Lost en France

 Well, we were due to arrive back in Uzerche around noon today. But, 48-hours before we were due to set off, the FCO have again advised against all but essential travel. Whilst we would be OK with 14-days self-quarantine (at both ends of the journey if necessary, the FCO advice invalidates our travel insurance - and we're not yet ready to risk travelling without medical cover. Hopefully this won't last too long, though with winter around the corner, that may be a forlorn hope.  We're going to have to travel out at some point in the next few months, come what may, to prepare the house for winter. 

  Au revoir, Uzerche. Up at midnight as planned an on our way within half-an-hour. We made good time - though the peripherique around Paris is still busy at five in the morning. We arrived early at Eurotunnel in Calais and got an earlier than planned crossing. 12-hours after we had set off we arrived at St Albans to spend a pleasant afternoon with our daughter and her family and then home around 5pm - the M1 was a nightmare; makes you appreciate the French autoroutes.

  Our last day ☹ . ‘Work from home’ for me during the day and tidying/cleaning of the house for Sally. Working from 'Home' After work we headed to Supe-U for a few last items we wanted to take back to the UK and then packing of the car. Following that, a light dinner and a relaxed evening. I intend hitting the sack at some time between 8 and 9 tonight, in the hope of getting some shut-eye before the midnight departure.

  It’s now Thursday (I'm writing up Wednesday). And I’m struggling to remember what I did yesterday, Basically lots of cleaning and tidying IIRC, getting as much done as possible to ensure a relaxing Thursday night prior to the midnight departure. During the day it was ‘work from home’ for me and finishing the study windows for Sally. They look SO much better – oh, and I rehung them in the evening. Before After

We had a pleasant evening last night chatting to Pirette, our neighbour, entirely in French (she speaks no English); we had a proper little conversation. The day had been really hot (off the scale of our 40 degree C thermometer) and we moved bedrooms to the cooler ground floor. This is partly in readiness for Thursday night when we will depart at midnight. Thursday is forecast to be a scorcher and I want to try and get a few hours sleep before the 10-hour drive. The heat was off the scale - literally! As to jobs, it was another ‘work from home day’ for me.  Sally painted both sides (two coats on one side) of the study windows (I had re-puttied the glazing last night); they are looking much better. She also did some general cleaning, as well as some needlework on a duvet cover. Before After After my day in the office I finally applied the last coat to the veranda balustrade posts... Before After (I did the post, but Sally did the rest) Before After ... rehung the internal garage d...

  Sally gave the walk-in wardrobe its first coat of paint and finished the alcove of Serena’s French doors. She also top-coated both sides of the internal garage door and, most impressively, sanded down (and removed the tatty putty from) the study windows. For my part, after a ‘day in the office’ I removed the study windows for Sally to work on, gave the balustrade posts their first coat of paint, top coated the wood around the ceiling light in the loo and refreshed the putty on the study windows.  The windows were a pain to remove. The had hinges that you should be able to simply lift and separate. That worked reasonably well for the first but the second wasn’t shifting and, having raised to a few millimetres, it wasn’t going back either. In the end we cleared the decades of paint from the hinge screws and unscrewed the hinges from the frame. Even with the window free of the frame, a good whack was needed with a hammer to separate the two halves of the hinge – it is a wonde...

  Last day of ‘holiday’ or me. We still have another four days here, but I’ll be working from home. As a result I wanted to progress/complete current ‘work in progress’ rather than start new jobs. So: ·          Internal garage door painted – one more coat needed ·          Last bit of filling rubbed down on veranda balustrade post and under coated filled area ·          Decorative covers fitted behind shower controls to hide the sealant around the pipework coming out of the wall. ·          Template made, and wood cut, for the final ‘fixed’ panel that will go over the trough on the garage roof. Glad I took Sally’s advice and made a card template as it resulted in a really nice fit. ·          Made a nice hardwood chopping board from a remnant from the new kitchen worktop – w...