Pascal the young builder arrives to grout between the floor tiles. I am not to walk on them until at least 6pm tonight. Looks like a late night second coat for the bathroom. The good news is that tomorrow I will have the shower back, as well as a new sink and wash hand basin. No more having to trek down the stairs 2 floors to use studio 1’s facilities. Hooray!
Regarding my painting, Pascal tells me that the undercoat needs to be done fast, and that the next coat of paint should be put on slowly and carefully.
Food supplies are running low, so I go to BUT to collect my second cube, visit Casa to measure a garment rail hanger / storage unit and on to the Intermarche which unlike the other stores in the retail area does not close for lunch.
I do a bit of gardening as it is green waste collection tomorrow. Madam has picked a few of her remaining tomatoes.
She comes out and has a chat and tells me which herbs she has planted and where they are. She does not mind if I cut down the big tree in front of her patio area. It has a thick trunk and its roots have cracked part of the concrete path. Her cousin could probably do it in the spring next year… I wonder how much having a tree cut down will cost me?
I attach a further two “Parking prive” signs to the wall in my parking area. Madame does not think that this will do the trick. She thinks that only a chain across the entrance will stop people parking on my property. It would also be a bloody nuisance though.
At 6.30pm I start giving the bathroom a second coat. I run out of paint at 9pm but only small bits behind pipes and an easy to reach bit of wall remain to be completed. I will have to buy more paint, but I will be able to use it in the new kitchen, so not too much of it will be wasted. Another busy day over.
Monday, 6 October 2008
28 Sept 2008 painting
The day dawns sunny so I get the washing done and hung out. Feeling a bit better than yesterday so I start putting paper round the beams in the bathroom ready for painting the ceiling and walls this afternoon, and putting paper on the floor to protect the new tiles.
I have been clever and bought monocouche bathroom / kitchen paint. One coat paint. The tub feels a bit light and when I open it that is because it is only half full. S tells me on the phone later that this is because the French like to add water to their paint. I stir the paint as per instructions and apply it using a brush and a roller. This paint is like plastic. It quickly dries on the brush making for a nice streaky effect. The roller too leaves a disappointing finish. One coat is definitely not going to be enough.
The paint makes me want to throw up, so I open a window in the bedroom and things settle down a bit. It shouldn’t be a long job, but I am only running at 40% capacity by the time I finish about an hour later. It is only a small room and mostly tiled to between 5 and 6 feet high, but the beams are a real nuisance.
Tomorrow will have to do for the second coat.
Unfortunately I have not been to go to Lavelanet to help celebrate the nut fair. Still, one less nut won’t be missed.
I think there was a celebration of the potato somewhere a few weeks ago. It is also the time for the transhumance to start. That is when the livestock, probably mostly sheep, are moved from the low pastures to the high in Spring and vice versa in the Autumn. In many villages you can accompany the shepherd and his flock as they set off. Sometimes there is a communal meal as well.
I have been clever and bought monocouche bathroom / kitchen paint. One coat paint. The tub feels a bit light and when I open it that is because it is only half full. S tells me on the phone later that this is because the French like to add water to their paint. I stir the paint as per instructions and apply it using a brush and a roller. This paint is like plastic. It quickly dries on the brush making for a nice streaky effect. The roller too leaves a disappointing finish. One coat is definitely not going to be enough.
The paint makes me want to throw up, so I open a window in the bedroom and things settle down a bit. It shouldn’t be a long job, but I am only running at 40% capacity by the time I finish about an hour later. It is only a small room and mostly tiled to between 5 and 6 feet high, but the beams are a real nuisance.
Tomorrow will have to do for the second coat.
Unfortunately I have not been to go to Lavelanet to help celebrate the nut fair. Still, one less nut won’t be missed.
I think there was a celebration of the potato somewhere a few weeks ago. It is also the time for the transhumance to start. That is when the livestock, probably mostly sheep, are moved from the low pastures to the high in Spring and vice versa in the Autumn. In many villages you can accompany the shepherd and his flock as they set off. Sometimes there is a communal meal as well.
