Still - grammatically speaking

An adverb:
as in
still in this place where I live
continuing to breathe
nevertheless
alone.

A noun:
as in
the stillness of this French maison
where quietness returns
where there is lack of much movement, activity, persons, tasks
where 'tis not noiseless,
for Freezer boils from time to time so that Clock can be heard ticking its song.
NOR
as in
stillness of air, water, weather
though 'undisturbed'
I am trying to be.
NOR
as in
still as a frame in a movie
though stop is what
I am trying to do.
NOR
as in
an apparatus to distill alcohol
still even a strong gin and tonic or a snifter of Armagnac would be a slippery slope!

An adjective:
as in
still lemonade - a non fizzy drink
OR
as in
it is not yet possible to be still
OR
as in
not moving or making a sound of being motionless in the DEAD stillness of a life form deceased.
I don't for one moment wish that!

I am trying to stay STILL.
Keep my WILL of not scattering.
Nevertheless,
I have no will to post,  update a blog
but perhaps after a while
after time has healed the moments of the past,
and there is a stillness between memories of joy, sorrow, regret, gratitude 
there will come a time when I can backdate and appreciate.

I came to say the last
BUT Creativity came to mind
whilst being still, focused on words, not emotions.
Being still,
letting my mind be me,
it wrote a poem!

Still

Yup, still not feeling creative with writing or producing articles.
Today the weather has cooled off.
I don't mind on one level but I would like more sunshine for August as mostly work has been indoors.

The kitchen is as done as it can be for now. Needs a splashback and some other treats! I can live with it.  There is such a lot of space as I have kept the laundry room as part larder.  Things will be moved around later.

Pic later.

Last night adding to the stress of Saturday there was a RAVE somewhere.. incessant boom boom base repetitive rhythms and evidently huge beams of light in the sky. It started at 6 and ended at 6!  I eventually slept and emerged at noon today! Day and mood awry!
The stress of Saturday was to do with Thursday and Friday's non stop work of tidying tools away, cleaning dust of renovation from all rooms, being appalled by how many spiders were concealed in corners, and moving stuff out of "atelier" wherever possible has exhausted me and him. FRACTIOUS is an understatement.

CHANGES
UNWELCOME but WELCOME changes are afoot.
Will I cope?
I must!

another year passes by

and I still haven't done that road trip of route 66.  Now the age has progressed to two consecutive digits once again and I shall have to wait for another 11 years before it happens again!
message from my daughter was in emoticoms but I am not sure if it will reproduce here!

🎂🎉🌻😄🍸🍾🎈. Xxxx 😘😘😘 Have a good day.

Only two cards this year.. and then a later one six days later and then another one 14 days later.. 

None from my mother this year or even any reference when I phoned her five days after my special day. Well she will be 90 in September and last year she was in a muddle sending to me as her sister and from my brother ( he has cerebral palsy and she has done everything for him in his lifetime .. he has such terrible shakes that writing is nigh on impossible ) she said I was his niece!!!! 


Much has happened and I don't get or make time to write!

I know

I know, I know my avid list of known readers ... about five... are all waiting to see
pics of the brand new kitchen.. and to read tales of what this mad woman has been doing...
and soon...
soon...
Soon, I shall have time to write and publish my photos.

I shall backdate the news!!

MY EXCUSE -
I have been working. I HAVE BEEN WORKING flat out. even though I have done little to instal the kitchen.  Garden and Domestics had to be controlled to calm the mounting chaos with the kitchen stuff in three rooms in the last 16 months.
A friend has written that my kitchen has been a prison.
YES.  It has been a sentence!
I deviate as usual.

Eventually, I gave up monitoring HIS tools, (the 'friend' who returned for his own sentence!)
Now,  he has a LOT to tidy up and it aint going to be me that does it!
I can see that I shall have to supervise where it all goes because it needs to be tidy ish!

The kitchen and the laundry / larder are all finished apart from the kitchen backsplash and le buanderie credence.
OH MY... dare I cook  in the kitchen?

The kitchen one will have to wait because I cannot choose tiles from a dustance and have no time  nor inclination to travel to tile shops to find something special.

I shall get the chaos sorted here as I have just a few weeks before THE HELPER travels on!!!

It might be good, it might be bad...

BUT despite trying to hear each side of the argument and disagreements
I WANT TO STAY IN EUROPE
and I am seriously upset and disturbed that what is being called a democracy
is what it is suggested to be and methinks it is not TRUE.

