The Kitchen: Where was I? Where am I? 4 of 5

FLAWED / FLOORED

After his adventures in the South of France my friend was collected at a bus stop not far from Leroy Merlin and as this is an hour from home I suggested we go to look at the flooring choice dilemma!

PART ONE: The Choice
It was weird because the final choice was something I had looked at last November but discounted the idea as too busy! I am drawn to this antique style. I am not sure if this precise one was there then but it certainly was when I went with a female friend in February.   My eye was attracted but not the mind because I was trying to choose between REAL wood flooring and ceramic tiles that looked like wood.  Somehow, the cost of real wood seemed obscene for a kitchen and modern-look-like-wood ceramic tiles seemed to not tick my box!! Why have false when one could have the real thing?

Having described my thoughts/ choices, we started to look at other options.  Other tiles, Vinyl, Stratifiée etc..
When I showed him this, there was an IMMEDIATE, exclamation of "YES".
And so I came to purchase 16m2 of this lovely carrelage suitable for exterior and interior but also kitchens. 
In case the link disappears the tiles are:
Carrelage gris & blanc effet terre cuite Villa l.20 x L.20 cm by ARTENS.

To my surprise I realised that grey was indeed going to look good with an almost white kitchen!
Pattern in a plain kitchen was good.
19th century French Provincial style appealed and though a little highbrow I thought it would suit the character of my house!  VOILA!
Angst resolved.

I found this website after I had bought the tiles.
Lovely photos and a little history.
One cannot afford the real thing!

PART TWO: Opening boxes
Whilst the electrician and plumber were in the kitchen room we opened the boxes of tiles.
Not knowing the plan we decided to sort the 12 mixed boxes into piles of the same pattern. Each box contained 36 tiles. 
Ah, it appears that the each box contains a different number of each of the NINE tiles that make the pattern.
After opening all boxes, each pile of one pattern was not the same height... hence oh oh oh!
Each pile counted between 41 tiles in one of the nine patterns and 51 of another.
See in the photo the nine piles of tiles all at different heights!

At the very end of the tiling exercise  of laying the kitchen floor, there were no more tiles of the pattern which we had the least of.

At one time I was convinced we would need to order another box...but with careful planning at the cutting stage, the last of the least fitted a corner where I shall see it every day! Just to remind me!

We also tiled to the back linear wall under the cabinets because I absolutely hate unseen things being skimped on.  I like to know it is clean and tidy behind the plinths.  Also if ever the cabinets have to be removed it will still show a level floor!

Next, we laid the nine in a square according to the model on Leroymerlin website.
Then we laid three more sets making a 6 x6 tiled square with the 3 x 3 square four times repeated. 
Did we like that?

We re-arranged with always the lightest coloured one in the centre, whereupon we discovered that each tile has its own orientation!!!!!! GOSH!
Then we could see other patterns. For example one could see a 4 x 4 pattern within this!
Then one could see diagonal patterns. Oh help!!!!!! Too busy!
That took at least two hours!

PART THREE: Skirting board cut.
At some point in the kitchen renovation process, my friend sawed out with an adapted tool, a small gap off the base of the skirting board.  I held the vacuum cleaner to collect the dust, scoured out the muck, 3 buttons. screws and a 1ct coin!

 

We had to do this  or else the tiles would not have slid under the walls.

On another day he made a cover board to access the water pipes if ever necessary. A clever thinking man! I have loved him and not just for his practical skills! I probably still do love the man I met! People change. He has changed and so have I! We just didn't manage to maintain the togetherness.

PART FOUR: Laying floor tiles
After the artisans departed we started to think about where to start.

First of all find mid centre. We again checked the floor level. We found each straight line between the passage ways.  Four door ways.. so how to centralise the pattern... and as we progressed the nine pattern changed! Finally, the plan was decided so we lay the pattern without glueing to see an effect!

Into the grand salon...

 the external doorway

into le petit salon called Oval Room

 I started to pile the tiles in sets in the correct orientation to make it easier to pass to the tiler on the other side of the straight edge and to ensure the tiles stayed correct. Easier said than done!  It was good team work!  Though I am not strong enough to use the electric tool that mixes the adhesive - the one like a food mixer!

PART SIX: A halt in the proceedings!

We discovered the problem with the adhesive! HALT whilst we took a day out to change the sacks of glue!!!!!
When I phoned Leroy Merlin they asked for the bar code and without question said I should return it.
Various things then occurred to me and the detective in me emerged.
The system for dating building products of a powdery nature has changed. There used to be a date of fabrication which means it then has a certain shelf life. Now... the bags contain the date by which to use making it much easier to work out the age of the product whilst it is in the shop! Here is the jointing powder barcode with DLU - date de l''utilsation.

Here, the adhesive we bought with date of fabrication.
It should be OK but when we opened it,  the powder was lumpy, not the correct powdery texture suggesting that it has been stored badly either in the store or in transit.   BIT RISKY TO USE!

When we got to the shop we noticed that the new packets have the DLU ...
h'mmmmm only one month later in the shop than when I bought mine!

 Here are the old bags on promotion!  We smell a rat!