Saturday, 4 October 2008
27 Sept 2008 Saturday Clubs and societies fair
Another bad night’s sleep but it is a sunny day. I am running out of lemsips and today is the foire des associations. At about 11am I head for the front door but start coughing a lot so I sit down for a while and listen to an Audible audio book. I am starving so I heat up the remains of last nights evening meal.
There is a bunch of brightly coloured balloons tied to a lamppost outside the house across the road. There is also a big piece of grey card propped up against their driveway gates. It reads “Elise a dix ans”. From this I deduce that one of the children across the road, a girl, is ten years old today. In the afternoon several cars arrive and disgorge children clutching parcels. Before the guests arrive Elise comes out of her garden, looks at the balloons and at the notice, then removes the notice and takes it away. A lot of shrieking and chanting comes from their garden behind the house during the course of the next few hours.
Eventually at 2.15pm I gird up my loins and enter the world of sunlight. From being cold, I am now too hot, but I need drugs so I carry on to the nearest pharmacie in the old quarter. Of course this is France, so the pharmacie closes at noon on Saturdays. I find another 2 pharmacies with similar hours but finally find one open at the edge of town. It would help if the closed chemists switched off their flashing green cross signs.
I get some capsules, 1 to be taken at regular intervals 4 times a day. These are supposed to reduce the fever, stop the runny nose etc etc. I also get a packet containing 2 small tubes, which in turn each contain 10 tablets to suck at no less than 2 hour intervals. I part with approx £10 and take my first tablets.
The pavement cafes are buzzing, but the streets are almost deserted. I head across to the location of the rows of plastic kiosks which are housing the clubs.
There is a trout fishing tank with a few fish swimming in it, and I watch as young girl catches a fish at the trout fishing club tank. A member of the club takes the fish off the hook and throws it back into the tank ready to be caught again. Not a fish rights protester in sight!
There is a cycling club, pensioners club, martial arts clubs, cancer society, hip hop club, board games club, cycling, volleyball, Esperanto!!!, rambling, a making things out of things club all sorts of good causes clubs, as well as our choir. I am surprised that the local camera club is not there, and none of the tango, ballroom etc dance clubs that I know exist having seen posters for them. (The newspaper a few days later that there were over 80 clubs in town)
Of course the event is pretty chaotic. The judo kids push and chase each other about on the mats with nobody keeping them in order. It would not be like this in the UK martial arts club, where strict discipline is expected at all times whilst in uniform and certainly whilst on the mats. Photo before the chaos took over.
Most of the clubs reps hide behind their tables and do not take any active part in recruiting new members, which is what it is all supposed to be about at the end of the day.
I stand at some of the stalls and look at leaflets, video screens etc but only one lady speaks to me. She is very polite, but once she realises that I am English she assumes that I don’t live in France and therefore of little use to their society. She gives me a couple of leaflets..
The ship from the summer spectacle we went to in August.
I take a few photos and head back home walking directly into the sun on the final stretch of road. Boy am I hot, and not in the usual way.
I go for a sleep for just over an hour and wake just after 5pm.I do not feel at all well. Worse in fact than before I took the new wonder drugs.
The rest of the evening is spent eating my evening meal and learning on French TV that Paul Newman has died. I also write up my blog and transfer today’s pics from the camera. I look at the Strictly come dancing website, but as I am not accessing the internet in the UK I am unable to access last weeks episode or any of the trailers.
Roll on tomorrow
There is a bunch of brightly coloured balloons tied to a lamppost outside the house across the road. There is also a big piece of grey card propped up against their driveway gates. It reads “Elise a dix ans”. From this I deduce that one of the children across the road, a girl, is ten years old today. In the afternoon several cars arrive and disgorge children clutching parcels. Before the guests arrive Elise comes out of her garden, looks at the balloons and at the notice, then removes the notice and takes it away. A lot of shrieking and chanting comes from their garden behind the house during the course of the next few hours.
