Well it has been quite a week (again!), 3 weeks ago we gave Thijs, our builder, a deadline that we wanted to move in the house by the end of October. And in fairness he and the other trades have done all they could to get us set up for this.
This meant he would finish all the internal work leaving them the job of rendering the exterior in the coming months,this is a long job as they apply 3 coats all by hand and is also governed by the weather, can't do it when its raining, freezing and through the summer when its too hot so the opportunities can be limited!
We had plannd to gradually move in over the last week but every where we went there was either a tiler, plumber or builder all of whom came in wearing mud covered boots - great!
Thursday seemed a good day to start moving our belongings from the gite in, by late in the day we noticed our hot water was , well no longer hot, so we called the plumber who arrived at 7-30pm, the problem was qickly identified - as we have had no sun for 4 days - yes its true - the back up for the solar panels should have clicked in but it was dis-connected!
Friday it rained all day again, in the evening there was a high pitched screach coming from the 'Abri' where all the techno stuff is - again had to call the plumber - this time an air lock had caused a pump to seize!
Saturday we decided it was time to push ahead moving in, I wired up the TV & satelite system - nothing no signal! called the Electrician who deflected the blame to the satelite installers but is Toussaints holiday and every where is shut so it will have to wait till Monday.
And so November 1st we finally get to sleep in the house. Some 3 years since we first saw the land. Unfortunately we noticed the heating is getting cooler! the pompe achaleur (heat pump) is not working. A Mistral has also blown up through the evening so or shutters are banging as they are not yet fixed properly so the firt night is far from restful - I am outside with a torch at 2am trying to secure the shutters so we can sleep!
Today Sunday we have cleaned and unpacked - the wind has not subsided and now a huge storm has started with torrential rain and lghtening - oh joy!
On a lighter note this was in the paper the other day
'French train passenger was trapped after reaching into the toilet for his cell phone.
27 October 2008
BORDEAUX - A French man became trapped while trying to retrieve his mobile phone from the toilet on a high-speed train, forcing firefighters to cut through the pipe to free him, passengers said.
"He came out on a stretcher, with his hand still jammed in the toilet bowl, which they had to saw clean off", said Benoit Gigou, who witnessed Sunday's rescue on board the 16h47 train from La Rochelle to Bordeaux, in western France.
The service was delayed for two hours after the 26-year-old passenger, hunting for his lost telephone, was drawn into the toilet by the powerful suction system which drains the toilets, the rail network's regional office said.
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