Another year and we still haven't exhausted their wine stocks. For how long can this go on?
During the trip we had help from: Ann, Dennis, Jill, Alice, Mike, Adam, Joanne, Mick, Kathy and Thalia plus a handful of others who visited but refused to assist, yet despite some concerted efforts the supermarkets and chateaux showed no effects. So we're going to have to try harder.
Maybe much, harder.
Den got stuck in and helped bring the Piggery of Private Pleasures (PPP) into it's new phase of life. More of that later but first a full circle photograph -
Angie and I installed this old door as temporary tool store during the lost passports February 2017 trip. We now have a permanent workshop replacing it (below) and marking another milestone.
- which should be a great help now that most of the real work has been done..
Sad rumor that The Pig Shed at the lake is closing for good at the end of this year - so we ate there a lot just in case. The place has become an institution for us all, so this photograph captures faces of denial and optimism. But mostly denial.
We did some sight seeing, visited new restaurants and old favorites.
Tried driving with a huge inflatable doughnut in the car -
- It was funny the first time, less so by the third.
Anyway, week one saw us giving the bungalow (still can't bring myself to call it a gite} some concerted effort in order to welcome A,D and J. It turned out mostly well with more donations from friends making it welcoming and functional-
They said it was fine and a big improvement from last year, which is more than can be said for my plastering so we'll need Carl back again soon. -
Please.
PPP development was on the back of Norman and Terry's successful June trip to install the new front door.
The power cable took a few days to run underground and connect to the main house but gave us lights and sockets to work with. Natural first priority; Scalextric -
Followed by overhead pool table lighting and an up-lit spinnaker tribute to Doug, who sadly didn't get to visit us out here.
Alongside the building works we took delivery of enough firewood for a couple of winters. Monsieur of the bois de chauffage is a nice man and a very accurate tipper but instead of illustrating those points, my photograph seems to just emphasise his buttocks. -Which was unexpected.
Also managed some vital Uno maintenance.
We were lucky with the weather, swam often, favouring early morning or early evening when it was quietest and not too hot. This was taken at about 7 p.m. I think..
Here's the woodpile.
Now we just need some more cheap winter flights..