Eventually at 2.15pm I gird up my loins and enter the world of sunlight. From being cold, I am now too hot, but I need drugs so I carry on to the nearest pharmacie in the old quarter. Of course this is France, so the pharmacie closes at noon on Saturdays. I find another 2 pharmacies with similar hours but finally find one open at the edge of town. It would help if the closed chemists switched off their flashing green cross signs.
I get some capsules, 1 to be taken at regular intervals 4 times a day. These are supposed to reduce the fever, stop the runny nose etc etc. I also get a packet containing 2 small tubes, which in turn each contain 10 tablets to suck at no less than 2 hour intervals. I part with approx £10 and take my first tablets.
The pavement cafes are buzzing, but the streets are almost deserted. I head across to the location of the rows of plastic kiosks which are housing the clubs.
There is a trout fishing tank with a few fish swimming in it, and I watch as young girl catches a fish at the trout fishing club tank. A member of the club takes the fish off the hook and throws it back into the tank ready to be caught again. Not a fish rights protester in sight!
There is a cycling club, pensioners club, martial arts clubs, cancer society, hip hop club, board games club, cycling, volleyball, Esperanto!!!, rambling, a making things out of things club all sorts of good causes clubs, as well as our choir. I am surprised that the local camera club is not there, and none of the tango, ballroom etc dance clubs that I know exist having seen posters for them. (The newspaper a few days later that there were over 80 clubs in town)Of course the event is pretty chaotic. The judo kids push and chase each other about on the mats with nobody keeping them in order. It would not be like this in the UK martial arts club, where strict discipline is expected at all times whilst in uniform and certainly whilst on the mats. Photo before the chaos took over.
Most of the clubs reps hide behind their tables and do not take any active part in recruiting new members, which is what it is all supposed to be about at the end of the day.
I stand at some of the stalls and look at leaflets, video screens etc but only one lady speaks to me. She is very polite, but once she realises that I am English she assumes that I don’t live in France and therefore of little use to their society. She gives me a couple of leaflets..
The ship from the summer spectacle we went to in August.
I take a few photos and head back home walking directly into the sun on the final stretch of road. Boy am I hot, and not in the usual way.
I go for a sleep for just over an hour and wake just after 5pm.I do not feel at all well. Worse in fact than before I took the new wonder drugs.
The rest of the evening is spent eating my evening meal and learning on French TV that Paul Newman has died. I also write up my blog and transfer today’s pics from the camera. I look at the Strictly come dancing website, but as I am not accessing the internet in the UK I am unable to access last weeks episode or any of the trailers.
Roll on tomorrow
Friday, 3 October 2008
26 Sept 2008 Friday
The flat is full of dust, which is not helping my cold and throat. The builder laid the tiles on the bathroom floor and will be back on Monday morning to do the grouting between them.
As it is market day today, I walked into town to buy some fruit and bread for the week at the fruit and veg market. By the time I got home I was sweating quite a bit.
The rest of the day was spent dozing, cooking, listening to music and catching up on my blog. I hope that I feel better tomorrow as it is the big fair of Associations (clubs) in the square tomorrow where they demonstrate what they do and try to sign up new members. Members of the choir will be manning a stall, along with over 40 other clubs.
As it is market day today, I walked into town to buy some fruit and bread for the week at the fruit and veg market. By the time I got home I was sweating quite a bit.
The rest of the day was spent dozing, cooking, listening to music and catching up on my blog. I hope that I feel better tomorrow as it is the big fair of Associations (clubs) in the square tomorrow where they demonstrate what they do and try to sign up new members. Members of the choir will be manning a stall, along with over 40 other clubs.
25 Sept 2008 Thursday – Cold
The builders arrived but could not continue with the tiling as the floor compound had not dried out enough. They will be back tomorrow.
Not much sleep last night as I was too cold and my brain would not shut down again due to concentrating on the music. The boys returned after midnight and Madame returned about 3am, so there was lots of movement.
I finished filling in holes in the bathroom walls, sanding, cleaning the paintwork etc but I was feeling too rough to paint the walls and ceiling as well.
So it was early to bed with lemsips, but I didn’t get a good night’s sleep as I was too hot.
Not much sleep last night as I was too cold and my brain would not shut down again due to concentrating on the music. The boys returned after midnight and Madame returned about 3am, so there was lots of movement.
