I have owned this house for six years today.
Then, it was a warm day when I sat in La Roche Posay with four brothers, whose parents' house I bought.
Today, whilst the sun peeps through from time to time, it is extremely cold.
My friend / former partner, whom I have anguished much over in the last six years, despite his absolute kindness and generosity, borne of guilt and obligation in helping me renovate this house, but also suiting his own needs, wished to walk today. I did too, as work on the kitchen has stopped for a while. He is resting before his next assignment... (not here). I am resting before all the next things that I have to do.
More about the walk today in the bitter wind and rain... and the many things that have happened in the last month or two, once I get time alone to write and organise the photos, the technology of which is beyond me on how to store them so I can access easily! Also, for me writing has to be a slo time, a time when I can indulge my own thinking. I do it for me and nto for anyone else. A sort of diary I suppose.
Computers are a painful but useful tool!
Later!
Saturday 30 April 2016
Wednesday 27 April 2016
Not an apple for an eye
I have been very p***** off with Apple ...
a few weeks ago, albeit my fault for not remembering which password the mini ipad required after I had reluctantly pressed the button to agree / OK the software update.... it disabled!!!!!!!!!!!
and after hours on the phone to the american apple company whose employees were in Greece and UK with american accents... I knew that I could not enable the ipad with my laptop because the apple mac pro laptop is too old, despite what they said because I did believe the Norwich APPLE STORE that my laptop cannot be upgraded to El Capitaine!!!!!!!! The hardware is too old at about 8 years old!!!!!!!!
Today, I read the Guardian article on line and look:
I quote:
I have to take it to an APPLE STORE TO GET IT ENABLED!!!
This means UK or Bordeaux or Paris.
This just after the battery failed in my other machine, necessitating the swap or purchase of a revamped mini ipad... the consequences of which was not easy to deal with as they link the ipad to my computer passwords etc.... gggggrrrrrr... why can't an ipad machine be independent?
NO WONDER that ,one lively Sunday morning, I thought, which password do they mean? By the time I had tried most of them I was logged out / disabled and after several weeks I almost do not care!!!!!!!
Maybe now is the time for Windows 10! MY friend has bought a small computer rather like a tablet, where the keyboard can disconnect from the screen and use the integrated mouse...
H'm... Apple had better fix / enable themselves before they crash out of the market!!!!!!
a few weeks ago, albeit my fault for not remembering which password the mini ipad required after I had reluctantly pressed the button to agree / OK the software update.... it disabled!!!!!!!!!!!
and after hours on the phone to the american apple company whose employees were in Greece and UK with american accents... I knew that I could not enable the ipad with my laptop because the apple mac pro laptop is too old, despite what they said because I did believe the Norwich APPLE STORE that my laptop cannot be upgraded to El Capitaine!!!!!!!! The hardware is too old at about 8 years old!!!!!!!!
Today, I read the Guardian article on line and look:
I quote:
YUP ... that is how I felt... get a hammer to it... NOW..."Actually, ... Siri. We can tell you exactly why the world is falling out of love with Apple. We’ve been storing up these complaints for years. So, why don’t you just shut your British/American/Australian, male/female speech unit and listen?
1 The passwords
Signing into the iTunes store: Apple ID? Password? User password? Password for this Mac? System admin password? Password for password manager? Forgot? Given up? Gone to get a sledgehammer?"
I have to take it to an APPLE STORE TO GET IT ENABLED!!!
This means UK or Bordeaux or Paris.
This just after the battery failed in my other machine, necessitating the swap or purchase of a revamped mini ipad... the consequences of which was not easy to deal with as they link the ipad to my computer passwords etc.... gggggrrrrrr... why can't an ipad machine be independent?
NO WONDER that ,one lively Sunday morning, I thought, which password do they mean? By the time I had tried most of them I was logged out / disabled and after several weeks I almost do not care!!!!!!!
Maybe now is the time for Windows 10! MY friend has bought a small computer rather like a tablet, where the keyboard can disconnect from the screen and use the integrated mouse...
H'm... Apple had better fix / enable themselves before they crash out of the market!!!!!!
Saturday 23 April 2016
Yesterday's pain
More of that long and detailed tale later....
