November Trip

As we drove up to the house we could see a flashing lights and a flurry of hi-viz.  The council workmen were hooking La Petite Maison up to mains drainage.

There was much activity and beeping.

We were invited to look into aforementioned drain.  Looks very nice.

The workmen had excavated several very large rocks.

It seems that wherever you are in the world, boys like their heavy plant machinery. 

As soon as we got to the threshold, things were looking different.  A big hole had appeared at the front door and hopeful looking wires were sticking out.

The whole of the ground floor now has a waterproof membrane, insulation and concrete. 

The kitchen has electrics ~ well, cables and there are pipes for the plumbing.

We have a 'safe socket' installed for the builders to use.

The kitchen window has been made bigger.

And we have a new view.

A trip to the local Brico Depot in Macon was needed.

The members of staff were very patient with us and extremely helpful ~ although they exchanged knowing looks with each other when we approached.  We bought some metal stud work to build the bathroom in the attic. .....

......and a new window and shutter to go in the hole in the kitchen wall.

When we got back the boys set about making the stud walls for the attic bathroom and the girls painted the pink and blue kitchen combo to all white.

Unfortunately the stonework around the bracket holding on the bathroom shutter has broken.  We tried to 'stick' it back together with mastic but the weather was too cold for it to set firm, so we had to leave the shutter off.

 We also removed the 'wall' under the stairs into the attic.  This is where the boiler will be.

We had hoped to have a bonfire a burn all the brash in the front garden but the weather was too damp and cold for that.

Before we knew it, time to go.  

I think there is always something interesting to see on a motorway.

This journey included a tram.

Lorries driving the wrong way ~ these always make me laugh.

One of our landmarks, large green ball.

Mining slag heap?  Not sure what these are but there are quite a few in one area.

Of course, this being France we have found that all roads lead to Paris, no matter what direction you are travelling in.

A quick 'comfort break'

and a leap around to wake up those legs.

Before we knew it we were back at Calais.

And then back to congested England.

A Few Days At La Petite Maison

Hello.  

Des Bons Amis have made another trip over to La Petite Maison to carry out a bit of work on the house and see what the builder has been up to.

We had our usual 2.30am arising time and caught the 5.50am train.

Half an hour later we arrived in France.

As we arrived the sun came up....

...and we saw a cloud that looked like a tap.

The French countryside whizzed by and we saw familiar landmarks.

A few hours in we stopped for a coffee......

....and a driver change.  We operate a boys in the front, girls in the back, girls in the front, boys in the back rule.  This works really well, mainly as the girls have a jolly good natter where as the boys, not so much.

This time we took a set of ladders strapped to the top of the Boss and Smiley's truck.

They were well fastened and didn't move once!

Suddenly the sunshine disappeared into fog,

and things looked a bit gloomier.

As always, we had Peppermint Cremes and Wine Gums to keep us going.  (And if I'm honest, lots of other food too.)

We paid the tolls.

Kept right to Lyon.

And before too long we were seeing the Cremants (champagne) de Bourgogne wineries.  

Nearly there!

When we arrived there was great excitement at La Petite Maison.  

More on that tomorrow.

Beaucoup Du Travail

Hello.

This Easter has seen me, Sarge, The Boss and Smiley travel to La Petite Maison to work on the house to prepare it for the builders.

Our train was an hour earlier than the last trip due to the busy Easter weekend, so we arose at 2.00am to allow us enough time to catch the 4.50am train. The journey through France was uneventful and, for me anyway, filled with lots of dozing.

This trip we stayed in a mobile home on a campsite in Dompierre Les Ormes, a village about three miles away from the house.  The site was quiet, only us and two families with caravans .

We had several heavy jobs to get on with.  Firstly, the tomettes ~ terracotta tiles ~ needed lifting from the downstairs so the builder can dig a trench through for the water.  He will then go on to excavate the whole of the floor and lay insulation and concrete.

I started to remove the tiles, I'm so pleased I bought the kneelers!

As I removed the tiles, les garçons transported the unbroken ones to the bedroom above.

We will reuse the good tiles somewhere else.

I had a rest and les garçons took over.  Underneath was very hard, compacted earth.

We found one tile with dog paw prints.  This seems to be a normal thing.  J has one in her gite.   It'll probably go back in around the fireplace in the living room.

Sarge and Smiley took the shutters off their hinges and The Boss scrubbed them over with a wire brush. 

 

Les filles then undercoated them and started with the blue topcoat.  This is slightly brighter than we had thought it would be.

First touch.

The painting job was never ending. 

 The big shutters are 7 foot.  

The Boss persevered and I lost the will to live and went to Hammerite the juliete balconies instead. 

Three days later and after a coat of Hammerite on the hinges they were ready to be re-hung.

The Boss gave the front door a quick once over with the blue paint too.

The balconies were looking much better as well.  

Before....

and after.

Whilst the girls were painting the boys got down to some hard graft.  As well as lifting the floor tiles downstairs they got all of these old roof tiles down from the attic which had just been left there.  They rigged up a bucket with a rope and used a beam to lower it down as they didn't fancy carrying them down two flights of fairly steep stairs.

Luckily in the attic there is a removable hatch, you can see it in the bottom left hand corner of this picture.  We've decided this is going to stay to give easier access to the attic.

Thankfully after each day's hard work we had a scorching hot shower back at the campsite and Ibuleve Gel to help with the aches.

Breakfast was croissants and cherry jam followed by bread and cheese.

In between our work we asked the artisans we have decided to use to come and visit, so they could all get together and plan the order of their work. 

The boys went to the supermarket on Easter Sunday (to get wine) and came back with bunnies for The Boss and me.

The church in Montmelard taken from the soon-to-be bathroom.  The clock is rather strange, it chimes the hour and then a few minutes later chimes again.  We're not sure why, our English neighbour thinks it might from times gone by to make sure all the workers in the fields could hear it properly.

When the attic was clear the boys marked out where the new bathroom will be.  The chair is the toilet, as it is fairly near to a beam we all tried it out to ensure we didn't bang our heads.

We also had a roofer visit as we thought that the roof needed stripping off and the cross members replacing as it dips quite a lot at the front.  He told us it wasn't necessary, he came on a very rainy day and there were no leaks and it dips because of the shape of the oak beam.  This is good news indeed.  A big Velux window is going under this beam at the front of the house to take full advantage of the view.  You can see in this picture how high and steep the roof is.  There are three large oak beams about six foot apart making it roughly eighteen feet the the top.

The weather was like the rest of Northern Europe, very cold with an icy wind.  I was very glad of my Long Johns and long sleeved vest, The Boss improvised with pyjamas.  We awoke one morning to a hard frost and frozen water in the mobile home, the campsite owner told us it had been -6 degrees in the night.

We found a dog print roofing tile as well.  There must be an awful lot of dogs in France with mucky paws.

Five days after we arrived we tidied our tools away, popped into the supermarket for wine (well, it would have been rude not to) and hit the road, to arrive six hours later in Calais Eurotunnel Terminal in the chilly sun.  

We resumed the discussion of how the train, and the cars travelling inside always face the right way ~ turns out both ends run on a loop but you don't notice inside the train ~ and 35 minutes later we were back in England.

So, the house is ready for the artisans.  A visit to the Mayor's office has confirmed that our mains sewage runs in front of the house, more good news; no digging up the back garden.  We now await EDF to connect electricity. 

 I wonder when that will be?