Rent A Traditional Country
Farmhouse in South-West France
Week 19 |
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Day 125, Monday 5th July Well this should be the diary for Monday the 5th of July, but ... If you read Sunday the 4th of July, you'll know about my intermittent computer. Well it finally gave up the ghost as I began to write this three weeks late. So what I'll do is fill in some blanks and hope I don't miss too much. One working week from moving, and I have decided against reclamation of old floor boards. Getting them straight, is too slow. The alternative is new boards, which we should be able to lay before the weekend and hence have a bedroom, without missing floorboards. We start the day at the saw mill. The Boss has skipped work this week, until we are living in our house. They did tell me oak was in stock, except the proprietor is in the office, and he insists of showing me parquet, then lovely tongue and groove. Finally when he gets the message I'm not going to buy any of this he then shows me the rough oak, varying widths, not yet sanded. We buy 18 square meters, which should be just enough to allow for some waste. They are between 2.5 and 2.8 meters long, and the bedroom is 2.75 meters wide! This means more cutting, but at least they'll be straight. |
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A few little bits of wood won't really improve the biceps. But they are heavier than they look! |
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Or so we thought. We load up the van, drive back home and unload again. The Boss gets a plank and passes it up the stairs. I pull each one up and stack them. Oak, especially 30mm thick oak is heavy. By the time they are all stacked, my biceps are so sore, I won't be able to lift my tea, so I get the straws and put the kettle on.
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Day 126, Tuesday 6th July Its hot and sunny, which means the best place to be is at the seaside. The second best place is inside! I lift all the so carefully laid reclaimed floorboards, while the Boss makes sure that any woodworm looking for a nice beam, get a good dose of some thing they won't like.
Then its lay the new floor. Except my floorboards aren't really straight. Nor are they flat. However, look your last on the trap doors on the way to the loo. But too late. I was walking towards the bathroom, on boards that had been lifted and then just laid loose. One had shifted. I stepped on the end which was no longer on a beam and the next thing I know I'm laying flat, with my legs dangling in space. The Boss heard the floorboard hit the concrete floor below and shouted out to me. Being winded I couldn't reply. By the time she got upstairs, I had pulled myself out of the now rather larger hole than the one in the picture. And was I glad of the new fridge and some ice. This was our second accident on site, and the end of work for Tuesday. As my bruise didn't resemble the map of France (see day 11 week 2), you're not going to see my inner thigh on the web. Three working days until we move, and still no hot water, no shower, no bedroom, cooker not connected.
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Day 127, Wednesday 7th July We've got to have hot water. Even I'm not mad enough, (or should that be man enough) to take cold showers. While the Boss is out, I fix the feet for the water tank and manage to turn it upright, but can't lift it onto the feet. So more floorboards. But first, make sure all the loose boards rest securely on beams. Meanwhile the Boss finishes off the tiling of the shower. And I have to admit, its looking good. Because the new boards aren't straight, I lay each one, look at the gap between it and the previous board, lift it plane it and lay it again. Miss Whiplash decides that that's too slow, so the gaps once sanded will probably not be visible, but I'll know they are there and it annoys me. Two working days to move
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Day 128, Thursday 8th July To save me writing, I've let the pictures speak for themselves today. |
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Today I bought the gas bottle and connected the cooker. We can't use the oven or the single electric ring until I've done some more work on the electrics, but we can boil an egg! |
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And finally, the bedroom floor is; well laid. The boards need to be drilled and screwed, and then sanded and oiled, but that's for another day. At least we can get in and out of bed (when we put it together), without falling through rotten floorboards. And tomorrow, a bed
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Day 129, Friday 9th July We move the double bed from the barn to the house and assemble it. Its quicker than IKEA furniture and a lot easier too. By lunchtime, we have a bed, with sheets and blankets. Oh; and of course the Bosses electric blanket. Then assemble two sets of drawers, and we're ready to go. Two friends help me lift the water tank onto the feet and I can actually start to connect the hot water tank. Oh well, a few days cold showers will do us good!
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Day 130, Saturday 10th July Living in two rooms, I was amazed at the amount of stuff we seem to have collected. Perhaps we actually brought it with us? Two divorce threats, four trips to the house, and seven hours later and we've moved in.
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Day 131, Sunday 11th July Today we wake up and realise we now live on a building site. Two rented rooms, with hot water actually sounds quite good to me now. And I know its a rest day, but there is too much to do. So less typing and more work. But the view is good.
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