A grey start to the day as we rise early. Upstairs for breakfast and to get some washing done and out on the line before the men arrive.
We are hanging out the washing when a phone call comes our way. We are therefore oblivious of their work schedule change.
The sun is shining so we start work in the garden. We have now seen that we have missed a phone call, but when I dial the number the message says that there is no one there.
I take the phone into the garden and check that it will still receive calls, be ringing it on my mobile.
Half an hour later the builder’s wife arrives in her car. Have we picked up the message she left? Nope. So she explains that there has been a problem with their current job and that they will not be able to start work on my house until Wednesday. She shows me how to pick up messages on my phone and even records a message in French saying that I am unavailable and to leave a message “aftair ze bip”. That should confuse a few people.
We finish cutting the hedge and gathering up the clippings ready for the green waste collection at 4am tomorrow morning.
Lunch and the internet café man phones. He has the information and will be at the café from 3pm. We wait until the place eventually opens its door at 3.35pm. The lady behind the desk tells us that the owner has gone on a course and will not be back until 6.30pm. We say that we will return then.
Fast forward to 6.30pm and the owner is there. He produces an A4 sheet of paper with some typing on it, which spells out how much it would cost me to buy the business. I also manage to get him to show me what the monthly turnover is. He tells me that I need to let him know my decision before Wednesday at noon as he has someone else who is interested in buying the business. I point out that on the paper it says by Tuesday at noon. That is his typing error he says. I say I will have to think about it.
We have a meal out in the restaurant that we said we would not go back to again. We eat inside and the food is hot as the usual waitress is not on duty and does not have to travel back and forwards to and from the café while she tries to remember who the food is for.
I work out that in addition to giving him quite a bit of money for the business, I will have to buy out the lease for 3k euros. By the time I worked a 35 hour week, I would be taking home roughly £2.40 before tax! No matter which way I look at it, it doesn’t compute. One step forward is that I have now received my French social security number. I have to find a doctor and register with them, so there is another form to be filled in and returned to Cipam
Monday, 22 September 2008
14 Sept 2008 Sunday - Crap
More rain overnight but the day stays rainless and overcast. The builders start work tomorrow, so we clear all the remaining boxes and painting implements from the ex- shower room.
The buffet in the lounge gets a clean and we bring up 3 boxes of glasses and crockery to put into it. Only 9 boxes full of stuff left in the downstairs studio now, plus a ladder, garden furniture, exercise machine, cooking utensils, camping gear….. and of course the fold down bed that we have moved down to the studio to sleep on while the bathroom is out of action.
Lunch passes by and we stop at 3.15pm for a cup of tea and 2 biscuits.
Then I do a bit of wall plaster maintenance in the living room, bathroom and ex shower room while S shortens some curtains to go on the living room window and to cover the hall storage cupboard.
In the evening we go to café G for a meal. By the time we leave at 8.30pm the ground floor of the pub is filling up.
We have not been out much in the evenings recently, but there are “beggars” with their dogs located in various parts of the town, some in biggish groups and some slumped alone on the pavements. All are accompanied by their large dogs, usually Alsatians. I wonder where they go to sleep overnight. Usually there is a crowd of about 10 of these gentlemen and some ladies, sitting on the steps of the main post office. Sometimes they move round the back of the post office and sometimes some of them slump on the pavements with their container on the floor on our route to the Casino.
Once again the streets are disgusting with the amount of smelly dog crap on the pavements. Yuck!!!!!
On our way back from eating there is a gent slumped, or more accurately sprawled, right next to an empty restaurant, complete with dog. I wonder why the restaurant had no customers?
We settle in to the downstairs studio for the night and set the alarm for 7am so that we will be up in time before the workmen arrive.
The buffet in the lounge gets a clean and we bring up 3 boxes of glasses and crockery to put into it. Only 9 boxes full of stuff left in the downstairs studio now, plus a ladder, garden furniture, exercise machine, cooking utensils, camping gear….. and of course the fold down bed that we have moved down to the studio to sleep on while the bathroom is out of action.
Lunch passes by and we stop at 3.15pm for a cup of tea and 2 biscuits.
Then I do a bit of wall plaster maintenance in the living room, bathroom and ex shower room while S shortens some curtains to go on the living room window and to cover the hall storage cupboard.
In the evening we go to café G for a meal. By the time we leave at 8.30pm the ground floor of the pub is filling up.
