Post 31st March outdoor fires are frowned upon for fear of setting fire to the French countryside. Jim's opinion is that a good fire is exactly what much of the French countryside needs and he has a point but I don't want to be the one to start it. Not in our first year here.
So the past few days have been spent pulling up wormy floorboards upstairs and burning them. Burning them is quick, pulling them up takes longer and longest of all is replacing them with new. Here's a during and after for the landing:
Why the line of old boards down the left hand side? - They span two joists to hold that stud wall up. Height difference of 5cms between the boards in the foreground and the bedroom at the far end meant a ramp needed and the fall across both dictated a twist too. The joist just visible in the top photo running along the right hand wall has collapsed in the past and the old floor sloped left to right as a result. Packing to get back to level was needed and all of this meant a slow, less than perfect job but it should be fine once the final surface is down. I hope.
Biggneuse part deux
After the early diplomatic triumph over stink pipe/fenetre proximity, I emailed Mr Of The Fish and asked if lowering it were an option. “Non.” came back the reply.
Not wanting to seem inflexible I wrote a note for our neighbour, suggesting alternatively that the pipe could be raised further, to move it up away from the windows, translated my English using Google and in the absense of a printer hand wrote the response. My french teacher would be pleased. We will see what it brings..
Speaking of not taking 'non' for an answer, the Hirondelles keep finding ways back into the stable. It's for the best that they don't nest in there this year because they'll be disturbed throughout so in a determined final move I screwed some chipboard over the window.
They responded by sitting on the wire staring in disbelief at me for the next half hour.
Sorry birds.
Monsieur et Madame Lees flew in yesterday for a few days break so the evening was longer, noisier and more alcoholic than usual which was all good. Adam's interest and enthusiasm for wine got us into more sampling and the 2010 Margaux is a triumph everyone simply must experience. - The trials of being working class.
Wilson's in the bad books for spitting 12ft to get cement on the side of the van. He's a very, very naughty boy.