How can it be so? When there has not been compulsory voting measures.... nor despite the recent lawsuit by Brian Cave and another meant that British born people who have lived in Europe over 15 years cannot vote..... did not vote and those and the next would have made all the difference!
.. to continue,,,
and then, not related to that lawsuit, British born people who have lived elsewhere in the world cannot vote
and when some British born people who have lived in Europe for less than 15 years have had for one reason or another their right to vote ruined... (postal problems etc)
and when people like me who were born in Britain but who have lived in Europe ( I mean outside of Great Britain) for less than 15 years have voted ... but how can we know our vote was counted!!!!!!!!?

I am sick of Politicians jumping out of the sinking boat... BUT maybe that is a good thing and that those who steady their sails and nerves are staying IN....
( excuse me but I do wish to say to them all F***O**... I can write it FUCK OFF!  Stop using the people of Great Britain to make themselves VICTORIOUS...
NARCISSISM knows no bounds!

I WANT TO BE .... IN EUROPE...

I shall start to shout it... I shall say I WANT like a small child...
BUT I AM a BIG child and I want to feel safe and secure in my pensionable stratum of life!
I paid all my taxes in my working life... never flinched at what was taken ... was told to save in AVCs ... tax free... and now I am up against 40% tax if I wish to take out my lump sum...
BASTARDS! LIARS! ... and that was before this Anarchism!

I wish there to be freedom of movement and peoples within the continent of Europe to choose where they live and work. I would work in France if I could find employment at my age.
BUT I have also a right to have chosen to live here under earlier RULES...
(I pay my taxes in UK and I pay my taxes in France and I am entitled to Social Security... UNDER the old rules .. what next we ask? ...)
and those who live in GREAT BRITAIN have under earlier rules a right to live there...
I am not speaking about those who have violated the correct entry.

I am annoyed because for the last 12 years of living in France whilst RULES HAVE changed over the last 12 years I have been maltreated and treated worse than an immigrant...  it has been shaming when I have done nothing wrong but exercised my free choice!

I was confronted with NHS treatment rules which I managed to duck and dive when I'd had UK treatment and needed after care follow up.   I did not realise at the time the 3 month RULE.
Sadly, I lied because I was one or two weeks outside of the limit!!!!! I had to have the follow up as my bladder did then not work because of the op when I was resident in UK!

I am annoyed that since then when I tried to get a UK mortgage, having had one for 25 years and more in the UK as a single person in UK, I could not even get a foothold back in UK since 2008 without coming back to live there for six months...
NEVER MIND THE EMOTIONAL CHALLENGES and difficulties I was going through!
SO... I took the easier road and got a mortgage in France!

Here we are!!!!!!!  making the most... seeing the glass half full or more or half empty and more!

I am and shall be annoyed, angry, nay furious if UK does not treat their immigrants as I would wish to be treated as an expatriat in France.   We are human beings not pawns!

I am so upset!
I could say so much more but am not always verbally or textually literate.

Of course there has to be democracy but it has been based on insufficient information being disseminated to the people of Great Britain over a period of TIME...
LIES...
BROKEN PROMISES
and POLITICIANS abandoning the ship when they should be walking the bloody gangplank!
TRAITORS - all of them!

There should have been a YEAR of DEBATE and information ... before any vote... THEN it would have been better BALANCED.

I smell a rat. I smell a hunderd thousand rats on the ILLY ALLY O of Great Britain ... and if it were not for my age or family I would tomorrow apply for CITIZENSHIP...
It is still on the cards!

Drains drain

Oh .. poor my dear friend has to down tools on kitchen and pick up tools for drains.

The drain man I have to pay did not come yesterday morning. That was the third date agreed!
When I phoned to see where he was, he said he'd pass by at 14h, which he did. This gave us a chance to verify what has to be done by my friend. We have been cautious!

Tuesday should be the day when the road is dug up.. and a rodding point installed into the road. PLUS overkill perhaps there will be two more "regards" on my side of the road. They have cost about £85 without installation costs of cement, pipes etc...

As I write this my friend is lowering the pipe as agreed so that the descent is correct. It hasn't been!

After the work the road should be repaired, then on another day, Hopefully the day after,  the man will return to install the drainage cover.  We will then have to finish cement work,  reset the gate posts and backfill around the pipes with sand .  I have the tricky task of finding about ten paving slabs that match the existing ones as they had broken with the wear and tear of vehicles going over them in the last 6 years!