I asked for a reimbursement for the inconvenience of travel and a waste of a day's work when the problem with the adhesive was clearly not my fault.  I asked after I had seen that the same bags that we'd bought only four weeks prior were being sold 'promotion'.  They were within the correct date... but clearly I think LRM knew the problem!  I suggested to LRM that I thought the regs had changed and was this true. They confirmed.  I also suggested that in this case the product has been stored badly or damaged in transit. They said that it was possble!  When they finally understood  WHY we had bought the sacks back for exchange and not re-inbursement,  they seemed to 'be aware" saying that they would remove all the sacks from promotion.   I think they knew they had been sussed although I never returned to see if they kept them off sale!
I was offered 6e to cover the cost of a two hour return journey and petrol costs for 100km    When I said that was an insult expecially as I have spent a lot of money with them over the last six years and more I was then offered 15e which I had to accept ... of course all three or four store staff wished me a good day and off they sped asap!!!!!!!

It was ome satisfaction but 'fait attention' one has to be cautious with large companies and stand one's ground!
I am glad my friend was with me otherwise I don't think I would have received any refund.
He verified as an artisan that the goods were not good and well done him as he kept patiently quiet, did not get upset and left it all to me!

The Kitchen: Where was I? Where am I? 3 of 5

This is a partial repeat of yesterday's posting but I wanted to remind myself of the snippets in the story!

The electrician took 4 full days to re-wire the house to a new tableau electrique situated in the kitchen.  It needed updating and needed to supply 32A.  His workmanship was excellent, well thought, well tempered, well organised, well paced. A happy man!

The plumber who arrived on Friday did not come on the Wednesday because i think I understood  that the plumber who was to come didn't or couldn't or maybe was taken 'off the job' because I threw my wobbly on Day 1!!!!

The Friday plumber was in great haste!  I think there had been some disagreement because the delay incurred meant that they both needed to work in the same corner at the same time. IMPOSSIBLE.
Also they each needed their car in my courtyard!
They were very chatty with the plumber talking nine to the dozen about La Chasse etc...
BUT neither could really do their individual tasks.
After I think some heated words and various telephone calls the electrician departed to do another job. I didn't understand waht was happening but he returned at 4pm.  The plumber who had worked through his lunch hour, eating on the hoof (he said it was exceptionelle!)  completed the re-connection of the central heating pipes, reinstalled the radiator and did the first fix for the sink.
It was only later that their plan for the day unfolded to my understanding!

The electrician had to return or else we might not have had electricity for the weekend!

The Friday plumber arrived with lively, bouncy energy, chatty, but by the end of his labour he was tired, quiet and seemed depressed.  Fortunately, I chatted to him about his work, was positive and managed to bring a smile to his face. I praised him for his work and also was laughing at myself; my Monday reaction to holes in walls generating an emotional wobble which unfortunately caused the two artisans to need the same corner at the same time.  He then seemed to relax!  It's a Friday night.  One must go home on a good note!

He remarked that my friend and I made a good team!
He with his knowledge, expertise and advice about plumbing / electricity / my house...because he knew, remembered, showed the plumber and electrician that some work that they planned did not need to be done... it was already done .... (showed the central heating steam escape valves positioned in the living room, which I had forgotten about, and where the central heating plumbing pipes were...
and she / me with her / my French language skills!!!!!!!
My friend and I looked at each other. I laughed as he looked blankly. Well, it was in French and my French understanding is so much improved over the last six years!

I think that it was and is such a shame that he and I can be good friends when not in disagreement or power struggles, and that, what a waste it has been, that we have thrown the relationship away because of emotional, mental, physical factors from the each of us; ill health, early retirement, family and financial issues forcing us to be on the breadline for some time.
That's just too many issues to deal with in any partnership.

It was doomed to fail.
I was fearful, cautious, needing a secure, safe home and partner surrounded by my belongings, needing purpose in life and people ( not stones and sheep and isolation from culture), who had reverted to child behaviour as a result of far too many unhealed, un-understood traumas, being over needy and emotionally coping with grief and bereavements that I wasn't then aware of....coping with major post operative stuff that dealt a blow of inner womanly grief for over three years... on top of the loss of a career and the issues with my son, daughter, parents...

and he fearful, throwing caution to the wind, nomadic, as I didn't understand then that he had done it before and would do it again; that is, to ditch all belongings including a safe and secure home for travelling, for helping others, for volunteering because that is the true kindness and generosity of my friend who I had fallen in love with! He too, in the course of our relationship had lost employment , having to return to self employment, divorce and difficulties with family as well as personal self. 

Isn't it a shame that we couldn't sort out the BETWEEN STUFF then ?   

HOWEVER, despite the past, I was so happy to greet his arrival on the afternoon of the day when the electrician started, the afternoon after I'd freaked out for reasons too complex to explain here.


The next day my friend and I helped the electrician save time and labour simplifying his life by prepping the attic space and flooring.   I hadn't thought about this before and really I had no idea what was about to happen with this major operation of re-wiring!

It was such a joy to see the electrician's face light up (excuse the pun) as he witnessed how we had helped him.
It was such a joy for me that he came on Wednesday and told me he had a new method ... it would be to do as we had suggested and that I had agreed with the estimator who that week was unavailable. Yes he would pass the wires across the attic floor and down!
Win-Win!

The electrician returned on the Monday of the following week. We had intermittent electricity for most of the day.  He made good all the plasterboard work. Every night apart from the Friday as he ran out of time he made sure the workspace was spotlessly clean.  At the end of his work, he had made good all the plasterboard to an excellent level.
At 17h, the man had changed as he always did every morning and lunchtime, from day clothes to work clothes. He went home clean and sprightly with a spring in his step. The client was happy and relieved that the major work has been achieved.  A big worry lifted!

