Back to UK for Christmas

Well, we got all the insulation on the house, but need another 12 sheets (ordered 358, needed 370!) .  The electric drill has been working hard.  We're also very good at moving scaffolding as we have hired enough for the longest wall, not the whole house.  Weight-lifting was never really our thing, but...

The stuff we're doing ourselves is slow but satisfying, and at least we know we'll be here!  The general attitude of artisans here is to give a 'Gascon promise' - tomorrow simply means sometime, even mañana is too soon! The carpenter is the culprit at the moment.

Have bought a load of cheap trees and shrubs and been given lots of others by local English and French people.  Have planted quite a few, as here you have to wait for the winter rains to soften up the ground!  The advice was don't try before 25th November.  We're working our way through them and hope to see some leaves and flowers next year.  But we still have poppies flowering in our bank.

Chris is still playing badminton on Tuesdays, cards on Friday where we seem not to get very good ones, and walkies on Sunday.  Yesterday's was a gentle stroll for a couple of hours with vin chaud and hot chocolate at the end, by the chateau at Larressingle. 

French lessons continue on Wednesday evenings and either Tuesday or Friday.  We've met some nice people through the classes, both the other English 'students' and the French teachers.  We arranged a group meal for them all last week. The walking group programme for Jan to June 2012 has just arrived and includes a weekend walking and snow-shoeing in the Pyrenees in February, and a 4-day walking trip in May.  Needless to say, we're trying to book in!  Also looking around for possible cross-country skiing places as the local ski-clubs only do alpine.

Had a satellite dish installed with a Freeview box so we can now watch UK-TV on a borrowed set until we get our own.  Judy has been glued to Strictly.  Getting the dish aligned with the satellite was very tricky, especially as the guy who installed it was a friend of a friend and not really an expert. 

Had a free health check last week and both got declared still alive, so that's a relief.

Have been investing in the local wines which are really good at 9 euros for a 5-litre box, and will be bringing a bottle of Armagnac for Xmas and New Year.

We'll be in the UK from 22 Dec until 12 Jan, spending Xmas and New Year with Nicky in North Wales.  Then down to Devon to try and move Chris' mother into a care home - if she'll go!  Fortunately his sister is working really hard at organising this, so fingers are crossed.

The last week has been quite rainy and it's turning colder, so glad we got the insulation on as we only have a 500-watt towel rail in our shower room and a 2kW heater for the rest of the whole house, and no walls and doors to make separate rooms yet.  Can't install the wood-burner until the flooring is down which will have to wait for the plasterboard on the walls which will have to wait for....  Hopefully before next winter!  But it's still warmer than the UK, and we've been really lucky with the weather this autumn, as we've hardly had to stop the outside work.  Who knows what 2012 will bring.

Making progress - thanks to friends

Our friends, Keith and Julia, from Plymouth came to visit for a week, including a weekend of partying for the 'Flamme d'Armagnac' of which more later.  This put the pressure on us to really get the house sorted with a shower and a makeshift kitchen.  This we managed to do the Monday before they arrived on Wednesday! Phew!  It would have been a little cramped in the caravan.  We were given some old kitchen units and a sink by a builder friend here, so that helped.  We now have a shower...

...and a temporary kitchen in the utility room with light which was a welcome addition...

... and some furniture only light here being standard lamps but at least we have power.

So, we spent most of the time fixing external insulation to the house.  We got 4 complete layers done which was more than expected.  If it takes 4 people 4 days to fix 4 layers... ?  It's about one third of the total required so a bit left to do.  We're waiting for builder friend to come and fix some scaffolding but he's become French in that you never know when he'll turn up.  Demain or Demain....

But we also managed to walk (Keith, Julia and Judy and a few hundred others)

and cycle (Chris) which included breakfast - bacon butties and red wine - in a distillery.

Then, it was party time in the evening.  A meal for 500 with music and dancing and of course plenty of liquid refreshment!  Good time was had by all.

The Sunday was another walk (stroll) to a wine tasting and back for large lunch (with more liquid refreshment).  Not much happened that afternoon surprisingly.

So now we're on our own again and hoping to complete the external insulation before we return to UK for Xmas. 

Will post on progress before we leave.

Camping in the house

We now have water and electricity connected and on 29th October - the night the clocks changed - we spent our first night in the house.  Had the loo connected and cold water - luxury!  Celebrated with a bottle of pink bubbly and a game of Scrabble (in English) in bed.  As you can see from the rubble stacked around it's not exactly luxury living!  Still it's not the caravan which is becoming more important now we're getting into winter.  The poppies have finally given up as have the french beans but the weeds live on.  How do they do that?

