Who needs plumbing when you have sunshine

Yesterday we skived off the plumbing and played in the garden all day instead. I finished digging my extra bed and sowed seeds in pots for tomatoes, sweet peppers, chilli peppers and cucumbers. For a litle bit of fancy I've also sown some bananas that Debbie next door but one gave me. These should produce some exotic looking greenery if they take.

This meant for once we didn't have to go dashing of to a DIY shop.

This morning the sun is shining the birds are singing their heads off and my peas and sweetcorn have started to sprout so it's a tricky choice plumbing, gardening or a little bit of both.

I can't believe this was the weather two weeks ago

Plumbing and Gardening are Us

Look we have some pipes! Here is the water heater in the cellar still on the wall.

One of the jobs that Martin did in addition to bringing some sunshine was help remove the rubble from the cellar that resulted from replacing the concrete floor above. He also helped with the floor on his last visit so in fair ness he did put the rubble there in the first place.

The concrete floor was held up mainly by good luck as it was resting on wooden beams where the woodworm had been holding a ten year party. Had we known we'd never of dared go in the cellar.

Other stuff Martin helped with was digging over the garden and tidying the barn but we didn't take any pics of him.

Here's me starting with the garden while Tasha checks out the route of the path and the progress so far. And here's how it looks today. Soon it will be bursting with yummy fruit and veg goodness.

The pipes by the way have only got as far as the kitchen and are not actually connected to anything yet as it was just too nice outside to let the sunshine go to waste and I had to start extending the veg plot.

Madame next door came to tell me that her husband said it would be much easier if I took the grass off the top out of the way first. Of course this was really an half hour conversation where she tried various versions of what she was trying to tell me and I did the actions with the spade to check what she meant and flicked through the English French dictionary. We got there in the end though and it was much easier to do it that way. It's lucky that she is so patient with her thick English neighbours although we must have the job of village idiots by now.

It's a glorious day again so me and the girly dogs are off to check out the woods.

Some Days

Today we mostly seem to be getting nowhere.

I’m writing this up in word as our Orange Livebox seems to be incapable of finding the internet tonight.

We have assembled all the required bits for plumbing this entailed a visit to Bricomarche, Mr Bricolage and Castorama so it was about two this afternoon when we got back. On the plus side I now feel I could hold a fair decent conversation with a plumber about his bits. Not terribly useful in everyday life though unless you know a lot of plumbers.

This reminds me of an interesting conversation we had with Madame next door last week. We were just going out when she appeared with the dog lead we thought maybe Amos had gone missing. Amos by the way is a long chocolate brown short legged dog, sort of a Labrador head on a Bassett Hound body who lies in their back garden and sighs a lot. But no there was much more to it something to do with windows and roofs and Madame being too small. We asked if we could help and she led us round to the back of her house where Amos was pottering about in the garden. He had though, been up on the barn roof having jumped from the upstairs window and Madame was asking for help in getting him down. As it happened it took us that long to catch on that he’d somehow got himself down. Managing to communicate when you only have bits of a language is basically about guessing the gaps in your knowledge but who expects to be talking about a dog on a roof?

So we sprang into action this afternoon. First job put up the chauffe-eau (water heater). Starting with the drilling of the holes to bolt it to the wall. Two holes were achieved with only minor swearing even though the walls are granite. The other half then decided we should put the thing up on two bolts to get the measure for the bottom two.

This is a steel cylinder with a diameter such that you can’t get your arms round it to pick it up and so smooth that you couldn’t get a grip to lift it if you did have long arms and heavy enough that you don’t want to drop it on your foot, if you ever managed to pick it up that is. We did eventually get it on the wall after two cups of coffee a cup of tea and three fag breaks by means of dragging it up onto a storage box with the cushions from the dog settee making up the height difference but we broke a plastic bit off on the way. Thank goodness for super glue.

We decided the other holes had to be drilled with the tank where it was. Easier said than done as hole number three lined up with the mortar rather than the stone. The other half cleverly devised a bracket for the bracket which only resulted in an even larger hole in the crumbly soft mortar. We are now waiting for the cemented in bolt to set before we start on hole number four personally I can’t wait and it’s a shame I’ll be busy planting spuds or something.

On a positive note the weather has been warm and sunny (well we were spending the day in the cellar oops sorry I was being positive wasn’t I) and we saw another deer on the tea time puppy constitutional. Luckily the girls always have their noses to the ground and never see such interesting quarry.

Update the Livebox has decided it's no longer a sausage so this is yesterday's post today.

Today has been much better so far but I'll tell you about that later

We have telecommunications!

Hellooooo



Yes we have telephone (when it feels like it) and an internet connection. I just have to spend a couple of hours with the dictionary to find out how it all works. You can speak to someone in english to sign up but all the destructions are in french.



So let me fill you in with all the coming and goings at Chez Nous.



We spent two days cleaning up dust and rubble and finding somewhere to put everything and outside the sun was shining and the weather was glorious. Then we turned our attention to the garden and making a start out there and the clouds gathered and it got colder and colder and then it snowed and then it got even colder.

Techsupport was sleeping in his woolly hat and the cat was not amused even the dogs had sleeping bags. We now know the value of roof insulation and that is definately somewhere on the to do list before next winter.

Then the day came to pick up Martin from the airport so of course the weather was glorious again and so far since it's not been bad although Madame next door tells me it will rain for the next month.

Progress in the house - cellar cleared of the rubble from the concrete living room floor, cooker and fridge obtained and working. Shower, toilet, kitchen and bathroom sinks and hot water heater obtained and tantalising us with the prospect of civilised living when we work out french plumbing.