The Kitchen: Where was I? Where am I? 2 of 5

The wall and floor had been marked out ever since November. Every now and then I would measure the height, width and depth of each cabinet trying to decide where the sink, hob, oven, microwave should go.
Now,  I know there isn't much choice with a 3665mm linear wall,  but I wanted a U shape and I did not wish to lose even 10cm of wall space.
Occasionally the tape got moved.
During the winter I did a 3D model with tables, chairs, metal rods, wooden planks, boxes and anything to  bring the measurement to the correct level so that I could 'pretend' to use a sink, kettle, hob, oven.

There might be photos of this. ( a reminder to me to find some)

Later in the planning months feeding my anxiety, angst and headache, I tried to think of where the kettle should go, the blender, food mixer, chopping boards, pots and pans and baking dishes, cutlery and crockery, teas and coffees, canned foods, oil and vinegar bottles and wine, food waste bins, remembering that also the room behind my kitchen is a laundry room / with dishwasher, sink and washing machine. The system is working well.

In catering, it is important to have a circular movement as much as possible so that food preparation areas are not contaminated by the dirty dishes area.  I know this because in France I researched a "tea shop business" in this house before there was one in the village...and I quickly realised that I did not have the money, skills or artisan to do this for me when the whole house was in need of TLC and I was practically, emotionally and mentally off the wall!!!!!!!!!!!
I know that!
Anyway, enough of the negative past... onwards!

And so it came to pass that the tape was helpful to the electrician even though he had 'a plan' done by the estimator'.  (I'd made minor changes!!!!)  So I gave him a copy of the final IKEA print out plan as well as my own 2D folding images... 

Yes I might try and post a photo of these later...

Before the electrician started work and he WAS KEEN, I insisted we talk about the plan, discuss where the switches etc were to be, showed him the attic. He and I agreed that we each were 'en accord' with the necessary work! I really didn't want mistakes because I HAD NOT PAID ATTENTION.  This has happened before.  My former partner, a retired general builder, suggested on more than one occasion when the former electrician was here that I should not keep an eye on the artisans to monitor them!!!  As a manager and teacher I always used to monitor helpers in and out of my classroom or I would discover the work done with the children or the display was not what I wished or that it exceeded my expectations.... true, I gave everyone licence to contribute.  I was not rigid though I was a disciplinarian.  I am sorry to all those who thought so. On the other hand we had rising SAT results year on year at end of KS1 .. my class ... so much so that....ggggrrrrr....that is another story best left alone for the moment!
In the photo, the gap in the old and new layers of plaster-boarding is so that the plumber can do his work when he arrives!

The holes in the walls are where the switches and wiring has to go! These were made by the electrician on his first day.

After about an hour of the electrician working and me wondering WHY there were TWO circular HOLES up high on the wall I remembered I must take photos... so this was taken from the distance of the living room so as not to alarm him as he was in and out to his car gathering tools, wires etc as were required.  I watched with fascination as he rodded and pulled wires up behind the two layers of plasterboard old and new. The new wall. The newly fixed, plastered, sanded, filled, sanded, filled I don't know how many times with at least three coats of paint and which my friend was cross because I had not finished painting the final coast as I said I would do. 
My reasoning apart from the fact it was winter,  was that I did not wish to use more of the F&B in case the walls were ruined.  THAT was November last year.

OH no... now they are being ruined.  My heart leaps into my brain!  Imagine my friend's wrath when he sees it all later that day, when he arrives from the South of France, when he is specifically returning to get my kitchen designed and installed!
My fears rose. I wobbled. My internal alarm increased.
I asked the electrician what these holes were for and he explained how there would be two above each socket etc.
WHAT???
I explained how the wires were supposed to go across the attic floor as agreed with the estimator.  We even had discussed that this morning.  Yes he said but he has to do it this way, his way!!!!!
Where was the estimator?
Unavailable
On holiday training to be a pompier!!!!!
aaargh!
Helpless. Helpless.

Eventually, he spoke to a boss and the two  kept saying that I had no choice... to which I disagreed.
I spoke at length on the phone to the boss.

Meanwhile the stress that brings out the tears and the anxiety took hold.  I apologised and explained that it is one of the reasons why I lost my career position...and that this reaction to stress is very inconvenient to me!!!  It is my disability. I wish I could control it. It is my fuse! It is my valve!
I like to avoid stress!!!!

We had been discussing for about 30 minutes and it is just before midday.  
He asks if he should stop work.  I ask his advice. I also say if he thinks it is best to.
"Yes I think so.  Thank you.  I will discuss with my friend and when you return tomorrow we can discuss with him."
He has another job that he could go to.
It was as if we had each negotiated so as not to lose face and also it was important to me that we ended the morning without anger or resentment. I needed an electrician after all this time!!!!!!
We agree that I would telephone in the morning.

The next day I phoned at 8h to say that it was OK for the electrician to carry on with his method.

My friend was not angry. He had expected some ruination but agreed not 20 holes.  We went to the attic and accessed the space where his wiring could go.  My friend cut out the fragile flooring below the hot and cold water pipes which I revealed. Normally they are shrouded in several layers of polystyrene board and silver insulation against any frost.
I cleared all the rubble that lay beneath. This was rubble from the years as well as from the roof replacement. The floor is unstable and so it is important that people tread where we have put reinforcement lengths of wood or melamine. The old ping pong table had been put there as well about two years ago!