Connected a temporary hot water system the next day, so even better.  Next week's push is to get the shower installed and tiled and to get a temporary kitchen up and running so we can move out of the caravan permanently.  We do have a working bread maker so that's a start.

Last week was spent plaster-boarding and filling the gaps, strange French system, you don't use plaster, just fill the joins and then put a kind of primer over it.  Jury's out on the finish at the moment.  Also managed to get power circuits in all rooms, but not complete, just enough to get by, at least we can have the computer and telephone in the house.  The lighting is more tricky but started - that will be a breakthrough so we're not stumbling around in the dark.

Finally have the caravan registered in France - a great success as it was a very tortuous process taking six months but the paperwork came through at last so we celebrated with a very nice lunch with two friends at a catering school.  Cheap and extremely good.

 Picture below is of a walk with the local group.

We're still going walking, playing badminton, doing our French lessons and playing cards (badly) but the card players are very tolerant - especially when we lose - and try to explain the rules to Belote and some of the playing tricks (it's quite difficult  to understand what they say as it's the accent and they talk at a hundred miles an hour).  It's all good fun.  We managed to win one round out of four last week, so two bottles of wine were the prize so it's not all bad.

Floor and roof(-ish)

Another month - where did that go? The weekend of 16/17 September was a regional walk organised by the Condom group with much wining and dining and some dancing. 200 on a guided walk on Saturday and over 500 for a marked route on Sunday. We did our bit to help, especially the wining and dining!

Then we took the caravan for its third inspection and it passed, but still waiting for the paperwork to come through so we can get French plates.

Have laid the floor insulation - 100 square metres and 2 layers, so no mean feat. A serious glitch when we opened the last pack of slabs to find them all stuck together! The screed was due in 2 days, but we got it replaced and all set just in time. Now waiting for the screed to dry completely so we can start laying flooring, maybe December (Judy has just said "no chance").

We nearly have the roof tiled - long tales of woe from the roofer to explain why it's a month late. We're working on our bathroom which had every fiddly bit we're ever likely to have to do, so a steep learning curve. Waiting to have the water and electricity connected properly, then we can camp in the house at last.

Spent a few days back in Plymouth as Chris was working. Picked up our meagre furniture and a load of bamboo flooring which is much cheaper in UK. Had hired a huge French van which hardly fitted down the Devon lanes. Easy driving in France, though.

One disaster - Chris dropped the netbook and wrecked the screen, so now computer-less.

Summer fete-ing has finished, quilles has been replaced by cards (belote), tried archery and nearly killed a hare and a deer - but that was in the car on the way home!

Have found a wonderful lady who does French lessons, so that's Wednesday evenings and Friday afternoons booked. Badminton on Tuesday evenings, so still keeping busy.


Sent from my HTC

Windows and doors

Well here we are again after a few weeks.  I'm trying to remember what we've done in the time - shopping, partying, planning (which takes an awfully long time understanding French ways of doing things), started to get the bathroom in - took a long time working out how to do the loo, a bit of gardening (we have beans and lettuce) and have built a set of steps down to the barn to enable us to get down without breaking our necks on the slope.  These have not been finished, a bit more rock humping to go.  

We still haven't managed to crack French bureaucracy re the caravan but have another inspection next week (no. 3) and are hopeful.

Last week saw a major breakthrough - we now have windows!!  They went in incredibly quickly which was good cos it enabled us to spend 2 days with our friend Dave watching the marathon in Bordeaux ( he was there supporting a mate).  We also managed to squeeze in an afternoons shopping at the big B & Q type store. 

We are very hopeful that the roofing firm will arrive soon which will be another milestone.

We've done quite a bit of walking with a group and this coming weekend is a big regional three days walking which we are helping to organise.  Last one of these had about 800 people turn up!  We also spent a day walking to a concert in a chateau followed by wine and picnic, then a visit to their winery and a display by dressage horses.  It got so hot that of the 60 people who walked to the concert, only 8 walked back - we were two of them!  Lots of sweat and water!  Another concert in the evening and a meal (of course) completed the day.

The other thing that has taken some time on a Friday night is our game of Quilles which I think I explained in a previous blog.  We've become hooked and even played in a singles tournament (usually teams of 3).  J won two out of four games, C none.  Hee Hee!  Stayed for the meal where the wine and armagnac flowed freely.

