Snow in November

Well you cannot knock the locals they know what is what and sure as day follows night it snowed today...

The Builders are here

I am not sure if my A£53 is punch board or countersunk but it is all starting to happen or at least we have had an eventful few days.

Ikea have finally delivered our furniture so we have tables and chairs at last, so we will be able to accommodate the neighbours round for a meal without feeling we are gypsies with garden furniture in the house pretty flimsy garden furniture to boot. But not now with out ultra modern tables and chairs.

I managed to order my Tondeuse Tractor (Sit on Mower) which I am expecting delivery Monday cannot wait as it will make all the effort in taming the jungle worth while, even if I still have a fair way to go out back. Just the other day as I was strimming (on my third strimmer head) I could hear a buzzing louder than the strimmer but didn't know where it was coming from - I suspected I had a problem with the motor so I stopped it. The noise continued though the engine had subsided, I quickly discovered that wasps or bee's of some sort had nested underground and I had strimmed over it and upset the whole nest which was swarming all over the place, they didn't seem to bother me so I cracked on until the rain drove me indoors.

Also Jimmy a Brit builder over here (payrat Le Chateau) came and did us a quote for an upstairs toilet and to convert the attic space into a double room with on-suite with his mate Sean the plumber. We agreed a price and they started almost immediately. They are mostly finished the toilet room all plumbing etc so electrician tomorrow and then just the tidying up. We are well pleased so far (Will let you know when finished) this is the view so far.

The view looking up the stairs

From inside the bedroom looking to the stairs

A view of where the waste exits the house

The main worry has always been how we dispose of the toilet waste as we have/had no idea where the Foss was or where we could pick up the waste pipes. So I spend a day digging a trench to intersect the pipe and then follow it to determine where it ran and where we could T-in to it for the upstairs toilet and for the future the attic and the barn (Now refer'd to as the "Club Room"), the person or persons who buried the pipe in the first place had a wicked sense of humour because the dig was obstructed by some major rocks and always deeper than I had anticipated.

Wendy has cracked on with papering the smaller of the two spare rooms and has completed the job and even given it two coats of Dulux White Emulsion - brought from the UK by Mark & Kay after we discovered that the French equivalent (Mega expensive) was like fresh single cream in texture and would have needed about 10 coats to cover the wall. Once the toilet is in I will have to refer to this room as the bigger of the two spare rooms...

It is fair to say that we are in for a cold winter typical since it is our first, so we have topped up the diesel tanks for the heating 1000Litres worth and it is heart wrenching to see the rate at which the level is going down - oh well, this is mostly because of fuel prices at the moment the difference is 1/3rd greater than we paid in February. But better to be warm especially when the night temperature drops so rapidly when the sun goes down. We are also grateful for the Log fire in the front room.

It is a shame I didn't know that Jimmy would buy any building materials we needed and split his discount with us as I have already ordered all the plasterboard and wall rails for the Club Room (Barn) to be delivered Friday in time for ActionMike coming out on the 27th Nov to start work. You live and learn - it isn't what you know it is who you know.

Everyone is talking about snow, they seem to think we might get some snow - and Mt Dore is only up the road to Ski-ing is not far away if we care to partake... I think not ;)