HOWEVER, en route through Monthoiron, a particularly interesting village, but where we usually never stop, I noticed a machine standing by the bus stop!!! How incongruous!
On the way home, deliberately taking the same route, we stopped, and YES, it was Distribupain or something like it!!!
No, I don't need any more pain, but BREAD would be good for lunch .. I fancy an egg sandwich!
WELL, by that time of the day, well after lunch hour, having had our floor laying plans scuppered, and not flawed or even floored by modernism, we pushed one euro in the shape of five 20cts pieces into the mouth of this monster and received a loaf of bread, baguette shaped, chewy and tasty, which we tore off chunks and ate on the way home leaving enough for an aforesaid egg, lettice and tomato sandwich!
You could buy one or two baguettes in a bag.
You could pay with espèces, billets ou avec une carte bancaire.......
He would have done the latter, but I like my hard currency ... lo, the day when I cannot use a euro or sterling currency, or any other coinage currency!
I reckon there were bread fairies in that there machine, making bread, bagging it up, taking the money... - one of them even said "Merci" in her very best french!!!!!!
Is this the way of the world .... !!! ?????
Me thinks it's a jolly good idea in rural France, but please could we have croissants too?
Sunday 17 April 2016
Kitchen
The plumbing for the central heating in the kitchen and for the sink is completed.
Not yet the radiators inthe grand salon as I said to do those later.. and also to ensure the system works without leaks and the boiler fires up OK... It could be a warmer winter here!
The electrician finishes tomorrow.
Today we are shearing off the few mm along the bottom of the oak skirting board which is so well stuck onto the plasterboard that it would cost much damage to remove it! We are doing that to slide the floor tiles underneath.
The walls have to have a final coat of paint but may need to be PVA'd... as the previous layers of paint seem to be absorbed leaving patches where coverage doesn't work. It has had two layers of F&B and I am loathe to do one more without attempting to try the technique we did on my bedrrom wall to solve a similar issue.
Flooring starts on Tuesday or Wednesday... The fllor has to be thoroughly cleaned and then the procedure as recommended by Le Roy MErlin followed with the products we have purchased.
I have to have medical intervention on April 26th and my friend leaves April 30th or just before..
SO....
there are about 7 to 10 days to get the floor laid, to look tickety boo to receive the next phase starting toward the end of May!
The carcasses will arrive May 12 and the work top May 19.
I have left the splashback choice and installation until later!!!!!!
I must go and order appliances from DARTY.
I need a rest, a change of scenery, me time and some laughter.
However, the garden is screaming for help... so no real rest can be had.
I love working in the garden and outside, listening to the birds and bees, but then indoor jobs scream for attention too!
I have had an excellent week working with my friend. He seems to be a changed man ... fait attention.... and we have been more relaxed to enjoy company together.
Yesterday, after Ikea, I intended to drive to La Confluence of the Loire and Vienne to try to find fritallaries but we only got as far as Chapelle aux Naux. We then abandoned the vehicle and walked to Langeais but not into the chateau which looks very inviting. We meandered through the streets. Drank Oriental tea falvoured with pineapple, passion fruit and I forget what else. He had a foiegras, veal and Grand Marnier pie. We echanged a spoonful of each. VERY YUM!
It was really lovely to walk elsewhere, see architecture and take pics of new things and places.
I need to do more of that type of leisure!
Not yet the radiators inthe grand salon as I said to do those later.. and also to ensure the system works without leaks and the boiler fires up OK... It could be a warmer winter here!
The electrician finishes tomorrow.
Today we are shearing off the few mm along the bottom of the oak skirting board which is so well stuck onto the plasterboard that it would cost much damage to remove it! We are doing that to slide the floor tiles underneath.
The walls have to have a final coat of paint but may need to be PVA'd... as the previous layers of paint seem to be absorbed leaving patches where coverage doesn't work. It has had two layers of F&B and I am loathe to do one more without attempting to try the technique we did on my bedrrom wall to solve a similar issue.
Flooring starts on Tuesday or Wednesday... The fllor has to be thoroughly cleaned and then the procedure as recommended by Le Roy MErlin followed with the products we have purchased.
