At the end of my last blog, I said that David was off for a second week and the forecast was looking good so we should have another couple of productive weeks and that I would update last Sunday. We managed the former but you will have noticed, I failed to do the latter!
Mostly the reason was tied in with the other thing we said that we had some good friends staying with us and, while they had left by last Sunday, David’s Dad, Roger, was due to arrive with us on the Friday. David’s Dad had very recently passed a milestone birthday (one with a 0 at the end of it) so we went out to Au Lac restaurant last Sunday with a couple of friends to celebrate. Hence the lack of blog. Sorry!
However, before Roger arrived we did have a good social week with our close friends; made some further progress on tasks; and enjoyed some great weather. They were able to spend 2 days at the beach in their time with us, which, while not unheard of, is unusual for this time of year.
Easter Monday was the annual Marche sur l’Eau, an artisanal market next to the barrage on Lac du Drennec. It was a little larger than usual and had many more people attending – probably helped by the sunshine. Evidently the numbers caught some of the food stalls by surprise as, by the time we wanted to order a pizza (as late as 1245!) they had already run out of pizza dough! A quick dash home for emergency food followed by a walk round the lake and refreshing drink back at the market later (which, thankfully, they hadn’t ran out of) helped!
For me, the majority of the work effort was continuing to clear up the pile of wood we had behind Granary. Having cut all we could the week before, last week was splitting and storing. I am pleased to say that I have managed to get everything done within our capabilities, leaving only a few larger trunk sections that I will need to take to a friend who has mechanical splitting abilities. Hopefully, it will all be gone before the summer proper starts. I haven’t yet had the chance to completely tidy and level the parking space yet but clearing the wood is BIG step achieved.
During the week, being after Easter, we took our friends and their 2, chocolate-loving, children to a small chocolate maker just outside Loc-Eguiner-Saint Thegonnec, Kerven. We have seen them sell at many of the Christmas and artisan markets in recent years and have driven past their base often. When our friends were with us was a great time to go for a chocolate making workshop!
It was great fun, enjoyed by adults and kids alike and we were able to make our own chocolate bar to take away. Yum!
I have mentioned in previous blogs that one of the, many, things David’s Dad was bringing with him was the paint for the interior of the pool house, it being so much cheaper in the UK. So, last week my major focus was applying that to the already undercoated walls.
It took 2 full days to achieve but we love the colour and it has made a big difference to the 2 concrete posts that, hopefully, will be wood effect sometime in the future. For now just being not concrete coloured looks so much better! Following Dave’s appeal for colour choice input on social media a few weeks back, we hope this is one that will prove popular.
Once the walls were painted we could start with some of the interior pieces we had bought some months ago. First, we installed the bio ethanol fire answering the question I had been asked often as to why I had left a large gap in the tiling!
We, sadly, hadn’t got our act in order to have bought any bio-ethanol to light it with as soon as it was installed but some is now on order. I am delighted when I manage to find things on sites other than that owned by bald Trumpian tech-bros, and we managed to find the best value ethanol, including delivery just south of … Perpignan! So not close and will take a while to get to us! For now, you will just have to imagine the flames behind the glass!!
Once the fire was installed we put up the large mirrors we had bought last year and have been storing carefully in the garage ever since. I am delighted they are on the walls as they are safer than where they were, they look great, and I can put the things back in the garage that live there.
The next stage is the tile skirting then a couple of days to build and instal the kitchen units and island and we will be nearly there, so I can then focus on the outside cladding, and steps, and wood store, and gutter downpipes and, and, and …!!
The weather has definitely turned for the better too with the decent post Easter weather returning and we’re promised a dry week – I should be able to continue to make progress and this time I will be able to update you next week!
Salut.