Below the boarding is fibreglass above tommettes above the ceiling below.  It was dusty and we did wear masks and hats!  We realised that the old hole where the extraction unit used to be was once a hatch, probably accessed by ladder to the attic where people must have once lived.

I didn't mind these holes as they are below the work surface!

Here you can see the offending holes near the ceiling and there were going to be many more!!!!!!

As he finished he replaced the circular cut outs  using lissage / filler. The electrician was exceptional in my opinion.  Good people skills.

This was the old casing...

Here the new is being installed - unfortunately I forgot to take the photo of the cascade of wiring spilling from the ceiling before each set of three were connect to the appropriate trip switch.

All done.  Trauma ended.... for the now!!!

In between comes the plumber with amazingly sorted containers!

replacing the central heating system pipes that I cut out because the flawed the architrave over the door and window so it wasn't aesthetic!   A costly choice!

He did the plumbing for the sink and again excellent workmanship. Pleasant manners. Men who worked happily in their jobs. A joy!  I highly recommend this team!
Continued in next post.

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! 

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!!!!! 

Songster without song

I have not had even ONE Easter egg!!!!!
Must be the first time ever in my life!
First time this year at nine ish in the morning I celebrate MY first hearing of THE CUCKOO!!! 

POEM:  Songster calling
Copyright by SweetpeainFrance
28 March 2016

Stand at the edge of an ancient woodland,
where on higher land the wild wind blows 
straight from south west Atlantic ocean,
where Katie and her storm force troops blew her gales
as if to push winter northwards where she hails.

Perhaps this songster blew in with the wind, 
one only ambition 
to forge new generation
but hardly to sing!

In the early hours of morning I entered, ventured to the yard
whilst warm gusty, blustery winds were yelling at my side
as I closed French folding shutters blowing freely in the wind,
eased to fix the wooden gates creaking, moaning as they moved
checked the garden to the rear, make sure nought was unkind,
put on the kettle, made a cup of tea,
went back to sleep like a baby peacefully, 
slept deep and soundly 'til shoulders aching waked me,
walked to breathe oxygen, stretch legs, arms aerobically.

Hark, what do I hear? 
that welcome sound as the first in the year -
that refreshing call of spring time -
that sound so known for its songster calling -
that tune so known for its major third - 
when a cruel and wicked mother bird
ousts eggs which have a right to their nest
laying her own for another mother to do its best 
feeding insects to the cuckoo, a brood parasite
as the new born throws out others with its spite
an unsuspecting mother bird uses energy in flight 
to feed the growing imposter all day and night!

A refreshing call just after the Spring Equinox!
Bringing HOPE for summer 
Better than any chocolate box!

SO Sorry for UK and terrible experiences.
I have not ventured out of my gate in several days...other than this short walk
today.
I am ready for what I HOPE to be the final ( fifth ) IKEA visit to order the kitchen..
All is measured more than once; solutions to problems have been found with one other person to help add a voice and opinion, motivation, realise the difficulties and the frustration, realise that it wasn't all me that I became disillusioned and more!
So despite the accusatory tone from several people that I have not been doing my best.. if one saw the paperwork plans then one would realise the differences between a room which needed another 5cm linear length to comfortably fit ... but now it works in the room and on the paper and hopefully on the ickilogiciel....
Flooring is purchased and will be laid in two weeks time.
There is a choice of three electrician and plumbing companies... I am waiting for estimates to be updated.. and waiting an email response before the final decision!

Company

Today is the day when I gain company ... and I HOPE ... round the table communication, negotiation, and all those other skills I used to have when working in the educational world.  I have done a lot of work on the planning of my kitchen and also I have not done enough to formulate a complete decision.  Not many people have ever chosen a complete kitchen but I admire them.
I have been blighted by waiting for funds to build up and apart from winter hibernation,  crabby moods, illness and all other responsibilities that come with being a property owner, I have been blighted by electricians!!!!!!  
HOWEVER, I have hope and maybe the second one that came last July might be the one!   I have waited for devis and they have not arrived!
I also am going to explore the other French kitchen company because there is still something about me that resists IKEA ... or the one and a half hour journey each way and their apparently high delivery and installation costs.
I have found a work top colour.  I like it that it is not black, grey or wood.
Anyway, I must away... I must fly like a little bird, see the blue skies and the sunshine!

First March and a dragon!

I would like the imminent arrival of my friend, to be so, rather than a foe, but I can imagine his frustrations experienced by such a sensible and capable person, when I have daily frustrations with me, myself, I, personally, within the circumstance that I live.

However, I am up against acquiring estimates from reliable electricians as well as to find those who I have confidence. A discussion today with a friend who knows one of those who has been here to estimate the cost, set me back into DOUBT... aaaargh...

Then there is the flooring. I feel confident about my choice if it is still in the shops. I would like wood! Having just oiled one oak floor it doesn't take so long to dry if one warms the 50 / 50 mixture beforehand and does not slather on too thickly.  Two coats done!!!  The linseed / turps has changed the colour of the wood, now looking bright and shiny!  The other two oak floors need one more coat. I was stopped in my tracks with back problems in November after I had moved furniture and oiled the floors on my knees......

Then there is the furniture and the positioning of the appliances. The placement of the oven is still grieving me... I would like it mid level but I do not want it to impose visually in the room where one steps down into the room which has four doors and a window. I am convinced to go for the U shape rather than the L shape so hopefully my friend will be patient and offer advice suggestions on the last detail.