I have to have medical intervention on April 26th and my friend leaves April 30th or just before..
SO....
there are about 7 to 10 days to get the floor laid, to look tickety boo to receive the next phase starting toward the end of May!
The carcasses will arrive May 12 and the work top May 19.
I have left the splashback choice and installation until later!!!!!!
I must go and order appliances from DARTY.
I need a rest, a change of scenery, me time and some laughter.
However, the garden is screaming for help... so no real rest can be had.
I love working in the garden and outside, listening to the birds and bees, but then indoor jobs scream for attention too!
I have had an excellent week working with my friend. He seems to be a changed man ... fait attention.... and we have been more relaxed to enjoy company together.
Yesterday, after Ikea, I intended to drive to La Confluence of the Loire and Vienne to try to find fritallaries but we only got as far as Chapelle aux Naux. We then abandoned the vehicle and walked to Langeais but not into the chateau which looks very inviting. We meandered through the streets. Drank Oriental tea falvoured with pineapple, passion fruit and I forget what else. He had a foiegras, veal and Grand Marnier pie. We echanged a spoonful of each. VERY YUM!
It was really lovely to walk elsewhere, see architecture and take pics of new things and places.
I need to do more of that type of leisure!
Thursday 14 April 2016
Another Songster
April 14th: whilst in the garden washing radiators the nightingale was heard in the distance.
I haven't felt like writing or posting for a long time.
Plus having guests leaves little time for my own indulgences.
In early March, my former partner returned yet again to help me tweak the last of the plan for the kitchen. Having confidence in final measurements and decisions has escaped me. But being able to discuss with a.n.other has brought about the final plan.
It is difficult to explain. My conclusion after months of a mathematical headache is that Ikea and Schmidt software cannot handle the fact that the furniture measurement of a linear length is differen from the worktop linear length. Now the fitter friend has cracked the problem and even he did not see what could be done for ages. He is a man who solves as he goes. I want the problem solved on paper before I waste money on an expensive error!
In addition to that conundrum as well as other things, my friend says he can understand WHY it has taken me so long, not to mention that in between addressing the KITCHEN PLAN I have had other things to do!
He seems to accept my claim that if it were UK I would have had my new kitchen well before now. Trying to have something suitable for the character of the house plus suitable for my pocket has been a scary issue.
One of the main problems has been that the estimate for the electricity*** is costing more than the kitchen furniture and worktop!
(*** this includes plumbing and replacing the last of the radiators to the walls and verifying the central heating system.. and now rather than staging payments and therefore WORK I have decided to PLUNGE ahead and hopefully avoid drowning!)
This week the electrical wiring has been replaced!!!!!! Quel horreur!
I will try to write about this soon but I am very glad I freaked out on Monday, after almost 9 months after getting the first electrician here to make an estimate for the kitchen. This he did not do until February as in September last year there was miscomprehension between us when I asked for estimates for the water heater. I decided not to return to them and that was based on my previous experiences with a different electrician.
I freaked out because all the work we did last year was being ruined. When he returned two days later he had a new system of installing the wiring, in compliance with my request that was agreed with the estimator. I might try and explain this better later. For now, I am too tired!
I am wishing I HAD asked this company to replace the water heater.
Never mind!!!!!! That was in the past.
It appears that I CAN get the water heater (chauffeau electrique) connected to heures creuses et pleins because very soon the new tableau electrique will be able to serve the system!
The other electrician ( not the one who caused me emotional angst) did not do that even though I had insisted it was HC and HP!
I am glad i did not choose a third choice of electrician, an independent auto-entrepeneur because he might have had to order materials whereas this company has everything in the van and seems to be a man who can!
The number of wires in a kitchen has more than surprised me.
How can one have more Surprise!
Oh, oh so easily in France!
BUT back to hearing the nightingale.
It is a song that insists I must get out into the countryside for walks.
I haven't done nearly enough walking nor cycling since before my fever in February.
March has received guests every day, First "my friend" (in inverted commas because the blog tells all and my friends will understand). Then my daughter and only grand daughter, now aged 8 arrived for 8 days. At the same time I hosted a friend who bought a house in the village but it is not yet habitable. Days were eventful with the worst scenario of a car breakdown. Maybe more later if I ever get time to write - the starter motor died in IKEA car park at 20h after a 5 hour marathon in not the IDEAL home base. We were an hour and a half drive from home and I had to get them to the airport the next day. For some reason my insurance would not take us home or get the car repaired in time!