I finished filling in holes in the bathroom walls, sanding, cleaning the paintwork etc but I was feeling too rough to paint the walls and ceiling as well.
So it was early to bed with lemsips, but I didn’t get a good night’s sleep as I was too hot.
Thursday, 2 October 2008
24 Sept 2008 Wednesday – Back to Blighty
S’s last morning before her flight from Toulouse airport. We went into town so that she could buy some sweets to take back to work, and I visited the hole in the wall for some cash.
The builder’s son turned up to lay the skim coat in the bathroom, and then left about 45 mins later.
I charged up my sat-nav and we headed off up the motorway to Blagnac. The weather was excellent for driving, and traffic was light until we reached the outskirts of Toulouse. I came off the motorway one turning too soon, but satnav saved the day and we arrived safely at the airport. I then took the wrong exit and had to do another detour. You can park at the airport for 30 minutes before charges kick in.
I helped S into the departures terminal with her cases and then headed back down south towards the Pyrenees.
I was doing really well when I ignored the satnav and followed the road signs. I have now found another commercial estate on the ourskirts of Toulouse that has a BUT. I went wrong another twice before finally getting back on track. The traffic was much heavier but I took my correct junction off the motorway just as traffic was becoming stationary due to a traffic problem ahead.
In the evening I headed off to the choir practice. I was given my own copy of the score the “petite Messe solenelle” by Rossini. It is only 31 pages long, so no worries there. This time the tenors had to move to another room to practice. Fortunately one of the tenors had his own Yamaha organ in his car, or we would have been a bit stuck for he correct notes..
Finally we rejoined the full choir and I forgot everything we had been practicing. In my defence my ribs had been aching during the practice and I could feel my throat getting sore and my nose was starting to run.
The builder’s son turned up to lay the skim coat in the bathroom, and then left about 45 mins later.
I charged up my sat-nav and we headed off up the motorway to Blagnac. The weather was excellent for driving, and traffic was light until we reached the outskirts of Toulouse. I came off the motorway one turning too soon, but satnav saved the day and we arrived safely at the airport. I then took the wrong exit and had to do another detour. You can park at the airport for 30 minutes before charges kick in.
I helped S into the departures terminal with her cases and then headed back down south towards the Pyrenees.
I was doing really well when I ignored the satnav and followed the road signs. I have now found another commercial estate on the ourskirts of Toulouse that has a BUT. I went wrong another twice before finally getting back on track. The traffic was much heavier but I took my correct junction off the motorway just as traffic was becoming stationary due to a traffic problem ahead.
In the evening I headed off to the choir practice. I was given my own copy of the score the “petite Messe solenelle” by Rossini. It is only 31 pages long, so no worries there. This time the tenors had to move to another room to practice. Fortunately one of the tenors had his own Yamaha organ in his car, or we would have been a bit stuck for he correct notes..
Finally we rejoined the full choir and I forgot everything we had been practicing. In my defence my ribs had been aching during the practice and I could feel my throat getting sore and my nose was starting to run.
Wednesday, 1 October 2008
23 Sept 2008 Tuesday – Pyrenees Forges and back to But
S’s last full day in the Ariege, so we headed of for Pamiers to look at the big shops again ending up in Leclerc for more essential home maintenance items.
That took us to nearly one o’clock. We ate a pastry in the car park and headed off to one of our town’s nearest tourist attractions, Midi Pyrenees Forges. Now in my guide book it seemed to suggest that there were over 100 craftsmen in little workshops that you could watch working and then buy their wares. It was due to open at 1.30pm so we parked up in the no shade currently available car park and headed off down the path past a futuristic art gallery, past another modern restaurant and across a bridge to the entrance of the Forges complex itself. I wasn’t expecting to have to pay to get in, but it was 7.50 euros each. We had to hurry because the first tour was due to start. We were given a map of the site and the order in which we should visit the various attractions was marked against the timed starts of the tours. The whole experience would take 4 hours the woman said. (you can visit the museum and art gallery for free)
The first trip followed a man’s life from old age and the funeral of his best friend all the way to his birth. We did not know what to expect but we knew that it would take about 40 minutes and that doors would open and close automatically.