And now it's competition time :  we bet that no-one can beat spending 192 euros in one hit in a Lidl!  Would you want to?  We have also visited 2 Lidl in one day.  Are these two a record?  Prize - free parking in a Lidl of your choice.

Shell complete!

Hooray the rain and mud went away allowing work to progress apace.  The boys worked really hard starting at 8am and not finishing until 8.30 or even 9pm.  All went relatively smoothly apart from small details like one wall didn't have the door in it to our bathroom!  Fortunately there wasn't a post in the way and a chain saw soon sorted that one out.  One window was too small but ditto with the chain saw - the beauties of a wooden house!

While all this work was going on we have been supervising, rushing around organising next bits like floors, stove, wood for lining windows etc. etc.  Also been having a bit of fun - Montreal has been 'en Fete' with lots going on including mega eating and drinking.  We've done our best to keep the English end up by appearing every day.  Also had some jolly social occasions with French who speak English.  I'm afraid the French isn't up to a whole evening although we do try.

The last roof panel went on 3rd August to much cheering and rejoicing.  They then spent a day tidying up, putting the membrane on the roof and generally nailing and glueing bits they'd missed. 

Now it's mainly down to us with a little bit of help from roofers and stove installers and plasterers.  You will note on the last piccy that the house is totally enclosed in a waterproof membrane - yes we do still have windows but have covered them to keep the rain out until window installers come at the end of August.  So for now there's a big white blob on the landscape which is causing some interest.

I have to say that we are enjoying the experience so far in spite of language difficulties - social life is good - and although the whole project is somewhat daunting it's a challenge and we can do it at our own pace once we have a loo and shower installed.  At the moment we're camping on the site which means using our little shower and the pissoir up the road which although isn't too bad for a French loo it isn't wonderful!  However being on site is much more convenient and cheaper so I think we'll stay here. 

There probably won't be an entry for some time as things will progress slowly but sometime in September after the roof has been done and the windows and doors are in.

Rain, mud and a bit more house!

Monday morning and it rained.  It had rained all night and didn't want to stop.  We had the next lorry of panels to unload, and the scaffolding arrived.  The soil being clay was soon turned into a gooey, claggy mass - lovely.  However the boys soldiered on but progress was woefully slow.  Tuesday dawned even wetter, we even had to move the caravan cos the awning flooded.  Ground floor of the house was a swimming pool with ever more mud everywhere.  But we gave them lots of food and beer and they seemed to cope ok.  

Wednesday and no rain!!  Rooms upstairs starting to take shape and things going quicker and with a bit more cheerfulness.  As the boss said 'the radio is on and they're singing so it must be good.'  

End of Thursday and the first roof panel is ready to go.  Problem being how to get it there?  Solution to drill some holes and rope it to the manitou then float it over the top.  Was 9 o'clock when they finally got it into place.  Hooray!!

Friday was back to what we expect of France in July - wall to wall sunshine, warmth, lovely.  By going home time the first side of roof was nearly complete.  We spent the day washing all the mud out of the downstairs and clearing the site of soggy plastic wrapping etc.  In the evening we went to a saxaphone concert under the arches in the village - perfect end to the day.

Next week should see it off in 2 or 3 days. Then the hard work for us begins.

The house arrives by lorry!

Well, it's been a long time since our last post, and we've been busy chasing building things and getting estimates, which is very difficult in a new country where we don't speak the language very well!  It's a lot to organise and check carefully.  We've also been making progress with getting the car registered in France (we now have a number) and very slow progress with the caravan. We've also managed to enjoy ourselves with the occasional party, concert and jazz evening in a very buzzy bar in a village 12km away.  We've met some really nice people along the way.  The weather has been a bit iffy, but still mostly warm. 

We also had a nice day with a local eco group and went for a walk through the sunflowers - spot the faces!

The ground floor of the house arrived at the weekend on a lorry from Germany driven by a Polish guy who spoke neither English or French, and the team who are putting it up came on Monday 18th July, as planned.   Unfortunately Judy had a horrible tummy bug on Sunday night (courtesy of Chris who had it on Friday) and missed most of the excitement of the first day. Monday was setting up and measuring etc.  The first panel went up on Tuesday morning to much cheering!  Things have progressed as fast as the weather will allow - blustery showers, very English.  They don't finish until about 8.30 in the evening and then arrive back chez camping for large amounts of sustenance  - we're camp chefs and yes they are still alive.
They leave today (Thursday) for the weekend  but will hopefully have the beams for the second stage done.  It's been an incredibly busy few days but at last things are coming to fruition and we can see it grow.   

