Mike left us with a shopping list of bits to get in for the renovation of the barn namely to get three bathrooms up and running and put a ceiling and internal walls up to accommodate the bathrooms and of course to create a sleeping area in the barn - to be know as the "Bunk Room".
The Brico Depot is some 2 hours drive from here and I have discovered do not deliver so now to plan "B" many trips to get stuff as we need it... JIT. I have already got the insulation for the roof and have started to put it up on my own, a difficult balancing job some 15 feet up with a malfunctioning staple gun but I now only have the fiddly bits left to do. Once it is all up I then need the batons to screw in place so we can attach the plasterboard (a two man job).
Before
After
Wendy is pressing on with decorating the rooms in the house starting with the Study, surprising how light and airy the room looks with a lick of Magnolia. We have decided to do a quick job on our bedroom by leaving the paper as is whilst it is in relatively good order it isn't quite the colour we would have chosen we have then layed a new carpet and put together our new King Size bed and a couple of wall lights so that we can put the wardrobe together and get unpacked to reduce the boxes of stuff we have which we are moving from room to room when we decorate.
We also now have two real beds so any guests can now sleep in a proper bed as opposed to the quality air beds we have been using up to now. I am sure Geoff and Ann will be pleased to here that…
News on the R111 front is not so good and the DRIRE (DIRE as I have renamed it) phoned to say there was a problem and they were returning my documents – I now have to go to Triumph France to get the Bike a formal Identity so I can Register it… That means I have to go to a local Triumph Dealer (Limoges – Move Moto) and get them to certify that I have changed the lights to driving on the Right, that the Speedo is in KMH and that is meets the French Standard for this bike so restricted to 100cv (less than 100BHP sob!! So I have to put the bike back to standard exhausts and maybe put the Cat-Converter back in place (so they can de tune it) Once I have the cert and it is registered I will replace the bits for the ones I had before and re tune it to max power… I have the technology just need to be able to convey it in French now. But as the weather has turned this is less of a priority than the House renovations.
So lessons this time are remember you are only as sharp as your knife. So use the right tools for the job and don’t scrimp on the quality of your tools. And communication is key to everything so learn to speak French!
Still no Internet at home so need to sort something soon.
Oh yes we have also been out for a few rides on the bikes here is one ride where Wendy rode pillion so we could get some photo's of our closest road the D16 going South to Eggelston it is a road of turn after turn after turn real magic ;)
