Sirroco

The south wind has been blowing for past 3 days, dumping fine Saharan sand on everything. The warmth has finally started the beech trees to burst in to leaf.

Bathroom 90% plumbed in, freezer in house at last, wood here for constructing the front door and Al has been working on the vegetable patch. Knackered but progress being made.

Sun at last!

A beautiful day today. Made the doors for the bathroom and finished plasterboarding the utility room before a walk in the sun called! On the way back we collected the ladder from John's and mended the thatch on the barn (damaged by the snow). A strim of the grounds around the house before dinner and now it's time to grout the floor tiles.

Busy

Cuns d'Aula from the house

Lovely warm south wind today which made for some balmy weather. Lots of progress today, finishing off Ruby's dormer, carcassing and plasterboarding behind the bath and newly assembled WC (plumbing them in is still to do) and tiling the utility room.

France

Back to France and a bit of a monsoon yesterday. Today the weather has been improving though it's still very cold for the time of year. Al's here with me for a week.

Lots of DIY to do, trying to get the house ready for the wedding in about 5 weeks time.

One of La Panchard's sons put his flock of sheep in my fields whilst I was away. I don't mind them grazing the land, but he can't be bothered to move the sheep from field to field or use the gates. Instead he cuts the wires, or un-fixes the wires from the posts and ties them up, or pulls up the fence posts. It's really irritating as he never puts the fences back or repairs the damage he causes. I spent most of today fixing the fences and there's still more to do. He doesn't have a phone so I can't even ring him up to complain.

Seeing Double

The saab is in the gargae for it's MOT at Combe garage in Combe in Teignhead with John the saab man. By chance there was another saab 95 there.

On the way home on my bike I had a stormy morning fishing at Shaldon, then a horrible ride home in hale, wind and heavy traffic.

More wedding planning this weekend, off to France tomorrow.

Ilfracombe

Lots of wedding planning since arriving back in the UK and a few chances to try out some mega cheap sea fishing equipment I got in Decathlon (£10 for a rod and reel). A fishing trip to Brixham on my bike last week and yesterday a trip to Ilfracombe, as Susie was examining there. No luck with catching any fish yet, but I did find a freshly killed pheasant on the road to Brixham - which made a lovely casserole!

More flight mayhem

After a some showery weather yesterday and a hunt for morels with Susie (we only found a deer) today we headed for home. Somehow minor mishaps compounded and we ended up in a situation where Susie, Jasper and Ruby made the flight but I was too late to check in our suitcase and either had to leave it behind or change my flight for tomorrow!! Too much valuable stuff to leave behind so I've come home for another night. Got some wiring done too so no time wasted.

Mirabat

Back home the weather has been beautiful today. Susie, Ruby and I headed up to the Chateau Mirabat for some fantastic views.

A quick visit see inside the church in Aleu yesterday, not long now!

surprise trip

Our flight to Toulouse was cancelled because of industrial action in france and with no flights available until Monday it looked like the holiday was over. Some quick thinking and negotiation and we managed to get two nights in a 4 star hotel in Bristol and flights to Barcelona.

The hotel had sauna, steam room, jacuzzi, swimming pool and an excellent restaurant. We took Jasper and Ruby to see Bristol zoo and Clifton suspension bridge, then it was off to Barcelona.

A day and a half was just enough time to see some of Gaudi's buildings, Parc Guell, visit the medieval quarter, the old cathedral and the beach.

Then the cheap train to the border at La tour de Carol where we bumped into John and Sandrine who were heading in the opposite direction to go and stay in Barcelona. We then caught another train to Toulouse, a bus to the airport, where we collected our car before driving back to Quelebu via the supermarket. A long day.

Sun

Lovely weather her in the UK at the moment, so after Susie had done some work in the garden and I'd fettled with the car (adjusting the clutch) we all headed off to Thurlstone beach for some rockpooling, frisbee and ice-cream!

Phew!

It's been a short trip but I've got plenty of work done!

All the plasterboarding is done except for the bathroom, all the first and second fix wiring is done except for bathroom and utility room, the gas hob is working, the staircase is taking shape (though the flights are still temporary) and the entrance is tiled.

Much of the building rubbish/waste has now been disposed of, the vegetable garden dug, one hedge trimmed and two fields strimmed.

Time for a rest.

snow!

On Saturday the weather remained hot and I pressed on with mostly electrical work indoors, starting to build the new staircase and later when it was cooler strimming field 3.

Sunday and all change on the weather front, rain overnight quickly turned to sleet then snow, but the ground is too warm for it to settle. More electrical work and stair building, then two more viewings at Pont and a quick visit to see Jason and Grace.

In the evening I lit the Rayburn and cooked myself a birthday dinner of roast chicken!

Dry

Dug 2/3 of the vegetable garden this morning. Hard work as the plot is covered in nettles and the ground iron hard - it's been an incredibly dry winter, I've never seen the soil so dry at this time of year.
Spent the rest of the day progressing the kitchen. Gas hob and electric oven now working as are the kitchen lights.

Quelebu again

Back in France. Glorious weather, 33 in the sun today.

With spring approaching looking after the land is once again competing with the extension for my time. With such perfect weather I laid the hedge under the electricity line in field 4. Some blisters and scratches for my efforts.Field 1 was strimmed also. The vegetable plot might get dug over tomorrow.

Inside I stripped the cladding in the old kitchen, oiled the worktops twice, fitted the sink traps and might get some wainscotting done tonight.

All go!

Pumped

Another day, another bathroom! This time progress with my mum's en-suite.

A leaky fuel pump on the Saab has been occupying my time also. Spent a half day making and fitting new gaskets which failed to solve the problem, then the fuel line developed a hole en-route to mums and was gushing fuel. This was quickly replaced and after some investigation it seems the fitted fuel pump is from an old Ford Pinto and not the pump for the V4 engine. A new pump is still available at a very reasonable cost so will replace it later today before leaving for France.

Cornwall

A short weekend away in Cornwall staying in a lovely old Gypsy caravan.
The weather on Saturday was beautiful and we walked around the coast through the daffodil fields and exploring the old gabbro mines. A shame we had to come back so soon.
Next time we might stay in the tree house!
Back to France in a couple of days.

Ivybridge excursion

Back in blighty, building an en-suite for my mum and John.

Susie is external examining most Fridays and needs a lift to whichever school she is visiting. Today was Ivybridge and even though the examining only took 2 hours, I had time to dash off and visit Hangershell rock, Piles Hill, Three Barrows and Sharp Tor.

Hangershell Rock with Hanger down clump in the distance across the valley

Hangershell rock

Sharp Tor

View from Sharp Tor

Latest kitchen progress

Beautiful weather continues with sunshine temperatures of 18-20 degrees although the snow stays on the ground around the house and it's very cold at night. The snow plough broke down last week and so 2 km of snowy road between us and the next hamlet Biech, is now thick ice making journeys a hazardous and slow adventure.
Removed the old kitchen, demolished the wall around it and then reinstalled it with a few extras in the new kitchen space. The temptation to progress with this rather than the electrics was too much to resist. The door Paul made was hung finished and painted and it's all looking good.
Philippe and Sophie popped in for l'apero on Wednesday evening and then Ian, Nina, John and Sandrine came for dinner to christen the new space on Thursday.