Disappointing Bricante and Tripping the Electrics. Sunday, June 10, 2018.


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 though as it appeared there were four hefty transportation bolts that needed removing. Had I not done the translation, we would have been on the market for another new washing machine.

In the evening we tripped the electric for the first time. In France you subscribe to a pre-determined maximum amperage. The higher the amperage, the higher the standing charge. It’s a bit of guesswork as to what you should opt for but is, I believe, relatively easy to ’upgrade’ if you initially get it wrong. This trip was caused by running the water heater, vacuum, washing machine and steam stripper at the same time. No problem, we can cutback on that load – if I can figure out how to reset the trip. We have a very old fuse-box which pre-dates the various internet posts I found discussing resetting a trip. Worried that we would be without power for several days I basically tried pressing everything I could see around the fuse-box and meter and eventually firmly pressing a big green button did the trick – phew!

See the big green button?
That's the one you want.



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