I have measured out the floor plan and the wall plan and have even taped where the splashback, extraction unit, plugs, switches and lighting have to go.  Have not chosen the splashback.   I do have an IKEA plan ... fourth model... but it will have to be re-verified for items because I have changed the positioning a little!

If we have to do the flooring, take a break, do the electrics, take a break, get the IKEA stuff , take a break , order appliances, take a break and then install it all then so be it!!!!!!!!!!!

If he gives up on me then so be that too!!!!!!!!
I hope not.

Now, to stop blogging and posting and wasting other task time!

a real oven

Imagine my fortune when three days ago I was offered the opportunity to purchase a freestanding cooking oven and hob!
How more-than-lucky am I!!!!!!!!!!

It arrived yesterday... such lovely, lovely people brought it over and installed all the meticulously clean pieces and made sure it was working!
This, just in time to practice cake baking skills for the next CCC.
I have to admit I am very nervous as I have not baked a cake since August.
Well, I did try to make one in the micro-combi oven but it did was more of a pud than a cake!

Shopping list: eggs!!!!!!!

ADDED NOTE: Have not had an OVEN since August 2015! A micro-combi inherited as a gift in September, a slow cooker and a steamer have been helpful but they are not the same!

Wtfiiaa?

This particular blog started as a way of recording the renovation of a property... much as many others have used a blog format as a journal.

However, it also became unintentionally, a vehicle for an emotional journey, after the break-up of what I thought was a relationship made-in-heaven.  No such thing exists, I have discerned.  My vulnerable dream was shattered by my own negative energies and those of another.  My dream of having a relationship that incorporated all that I dreamt of in terms of 'happy family' sharing when my parents never did, came to fruition fleetingly and then was quickly dissolved by irritability. scorn, criticism and blame and maybe other stuff.  Let's not go down that road for now!

This blog has seen a few up and down episodes of my personal life since 2010 or whenever I started to blog, in retrospect to that time that I bought my property.  This blog has also commented on places and events.  It has witnessed my observations of, and in, my village and surroundings.  I try to avoid personal and family pics.  I try to be cautious with global internet exposure but sometimes fail!

On occasions I tried the challenge of blogging every day of a month by writing articles ahead of time when the facility to do that became a possibility,  or I discovered it!  It takes time to get photos prepped and an article written.  I have posted deliberately and unconsciously as a form of creativity, as well as avoidance of doing other tasks - let's call that procrastination!

Sometimes I write ahead, then edit and re-edit before publishing.  Most often I write and publish.  To the discerning few who bother to read this ego-centred self-published material, they may have identified that sometimes I edit after publishing.  Sometimes I feel I've been too public with the emotional outpouring.  Or a poem needs to be improved or altered to make it, in my mind, better!  Or my form of dyslexia has come to be too garbled in its word-salad, so I have to rewrite the nonsense sentences into ones that can be understood and not misinterpreted!

Sometimes there have been major gaps between postings, where I've become silent, unmotivated, dispirited, when words or creativity are blocked.  The gaps might signify I have been occupied or that I have nothing worthy of publication. The gaps may signify that I have been in a dark hole of depression or contemplation of the thought:  "W--- t--  f---  i-  i-  a--  a----?"
This posting is in itself an admission of that.  Excuse me for any sensitivities of the use of an expletive. Isn't it amazing how few letters are required for one to be able to read a sentence? My children at school loved that they could read, if I covered the ascenders or descenders of letters!

It is also an admission that I do NOT produce this for others... I produce it for me. Very ego-centred!  I am aware and what is wrong with that form of artistry?  I do not seek compliments but if you wish to make them then I feel honoured.  If you feel you want to refute me or disagree then you can do that too!  My blog is a kind of diary.  I am proud of it.  I am proud  of the progress I have made in writing skills when at the end of my career I was writing absolute goobledy-gook for important documents: no one told me!!!  - no one even understood - least of all did I realise that dyslexia manifests itself under stress. I feel it is remarkable what I have achieved given that at the age of 17 I had not much idea about literacy! From an early age I read the dictionary at bedtime to learn vocabulary and spelling because I'd read the main reading material - the family print company's selection of Charles Dickens novels.

I have made progress coping with and in the particular challenges I've experienced of living in France.  All the downs and all the ups.  It is called LIFE and possibly would not be any different wherever I lived.  I am who I am!  However, I think the very fact that one lives in a different culture where the primary language is my secondary language, does make an enormous difference to sanity, as also does the fact that the country is huge.  To go to a supermarket or anywhere to experience culture is a often a long journey necessitating the ownership of a vehicle!

My former blog tried very hard to gloss over the hidden REALITY that was not exposed to others in the lifestyle that my former partner and I were living,  although there were some who knew and who were helpless to help, because as for all of us, there is only one who can make a difference, and that person inside us needs a certain amount of  knowledge, skills and talents that perhaps doesn't quite exist when it is required.  Some friends and members of my family said they would not read either of my blogs because the first was not REAL!  It was my real!  It was often the better parts of life as it stood then in a chocolate box cottage surrounded by sheep and a pony where I learned to write poetry.  We had some wonderful positive experiences and I really should find the time and expertise to transform these blogs into book format.  For me. for my grand child.  For posterity or they can burn it at a later date!

