Phase one’s goal was to create a holiday home. We tested it in August 2017 and had a great time.
We three lounged around, entertained friends and family, did some improvements, lived a French existence for three weeks and hope to do more of the same soon.
Ann and Denn had a week of mixed weather but managed some sun burn, outdoor meals were the norm, the ‘new’ barbecue performed and they worked hard to make great strides with the bungalow.
Jill’s furniture helped make a gloomy space into a comfortable afternoon retreat.
Sustained cleaning, stripping back and painting moved it closer to being a little welcoming house rather than just, the tollerable annexe.
The main house now has tv but it seems to just show ‘Dance Moms’ so that needs looking at. The book shelf is courtesy of uncle Geoff who’s wooden ladders live on with a new use.
Bedroom gained a stud wall to divide off a clothes store.
Fouquere’s bric-a-brac produced bedside lights made from reused stuff (no-brainer, they saw me coming),
a picture for the kitchen, and some steel outdoor chairs that should be longer lived than their plastic predecessors. We will see.
The barn was finally emptied of horse poo (after another decheterie showdown (see below)) and now shelters all the four wheeled vehicles. -Wilson’s space in the stable has been taken by the beginnings of the Charente Nord Scooter Gang’s fleet. - Motto “We Would Be Mildly Suspicious of Any Differences Between Ourselves and Charente Maritime Nord’s Scooter Gang, Two Hundred Yards Away Across the Border, If It Existed”.
Books read per week:
Grandma 5
Thalia 2.5
Angie 1.25
Andrew 1
Grandpa 0
Amount of paint applied to buildings follows the same sequence. But in reverse. You can decide if there’s correlation.
Chez La Decheterie:
Telling off one: “Straighten up your van and horsebox so that it is perpendicular to the skip.”
Response - “Well, I would but that will block access to the three skips over there and it isn’t physically possible unless we knock down that fence and extend the tarmac six feet into the field. I’m game but are you sure?”
Telling off two: “You can’t dump that in there. It’s shit.”
Response - “You were okay with the previous four loads and its mainly straw but anyway, what do you suggest we do with it instead?”
-”Err, okay then, if you bring me a cold beer, next time you come.”
Telling off three: “Put those empty gas cylinders back in your van, we don’t take them any more.”
Response - “So these twenty two cylinders (I counted) that are identical to mine that we’re stood next to in the yard while we have this discussion.. We can’t add nine more? Obvously not. Alternative?”
-”Take them to the Co-Op.”
Okay then.
Telling off four: “That piece of wood is from a wardrobe. So it doesn’t go in the ‘wood’ skip it goes in the ‘furniture’ skip.”
Response - Incredulity.
Telling off five: “That plastic garden chair doesn’t go in the ‘un-recyclable’ skip, it too, goes in the ‘furniture’ skip with your piece of wooden wardrobe.”
Response - I have nothing. You win. This system will always be a mystery to me.
So another good day down the tip but I remember the first trip and the feelings of anxiety driving in. They were reasonably well founded but now, it just seems like a big daft game.
We’ve all come a long way.