Blue meanies ... Drains it has to be! ... we don't get an opportunity to see the Tour de France at any of the nearby villages and towns! 

Almost a month since I thought Summer was here

I was duped!
The weather has been wet, grey, humid, miserable with occasional glimpses of the golden orb!
We have also been working at the kitchen.
Me?   I am the client, the support, the skivvy, the observer, the organiser,  the finder of lost tools,  the person to be consulted about "would you like it like this or this?", the second pair of hands, the person who tries to keep up morale when IKEA kitchen problems arise....
He? He has been the one to use intelligence, skills and expertise on how to put it all together.
We are nearly at the end of the process but not without a few dramas and visits back to IKEA... and still another one is necessary because the second tap also drips very slowly, but it drips and I shall return it and go to a different shop to spen a little more money on a quality tap .. maybe Grohe.

In addition, for the last 4 to 6 weeks the courtyard has been dug up because the mains drains needed attention.  We have installed one Clark drain cover for the existing rodding section which we left below pavement slabs, sand and gravel.  There is another one to instal but we are awaiting delivery of a smaller Clark drain cover.

Today the specialist should arrive on the third date given to make a third rodding drain cover on the public road.  In addition the pipes have to be resited a little so that they have the correct direction of descent!!!!!!!!!!
I really do not need a fourth 'dig up' of the waste system to ensure there is no further backup!  There was enough of that at my previous French residence and it's all very well with strong arms but I don't have those nor the inclination to rod the drains!

Almost a month since I posted on my blog, but I have been disinclined.  It takes time to focus, load photos, type text,  and I just have not been focussed on this form of diary!

Perhaps when I have more of my own time again, or before, I will be able to report on my kitchen progress.

Vide-Grenier Happiness

I looked at a local Emmaus last week for pans for my induction hob.  After I had deliberated about a skillet and a saucepan I returned to the shelf to discover they had been purchased! OH!  Too late! However, they were in nowhere as good a condition as those I found today at a local Brocante / vide grenier.   I am happy.  I need my mood to be lifted!
I like these because they have integral handles.  The largest is black inside. The middle one's inside is a little worn but very ok. The little brown cocotte needed a small clean to get rid of the calcaire on the outside.
The sizes are 23, 20 and 18.  These relate to the quantity of liquid they contain! 
I am happy because they cost 5e, 3e and 2e respectively. They will help strengthen my wrists when I cook! It will demand learning to use new cooking techniques but that's going to  happen anyway with a new induction hob requiring technological understanding.  I have a new Neff techno-wizardry oven with an 'escamotable' door!  It disappears into the body of the oven as it is opened ! Lucky me!
There is no doubt that I shall continue to use my camping gaz cooker in the atelier and the gas / electric oven and hob I bought from friends in March. That is also sited in the atelier.  The atelier is a well-ventilated workshop area (almost as cold as outside in the winter and thank goodness the last winter was deemed mild because I had to cook out there!).  It could easily be converted into a living room / kitchen with east and south facing conservatory, if ONLY IF! 

I've read on the internet that I must not use acidic juices (wine / vinegar) in cast ironware but that may mean 'not enamelled'.  My friend has left me two small frying pans .. one is unenamelled black which needs its surface to be regraded. One is orange whose outer blackened enamel needs to be cleaned up with caustic soda and then the black oiled again!
One should not use metals which could scratch the containers and occasional dishwasher usage is ok for the enamelled Le Creuset but not the bare cast iron!  Soaking the pots in soft soapy water is recommended but again ABSOLUTELY NOT the bare cast iron which needs to be wiped with oil after each usage. sometimes a quick hot water blanche is ok.

Here it comes... lalalalah!

.. . flames from the sun in June..
WE have had three days of high temperatures and a BLUE SKY! 
Out with winter - in with summer! 
Out with wet - in with dry.
Out with woodburners and in with alfresco eating!
Out with indoor tasks and in with gardening..
Sunday was a weather transition day and a rest from work day.
What is the meaning of the word "rest"?
A new route was discovered on an old railway track. Take the car across the departement border, park up, walk the lanes to arrive at a straightish track.   It can be walked or cycled ... involves some roads. More later!
After a two and a half hour walk I mowed one lawn for two hours... The next day the other lawn but the mower forced me to stop after an hour and a half.  The next day another hour and it was mostly finished but the wall and fence wildness needs taking control!  Grass cuttings were left as it was quicker.   The grass was getting too long!  I prefer to collect the mowings!  Then my legs became wobbly with that old known feeling that hasn't happened for a long while, so I stopped knowing a town drive and shop had to be achieved because the stock cupboard is low.  
I like to ensure that I have replacements for food and household stuffs. Hate running out of stock cupboard items. No one to borrow  cup of sugar from here, although the village shop is a blessing. When one goes to the town which is a 40 minute drive one has to do other tasks to also justify the journey! It can take hours.

Yesterday, eventually was KIND. It was so nice to be treated, to sit al fresco with a glass of red St Nicholas.  But the centre of that tow is so busy and noisy!
I never managed to get to the shop for  induction ironware   nor to the DIY store for electrical hanging lamp necessities!
Home and crash into bed at 8h30... having lost four hours sleep that morning.

The kitchen is being a pain for the man installing it.
One gets monkeys for peanuts and whilst design is a forte of IKEA,  especially packaging.. (they are BIG on cardboard, paper, plastic.  I intend to weigh it all, including the metal and plastic parts included in the packaging that we do not need)  they are hopeless in quality on other criteria!
Designed not to last!!!!!
Capitalism! Global waste!

The doors have fine hair line gaps so have to have 'the attention to detail' that my friend can give and the 'not yet in use tap' has a drip!  PLUS to my annoyance,  the sink hole is in the wrong position so when the tap movable spout pours water on the sink, water splashes and lies on the sink bed!!!!!!! GGGRRRR!!!!!!!

Ah... but it is beginning to look clean and tidy...
How it will work for someone who likes cooking will be  the test of time...

I have no time for reporting photos or other stories on the progress of this almost final stage of the six year french house renovation  on a budget.

When I can STOP working then maybe I shall get back to posting!

What really matters though is that to have had company here since early March has been good for my brain and emotions.  Again I have missed the cake club and other things ... because my friend here cannot stay and will not stay and maybe that is sad but reality!  I have also missed things because I have to get the kitchen installed. Even if I do not do the bulk of manual labour, I am on hand with the second pair of hands, to do as bid with holding this and that and to be consulted on this and that as well as making refreshments.

I could not have achieved the renovation work in this house without him and when he goes on his travels  I wonder if he will ever return..,for he will have done the last downstairs room and saved me thousands of l'argent!

I THANK HIM even though it has been six plus years of being separated.
The tears and heartache diminish over time as stress decreases!

Where are the flames of June?

Still a few weeks before midsummer,  and, still the woodburner brings warmth and cheerful light to a room indoors.
Rain......  media tells us of inondations in Paris... but equally here across the border... and even my own village the Rivers have risen and flooded roads, tracks, fields, houses, camping sites and more...
The River Anglin rose to a level flooding houses... and across the border, set back from the riverside chalets were awash with river water!  Le Gartempe burst its banks.

PHOTOS LATER

Emperor Moth*

* See below

FOUND: teeny ants had devoured its body!

I think it might be the female, but not being a lepidopterist, I am not wise. However, at my age,  I am proud that I remembered it's name and only consulted the infoGod to confirm and discover more knowledge.
http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/emperor-moth

various sites say 9cm to 11cm is BIG ... but this one exceeds those!!!!!!!

See comments below... EVIDENTLY this is a Giant Peacock Moth.

La grue d'Angles

Sunny Sunday

After a week of cold, wet rainy days necessitating a woodburner alight, either all day, or in the evening, with French doors not open, trying to keep the room warmer indoors than outside, the sun has shone on my village and me.  I feel gloom lifting.

I bought a standard rose in the plant and flower market. The latter needs to grow!  However,  my standard rose seems just the right height with its many buds.

I wanted one for the centre of the quadrant potager.  I have a vision of boxwood all around each section, yet, me thinks it's not a good idea, as box roots would penetrate and rob the veggie soil. Maybe,  at some time in the future,  plastic boarding. At the moment old chestnut beams form a border which encourages fungi to grow, whilst also being a haven for 'gendarme' beetles that like hollyhocks and old timber.
INTERLUDE
I still can't understand the tax boxes on the tax return forma. The recent advice from a reputable knowledgeable person with a vegetable alias says I am supposed to enter GROSS, whereas for the past ten years following the advice of the other Tax office I have declared  net because my pension is taxed at source, not in France.   WHY is there so much confusion when there must be many retired teachers in France!
RETURN TO SUBJECT
Back to gardening. I am waiting for ice cream to thaw a little to enjoy with stewed apples and pears. I mowed one lawn with the electric mower for almost two hours...including the wild areas where cowslips had been allowed to thrive and seed.   Plenty of wild areas left 'au bordure' ... nettles for butterflies and long grasses for grasshoppers.   BUT I DO like a neat lawn even if it is mainly clover, dandelions, daisies and other rooted things.  Mowed grass is spread as a mulch between roses and lavender, and in the box edged section which used to be a herb garden ... it was the first part I dug six years ago!  The garden has come on a lot since then.  Gardening brings me pleasure ... even though it is hard work.
After the ice cream, I wonder if I shall go to mow the other lawn 500 sq metres or more because I must go on a 5km walk tomorrow-a three hour group walk. Maybe I should mow that other plot with the petrol mower and get these legs a moving.     It is tempting to sit in La Place!!!!!!
Sunny Days are for living!
POSTSCRIPT
Yes, I did mow the other grass / lawn which took me an hour and a half.  I returned with a branch of snowy balls on a branch of shrub. 
As it was 7pm, I COULD allow myself to stop and sit in the evening warmth of my courtyard with a rare gin and tonic.  No ice!

Computer Technology

My OSX 10.6.8. has messages that tell that Firefox (I use) and Google Chrome ( I don't often use) will be, or are now, 'unsupported'.    HELP!
Does this mean that only Safari (which I rarely use) will be 'supported' or that too will be 'unsupported'.
Is this Apple's way of ensuring we buy, buy, buy?
 Wondering whether to continue the Apple route ..... 

I am worried about how I keep important poetry and written documents on my current laptop and photos, the latter of which are in three libraries of iphoto (created by The Apple store) and so I have such a big job to delete duplicates of sometimes 5 copies! 

Now, I know that my laptop MUST be replaced; slight hinge problem, has had a new battery, it is 8 + years old, and although new technology might be welcomed I was hoping to wait until next year before such an expenditure. 
The kitchen demanded last year's and this year's income and savings.
A newer vehicle, becoming a necessity, presents a dilemma whilst being resident in France when I don't ever get much time in UK to address this problem. I would prefer a RH drive vehicle.
Then there are some other personal issues I need to resolve with regard to finance. 

All that couple with UK and global issues plus ageing and feeling isolated though not always lonely, I am wondering how long I can manage here. 
Selling up and moving back seems to be too big an issue. 
I needed to be levered out of my last property in UK but that was because it was me, me , me except for the traffic and neighour issues.
Before that I needed courage to climb the property ladder and my friend gave me that courage.

Now is perhaps not the time to sell up.
I stilhave things to do and need to banish procrastination. Maybe once there is no more major renovation... ( I do have ideas!)  I will be able to open more boxes AND sell, give away, STUFF.

Meanwhile once that kitchen is IN, I look forwards to opening boxes of collected pottery and seeing what I wish to keep or pass to it's next owner!

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

The magic day arrived when we started to lay tiles not eggs!

YIIIIIIIIIPPPPPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
What a beautiful floor it is!!!!!!
With thanks on my bended knees in homage I thank my friend for sticking with me for the past six years.
I truly never thought I would ever see the kitchen make this moment!!!
I thought I would have given up but NO, I have stayed the course despite the trauma.
Tears pour out suddenly as I write this last sentence!
Looking back, seeing the distance, seeing the then and the now as daily I walk across that floor, I am in seventh heaven.  But I do come down to earth every minute of every day whilst considering thoughts and feelings about "what am I doing here?"  "what is my purpose?" etc.
The tears have stopped. That's how fast they arrive and disappear. Six  years ago I was crying all day!
A big sigh!

Well done him!  I am grateful that we are still friends and that we have a better understanding of each other. I THINK.
Life is so short.
I am tired of trauma, stress and being alone. I am tired of renovation but still have plans and thoughts for my house.   If only this.....and only that!!!
I

END OF UPDATE - It has taken me seven hours on Sunday 8th May in between gardening and domestics to writ, edit and complete these last five postings for scheduled publishing. 
It is evidently not as warm here as in England but yesterday was gloriously sunny. Warmth in any country, wherever we live makes all the difference to well-being!
Thank you.

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.