Chateauroux: 2 of 3

After lunch we did a recommended route to look at 19th buildings.
This one needs a good clean and care by the Notaires who work there or by the Region as it is so beautiful. Needs a bit of TLC to honour it!  However, walk to the back and it is so ugly!  Note the architect and sculptor plus the decorative panel camouflaging the hole to the basement.

sunfllowers?

Then we lurch from one epoch to another as across the road is a 'lean-towards-the-road' structure.. part of the cinema, library, parking and who knows what else complex

Also opposite is this:

and this...

and this...

Having walked through all that... there was an impressive 20th century frontage incorporating the individual elements but walking along I was not in a position to capture the curving, glass frontispiece, which I did not like!  We came to the 'Chapel of the Redemptorists' .. disused but at one time an Unemployment office... three steel chimneys were acting as an aeolian pipe, humming away! I wonder if the architect who created the heating system was aware that this would happen?

This building was not mentioned on the leaflet of the route.  Most of the coloured decorative work had fallen off.

Then another lovely doorway!  Again not mentioned on the inadequate leaflet.

Look at the former wealth of the Post Office building!  But later, I didn't think to take a pic of the now disused sorting office by the railway and bus station.

This building was a former fencing house!  I rather like the sculptures. BUT we only knew what it was from the promenade leaflet.  No plaque to celebrate its heritage or to explain history and art to passers-by.  AND it is being used by wealthy notaires, lawyers or architects!

HOWEVER marvel at these:
and look at this link about the construction of GUITARDES:
http://www.historicalcarpentry.com/guitarde---beautiful-french-dormers.html
where it describes these buildings.
This one is beautiful:

but just along the road was a carousel / manège with windows!!!!! Never seen one like that before! It seemed a pity to have that at the end of a clean, attractive modern "residential public courtyard".  Bit like the awful chichi wagon at la Place near the eating establishments. I tripped over his cable.. no health and safety concerns at all!

More guitardes, french dormer windows showing the skills of carpentry trade.

they must have had a head for height!...this one on the tipple.. whoops ... topple!

In between those buildings I found some other interesting, more elegant dormers... more my style!

More guitardes on the house you could buy!

I like the star  .. I could have had one or two of those on my lucarnes instead of my little birds!

and a balcony would be a treat!

Now that I have used three hours of my time in creating these two posts and the next, giving my body time to recover from the aches and pains of driving, walking and several weeks of work PLUS medical intervention,  I ought to move about, get my mind working on what needs to be achieved in the next couple of weeks.

It is cold again after a few days of warmer daytime weather.
In the afternoon it was hot enough to wear shorts and tee shirt whilst I dug the green manure into the soil,planted potatoes, carrot seeds, Italian chicory, radish and peas.
Seeds are various stages of age and so they may or may not grow!

Chateauroux: 1 of 3

Driving across meadows, fields and ponds of La Brenne in earlyish morning bright sunlight, finding one open café bar for breakfast: a hot chocolate with an apricot croissant from Saturday's supermarket shopping expedition was a small adventure.

We kept to the road and arrived for a second time in Chateauroux.

With about ten years in between I am still unimpressed, although it seems less dark, more spacious.
I suspect I have missed much on this whirlwind walk. I realise I didn't come across the Museum nor did I get to the botanical park that I believe is somewhere there.
I try to take in the historical information on the various burgundy coloured notice boards but somehow I feel it is only a small nod to the number of famous people and historical events that occurred here.. Somehow I would like the town to make more of itself.

YET... Witness a town hanging onto a few medieval buildings, where then, once tanners, carders, weavers and drapers lived and worked in great numbers, where today, number 51 is unmarked on the street that it is in,  and marked up the hill in the side road. Its  proclaimed mullion windows, mentioned on the visitors  have been ripped out in favour of modern secondary glazing.
HOW CAN THAT HAVE BEEN ALLOWED? ... and when did that happen?  Such a shame!

However, the lavoir, below the huge convent building high on the cliff edge, where on the outside you could see the barred windows of their cells, was beautifully reconstructed.   Barrels were placed to help people stand whilst they washed the linen. I couldn't see how that would have worked!

Postscript: Perhaps the floor was lower earthdirt in medieval and after times, before the team of volunteers etc "renovated" this architectural treasure .... and so the women would have STOOD and their elbows would be at barrel height and so SO SO... they would have STOOD to wash their linen-oh! 

Rant:
Why can't architects leave things alone or put architecture back to how it WAS even using modern equivalents? 
I was required to have my roof repair / replacement overseen by the Architecte de Batiments de France yet in the town nearer the eye of  the church  houses have been allowed to have modern roller blinds and windows that do not conform to shape and size... VELUX I can cope with... double glazing too but it has to be in keeping.  
The problem is there does not seem to be control over STYLE... even if one needs certain planning permissions! 

And what kind of oil was milled here?

 Drainage work.... and maybe afterwards they will cobble the ground anew which seems to have been done very nicely in some areas of the town.

St Martin's Gate .. once a prison .. is a remainder and reminder of ancient ramparts from the 12th to 15th centuries on which the Chateau Raoul was built... giving the name of the town.

This next, was near the pavement to one side of someone's door...something to do with an average level??? Water? not sure!

 A bit of architectural fun!

The old "elegant" Mairie/Town Hall faces the modernistic "ugly" Market Place.  As far as I can understand a lot of the town was "modernised" since the mid 1970's... not the best architectural period!

There are replicas of Gallo Romain sculptures on the side of the old Le Mairie, now being used as a Music School.  We could a hear a xylophone being practised.

Although I sat opposite the new Mairie eating spinach and salmon quiche with Earl Grey tea for lunch, I didn't take a photo. 

 

Owning property is never labour free

MAY 1st... Labour Day!
Muguet has not flouished in the last year of dormancy; it has mostly died when it had been good for several years. There is just a little of the Lily of the Valley surviving and one flower stem.

A few days ago we went to the LOFT cinema in Chatellerault to see the Australian film of the memoirs "TRACKS"... after the novel of the memoirs of the Camel Lady who crossed the desert in 1975.

I really enjoyed it.. One needs the BIG screen.  However, i thought the actress never looked sufficiently dishevelled!   Brave woman in reality!   Inspiring and motivating . No, I could not do that!

I had been bored with blogging but feel an urge to write and publish once again!
I also feel a need to get 'out and about in real life', on real adventures, however small, like that of yesterday, but it helps to have company some of the time!

Sixth Anniversary

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!

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:

"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?"

YUP ... that is how I felt... get a hammer to it... NOW...
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!!!!!!

Yesterday's pain

Yesterday, we were forced to make a 40km apx / two hour return journey to Poitiers, to Leroy Merlin to be exact and return three sacks of tile adhesive marked with a fabrication date of 11/2015, bought at end of March 2016, kept in my kitchen room. Plus time spent in that green, orange and wh0te balloon-ed shop making the complaint,
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? 



 

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!

Swallow in the sky

Into official Spring time ...

there above, in a blue sky,
flies a lone swallow, 

so exciting to witness,
so hopeful a promise
of happiness and hope.

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!