Lucy's happy so am I!

E30 M20 325i Touring LPG
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

I'm happy....


I usually avoid wordage but apparently some people like it. Here's an out of sequence account from the last few days...

caught the evening ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe arriving about half past midnight on Saturday having spent the previous day under the bonnet.
Now a thousand mile test through the night for my handywork.

No oil leaks or exhaust problems (replaced under warranty) and battery fully charged!

I got to Julian's at 10.30 after calling in at the baker in Bédoin for a loaf and some goodies. They do a bread pudding (le French Pudding) so we had to try that.

Since Julian's paintings have priority through the NYTimes, he's obviously had less time for hands on construction, so Ruth had booked me to get her music studio finished off while she's in Paris doing Carmen. It's awful living on a building site and the dust is absolutely everywhere.

Yesterday I was knocking great chunks out of the walls to mount the electric points. The house is built of large and very hard stones and when you set off into the wall with your little chisel, you don't quite know what is behind there!

Julian had to leave on Monday to join Ruth for a special dinner in Paris and see the show, so I've been working through a list of jobs ready for his return on Thursday.

A pallet of beautiful terracotta tiles has been waiting outside for a month or two and at last the tiler is coming on Friday to lay them, so it means getting the messy stuff in the kitchen/dining room done before he arrives.

The further complication is that the method of renovation is now in favour of lime plaster, which was nearly all gone and which takes much longer to go off than horrible but quick cement.

So on Saturday afternoon and through Sunday he and I were chiselling off the old plaster and cleaning up the opening in the wall for the giant Liebherr fridge freezer and Julian made up the rest of Chauvre (lime) and ponce (pumice) he had into a very wet Snowcem type mixture called 'Gobertis' and then gave me a crash course in how to flick it up onto the walls. I must say that slapping it on with a broom head was less elegant but equally effective but don't tell him that!

Ruth has the better French and is the organiser of materials so called me up on Monday to say I must ring Mireille and then meet her in the square by the church between 6pm and 7pm.. (I shall say zis only once) to pick up more materials (chauvre and ponce). Luckily the store for the gear is quite near just the other side of Crillon. Unfortunately I was half way to the dump on the way there and realised that the Renault had no diesel in it and was faltering, so headed for the nearest pumps. It's all exciting stuff ain't it.

Anyway, I called Mum and Dad last night remembering that they're off to the island today to wish them luck. I think Mum had packed her entire wardrobe so was pretty exhausted. Silly me, I had put her summer outfits up in the loft over the winter so I think Dad had been up and down the ladder and was obviously suffering! He was too shattered to speak!

Hopefully they will get online at the Grange using the wi-fi network there. The manager was on the phone the other day to make sure it was all still on and said help was available to get on the network.