Hello Dear Reader,
What a day. We arrived at the house at eight to wait for Veolia to come and turn on the water. It was still really dark when we arrived to we used battery lanterns to see what we were doing. Even with that, it wasn’t light enough so we sat on the back of the car, with a flask of coffee and watched the world go by. We met the bin men, we me La Poste, the dog walkers and the lady next door taking her dog out. The light arrived by nine and we got on with more work in the garden.
We’ve unearthed slate slabs by the front doors, pulled more ivy off the building, and I cut three hydrangeas down to the ground. They all grow again. We’ve removed three entire shrubs, took out every branch of a small tree and are really beginning to open up the garden.
The man came from Veolia at ten am and now we have running water! Everything works, nothing leaks and we’ve found the water meter, an outside tap and where the French hide their water meters.
Here’s the remnants of the trees. Next time, we’ll bundle everything in a trailer and take it to the dechetterie. It sounds exotic but that’s the recycling centre to you and me.
The slabs in front of the house were covered in a tangled mat of grass roots and it was lovely to find the old slates. They have a hole in one end that makes them look like ancient roof tiles.
I’ve used some soap and water to have a scrub of the exterior walls and the ‘rust’ came off easily. We’ll hire a jet washer and I’m sure it’ll all come off. We headed back to the gite for lunch and then made our way over to Poullaouen to the Notaire to sign the official papers for our house. That meant we could get on with some work inside the house.
I’ve scraped down walls, and scrubbed and washed down some woodwork. As the light was fading, we lit the fire; just a small one as the chimney, nor the house has had any heating for six years. It will have ‘to do’ but it will need replacing as it’s rusted through in places
Tomorrow EDF come to switch on the electricity and we can start work on the inside of the house. It will be great to have light and warmth, to clean it thoroughly and to start painting it.
We’re physically tired at the end of each day but a hot shower, glass of Breton cider, feet up by the fire and some films on the lap top for a perfect ending to a busy day.
See you tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxxx
