The Small Room and the Oval Room

TWO SMALL ROOMS

Work for both of these rooms was done at the same time. 
The smallest room is destined to be an office or bedroom. 
The oval room on account of the ceiling moulding will become a living room.

ELECTRICITY

Electrical points and switches all had to be corrected. I removed the central ceiling light and installed two wall lights in the smallest room. I would like the telephone point to be in this room as it arrives on the exterior of this room but for some reason the wire travels through the attic of this part of the house to the furthest room in the building!

WOOD AROUND THE DOORS AND WINDOWS

It was decided to remove the very French brown, varnished tongue and groove boarding around the windows and doors. The rooms felt as if they could breathe. The revealed stone walls were then covered with plasterboard, filled and sanded, filled and sanded! This was the treatment for the cracks in the ceilings as well.

DOUBLE GLAZED UNITS

The window and doors (four units) were removed, woodwork lovingly repaired and double glazed units inserted. They were made draughtproof. It was complicated and took time.

SHUTTERS

These had all been sanded and painted by me in May 2010.

CUPBOARDS

The wallpaper in the corner cupboard was left on the walls but painted. The existing doors were sanded and painted but two of the four doors were missing so my friend built new ones so perfectly that no one would never know.

He built a small cover to conceal the water stopcock as once this room was a kitchen. I now need a cupboard to hide the electrics …. but later.

THE OVAL ROOM and the CHIMNEY

This room became a disaster when the stone chimney was opened to find out why there was damp.  I attempted to replace it with a similar aged fireplace but the price seemed prohibitive as in addition it would have required a woodburner. In May 2010 we had solved the problem by correcting the problem outside. Inside we removed the stone chimney by ingenious means and fortunately I managed to sell it.  Note how the clean water, waste water and gas pipes run along the back wall of this house from the kitchen!  I could not possibly afford to re-route them! 
The story is in photographs. 

Original 18th century stone chimney

The damage is evident...it had to go!

Think of the Ancient Egyptians!

The distance to the door is about 3½ metres

First the headstone!

The beef bone amongst the rubble.. Was this the French version of a medieval cat or shoes being left in the chimney?

Lovely dust as the last of the stones are removed

and laid outside for a buyer

and protected against wet weather

All cleaned up! Witness the pre-1985 wallpaper on plasterboarded polystyrene and the stone wall beneath.  We kept the chimney hole!

We replaced the plasterboard with fireproof board and all walls required a lot of filling and sanding to make them flat. My friend who’d had experience with woodburners before managed to work out the measurements of everything and I know that I could not have had such a beautifully finished room without him.

REMOVING FLOORING
I spent many hours each day on my hands and knees laboriously scraping off lino which left behind paper and glue. 

Not quite the last of the paper and certainly not the glue!

I then used various chemical products to soften the paper and glue and scrape it off the cement floor.  Towards the end we used machines to grind off the last stubborn remains.  It took weeks as I wrestled with the pain in my wrists and spent hours on my knees sobbing because of the difficult work and the emotional stuff that continued incessantly in my head and heart.

After I/we had lifted every scrap of lino, paper and glue from the cement and made the decision to lay oak it then transpired that it didn’t have to be removed and we could have leveled the floor over it. However, my mind was comforted because I know that it doesn’t exist and have photos to prove it!

Eventually we discarded the old skirting board. Under vigilant guidance I sanded and painted repeatedly brand new cheap skirting board and with careful drying out and weighting down it turned out well.

LAYING A SUB FLOOR, THE OAK FLOOR AND SKIRTING BOARDS

          I'LL FINISH WRITING ABOUT THIS LATER_____     Once the floor was laid, the radiator was replaced and the glass hearth and woodburner installed.

NEW INTERNAL DOORWAYS AND DOORS AND LIGHTING

One door way had to be widened and made higher. I chose two new doors and it was my task to sand and paint these. We bought the glazing from UK. 

INTERIOR DECORATION

I haven't yet added curtaining or hung photos / pictures on the walls.  LATER!

The Laundry Room

LAUNDRY ROOM

When we investigated the exterior walls of this the oldest part of the house (it is on the Napoleon map of the village) we discovered two problems:

1. the exterior render needed to be removed and replaced! As it can only be seen in my neighbour’s courtyard, it is low priority because of ‘what the eye doesn’t see’.  However, it will have to be repaired within the next 5 years! 

2. the guttering ran through the boundary of a 3 feet wide stone wall and discharged the rain straight onto my ground. THIS was why the indoor floor level of the room which was half a metre lower than the external ground was wet! So once we’d understood the problem, the floor was tanked with tar, cleaned and levelled so that white ceramic tiles with plinths could be laid.  

The damp interior walls were further dry-lined to ensure the walls were dry and other walls were stripped of the unpleasant wood cladding. All walls were plastered, sanded, and filled continually until they were flat – it was unbelievably difficult.  The ceiling which had never been plastered properly was also a major problem to stop it moving as we tried to make it flat.

Window difficulties

The first window for the laundry room was 45cm by 45cm and an opening/closing window was chosen. My friend adapted the hole in the 2 feet stone wall which looked out into The Atelier. It was wider internally than externally and so wa awkward to improve.  He left a gap for a ventilation grid, as one day the central heating oil boiler will operate once more. As I finish each room I will replace the radiators! 

The second window had a sealed glass brick window flush with the external wall which my friend improved both on the exterior and interior and also removed the nasty, badly-fitted secondary glass which was on the inside.  We had to order an opening window in the same style as the first window and wait two weeks. This was going to be installed on the inside of the existing window as a method of sound and thermal insulation. It was an hour’s journey to the shop so we delayed travelling until we had a number of other things to buy. Meanwhile the beautiful wooden sill was finished. Imagine our annoyance when holding the window to the hole, we couldn't understand why it was too big. The reason was because it is advertised as a window 75cm high and 60cm wide. Correct?  We had assumed that that is the size of the hole.  Mais NON!!! This is France…we had not read the small print at the bottom of the specification chart. Each window is actually 3 cm wider and 5 cm higher or vice versa than the actual measurements advertised in large print at the top of the specifications chart!  Our research indicated this is the norm in Bricodepot and Le Roy Merlin. Therefore, our hole was too small and the neat work had to be undone to accommodate the window frame.

Electricity,Plumbing and Shelving

In May 2010 the Electrician/Plumber promised to make the power safe, complete many electrical  anomalies and instal an enormous, new 'chauffeau thermodynamique' water heater which was eventually completed just before Christmas day 2010 but not switched on until June 2011.  In May 2011 the washing machine was installed.

Between October 2010 and May 2011 I was carefully monitored by my friend and lectured severely when I didn’t get it right! I worked hard on this room and learned to dislike sanding and filling of walls and ceilings. I learned to like painting the walls but was not very good at cutting in. However, I enjoyed stripping the old pine door and waxing one side and painting the other.  Of course my friend had to rehang it which presented additional problems.

It was a terrible room to renovate but now I am extremely happy with it, even though in December 2011 I still await a sink, a worktop and cupboard space. It will be some time before this can be achieved. Meanwhile, shelving units store food, as the room is an excellent larder.

The wood was painted “Lead White” and the walls and ceiling were painted “Chiltern White”. We were very pleased with the transformation of the room.

Recommencing Renovation in September 2010

From September 2010 we recommenced tranquility and renovation work. We began to make three rooms habitable. It was no easy feat!

Blogging

My energy and enthusiasm  was zero for blogsite postings for a new website with blog that my friend had created. At that time this blogsite had not been envisaged.  It has taken me over a year to have a creative mind to out order into my writings and the events of my life.

Exhaustion

Increasingly I found it difficult to wake early. Despite being exhausted and with cold weather approaching, my friend was motivating and a disciplined driving force waking me up, getting me out of his house to work at my house.  At weekends we collapsed with fatigue.  His expertise as a builder converted the rough and horrid to the smooth and beautiful and he gave me training in the use of power tools.  I have a great deal to be thankful for. I cried so much every day. I wanted to give up. But I couldn’t.

Research

Architectural plans had to be made and acceptance gained from the Maire, and research had to be made into double-glazed units, flooring and sub flooring, woodburners, water heaters, doors,

Double Glazed Units

The estimates for creating 19 double glazed units for the doors / windows was unbelievably unaffordable so we researched the costs of phonic and thermal glass. In October 2010 the units arrived from UK but my friend only had time to repair the doors and windows of the two smallest rooms. They were in a very bad way. Worked stopped in May 2011 and when we recommenced renovation in November 2011 we’ve had to focus on the bathroom.

Start of Mammoth Update - Bonfire and Wood

So ... starting today I will attempt to update the year 2010, but naturally events flow into July 2011.

Photographs will be added as and when I can.

 

Bonfires and Wood

This might sound strange but it was a difficult and time consuming task. On 01-10-2010 I cleared the two unsightly mountains of waste wood and garden matter in the middle of my garden. Stuff from garden clearance and stuff inherited in the house! I'd previously sorted it into wood to be saved and wood to be burnt.  However, I should not have tried to burn melamine-clad chipboard as it smells very badly and does not burn!  I sifted the unburnt straw matter from stone matter, picking out the bones and skulls of pre-deceased critters of chickens, meatbones (a dog had lived here!), scallop, oyster and mussel shells long removed from the sea.  The trailer was eventually loaded and upended into the recycling container at the dechetterie. I need not have separated it as it was a dirty task but it was therapeutic, getting me in touch with Mother Earth, sieving enough soil to contribute to an almost stone free place for seedlings and scattering sieved soil into the holes of the lawn. Madness. The waste wood was all saved to saw into kindling wood.  It is still a task to do.

Winter Blues

is what I'm a sufferin' from, I reckon, so I've found me some music to cheer up my soul.  I accept the need to curl up like a hedgehog and sleep a thousand leagues under my duvet ... for the winter darkened days... trouble is ....I need to get on and my body and mind just don't seem to let me!  I just love the music and imagery with the second video.  An accomplished guitarist too and the stones and woodland remind me of where I live.  Winter Bones and Stones. I miss my Summer Spirit.

November 2011

 

NOVEMBER 2011

She walks along the village street where houses made of stone

hide and then reveal an ancient proud chateau

rising high to meet the sky.

She greatly wonders with surprise at this edifice vast and tall

and whose immense imagination

laboured to create such a visual foil.

She marvels at the awesome sight where none have lived since ancient times

and stands to stare in disbelief

like a visitor for the very first time.

She continues walking downward strokes a cat along the way

until she comes to her favourite place 

a mirror for antiquity, a pretty water way.

She stands to listen better

To the silence of the river

As it travels ever lower

Listens to the talking river

Hears the water chattering over

The weir babbling drops together

As thoughts and smiles of laughter

Walk precariously by the river

Broken branches stepping over

Rocks stones and mosses gather

In awe hearing mighty water

Like a child of Hiawatha

Alone with Mother Nature

Golden brown and fading ochre

Cling to trees as Autumn cover

Carpets leafed grey-brown-a-flutter

Scuffle shuffle smell and wonder

River winds around the corner

Of the silhouetted verdure

Forgets her other culture

City life and social banter

Forgets crowds and people chatter

Remembers though the fun and laughter

Remembers holding hands with youngster

Throwing stones in ocean water

Splash. Allow the sea to chase her.

Remember. Arm in arm. A lover.

Hear the buzzard screel and the caw of crows

Marvel at musky damp beneath her toes

Emanating from stones and leaves

Mother earth and moist wet trees

The sight of vivid verdant emerald

Of grass-bright-green moss-cushions-gold

Wonder the source of this wild French river
As Azerables joins the Gartempe and ponder

The damp wet beauty and olfactory aroma.

Evp November 2011

I am a leaf

A leaf tells of an adventure downstream

I am a leaf floating on the current.

Other leaves float alongside me.

We float separately but some are nearer than others.

Some move faster and overtake me.

I take my time.

I move faster than others,

making quicker progress to reach those who have passed me by.

We’re heading towards the sea, a very long journey.

However, I know not where I am destined

as many of us will reach a different end.

From time to time another leaf falls from a tree and joins us.

Trees were our birthplace

where last Spring we leafed into bright green clothing,

vivid, vibrant, rustling, fluttering in the breezes.

But as Autumn arrived we changed our apparel,

yellow, orange, red, brown, as trees discarded us.

Very few of us will meet the mighty ocean.

Most will be pummelled into the river bank mud

to disintegrate and be transformed into river sediment.

The rain, snow and ice could batter us to death before we’ve achieved our ageing process.

Some of us are in better shape than others.

Some of us look quite elegant and beautiful floating in style.

Others seem to be clutching at the surface of the water with leafy tenacity. 

Others have already drowned and lie at the bottom of the river in swathes.

It does not matter how we present ourselves in life.

We all have the same fate.

We all look the same once we have perished.

We journey on to enjoy the view and as we gently drift,

look down into depths of unknown territory, darkness and murky blackness,

to study the reflections of the trees who still cling onto fellow friends.

Some trees never let our cousins fall from their symbiosis remaining evergreen.

We though are free, abandoned, rejected, call it what you will.

We are made to endure a journey – an adventure downstream.

We may be lucky, we may suffer.

We accept our fate, for now we are gladly carried to what we will become.

Peace and Understanding

Peace is essential for living. Not only do we try to remember those who without dignity died fighting in the most dire conditions that you would not even expect an animal to endure but also we try to remember that they died struggling for peace, understanding and acceptance of the differences between different lands, cultures and peoples.  Sometimes perhaps we should try and forget past aggressions and wars so that inner peace within us has an opportunity to develop and bring harmony to the world as well as to our inner soul, our family and friends. 
For many years I upheld the Catholic faith to the best of my ability which was never good enough and I knew that.  But what is perfect? Before that I had my own beliefs which I continued to believe with modification and despite loving much of the Catholic faith especially the songs and hymns which I used to play every day on the piano, I never became a Catholic in the 23 years that I worked within the Catholic environment.  Two more years and I would have been eligible for a Papal medal if the secretary was awarded one after 25 years service to the establishment!   I made mistakes but I did my best not to be hypocritical (yet I think I probably was) and I did my best to keep the peace and to teach children that respect between people is a gift and is something to be valued in our attempt to acknowledge that people are very much the same despite differences in appearance, faiths, beliefs and much more.
When my father died this is the song that came spontaneously and which I sang all alone in a Church in Spain where there was no other family member except my daughter.  He saw terrible atrocities in the war and told me about some on the very last day I ever met him. It was as if a burden had been lifted for him because he said he had never ever told anyone this part of his story.  His only sibling sister was dying and he knew he would never see her again.  Tragically, he died soon after from a traffic accident and lost the power of speech.  He made his own decision not to burden anyone. 
This is the song I sang spontaneously today just after 11am on 11th day of the 11th month of the year 2011 as I sat in my garden listening to the clock strike the hour, as I sat and with my own reflections with hands covered in dirt and imagined those who fought in trenches, those who fought for the Fair Winds of France and England to bring freedom from fighting, to give those who came after Peace.  Each verse is repeated but Peace is replaced with Love, Joy, Hope.

Peace is flowing like a river,
Flowing out through you and me,
Spreading out into the desert,
Setting all the captives free.

On another note:
Today I was speaking to a friend about the larger pansies which compared to the diminutive ones seem to have a disappointed attitude as they bow their heads. 

September 2010

In September 2010 I started to try to think differently, to take one step at a time - 'pas a pas'.
I found a quote in Labyrinth by Kate Mosse. which seemed to identify purpose.   
As I can't locate the quote I'll have to read the book again and when it is found I will post it here!

I began to enjoy 'le chaleur' et l'ombre' - the heat and the shade in different parts of the house and garden - at least 29 degrees celsius. It makes me feel HUMAN and NORMAL.  I watch the harvest coming in and see the bare, exposed fields with the crows or rooks cawing cavernously, making me nervous about Winter.  

Restless in France was having to think positively and optimistically for Autumn was yet to come and she who loves colours, smells, mists and moistiness enjoys October.  She has a lot to plan even when planning makes little difference. 

Waxing Lyrical - Poems from July and August 2010

Waxing Lyrical 1: Homage to sheep, stones, solitariness and standing still

Sheep are like Stones….except that the latter do not move.

‘Twixt sunrise and sunset one can meditate whilst observing herbivores grazing on the grass in fields and one thinks that their movement is imperceptible. 

Let one’s mind drift, look away or dream, and look again and one becomes aware that they have all changed places, surreptitiously.  However, if sheep feel threatened or intimidated by a clap of the hands for example they bleat furiously and run together.

Eating machines are what sheep are… unlike stones in walls and stones in fields, that existing since creation, perhaps have not moved far from their original place over thousands, nay million, billions, trillions of years.

A sheep born as a humble lamb soon learns to get on its feet to avoid danger, to dance and skip and move on to eat.

Does luck come into it if it should it be killed as a lamb or as mutton?

I climb upon the wall, the dry stone wall, over one metre high.

I could not have done this five years ago!  

How wonderful to have such a commanding view over sheep and stones.

I am as strong as this blade of grass… oh drat, it has bent a few centimetres from my thumb.   Breaking it off again it stands tall and strong again.  I will not weaken as before, I say!

I stand in this seemingly special place that I have learned…yes, learned to love, 
this wilderness where one hardly ever sees a soul except of the woolly variety.  

I have been back in France for less than 24 hours. 
It is now twilight as I overlook the barren sprawl of countryside, the trees … and SHEEP .. or are they STONES?

I stand up high on this stone wall with a view, up and down the lane before me. Behind me in another field are more sheep and their friendly pony and beyond to the west are layers of sunset rays, amidst blue, blue skies and streaking, fluffy-white clouds.

Oh magic, marvellous moment to remember,  an exquisitely warm evening, cities far away as I stand here solitary in wild, deserted countryside not a soul to be seen, save sheep and stones.… all alone … and all alone in a beloved France, with beloved England far away, as all souls are always all alone.

 

Ep  9th July 2010   

VDV - knowing that time stands not still and brings changes that cannot be fought against.

Waxing Lyrical 2: Homage to a river, acceptance and stillness

In the August shade I sit solitary against a tree trunk.

Summer into Autumn, roots bare and brown, 
writhe like snakes upon solid brown earth on L' Isle de L’Anglin.

When Winter comes these tree roots will be submerged beneath surging waters.

But for now, Tall poplars, leaves mirrored in a looking glass 

create a meditational water garden wavering constantly and continuously.

Diamonds grow like deep, dark glossy jewels on the water surface 
as ripples meet ripples, to and fro, from bank to bank.

Lilypads on the quieter side of this isle invite demoiselles and dragonflies to flit in a different garden of delight.

Willow weeps and wails, whilst a dozen ducks without drakes form a flotilla floating downstream.

Quiet voices, peaceful movement, disturb a potential silence; tranquillity as people prepare for a fête.

Ep August 2010  

AsA - knowing that acceptance is a wonderful thing and can create a different kind of stillness.

To marvel at the water's edge

More frequently do I arrive at the river

to marvel at the water’s edge,

to walk against the current, or to walk with the flow,

to sit on a rock contemplating the wondrous day,

to hear burbling,

to meditate how deep reflections of trees are

with upside-down trunks playing trickery,

causing my mind to think that the course of water runs so deep,

when in reality

the river bed is not much more than a metre below the surface

on which leaves float,

where here and there

a surprise splash of frog or fish breaks the quiet surface tension

between wetness and air.

Towards the evening sun of October

look up high

to the bright blue sky and watch a distant plane paint its path,

look down low

to see the ball of heat reflected with sparkling, twinkling, diamante rays.

A small breeze buffets newly grown poplar shoots arising from old trunks cut down last Autumn before Winter 
to make way for Spring growth.

Passers by with dogs,

elderly arm in arm,

young in a different embrace,

family scenes,

solitary ones,

all enjoy pleasure from this garden.

I alone, learn to be alone, walk alone at my own speed,

having to wait for no one else but only me alone in my world,

not lonely,

yet sense aloneness

as I frequently arrive at the river to marvel at the water’s edge.

Evp

October 2011

Entertainment

Some acquaintances are extremely talented and their association "La Fausse Compagnie" presents a variety of quality entertainment for the public.  The aim is to take the current several day event to different villages where little happens.  So to Vicq sur Gartempe...and at the water's edge. "Lire en Vienne" presented a poetry reading "Au fil de L'eau" in French, of course, followed by soup and wine for free. 

On a different day music for a Bal was played by button accordion and drums. My two left feet were invited to be a partner for either E or F in the Valse.  They steered me each time!  After a while I became rather melancholy when I kept hearing the tunes I play and I wanted to be on the playing side of the instrument rather than the listening side.
In the darkness Spacefish did his act and after that there was a 5 minute Mime from Momette who had no mouth.   My fascination was with the excellent performance from two astounding women accordionists who could not only PLAY, and I mean PLAY... this instrument in different styles without music, but could sing, and I mean SING ...even in an operatic manner as well as cause much merriment and mirth within themselves and the audience.  One was tall and one was short and yet so beautifully entwined were they in their performance. Brilliant.   The repas on the Saturday evening was Celeri Remoulade, followed by Poulet avec Prunes, and a variety of prune, plum or apple tart. Seasonal fare!  It was great fun and lovely to be out and about.  I never get my attire correct... went in trousers ... but then nipped home to wear something more 1950s style... black and white polka dot skirt, black polo neck sweater, kitten heels and my ¾ length autumn brown satin coat. More womanly!

A week later I went rather timidly to a cabaret version of the poetry presentation in the village hall where I live. The readers were dressed as matelots (sailors) on a theatrically decorated stage, with a slideshow of watery scenes.  There were two sea shanty songs for audience participation, but I declined to sing “A la santé du roi de France et merde pour le roi d’Angleterre” for the refrain/ chorus!!! The two hour entertainment cost 5 euros which included a glass of cider,  plus 1 euro for a slice of home made Reine Claude tart and coffee.  One French lady who I met at the previous entertainment was very welcoming and ensured I sat at a table with other people rather than alone. No one else spoke to me but I enjoyed just trying to understand the extracts that included Jules Verne, Hemingway, Homer and Victor Hugo…I read the programme!

UPDATE: November 21st 2012  Go to:

http://www.lafaussecompagnie.fr/spectacles-le-chant-des-pavillons.html

where you can travel from webpage to webpage to listen to and see more information.

An up and down journey to keep fit

Start your walk after a fine lunch at LA PLACE AIMÉ OCTOBRE

Walk along the LA RUE DE FOUR BANAL and around the loop of the road in front of the château. Be aware of traffic.

 Keep descending along the RUE DU PONT going past a house on the right which has this plaque.

  Arrive at the bridge over the River L'Anglin and bear right.

Walk under the bridge along the RUE DE DONJON, past an unused gate on the right.

Turn left below the château to climb LA TRANCHÉE DES ANGLAIS.  This pass, possibly without steps, was made by Les Anglais in order to seize the château in 1356.

Arriving at RUE DU CHÂTEAU turn left, (yes you have been here before)
then ascend the steps at LE TRUCHON (a family name?) which is on your right.

Turn right at RUE DE FOUR BANAL (yes you have been here before)
and proceed down the slope of the TERRIER DU CHÂTEAU where once carriages traversed before the loop of the road was created.
Turn right (yes you have been here before) and then proceed up the slope of LA CUEILLE where once water would have been collected from the low town.

where you can gather your breath, turn right to RUELLE DE L'ARCEAU.

Turn right to return to LA PLACE for refreshment.
N.B. There are different coloured chairs for the two café-bar restaurants.  Try one at the start of your journey and the other when you have finished.
It's a good physical exercise and should take you no more than about 30 or 45 minutes depending on how long you stop to admire the views!!!!!!!