Wednesday had both fun and frustration.  We took the caravan for yet another inspection to get it 'Frenchified' and the inspector was a very jolly chap who just wanted the vehicle number in several places.  We'd had it engraved on the chassis but that wasn't enough.  So, he told us what to do but we have to wait for another appointment and drag the caravan down to Auch again (about 1 hour away).


There was a really good medieval evening in Montreal where they handed out free medieval dress and there were lots of medieval happenings - very jolly, but we had to get back and cook!

There's another in 2 week's time and a series of Thursday evening walks which we're going to.  Will keep you posted.

Progress in France

Work has continued slowly with lots of bits not really visible as it's the foundations.  Also, the weather has been mixed with occasional wet days. And lots of public holidays: Ascension Day is a Thursday so no-one works on the Friday either, so a 4-day weekend.  The house kit is due to arrive on 18th July and the team here say all should be on schedule.

We've been sorting stones saved from demolishing the top of a wall and Chris has been discovering the joys of French plumbing.  While pipework in UK is all 15mm, here you have to choose between 12, 14, 16, 18...  a-aghh!  Got there eventually and we now have a washing machine and sink down in the barn - luxury!

Went to a 'Course Landaise' which is not bull-fighting but more gymnastics around a charging cow - weird but good fun, especially when the cows don't do as expected.

Doing lots of paperwork and chasing people, so not a dull moment!

We were invited out for our wedding anniversary and spent a great evening with mostly French people at a lovely old (12th century) house in the country.  Everyone very friendly, even got offerred a bed for the winter if our house isn't ready.  Will have to throw a party for them soon.

Today the concrete arrived for the slab on which the house will sit.
Later today - we've christened the slab with a bottle of bubbly shared with the mason and his side-kick.  Hooray!!

The green stuff is an eco-anti-termite coating (oxymoron there?) and the sticky-out bits will be terraces.  House will arrive in 3 weeks, so lots more planning to do with visits to IKEA, Leroy-Merlin (the French B&Q), builders merchants etc.

Another party - and progress.

We were invited out to lunch at a hotel training college on Friday and this turned out to be another surprise birthday party organised by our friend Héléne. Nine people for a 3-hour lunch and Hélène had brought a cake and bubbles. The others were all very jolly and tolerated our poor French even though they all could speak Anglais.

In the evening we went to the opening of 5 simultaneous art exhibitions in an old abbey and met some of them again and some others, along with nibbles and drinks. Doing the culture thing is a good way to meet people.

J's birthday was hot and sunny and very relaxed with pink bubbly and steak. We now have our own phone and internet on the barn, so Judy did her ET impression and phoned home.

On Monday the big machine arrived to put in the piles and we went to Auch to register in the French health system, taking birth and marriage certificates. Monday night we watched terrible storms to the south and east but our patch stayed largely dry. On Tuesday the piles went in - HOORAY!! - and we towed the caravan to Pau to be inspected for registering it in France.  After much trepidation on our part we had no problem getting the necessary certificate of conformity.  Step 1 in a 3-step process complete.  More paperwork to come.

Chris is 60!

A few days before we were invited for an 'aperitif' with a friend in Condom, but this turned into an impromptu birthday party with cake and bubbly - lovely surprise.

Went away for a long weekend walking, eating and drinking. Great walking country around here. Birthday was blisteringly hot but managed a morning walk followed by a 2-hour lunch in a village bistro. Very nice lady who served us wanted to talk so good practice.

Had a quiet birthday evening but with bubbly, a good wine and even a cake! The postman had found our postbox so thanks for the cards.

As far as the house is (not) going, we're all waiting for the company to put the piles in. They keep giving a date and then delaying. So house may not go up till August.

We do have water, electricity and a phone line in the barn and should have the internet running shortly. Will post more news when there is any.

En France

Well, here we are in France living in the caravan about 2.5km from our plot. Hope you like our version of 'Le petit dejeuner sur l'herbe'.

The second weekend in May is Bandas time and the town (Condom) is in festival mode - shops boarded up, no drinks served after 4am (!), hundreds camping in the park. Spent Sunday there listening to the bandas - Spanish tradition - lots of brass bands with percussion from all over southwest France, even Spain and Belgium. Great fun, but this being France, even the music stopped for a 2-hour lunch!