Progress in the garden - early potatoes, carrotts, onions, garlic, lettuce, rockett, radishes, spring onions and raspberries planted. Leeks, sweetcorn, chives, basil, perilla, peas and beans sown in pots under cloches. There is a mole but so far he has been polite enough to come up between rows of things.

Out and about - there are lots of lambs and calves in the fields, we've seen red deer just 50 yards down the lane and all sorts of birds of prey. The lizards are starting to come out to sun bathe on the walls it's definately spring.

So lots more news and pictures to follow but now I've got to go get the fire going again

Are We There Yet? YES

So finally we set off Tuesday night and now I'm bringing you the latest news courtesy of Cheryls PC.

Our 12 hour drive turned into 18 hours because we missed our check in but we don't care cos we're HERE.

We are on a blow up bed surrounded by all our junk and the dust from Lawrence and Martin's last DIY with the dogs for furry hot water bottles and the cat for a bed cap but we don't care cos we're HERE.

I'll tell you all about it later but now I'm sorry to say we're off shopping, a vacuum cleaner for the dust, some coat hangers and some washing line to make a wardrobe we could of brought them but we preferred the books.

Aurevoir mon petites

And all together now

One more day to go
One more day of sorrow
One more day of this old place
And we'll be gone tomorrow

Where did that come from? Tempting fate? I hope not but if the pet passports are finally done then we're off.

Previously on Breezy Break Blog
We decide to throw caution to the wind and go to live in France
Moan about IT
Introduce the cast
Start getting the pet passports
Theorise about all the stuff we might do
Shop a bit
Wait around a lot and talk rubbish

But just wait till I am regaling you with our tales of derring do it will of been worth it all this hanging around to see if we do anything. See you on the other side folks

(fingers crossed, touch wood and all that stuf

Are We There Yet? No!

It's now day eight of the seven to ten days wait for the pet passport blood test results.

We have rung the vets three times. The first was last Friday to make sure they had the right number to ring us when the results came, the second yesterday day seven and then again today. No doubt we'll be ringing again tomorrow too and the day after that and . . .

Well lets hope not.

So a bit sparse on the news to report front. Except we are all packed up now even to the point of a ready filled (with cat litter) litter tray in Borg's huge cat basket. Just in case we don't have as much room in the trailer as we hoped the boxes have been sorted into essential and could wait for Martin to bring.

The car has been tweaked to a peak of goingness and the Eurotunnel web site is being perused hourly as we calculate and recalculate possible departure dates. I have even been dreaming about booking tickets so there is just no escape. Lawrence has been dreaming about Kung Fu fighters throwing ballroom dancers at each other I just wish he'd concentrate on the matter in hand.

Shopping and Shaolin Cat Handling

Still on the shopping in lieu of moving we again went in search of the elusive 99p blueberry bushes. No joy. Although we did see the very empty basket where they had been on sale in Sowerby Bridge which is the closest we've come.

We bought Borg a rather fetching collar in a luminous motorway maintenance green so he can't be mistaken for a stray when we move. He's trying to decide if we're taking the p***. We can tell that by the way he's laid on the sofa twitching the tip of his tail and giving us hard stares. We've put an address tag on but if we were taking the p*** we'd of left the bell on too. He complains to the management when he spots a mouse or a bird, so no need for a bell. He's also got a new litter tray with a rim on that will allegedly stop him kicking litter where we can walk on it in our bare feet.

He's been quiet the last few days since his blood test. I think he's in shock. The vet nurses had obviously trained at the Shaolin Cat Handling School. They had him out of his box, neck shaved, chip checked, blood taken and back in the box in less than a minute. In his younger days he would of showed them a move or two of his own, perhaps a no shadow kick or two complete with Bruce Lee yowls. He must be getting mellow.

Oops Heroes is starting got to go

Sea Holly is Not a Blueberry Bush

Irene is now the proud possessor of a Victoria Plum tree which we picked up from Lidl for her this morning. There was no sign of any blueberry bushes so Lawrence bought some sea holly. Well it's a plant and it's blue.

Not to be outdone in the money spending fest I bought Kitchen Garden magazine. No that's not edible either but it had a free packet of cucumber seeds on the front. Again cucumbers aren't edible according to Lawrence except maybe in Greek salads and then only in Greece.

Anyway it's my favourite magazine being that it caters to three of my current obsessions gardening, chickens and beekeeping. Theoretical of course but it's all there bulging in my head just waiting to be put into practice. Perhaps I should be buying one of those celebrity magazines though as we're starting to sound like a right pair of old farts when we're watching tv and I had no idea who half the folk were on Strictly Come Dancing. My mother has more idea than me despite only intermittently knowing what day it is.

The tree in the pic by the way is in Samaria Gorge, Crete

Pesky Crows

Tasha is well pleased with herself this morning she has sneaked under the duvet and had a lie in followed by a walk where she sorted out crows and shouted at other dogs, then a visit to Grandmas to play with the squeaky toy. As a bonus the fire is on full blast due to Lawrence being under the weather so she can lie in front toasting her belly. Her life is complete.

Crows are Tasha's pet hate. This is because she's a dog who takes herself seriously and a crow once made her look foolish. This was about five years ago, but she knows how to bear a grudge.

We were walking along by the side of the canal when a crow landed in front of her. Of course it had to be chased because Tasha's mission in life is to be in charge. It obliged by flying away as it should and Tash congratulated herself on a job well done. Unfortunately, being a crow it had a sense of humour and flew round in a circle to land behind her to be chased off again and again by an increasingly frustrated bossy little dog.

So crows are the enemy (even worse than turbo-squirrels but that's another story), whether they're seen perched on a lamp post or at the side of the motorway from the car, they have to be cursed and chased if at all possible. Pesky crows.