People make things. I have done so. I made music.  I fed children's curiosity. I have in the past sewn,  crocheted, knitted etc. I like to write.  My poetry is quite substantial now and this too I would like to get published alongside my photography such as it is!

Meanwhile the spectre of a kitchen room haunts me...
It seems so obscene,  the price it will cost to have the kitchen room electrics rewired for first and second fix!  The flooring seems reasonable but I am undecided on wood or ceramic that looks like wood but I think real wood will win the day!  Then the furniture  and appliance costs seem so obscene.  Yet what I love is expensive. I have expensive tastes as a pauper!  My mother aged 89, said to my daughter when giving her a Christmas gift and not one for me, that I have everything I need!!!!!!!  Maybe she is correct. I have relatively exceptional health for someone my age and I am stil young even if old but I hold no bars to my daughter...who gasps at some things I say... and yet it is tame, very tame, compared to some tigers! All my life my mother has always said that I have ideas above my station! And indeed I have... and wtfiiaa in this isolated west facing property  on the outskirts of a beautiful ( so they say) village!!!!  They don't live here!  Let's not go down that road.

It's all too easy

whilst living alone, at this age, to be like Bowie, apparently obsessed with anxieties and fears of loss, mental health, death etc.... but oh, if only one had his ability to create.
The mind has a terrible habit of wandering and bringing to the fore the most weirdest of thoughts!
I blurb about my own!
I wish I'd been artistically creative.

When two GREAT ARTISTs have died within one week, including the inspirational Alan Rickman, the inevitable demise (a friend bluntly says 'it is natural wastage!') results in the inevitable analyses and re-runs of performances presented now through internet media, by those reporters who are living.  Thankfully the radio and internet are enough for me without television.  The resultant articles are extremely informative filling the gaps in my knowledge, but also have beckoned me and others to Look Back, be it in Joy or Anger, or any other emotion.  It helps a grieving process. It also wakens one up to get a move on whilst life is present!!!!!!

...to get things in order to support my adult children when they will have their hour of need in one hopes some grief of trawling through my personal stuff!!! I must leave it tidy! I must do this and that. But the doing of it is HARD! VERY DIFFICULT!

Getting the kitchen planned has taken so many hours and days. The room stares at me, defies me, says "it should be easy" and yes, it should. I think this, then that but have to return to the first or second idea because of available space etc.

I am aware of the start of the victim mode and want to be rescued!  That will not do. I have to find the adult mode and be responsible. I bought the house. I took out the kitchen  with the help of another because it was very damaged and unaesthetic ... and NOW ... ho ho ho it costs an arm and leg to instal a complete kitchen ... I still have two arms and legs and so I must afford it, whatever the future scenario!  The sooner, the better and then I can be more free.

It is all too easy for any one of us to judge another. All this baggage we claim!  It comes around again and again until we have sorted out the emotional pain we have gained in our very lives.
It's our pain and doesn't belong to anyone else.

It comes around again and again as we come into contact with REAL PEOPLE in our lives... not just those who have through celebrity status influenced our ideas on art and music, history, literature, geography, travel, food and other culture, textiles, nature, science technology, politics, economics, psychology, etc at the heart of our belief values and boundaries, but also those whom we have met fletteingly or deeply affecting our innermost core.

Bowie did what he could to transform his oddity and VOILA at the end of his life it was ashes to ashes ... and that is probably all we are. Maybe there will be a spirit or a soul that might squeeze through the gates of heaven but in my case.. .......I'd better start working harder.
Never too late .. is it?

Surfacing from a 14 month Saga....

The meeting of October 28th was awful.  Stress was unbearable. Now emotions were rising out of control as I had not taken anti-anxiety pills for several weeks.  I succumbed to a secret swig of brandy at one point because I couldn't contain my despair, fear, frustration, sense of injustices, annoyance, plus a level of feeling rejected and abandoned by the lawyer, the expert independent assessor but more so by the electrician and the rep from THERMOR.  It appeared to me and others that they had no CARE or APPRECIATION of my difficulties endured in the last year.

The invoice for this 2 hour plus meeting was absorbed by the electrician. I dread to think how much he was charged BUT GOOD... it is my only satisfaction from this SAGA.

The electrician who never deemed it 'entrepeuneurial' to look after his client deigned to come 35 minutes early.  I wonder what he was hiding from!
On the day of the meeting I'd just finished the domestic cleaning for the morning and was about to have a much needed coffee. He'd arrived early.  He insisted the meeting was at ten but I showed him the letter as he waited by the gate. He wanted to come and measure the room. OK.  It wasn't in my interests to be unpleasant! He looked rough and unshaven. His mobile phone screen was smashed.
I let them pass my roadside gate.
From previous other electricians who had been invited to look at the machine I knew that the room was only just at its lower limit and the machine did not have sufficient ventilation.  How odd that this is the first thing the elctrician wished to do as if he knew what the problem was!
The rep started to ask questions whilst he measured in what appeared to be frantic behaviour.   I thought they'd purposefully arrived early to disturb me.  She was aghast when I'd said I'd not had hot water for two months... clearly, she did not know the story! THIS shocked me.  After 6 weeks of waiting since speaking with Protection Juridique insurance for which I'd paid monthly for five years why hadn't the lawyer communicated with the manufacturer?
Then these two asked for the electricity fuse to be switched on.  Immediately the chauffeau thermodynamique blew the general electricity in the whole house.  AT WHICH I asked them to leave to return in 25 minutes at the correct hour because I thought the independent expert should be present. Why should I have to tell the story twice?  YES, he also did not seem to know the story.  Why did it appear that Protection Juridique had not told him. i felt that I was being judged.

