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.