Things are moving with the construction, and we have water and electricity in the barn. This is where we store everything and is our second home-from-home. Hopefully we'll get a phone connection too next week. Big drought here, but hope it stays dry for building!

The last post?

Spent a day climbing Khao Luang, 3 hours 30 minutes up and half that back down. Haven't sweated so much, but there were water buckets fed by a spring every so often so dunked our heads to keep cool.

Then a long bus ride south to Ayuthaya, resting the legs. This place, about 80km north of Bangkok, is also full of ruins as it was once the capital. The town is built around the ruins and the main sights were packed with Thai tourists. But some places we had to ourselves.

Thai new year (Sangkron) is 13-15 April so we'll just miss it. Surprising the things we didn't know when we planned this trip.

Managed a last beer at our favourite riverside bar.

Back in Thailand

So here we are in tourist-town Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. After Laos everything seems so easy - nice hotel, proper plumbing, more English spoken and people vying for your custom, rather than having to be woken up. Everything laid on for the easy life.

Chiang Mai has lots of temples, but without the bright paintings of Cambodia and Laos. Packed with places to stay, eat and drink and lots of places wanting to arrange treks/trips. And a fair scattering if girlie bars and massage parlours.

Spent a day at an elephant camp and learned a few words of mahout: go, turn, back and stop. Then had to take an elephant round a figure-of-eight course. Went on a short ride in the afternoon, but not sure who was in charge! Then had to wash and scrub the elephant - bigger than a car. Spent the night there. Great experience.

Next day played in a waterfall, did a bit of not-very white-water rafting then floated down on a bamboo raft. Ended in a touristy village of long-necked Karen tribe women - bizarre!

Ambling around the back streets in search of somewhere not touristy to eat, came across a fantastic Yunnanese (SW China) restaurant - yum! Best food in Chiang Mai.

Then south to Sukhothai, a small town with an old ruined 14th century city nearby. Found a good guesthouse with pool (35C here). Old city much bigger and better than expected, really on a grand scale with buildings mostly of small bricks. Needed cycles to get around and even then didn't see it all, just the best bits.

Spent next two days on a motorbike touring around, first north to Si Satchanalai, another ruined town, slightly smaller but still amazing, and only a couple of other tourists. Very little infrastructure for foreigners here. Lovely textiles made here. Found the only guesthouse in the new town and managed to eat.

Amazing second day there! Heard about a possible monk ordination on elephant-back. Hung around the wat (temple) where monks were being dressed in superb costumes. Wandered down the main street and elephants were arriving. We had the T-shirts and got grabbed by the red-and-white team who insisted we join them dancing down the street to their band and being plied with Thai whisky. After all had arrived we had another grand procession in the afternoon, more dancing, drinking and the added bonus of regular drenching with water!

Leaving Laos

Hired a motorbike after our last not-disastrous experience and followed the Nam Tha downriver on a dirt road. Thick jungle on alongside the river. Passed a few villages and when we stopped in one to look for something to eat the only English-speaker, a 15-year old boy, gave us a guided tour. Found a lovely spot for a picnic by the river, but didn't have a picnic! Normally carry food with us but find plenty of food en route - this time the villages were too small. Still, a great ride and the chocolate pancakes back in Luang Namtha tasted even better!

Moved 60km west to a small town Vieng Phouka passing through some lovely countryside. Stayed in a guesthouse with very basic bamboo huts with lean-to loo! Went trekking next day and visited one small cave and one enormous one. Nowhere to hire bikes or motorbikes here, just a few guesthouses and places to eat and two trekking operators. But the countryside around is a great mix of limestone mountains, jungle and rice fields, some bright green, others waiting to be planted. Weather has been cool and grey for a few days with some rain. Preparing us for home?

Another 120km west to Houay Xay on the Mekong and a border town with Thailand. The road wound through the mountains with spectacular views of forest-clad hills in places. We passed villages, the remains of a rolled-over coach and, at the bottom of one long descent, a lorry and trailer on its side. Found a cheap hotel with hot water and enjoyed a long shower. Bought some Thai baht and a bus ticket to Chiang Mai in 2 days time, just before our visa runs out.

Failed to rent a motorbike so passed a gentle day strolling paths and tracks. Getting brighter and warmer (the weather, that is). Across the Mekong to Thailand tomorrow, the beginning of the end of our odessy.