My point with P. J. insurance / legal support was that the electrician was neglectful and had not done what he said he would, i.e. return after May with information as to what was wrong.  He had not CARED! I was bringing a case against him for that as well as that for course I needed hot water but now I had lost all confidence with this machine AND the electrician AND Thermor who I had contacted by email and spoken with on the telephone and each time they said I must call in the original installer.  I had tried since October 2014 when the machine made large growling sounds in addition to the hum!

During the meeting the electrician phoned  a frigoriste. I now know that although he installed this water heater he is not a qualified frigoriste!  It took him over an hour to prevent the machine disconnecting electricity in the whole house!

Eventually, desperate to find a solution to end the SAGA and have hot water, I agreed under severe pressure to sign an agreement that I would pay 420 euros for the mains d'oeuvre / replacement of a compressor which was dead (oh if only I were!!!!!!) and the electrician and manufacturer agreed to pay 828 euros for the compressor.  M y rising stress and tearfulness was unhelpful.  It is always uncontrollable.  There was no sympathy for my mental and emotional dis - ease as the independent technician spoke sharply to me and told me to stop crying. Believe me in situations like this the panic and anxiety arises and I revert to being like a child. I hate it!
So I signed. Breaths of relief could be heard from all.
THEN, the independent expert said I had to keep the doors open between the kitchen and the laundry room because the machine needed ventilation. They had not agreed what to do about that!  I was even more upset and exasperated.  They don't have to live with this situation which necessitates hearing the noise of 55 to 58 decibels (we recorded the sound level on an APP on a friend's smartphone)... plus having all hot air in other rooms being sucked into the laundry room to feed the machine!!!!!!!!

THEN they went away.   I was exhausted. 

Once calm and in discussion with others I realise that my anxiety and indecision comes and goes continually because it seems ludicrous to spend 420 euros with other ongoing issues, when for 1000 euros I could employ an different electrician to instal a chauffeau electrique in the same place. That is a normal ballon / tank. People had said to me: "Cut your losses and replace it with NEW."

As I'd had two estimates from two large companies quoting the same I chose one!

I called in an electrician recommended by Parisian locals.  I call him 'The Man from Montmorillon'.   He'd told me that the model is 'un mauvais serie' and he'd seen many of this model dead within a few years of installation - either le compresseur or le cuve is the reason.  This was the prototype model and subsequent models were modified by the manufacturer. The rep never said a word at the meeting (well she wouldn't I suppose!).  Unfortunately I was not aware of this factor until after the meeting on October 28th....
So because of that I cancelled the frigoriste making a second date into the next week in order to 'buy' myself more time to make a conclusion / decision.
Oh,  more troubles!!!!!
The machine cut the electricity in the house again at 8h 20 on November 18th. 
Immediately, I contacted MR COLLET the electrician who gives very poor service. I left a message as I had to goo out and he phoned three hours later. Reluctantly, he said he would be there the next morning at 8h BUT never arrived.
I  have no qualms in mentioning his name in these days of Trip Advisor and other such exposing of malpractice. It had been set to heat water without using the compressor.

Weirdly, on November 18th, the machine connected again and the lights went on but the machine did not heat water as we discovered after 24 hours having used the water for shower and bath that day.  So me and my lady guest had no hot water after that for two weeks, when then I went to UK for two weeks.

So, in a dilemma, I further delayed on the frigoriste replacing the compressor because I was anxious that I had signed an agreement and actually wished to withdraw from that agreement.  Although I'd asked by letter and email and tried by phone to ask about my rights.. always I was told that I must have the compressor replaced!!!!!!!!!
Fear took hold.  
When the lawyer made a three way phone call with him and I on November 23rd,  he accused me of cancelling the frigoriste (TRUE ... when she asked :Is that true?) and he agreed he'd said he would come to my house, then never did (TRUE ... he said when she asked "Is that true?")  Again, under pressure of not knowing if I could withdraw or not  I agreed to do what she insisted thinking that this was a stupid step to take, because of what the man from Montmorillon had said.
 
So... I contacted an AVOCAT whose opinion I felt I could follow. He wanted a copy of the agreement I'd signed. I never received it and at that time neither had the Protection Juridique.  The avocat commented that in his opinion water heaters were not worth repairing and they should be taken out and a new one installed... SO THAT IS WHAT I DID...it was the confidence I needed to make a decision.

How did I manage without hot water for two months then two weeks?  With great difficulty.
Well... it took up to two hours depending on my activity back and forth to the tap, microwave and kettle to boil water and fill two orange BnQ buckets.  Diluting hot with cold, I sat in an empty bath pouring water over me bowl by bowl!   HOWEVER, this was easier than 2012 when I had to do that in the exterior bathroom when outdoors was -26 degrees. The radiator in the outhouse didn't much improve the heat of the room!  Ah ... history and the joys of French housing!!!!!!!!!! One has to laugh at the memory!

The artisans working for the 'Man from Montmorillon'  imstalled the new water heater on December 14th.

