Good Smell, Bad Smell - 20 August, 2018
Made it to Versailles and the Ibis Budget hotel, no problem. It was a longer drive than normal but, as per the last post, I wanted to get past Paris on Sunday night - rather than Monday morning rush-hour. Traffic was still surprisingly heavy during that last leg of the journey.
The hotel was easy to find and the room more than adequate. My only 'complaint' was having to pay nearly 13 Euros to park. I think I could have parked on the street fairly easily, but I preferred to pay for the enclosed car-park as the car was rather packed with items for the house.
Of course, as I drove out, the car-park barrier was up - so I could have got away without paying altogether (and I'd even had a premonition that this might happen).
The drive to Uzerche was fine and I got to the house just after 10:00 - having risen at 05:30 (04:30 UK time) - I was awake so saw no point hanging around.
The first thing I noticed (or didn't) was the smell of fuel oil in the hall. On previous visits the smell was obvious. It emanates from the cellar (the door of which is at the end of the hall). Last visit I'd had a cursory check for leaks and didn't see any. I think the smell is due to past spillages/splashing when the tank is filled. I put down a 'take-away' food tray partially filled with bicarbonate of soda to see if it would absorb the smell - it seems to have worked.
Where there was a smell, however, was in the kitchen. The squeamish among you may want to look away now.
Before departure, at the end of the last visit, I had given everywhere a good clean - especially the fridge. Unfortunately, it appears I either forgot the freezer compartment or ignored it as it was frozen and therefore couldn't be 'wiped-down'. You can guess where this is going...
I always switch off the electrics when we leave the house, so the freezer compartment had thawed - along with the burger I'd apparently left in it. You wouldn't recognise the semi-liquid gloop as a burger now - by sight or by smell, and the smell was bad - the maggots made sure of that.
I did consider taking a picture for the blog - but that would have been too much.
I spent the first hour in the house thoroughly cleaning the fridge - not the best of starts.
But, other than that, the day has been fine. A trip to the supermarket to stock up on drinks (non-alcoholic as well as some bierre) and a few food items (to put in the fridge - ugh). I had a steak dinner there as a treat - as I'd forgone breakfast, it was getting a little late and I didn't want to cook yet. Back home it was unpacking (including laying a couple of rugs that are a nice addition to the house), trying to figure out my new (French) Orange SIM that had arrived in the post, and - most importantly - tinkering with the boiler.
There is no instruction manual for the boiler and, though there are installation/commissioning manuals (in French) online, there are no operating manuals as such, at lease none that I can find. I want to drain the heating system this visit, in readiness for winter but, before I do, I wanted to be sure it was working OK - otherwise, if it fails to work when I refill it I won't know whether it was the draining that caused the problem or if it wasn't working in the first place.
I got is started OK. After a few seconds it got noisy and then, after 5 or 10 minutes, it went quiet. Was it working? Well, the radiators were not heating up. I shut it down. Searched for manuals and, as stated above, only found installation/commissioning manuals. Fortunately, the commissioning section provided me with enough information to realise that I had to set the summer/winter switch to winter to heat the radiators (I had wondered what that did). I tried again and hey-presto!, the radiators heated up.
I've added a section on the boiler controls to a little booklet I'm producing (for ourselves and others) that explains such things as turning on water & electric, refuse collection, where the bakeries are, etc.
So, apart from that fridge, today has been quite a 'clean' day. Tomorrow the real work starts - with the connecting/routing of a new earth cable to the earth rod and the treatment of woodworm in the cellar.
The hotel was easy to find and the room more than adequate. My only 'complaint' was having to pay nearly 13 Euros to park. I think I could have parked on the street fairly easily, but I preferred to pay for the enclosed car-park as the car was rather packed with items for the house.
Of course, as I drove out, the car-park barrier was up - so I could have got away without paying altogether (and I'd even had a premonition that this might happen).
The drive to Uzerche was fine and I got to the house just after 10:00 - having risen at 05:30 (04:30 UK time) - I was awake so saw no point hanging around.
The first thing I noticed (or didn't) was the smell of fuel oil in the hall. On previous visits the smell was obvious. It emanates from the cellar (the door of which is at the end of the hall). Last visit I'd had a cursory check for leaks and didn't see any. I think the smell is due to past spillages/splashing when the tank is filled. I put down a 'take-away' food tray partially filled with bicarbonate of soda to see if it would absorb the smell - it seems to have worked.
Where there was a smell, however, was in the kitchen. The squeamish among you may want to look away now.
Before departure, at the end of the last visit, I had given everywhere a good clean - especially the fridge. Unfortunately, it appears I either forgot the freezer compartment or ignored it as it was frozen and therefore couldn't be 'wiped-down'. You can guess where this is going...
I always switch off the electrics when we leave the house, so the freezer compartment had thawed - along with the burger I'd apparently left in it. You wouldn't recognise the semi-liquid gloop as a burger now - by sight or by smell, and the smell was bad - the maggots made sure of that.
I did consider taking a picture for the blog - but that would have been too much.
I spent the first hour in the house thoroughly cleaning the fridge - not the best of starts.
But, other than that, the day has been fine. A trip to the supermarket to stock up on drinks (non-alcoholic as well as some bierre) and a few food items (to put in the fridge - ugh). I had a steak dinner there as a treat - as I'd forgone breakfast, it was getting a little late and I didn't want to cook yet. Back home it was unpacking (including laying a couple of rugs that are a nice addition to the house), trying to figure out my new (French) Orange SIM that had arrived in the post, and - most importantly - tinkering with the boiler.
There is no instruction manual for the boiler and, though there are installation/commissioning manuals (in French) online, there are no operating manuals as such, at lease none that I can find. I want to drain the heating system this visit, in readiness for winter but, before I do, I wanted to be sure it was working OK - otherwise, if it fails to work when I refill it I won't know whether it was the draining that caused the problem or if it wasn't working in the first place.
I got is started OK. After a few seconds it got noisy and then, after 5 or 10 minutes, it went quiet. Was it working? Well, the radiators were not heating up. I shut it down. Searched for manuals and, as stated above, only found installation/commissioning manuals. Fortunately, the commissioning section provided me with enough information to realise that I had to set the summer/winter switch to winter to heat the radiators (I had wondered what that did). I tried again and hey-presto!, the radiators heated up.
I've added a section on the boiler controls to a little booklet I'm producing (for ourselves and others) that explains such things as turning on water & electric, refuse collection, where the bakeries are, etc.
So, apart from that fridge, today has been quite a 'clean' day. Tomorrow the real work starts - with the connecting/routing of a new earth cable to the earth rod and the treatment of woodworm in the cellar.
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