A Week in a Post - 28 July - 3 August
This post is a bit of a summary of what happened in my last week in France - as I didn't do a daily blog during that time.
First, the mystery of the 300+ year old artefact...
After a request for help on a couple of social networking sites it transpired that the 'moto' was "Seul contre tous" (Alone against all) - associated with Louis XIV.
Since the birth of Louis XIV, France is continually at war with Spain, and more generally against the hegemony of the Habsburgs in Europe. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes turned against all Protestant states against Louis XIV, and added religious hatreds to political hatreds. William of Orange easily succeeded in uniting in a new coalition the various groups of allies already formed. As early as 1688, a general coalition against France was formed: it opposed France allied to Denmark and the Ottoman Empire to the league of Augsburg composed by William II of England, the Emperor of Germany, the kings of Spain, Sweden and the United Provinces, several Electors and the Duke of Savoy. The league had at first only a defensive character but Louis XIV imposed his choice on the electorate of Cologne to the detriment of the legally elected candidate: this was the signal of the general war. The war of the league of Augsburg lasted until 1697.
Promising!
But further digging confirmed it is a lowly fire-back and almost certainly 20th Century. Oh well.
That said, one did sell recently for almost £600 - but the quality of that casting appears much better than ours.
Thanks to all that helped solve the mystery; especially Tash and Tom.
OK. So what else happened? Well. my UK neighbour, Tim, arrived to take a look at the wiring of the house. We know it needs rewiring but are hoping, with Tim's help, to do it without the expense of a local electrician.
The conclusion is that we should be able to take on the task - though Tim sees me doing more of the work than I'd expected (e.g. installing sockets and running cables to the consumer unit - and not just channelling cables runs into walls). This is fair enough. If he thinks I can do it then there is no reason to ask him to take such work on. Tim will provide guidance, check my work and do the final connecting - along with any especially technical tasks we agree would not be appropriate for me to do.
We toured Leroy Merlin, Brico Depot and Mr Bricolage to assess whether they had what we needed and to determine which offered best value for money. The first two were very close in price (to the point that I suspect they are part of the same group) and were significantly cheaper than Mr Bricolage. LM was the more pleasant shopping experience, and so they are our supplier of choice.
We bought a few sockets and back boxes, cable, conduit, a couple of junction boxes, etc. and tools I'll need - enough for me to do an initial bit of wiring with Tim on-hand to advise. We then cut and lifted a floorboard, cut into skirting, bored into a wall, all on the upper floor of the house and installed a couple of back-boxes. That's pretty much as far as we have got with the electrics on this visit.
My first task on my next visit will be to install a new earth rod - this will involve driving a 1.5 metre rod into what looks like solid bed rock - should be 'interesting'.
One of the main technical challenges we have is that the house is on 3 phase and we need to track down a suitable consumer unit. A less technical challenge is that EDF/Energis will be replacing 90% of old meters (such as ours) by 2020 - but we need to be at home (to provide access) on the scheduled date. The scheduled date will be posted to our French house a week or two in advance - and, of course, we'll probably not be there. So, I am currently trying to work out how we can get timely notification.
The other significant task undertaken during the last week was finishing rubbing down the section of stairs that sit behind the humongous radiator I had removed, and then varnishing it and re-locating the radiator with Tim's help. Even with two of us it was a monster to try and lift - and I now wonder how I managed when it was just me and it was full of water. Once the radiator was back on we needed to re-pressurise the system, something I hadn't a clue about - but thankfully Tim was on hand.
The trip home was largely uneventful. Despite Tim being there to navigate (and armed with a new road atlas I'd bought and directions printed of Google maps) we still ended up on the Perephique - I had said to him "Your one job is to make sure we don't end up on the Perephique". The overnight stop at Amiens was pleasant and the UK leg was full of traffic jams (adding 90 minutes to the journey).