BLISS...
a) there is SILENCE IN THE HOUSE... even my English / Italian friend had said the previous machine was a racket. Poor girl she didn't get a shower or a bath either!!!!!!
b) There is NO COLD AIR IN THE HOUSE.
BUT all is not yet hunky dory as there are two small leaks on each of the hot and cold taps on the tank. I need a new disjoncteur and I need the machine connected to heures creuse and heures plein.

Yet yippppeeeee...enter the 21st century in Western Europe! 
How lovely it is:

a) to have a hot bath to keep clean, enable bodily functions, relax and warm muscles and nerves at any time of day.
b) to wash the psyche and produce better morale to appreciate sanity ... a hot fall of shower water cascading onto my head or plunging head and hair under hot water is extremely good to combat dark bouts of depression that seem to beset me. 
c wash pots and pans and do the dishes; it isn't such a chore when before I needed to walk back and forth with a kettle of water whilst not having a kitchen in the kitchen room.
d) hand wash clothes is easier.

ALMOST the END OF THE SAGA... all when there is no kitchen appliance or surface in the kitchen........ Will I ever face the fear of how much it costs when I'd lost contact with the price of things.   

In the interim, the second roof ridge was repaired; they broke a load of tiles from the roof as they clambered to the ridge on roof ladders in two places. At the same time they repaired the second lucarne. The timber was soft and powdery.  So there goes the kitchen funds saved out of pension! 

Ah... did I mention the word BLISS????   Must have been an error! 

Water Boiler Saga

Just to update this and as a point of reference for the future ....
and to the past my blog post.... 
I am not seeking attention but am explaining what can happen in France if an artisan appears not to have installed something properly according to a manufacturer's requirements.

I have PROTECTION JURIDIQUE insurance alongside my French mortgage with my French bank... whose name shall currently remain nameless.  I was wise to take it out. I was afraid of neighbourly disputes at the time!!!!!! I didn't have any but Miss Cautious Cancerian Clara inside me thought I should protect myself just in case!!!!!!
I contacted Protection Juridique two weeks ago. Whilst I was on one telephone line the nice lady spoke on a different telephone line to the installer (PERSON CC) of my expensive chauffeau thermodynamique.  He said he had not forgotten about me.  Hahaha ... how can someone ignore my calls, letters to his house, emails for a year? Doesn't that even indicate just a tad that he might feel guilty!???

He was asked to organise a meeting at my house with himself and the fabricant / manufacturer for a diagnosis of the problem.  I know what the two problems are because a different company diagnosed this in August!  Person CC was given until 9 October to contact me and has NOT done so!!!!!!!!

Today Madame (PERSON PJ), says she will email an independent technician (a representative in French) (PERSON IT) for the two of them to be here!!!!!!! I am supposed to wait three weeks for this LEGALLY.  I asked for special dispensation because I have already waited two weeks and this is URGENT for me as have had no hot water since mid August and I have guests arriving in two weeks time at least.  I don't think my daughter and grand daughter will come at all in the next two weeks when it will be half term holiday. Maybe just as well!
Whether or not PERSON S and PERSON B have to be here or will be here or not I don't know. They are from central heating / electrician / plumber companies who came here in July 30th and in mid August and one of whom I saw two weeks ago because PERSON B was supposed to have written estimates for me at the start of September and it took me to visit HIM for HIM to do it. I shall refrain from further judgement or comment except that he was told NOT to laugh at me when he sniggered on the telephone!!!!!!!!!
 I am unable to get any electrician here to give me an estimate for a completely new system. SO HAVE TO WAIT.
I think it is unacceptable, but I cannot do anything about the system that is designed to mediate in legal disputes.
I think Madame PERSON PJ is doing her best!
Any suggestions?

Kitchen past, present with future not yet planned!

 THEN and GONE

The wall tiles allowed water to seep into the plasterboard on which they were stuck. The dishwasher and under sink cupboard died four years ago. Kitchen was built in 1985 - an excellent oak cabinet quality. The four 60cm doors and cabinets were recycled to the laundry room. The extraction unit stands in the garden ready to be recycled ... not sure how, but the copper can be cleaned and maybe used as a work surface?  The pretty 40cm deep wall cupboard can be separated and awaits helpers to repaint it, or me to find coincidental time and energy to do so.

The single glazed windows have been double glazed without battens. These small battens on brown woodwork blocked out light from the west south facing room as does the wall. Thank goodness that tree in the courtyard has gone as well so that light came into the room. The walls were stripped of wallpaper in 2010.  Here's a final fragment!

There used to be a fitted fridge by the door which used to work as a freezer until I inherited the former joint owned freezer in May 2014.

 

The oven died the day we finished painting the room! GOOD! 

Dark beams bore down oppressingly, now they are light and airy! I couldn't do the sanding and prep work but I did paint the ceiling and beams. The lampshade is an early IKEA.. it has a label which I never noticed until now. I am going to sand and repaint it!

It is amazing that someone who knows what they are doing can recycle kitchen units and has saved me hundreds of euros!   I AM GRATEFUL!!!
MIDWAY

 Up goes new plasterboard

NOW- the kitchen room in F&B Strong white over Dulux Indian White and Roman White! Woodwork in F&B Skimming Stone.  The walls need one or more coats because we ran out of time!

Central heating piping needs to be replaced above the door and window. We cut the pipes out because it covered the architrave around the door and window frame. It was not aesthetic.  I think I shall keep the 1985 tiled flooring. It has a rustic rural French retro feel in the modern world that I dream of! Grouting could be cleaned and perhaps re grouted!