Nature Entertains and I Try to Grips with a Can-Opener from the Ancien-Regime - Sunday 3 June, 2018

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 to multi-task so, between sanding sessions I have top-coated both sides of the kitchen interior door, rubbed down the kitchen window frame and decorative iron work, vacuumed the kitchen and landing (floors, walls and ceilings) and fitted sash jammers to the ground-floor French doors.
Sash-Jammers added (top and bottom).
The bolt was added a few days later.
The belt sander is a Titan product (bought in France but available from Screwfix) I find these well priced and good quality and the sander is no exception so far – except the dust bag. It collected the dust just fine but on emptying it the very first time the zip broke so it is useless. Pondering how to continue without being literally covered in glue dust, I remembered a YouTube video I had watch where a guy (American of course) had a vacuum attached to his dust outlet and the vacuum would activate through the sander’s trigger – so it only ran when the sander ran. I wouldn’t be going to that expense but I could mackle together a similar arrangement with our old Miele vacuum and some insulating tape – worked an absolute treat!

Whilst we’re discussing innovations another trick I picked up online is that you can easily clean (expensive) clogged sanding belts with a piece of crepe rubber. Unfortunately it has limited effect on glue that is melted into the belt but I still thought it worth sharing for cleaning sawdust etc.

The afternoon was less productive than the morning – perhaps because I didn’t take lunch until around 15:30. Straight after lunch I prepared dinner – chicken in white wine sauce (sauce courtesy of Mr Homepride – with me contributing a splash of Petit Chablis). Could I find the can-opener? My wife later assures me that there is one here, but I had already already popped next door to borrow one. I think it came off the Ark and I suspect it was left-handed. I made a right mess of the can – but mission accomplished.

Well, at least it is open
Well, time to put some rice on and sample the poulet en vin blanc. Looking forward to tomorrow, the mattress and a sofa are due to be delivered in the morning and then off to the mairie’s tomorrow to enquire as to how we get our refuse collected

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