We have not been out much in the evenings recently, but there are “beggars” with their dogs located in various parts of the town, some in biggish groups and some slumped alone on the pavements. All are accompanied by their large dogs, usually Alsatians. I wonder where they go to sleep overnight. Usually there is a crowd of about 10 of these gentlemen and some ladies, sitting on the steps of the main post office. Sometimes they move round the back of the post office and sometimes some of them slump on the pavements with their container on the floor on our route to the Casino.
Once again the streets are disgusting with the amount of smelly dog crap on the pavements. Yuck!!!!!
On our way back from eating there is a gent slumped, or more accurately sprawled, right next to an empty restaurant, complete with dog. I wonder why the restaurant had no customers?
We settle in to the downstairs studio for the night and set the alarm for 7am so that we will be up in time before the workmen arrive.
13 Sept 2008 Saturday - Tools
After a night of rain thudding on the roof it is time for more action.
DIY work continues as I await a call from the Internet shop man. The downstairs cupboard under the stairs gets screws strategically placed to hold the garden tools, and one of the shelves that I removed from the ex-shower room upstairs finds a new home on one of its walls.
The sunshine goes and dark clouds roll over the hills. It starts to rain.
Once the cupboard is finished, we have some lunch and rest. I try to catch up on with writing up my blog. I have 5 days to catch up on.
Still no call from But about the filing cabinet.
DIY work continues as I await a call from the Internet shop man. The downstairs cupboard under the stairs gets screws strategically placed to hold the garden tools, and one of the shelves that I removed from the ex-shower room upstairs finds a new home on one of its walls.
The sunshine goes and dark clouds roll over the hills. It starts to rain.
Once the cupboard is finished, we have some lunch and rest. I try to catch up on with writing up my blog. I have 5 days to catch up on.
Still no call from But about the filing cabinet.
Sunday, 21 September 2008
12 Sept 2008 Friday – Essential shopping
We have looked through the latest publicity bumpf which appeared again in our post box, with all the latest bargains from the big hypermarkets. LeClerc receives an early morning visit and I buy several essential diy items, including hundreds of screws, nails etc of various sizes, a telescopic screwdriver with lots of bits attached. You can also screw round corners with it. Then there are felt pads for the bottoms of the chairs, a micro screwdriver kit, some plant bulbs…. It eventually comes to just under 50 euros. Unfortunately the advertised cheap, silicone baking trays that S wants are nowhere to be found.
We continue cutting the hedge until the rain starts. It is taking a long time to cut a small area of hedge.
After the rain stops we head into town and I go into the Internet café which has a small sign up in its window informing the world that the “fonds de commerce” are for sale. I ask the man behind the desk for more information about the sale. He does not have anything ready with him, can I call back tomorrow, or better he will phone me. I give him my mobile number. I tell him that I am looking for all the relevant financial info including the rent for the premises.
The bread shop does not have any olive or lardon bread on its shelves, so we go to another bakery and buy an ordinary French loaf for 1.60 euros.
I start preparing the ex-shower / bathroom for its impending conversion into a kitchen, by taking down the shelves that are in there and then doing the first fill of the holes and cracks that are in the walls. The bathroom also gets the hole filling treatment as high as I can reach without ladders.The toilet and shower continue to leak and today the room smells really foul.
We continue cutting the hedge until the rain starts. It is taking a long time to cut a small area of hedge.
After the rain stops we head into town and I go into the Internet café which has a small sign up in its window informing the world that the “fonds de commerce” are for sale. I ask the man behind the desk for more information about the sale. He does not have anything ready with him, can I call back tomorrow, or better he will phone me. I give him my mobile number. I tell him that I am looking for all the relevant financial info including the rent for the premises.
The bread shop does not have any olive or lardon bread on its shelves, so we go to another bakery and buy an ordinary French loaf for 1.60 euros.
I start preparing the ex-shower / bathroom for its impending conversion into a kitchen, by taking down the shelves that are in there and then doing the first fill of the holes and cracks that are in the walls. The bathroom also gets the hole filling treatment as high as I can reach without ladders.The toilet and shower continue to leak and today the room smells really foul.
11 Sept 2008 Thursday - A right turn
We turn right out of our parking for the first time, and drive through some of the small villages hide to the west of us. One of the farms has life sized dummies in various farm costumes. The roads are very narrow and I pray that we don’t meet anyone on the many sharp bends. The scenery would be lovely if I could take my eyes off the road.
Eventually we pop back into town and enter it from a completely new direction. It is high above the castle and gives us a different view of it and the town.