It was good to be home, especially seeing Sally after our longest time apart since we were married nearly 34 years ago. And we're already planning the next trip over.
First, the mystery of the 300+ year old artefact...
After a request for help on a couple of social networking sites it transpired that the 'moto' was "Seul contre tous" (Alone against all) - associated with Louis XIV.
Since the birth of Louis XIV, France is continually at war with Spain, and more generally against the hegemony of the Habsburgs in Europe. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes turned against all Protestant states against Louis XIV, and added religious hatreds to political hatreds. William of Orange easily succeeded in uniting in a new coalition the various groups of allies already formed. As early as 1688, a general coalition against France was formed: it opposed France allied to Denmark and the Ottoman Empire to the league of Augsburg composed by William II of England, the Emperor of Germany, the kings of Spain, Sweden and the United Provinces, several Electors and the Duke of Savoy. The league had at first only a defensive character but Louis XIV imposed his choice on the electorate of Cologne to the detriment of the legally elected candidate: this was the signal of the general war. The war of the league of Augsburg lasted until 1697.
Promising!
But further digging confirmed it is a lowly fire-back and almost certainly 20th Century. Oh well.
That said, one did sell recently for almost £600 - but the quality of that casting appears much better than ours.
Thanks to all that helped solve the mystery; especially Tash and Tom.
OK. So what else happened? Well. my UK neighbour, Tim, arrived to take a look at the wiring of the house. We know it needs rewiring but are hoping, with Tim's help, to do it without the expense of a local electrician.
The conclusion is that we should be able to take on the task - though Tim sees me doing more of the work than I'd expected (e.g. installing sockets and running cables to the consumer unit - and not just channelling cables runs into walls). This is fair enough. If he thinks I can do it then there is no reason to ask him to take such work on. Tim will provide guidance, check my work and do the final connecting - along with any especially technical tasks we agree would not be appropriate for me to do.
We toured Leroy Merlin, Brico Depot and Mr Bricolage to assess whether they had what we needed and to determine which offered best value for money. The first two were very close in price (to the point that I suspect they are part of the same group) and were significantly cheaper than Mr Bricolage. LM was the more pleasant shopping experience, and so they are our supplier of choice.
We bought a few sockets and back boxes, cable, conduit, a couple of junction boxes, etc. and tools I'll need - enough for me to do an initial bit of wiring with Tim on-hand to advise. We then cut and lifted a floorboard, cut into skirting, bored into a wall, all on the upper floor of the house and installed a couple of back-boxes. That's pretty much as far as we have got with the electrics on this visit.
My first task on my next visit will be to install a new earth rod - this will involve driving a 1.5 metre rod into what looks like solid bed rock - should be 'interesting'.
One of the main technical challenges we have is that the house is on 3 phase and we need to track down a suitable consumer unit. A less technical challenge is that EDF/Energis will be replacing 90% of old meters (such as ours) by 2020 - but we need to be at home (to provide access) on the scheduled date. The scheduled date will be posted to our French house a week or two in advance - and, of course, we'll probably not be there. So, I am currently trying to work out how we can get timely notification.
The other significant task undertaken during the last week was finishing rubbing down the section of stairs that sit behind the humongous radiator I had removed, and then varnishing it and re-locating the radiator with Tim's help. Even with two of us it was a monster to try and lift - and I now wonder how I managed when it was just me and it was full of water. Once the radiator was back on we needed to re-pressurise the system, something I hadn't a clue about - but thankfully Tim was on hand.
The trip home was largely uneventful. Despite Tim being there to navigate (and armed with a new road atlas I'd bought and directions printed of Google maps) we still ended up on the Perephique - I had said to him "Your one job is to make sure we don't end up on the Perephique". The overnight stop at Amiens was pleasant and the UK leg was full of traffic jams (adding 90 minutes to the journey).
It was good to be home, especially seeing Sally after our longest time apart since we were married nearly 34 years ago. And we're already planning the next trip over.
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