We stood in a small room with photos on the walls and suddenly a recorded voice started talking about the Ariege and the people’s relationship with the mountains etc. Of course everything is in French.
Then a door opened and we went through into a funeral tableaux with snow on the ground and the old man and his grandson talked to eachother, whilst the lighting changed to emphasise various aspects of the scene.
That took us to nearly one o’clock. We ate a pastry in the car park and headed off to one of our town’s nearest tourist attractions, Midi Pyrenees Forges. Now in my guide book it seemed to suggest that there were over 100 craftsmen in little workshops that you could watch working and then buy their wares. It was due to open at 1.30pm so we parked up in the no shade currently available car park and headed off down the path past a futuristic art gallery, past another modern restaurant and across a bridge to the entrance of the Forges complex itself. I wasn’t expecting to have to pay to get in, but it was 7.50 euros each. We had to hurry because the first tour was due to start. We were given a map of the site and the order in which we should visit the various attractions was marked against the timed starts of the tours. The whole experience would take 4 hours the woman said. (you can visit the museum and art gallery for free)
The first trip followed a man’s life from old age and the funeral of his best friend all the way to his birth. We did not know what to expect but we knew that it would take about 40 minutes and that doors would open and close automatically.
We stood in a small room with photos on the walls and suddenly a recorded voice started talking about the Ariege and the people’s relationship with the mountains etc. Of course everything is in French.
Then a door opened and we went through into a funeral tableaux with snow on the ground and the old man and his grandson talked to eachother, whilst the lighting changed to emphasise various aspects of the scene.
Some time later the next door swung open and we were in a village square at Albert’s wedding. Again various tableaux were revealed as walls opened up, various images were projected on shop fronts etc. with dialogue and music too.
It was all very well done and we were lucky that we were the only ones making the trip at that time.
We also experienced Albert’s birth, school life, war time, home life and school life.
Then the final door opened and we were back in the foyer.
We popped out into the sunshine and headed across to look at a collection of farm machinery sheltering under a big open sided barn as we had some time left before our next attraction started.
About 5 minutes later a man appeared and shouted that his talk was just about to begin. This was a bakery / bread oven (and not where we were due to go next) so we joined an audience of about 20 people seated on wooden benches another open barn. We were facing a closed end of the barn which had a high brick wall with an black oven door set into it. The guide talked about bread making using a wood fired oven, and every so often he would get a wooden shovel with a long handle, open the oven door, and pull out a rather dark brown loaf of bread. The oven did not look as though it was working so I thought that he was pulling our loaves that he had baked earlier, despite the fact that he was saying how hot the loaves were. Then he lifted up a cloth on the table in front of him to reveal rows of dough which had been left there to rise. He picked up one of the dough balls, cut some lines into the top of it and then put it onto the paddle and into the oven. About 5 minutes later he pulled it out as a cooked loaf.
The demonstration was over and we had a piece of the bread to taste, It was possible to buy one of the loaves for 1 euro. Unsurprisingly it tasted like fresh bread
Again we had some time to kill, but we got called into the horn comb making building. The guide asked where people were from and about half of the people in the room were English. He then spoke very quickly in French for well over his allotted time, showing us a short video in the middle about how horn combs were made. He also used a young lady from the audience with very long hair to demonstrate the properties unique to real horn combs. It stops static electricity building up and it makes the hair feel really soft amongst other things. He also went on about either head lice or dandruff, I don’t know which, or perhaps it was both. It was quite interesting, but we did not have time later to return to buy a comb or to ask questions.
The guide told everyone to go to the forge straight away, but we went next door to the clog makers. He was a bit pissed off that almost all of the people had gone to the forge as it was his demo next.
Again we had an interesting demo and explanation of the history of the clog, and how it went from one man making one clog at a time, to mechanisation. He demonstrated a machine that could make 3 clogs at a time using a template clog as the guide surface for the machine cutting tools.
