Re-reading last week’s blog, which I always do before writing a new one, I see that I made an error with the date. For some reason I believed it was 22nd June last Sunday and not the 16th. How I got this idea I don’t know but, if it were the 22nd, I probably still couldn’t claim to have 4 days’ progress last week!
The blog finished saying that a problem had appeared in Granary since its refurbishment and we had hoped to resolve it last week. On Monday I had a discussion with the professional who is going to do the work and we agreed that we needed to try and isolate the problem and so identify exactly what it is that needs to be done. And, as we had guests booked in for this weekend, that we wouldn’t start the work until tomorrow just in case it was a larger task than we’d imagined.
I think we have now done that work and identified that it could (should?) be a relatively simple task, we will begin, and may even finish, tomorrow.
The weather hasn’t been ideal for outdoor work last week so no more progress on hedges, but I have started (probably for about the 3rd time) to empty the central garage bays. While I have done this before, because the garage is a large and really useful space, when it is empty it becomes the ideal space for storage and working where I need a bit of room to move about!
This has included storing a number of the wooden sun loungers we bought in our first year that needed a little TLC. They are well made loungers from a well-known Swedish furniture company but, currently, are kept outside year round. A couple had suffered more than the others so I moved them into the garage to receive the work required when I could get around to it.
I have always believed that there would come a time that we had finished all of the ‘major’ work building new things so that I could get into a pattern of routine maintenance. As we haven’t got to that stage – and I can’t see us doing so for a few years yet – some of the routine maintenance has to get prioritised with everything else.
Now that I want to empty the garage, I need to move the loungers out so their priority comes to the top of the list – and they look great for it. When I am able to re-stain all of the loungers each year, it should mean we get good service from them for years to come.
The other item that was stored in the garage for winter was the firepit we bought last year. It has started to rust a little which, while it gives it a bit of character, it isn’t corten steel so we thought the best thing to do was to give that a bit of TLC too and re-paint. It too looks good again.
The rest of the bay should be relatively simple to clear although in reality it will probably mean moving things into the enclosed garage bays at least for the short term (I won’t define short here!) and then I can convert it into the Party Barn that Dave has requested perhaps in time for Dave’s birthday to actually have a party!
Life otherwise has reverted to its pre-COVID pattern with village and sporting events. Last night was the village Tantad (bonfire) for the Fête de Saint Jean. This is a fun event open to all although I have borrowed these images from the Comité de Fête as we weren’t able to attend as we were at Au Lac as it was chef / owners Mercedes’ birthday so we enjoyed a few drinks with her.
Today, was also the annual Tribreizh Triathlon in and around the Lac du Drennec. This is also a good spectacle and we were fortunate enough to have a few of the participants stay with us over the last few days. While the distances were as previous years, the cycling route has changed a little and, we’re not sure why, this year the running element of the triathlon was done anti-clockwise around the lake whereas all previous years we have watched they have run clockwise. Perhaps to even out wear on the running shoes over a couple of years! It didn’t make any difference to our spectating from the terrace of the restaurant!
Next week there will be more actual work done – perhaps even a full 6 days worth (I can’t promise 7!) Salut.