Euros more than planned - but you'll have to wait to hear the gory details.