Next we headed off to the forge. This was a bit like being inside a dark, ruined castle which had a waterfall and a water wheel at one end, next to a furnace which was working. There were also large pieces of equipment looming in the semi-darkness. I have tinkered with the exposure of the photo, it was much more gloomy and atmospheric.
We also experienced Albert’s birth, school life, war time, home life and school life.
Then the final door opened and we were back in the foyer.
We popped out into the sunshine and headed across to look at a collection of farm machinery sheltering under a big open sided barn as we had some time left before our next attraction started.
About 5 minutes later a man appeared and shouted that his talk was just about to begin. This was a bakery / bread oven (and not where we were due to go next) so we joined an audience of about 20 people seated on wooden benches another open barn. We were facing a closed end of the barn which had a high brick wall with an black oven door set into it. The guide talked about bread making using a wood fired oven, and every so often he would get a wooden shovel with a long handle, open the oven door, and pull out a rather dark brown loaf of bread. The oven did not look as though it was working so I thought that he was pulling our loaves that he had baked earlier, despite the fact that he was saying how hot the loaves were. Then he lifted up a cloth on the table in front of him to reveal rows of dough which had been left there to rise. He picked up one of the dough balls, cut some lines into the top of it and then put it onto the paddle and into the oven. About 5 minutes later he pulled it out as a cooked loaf.
The demonstration was over and we had a piece of the bread to taste, It was possible to buy one of the loaves for 1 euro. Unsurprisingly it tasted like fresh bread
Again we had some time to kill, but we got called into the horn comb making building. The guide asked where people were from and about half of the people in the room were English. He then spoke very quickly in French for well over his allotted time, showing us a short video in the middle about how horn combs were made. He also used a young lady from the audience with very long hair to demonstrate the properties unique to real horn combs. It stops static electricity building up and it makes the hair feel really soft amongst other things. He also went on about either head lice or dandruff, I don’t know which, or perhaps it was both. It was quite interesting, but we did not have time later to return to buy a comb or to ask questions.
The guide told everyone to go to the forge straight away, but we went next door to the clog makers. He was a bit pissed off that almost all of the people had gone to the forge as it was his demo next.
Again we had an interesting demo and explanation of the history of the clog, and how it went from one man making one clog at a time, to mechanisation. He demonstrated a machine that could make 3 clogs at a time using a template clog as the guide surface for the machine cutting tools.
Next we headed off to the forge. This was a bit like being inside a dark, ruined castle which had a waterfall and a water wheel at one end, next to a furnace which was working. There were also large pieces of equipment looming in the semi-darkness. I have tinkered with the exposure of the photo, it was much more gloomy and atmospheric.
This guide demonstrated how the forge worked by using a water power driven hammer to make a rod of molten iron into an iron bar. I have included a video of the process.
The man operating the water wheel by pulling on a metal rod hanging from the room was the clog (sabot) demonstrator.
We had now visited all of the live demos and headed to the building where we had bought our tickets to see what was in there. This was the place where the many local trades, mostly long gone had their display space. The huge room was divided into small areas where the tools of various trades, photos and other related exhibits were on display. Everything from mole catcher, cork maker, boules maker, to dentists and hat makers. You could have spent a couple of hours in there. We will probably visit it again, but start in the morning, have lunch in the restaurant or take a picnic, then carry on in the afternoon.
There was also an art exhibition area, but the paintings on show were a bit gloomy in the colour and not to my taste but I am sure that the artist (deceased) had been proud of them.
We headed back to the car, and our next stop was BUT to buy something for my hi-fi to and records to live in. I ended up buying 2 units each consisting of 4 cubes of shelving. When I placed my order for them, they were each at least 10 euros cheaper than their ticketed price. Unfortunately there was only one in stock, so I collected that and will return for the other one in a couple of days.
Later that evening we tried to put the unit together. It did not go well and we gave up after a few hours. (2 people to assemble in 30minutes) One of the bits was on the wrong side and I hadn’t screwed the metal things with the short thread into the holes correctly.
I think I will shelve any plans for starting up an “I’ll assemble your self-assembly furniture for you” business for the moment…..
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