Storage for paperwork is required, so we go to But to have a look. I choose a silver/grey metal unit on wheels. It has one filing drawer and 2 small drawers and it will match my TV and computer stands in the living room. They don’t have it in stock but will get it for me. They will phone me tomorrow or the next day when it comes in. I still need a unit for my hi-fi and to store the records, tapes Cd’s etc but the items that I like are either the wrong colour, too expensive or both.
We do another weeks shopping at Intermarche and head home.
Eventually we pop back into town and enter it from a completely new direction. It is high above the castle and gives us a different view of it and the town.
Storage for paperwork is required, so we go to But to have a look. I choose a silver/grey metal unit on wheels. It has one filing drawer and 2 small drawers and it will match my TV and computer stands in the living room. They don’t have it in stock but will get it for me. They will phone me tomorrow or the next day when it comes in. I still need a unit for my hi-fi and to store the records, tapes Cd’s etc but the items that I like are either the wrong colour, too expensive or both.
We do another weeks shopping at Intermarche and head home.
Friday, 19 September 2008
8 Sept 2008 Monday – Last fair day
We go to see the aperitif concert. This time is a man called Michel Pruvot and his orchestra. The publicity said that we were lucky to have him in our Department, and so we were. He is an accordionist and also does the lead vocals backed by two women (each with a tambourine). and his band. There are some “serious dancers” already dancing to recorded music, when we arrive. It seems to be a greek style line dance, with 3 couples. The lady on the right end, totters on her shoes and always seems to be going in the opposite direction to the others. I am sure that there is a technical explaination for this. She can be seen in the video in the background, wearing a black dress and black clumpy shoes.
The singer is sponsored by some TV channel and we also get flyers for some dance holidays that he will be playing at, including one on a cruise ship, handed out to us. There is also a competition of sorts where you have to put your name, address and the title of the next tune that you would like them to play. There are lots of prizes to be won, including an accordion. Eventually our bits of paper are collected up but the entertainment ends without any prizes being given out. Perhaps that is done at the bal tonight. We never find out as we do not return for the 10pm kickoff.
We sit at a table and drink a beer each to celebrate the end of the fete. We also eat the 12 deep fried doughy strips, called Churros, covered with sugar, that we have bought from one of the fair stalls (3 euros 50). The stall also sold Pommes d'amour, which could well have been toffee apples?
7 Sept 2008 Sunday - Highland fling
Down to the Town hall courtyard for the woodwind orchestra concert. Once again the concert is inside to escape the loud noises outside. The chairs are all higgledy-piggelty and over half the seats are taken. The plant has been moved to the side of the room so there is a better view. Once again there are dogs in the audience and a sprinkling of small children. The children turn out to have the attention of gnats, and one family has to leave when it becomes obvious that their two little boys are not going to sit down or behave.
The orchestra plays a variety of tunes, two of which are by Ralph Vaug han Weeleams. There is also the sailors' hornpipe.
After the concert we head home to prepare for the evening show – The life of Julia. This promises comedy and music. Will it be a play?
We arrive half an hour early, and get a bench seat. The stage is wreathed in smoke. Perhaps they have had a small fire?
The performers take to the stage about 20 minutes later than advertised. Once again there is a brass section, guitarist, drums and keyboard. This is no play, but is really a musical review using the life of a girl called Julia from the age of 12 upwards. As a dancer she travels to many different parts of the world. This gives the female dancers in the troupe, the excuse to appear on stage in many different thongs and feathers, as well as in Russian costume and even what passes for highland dress.
The orchestra plays a variety of tunes, two of which are by Ralph Vaug han Weeleams. There is also the sailors' hornpipe.
After the concert we head home to prepare for the evening show – The life of Julia. This promises comedy and music. Will it be a play?
We arrive half an hour early, and get a bench seat. The stage is wreathed in smoke. Perhaps they have had a small fire?
The performers take to the stage about 20 minutes later than advertised. Once again there is a brass section, guitarist, drums and keyboard. This is no play, but is really a musical review using the life of a girl called Julia from the age of 12 upwards. As a dancer she travels to many different parts of the world. This gives the female dancers in the troupe, the excuse to appear on stage in many different thongs and feathers, as well as in Russian costume and even what passes for highland dress.
We last out for over an hour before our backsides start to protest at the hardness of the seats. We leave Julia to finish her adventures and wander through the fair, before choosing a restaurant in the old town for something to eat.
I don’t know what it is about today but there is even more dogshit around than usual, and it smells particularly foul. We do not choose the restaurant with a huge, mega-whiffy crap adjacent to the outside tables.
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