Miracles then began.
See, they can in France!
Then "my friend" returned from UK because he did not wish to stay here at same time as all those females! It was best!!!!!!
And so... for the last week ...following all that has happened in the last year,
THE NEW KITCHEN IS HAPPENING.
Tra la la la la! A new song will be sung!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Malheureusement, not in time for April 30th, the 6th anniversary of me, myself and I owning this property!!!!!
I haven't felt like writing or posting for a long time.
Plus having guests leaves little time for my own indulgences.
In early March, my former partner returned yet again to help me tweak the last of the plan for the kitchen. Having confidence in final measurements and decisions has escaped me. But being able to discuss with a.n.other has brought about the final plan.
It is difficult to explain. My conclusion after months of a mathematical headache is that Ikea and Schmidt software cannot handle the fact that the furniture measurement of a linear length is differen from the worktop linear length. Now the fitter friend has cracked the problem and even he did not see what could be done for ages. He is a man who solves as he goes. I want the problem solved on paper before I waste money on an expensive error!
In addition to that conundrum as well as other things, my friend says he can understand WHY it has taken me so long, not to mention that in between addressing the KITCHEN PLAN I have had other things to do!
He seems to accept my claim that if it were UK I would have had my new kitchen well before now. Trying to have something suitable for the character of the house plus suitable for my pocket has been a scary issue.
One of the main problems has been that the estimate for the electricity*** is costing more than the kitchen furniture and worktop!
(*** this includes plumbing and replacing the last of the radiators to the walls and verifying the central heating system.. and now rather than staging payments and therefore WORK I have decided to PLUNGE ahead and hopefully avoid drowning!)
This week the electrical wiring has been replaced!!!!!! Quel horreur!
I will try to write about this soon but I am very glad I freaked out on Monday, after almost 9 months after getting the first electrician here to make an estimate for the kitchen. This he did not do until February as in September last year there was miscomprehension between us when I asked for estimates for the water heater. I decided not to return to them and that was based on my previous experiences with a different electrician.
I freaked out because all the work we did last year was being ruined. When he returned two days later he had a new system of installing the wiring, in compliance with my request that was agreed with the estimator. I might try and explain this better later. For now, I am too tired!
I am wishing I HAD asked this company to replace the water heater.
Never mind!!!!!! That was in the past.
It appears that I CAN get the water heater (chauffeau electrique) connected to heures creuses et pleins because very soon the new tableau electrique will be able to serve the system!
The other electrician ( not the one who caused me emotional angst) did not do that even though I had insisted it was HC and HP!
I am glad i did not choose a third choice of electrician, an independent auto-entrepeneur because he might have had to order materials whereas this company has everything in the van and seems to be a man who can!
The number of wires in a kitchen has more than surprised me.
How can one have more Surprise!
Oh, oh so easily in France!
BUT back to hearing the nightingale.
It is a song that insists I must get out into the countryside for walks.
I haven't done nearly enough walking nor cycling since before my fever in February.
March has received guests every day, First "my friend" (in inverted commas because the blog tells all and my friends will understand). Then my daughter and only grand daughter, now aged 8 arrived for 8 days. At the same time I hosted a friend who bought a house in the village but it is not yet habitable. Days were eventful with the worst scenario of a car breakdown. Maybe more later if I ever get time to write - the starter motor died in IKEA car park at 20h after a 5 hour marathon in not the IDEAL home base. We were an hour and a half drive from home and I had to get them to the airport the next day. For some reason my insurance would not take us home or get the car repaired in time!
Miracles then began.
See, they can in France!
Then "my friend" returned from UK because he did not wish to stay here at same time as all those females! It was best!!!!!!
And so... for the last week ...following all that has happened in the last year,
THE NEW KITCHEN IS HAPPENING.
Tra la la la la! A new song will be sung!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Malheureusement, not in time for April 30th, the 6th anniversary of me, myself and I owning this property!!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)