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 ;)

Green fingers

Gardening seems to be the word of the week - the sun is out and we are experiencing really good weather so Wendy and I have been concentrating again on the out side area's though I have been able to wash and polish the bikes too ;)

We have completed clearing the front garden and borrowed Mark's pride and joy "A sit on mower" which was able to level the garden and now as long as we keep it mowed it will become a nice lawn (with some repair) Wendy's plan is to rotivate a piece for growing vegetables and another for cutting flowers.

The green house is still to be cleared and either renovated, the perspex is very brittle or to be demolished completely. Watch this space for an update.

We have started on the rear land area which is about 6 time the surface of the front and more overgroan! yes i did spell that right lol... But as you can see we are making an impression on it. This area will become a patio recreation / BBQ space along with some lawns and rockery type things - we hope to find a level enough space to erect our pool too, which will no doubt require a gazebo type of arrangement and some decking... loads of work and for the future as we are only concerned about clearing and maintaining it at present.

The jungle was too much for a strimmer alone and I had to resort to tried and tested methods and tools... Bloody hard work but very enjoyable to stand back by the fire and see the dent you have made. This is going to take a long time to clear.

We have decided that a sit-on-mower is a must have so if you read this kids, Billy, Scott, Ray, Sammy, Bobby and Bethany they cost about £1000 so that works out about £167 each for Christmas ;)
Mark and Kay took the easy option to get there grass cut by using French Marks tractor (Unfortunately there is no access to our area (Yet!) ) so he paid for it by way of a BBQ which we all went to and had a thoroughly good time, When Mark and Kay come over for good I think I am going to become a SOT :)

Mark & Kay

John Luc & Nicole; Me; Pete (Marks dad)

Wendy and Natalie

Natalie & Mark

Weekly Up-Date

The front of the house looking up from the front garden Taken today at 12:00
Notice the brilliant blue sky - the temp says 32 in the sun.

The weather here has changed - we now have cold clear nights resulting in a good spread of frost in the mornings but by 10:30 the sun has come up and dried everything out and brought the temperature up to 16+ and in the direct sun in is very warm according to the gage it is in the 20's however the breeze is still cool enough to make you aware it is Autumn. We have switched the central heating on and are happy to have done so, as it keeps the house at a steady temperature considering we are in and out all day.

I have now completed the majority of the barn/bunk-room insulation and putting the batons up ready to take the plasterboard which I will order Tuesday unless they are open on Monday. Monday is seen as a weekend day here in Treignac by most people but that is slowly changing as the local retailers become more competitive with the big towns.

Wendy is battling on with the garden - a never ending task by the looks of it. I have worn out the strimmer and completely destroyed the line assembly spool and line release mechanism. Only to discover that the French do not recognise JCB products and just shake there heads when we enquire about a replacement unit. JCB do have one of those 0870 numbers but I could probably buy a new strimmer for the cost of the call alone. My dad did have a go for me from the UK but we decided best to go and buy a French variant so we could easily maintain it and of course get the spares...

So of to the Carrefour and BricoDepot to get a Strimmer - there was a good selection to choose from but - like you do - I decided to strip a few down and see what the parts were like as far as durability and discovered that they all mainly used a similar type of assembly once you get down to the nuts and bolts, they do have small differences like size of nuts etc. So I decided for 24 euro's I would buy a french line assembly (I also aquired a couple of different bolts just incase). and was able to Jerry rig it to the JCB strimmer with some success and managed to get out and do some more strimming. I am not sure what the H&S implications are but the strimmer is now much improved and I attacked the garden as though playing an X-Box360 war game. - Once we have done the front we also have about 5 times more land to the rear and the side of the house to clean up and that area is even more wild with scrub, gorse, brambles and trees to contend with.

This is me (who else) Top left corner looking from the house
Notice now we have gotten rid of the jungle you can clearly see the Barn which belongs to Mark and Kay.

Tis one is taken from the bottom of the garden looking up to the house

and this one is looking accross the garden from the direction of Mark and Kay's

Whilst we were out we also came accross a TV table for 94 euros (in a priced to free up the space for a different line of products sale) an absolute bargain we had not seen anything we liked before for under 300 euros so we took it.

We have also managed some time out on the bike taking in some culture and exploring the roads. but you will have to go to the bike site to check out the pictures ;)

Rocamadour

Tidying up outside

We are continuing to tidy up outside as much as we can for the winter - there is loads to do and even after a couple of days we are not even making a dent in it lol... We have trashed most of the tools and had to go out and buy some decent one's - now need a new head for my strimmer to carry on. They are certainly getting some use.

We hope to clear out the front (jungle area) and turn it into a small lawn and a veg/flower garden. Ity is well overgrown and once we made it to the bottom and looked up we realised it was much bigger than we thought at first. There is a green house of sorts which we cannot get into for weeds so another small job hacking through and clearing out.

We will need to buy a very robust lawnmower when the area is cut down enough to cope.

I spent a couple of days pruning the tree outside the front door, we were even able to use the branches for fire wood (once they have dried out a bit) it was a tough job but now it is done it will only need a little maintenance yearly.

Here is a pic of me nearing the end.

36 degree's outside and Wendy has a fire going...

We received the best kind of news today we're GrandParents again or should I say my Son Raymond has rung to proudly announce his son (our Grandson) was born today at 10h46 (UK time) he is a bouncing Boy named Daniel Anthony... hopefully we will be getting some photos emailed/text over soon. Sadly we will not see him until Christmas but then that will make Christmas much mnore to look forward to.

Here is a nice picture of me with Emily and Ryan... (Well I think so anyway)

Wendy's fire is in the garden that is - as she is burning all the rubbish as she tackles the route to the bottom right hand corner of the front Garden... Today is a gloriously hot day as in fact was yesterday and saturday, I think we are going to have a much enjoyable Oct and Nov with some good weather allowing us to continue riding...

Wendy still a tomboy at heart!

Clear blue sky's above our home...
We had a good day Last Friday - the boiler man did indeed turn up as promised and the boiler is burning like new, it works a treat and the pipes and radiators all hold water and get warm so result and only cost 30 euro's and a bag of freshly picked mushrooms from the woods to our rear.

The satelite man turned up unannounced but welcome to errect and tune us into Sky so we also have English TV (still nothing much on LOL) a bit expensive but will be worth the money just to see what is going on in the world. He fitted it just in time for us to be able to watch the France England Rugby match, which we ended up going to the Cafe Commercial to watch with Mark and Kay and John, good result , the French were a little miserable after the match as they were conviced that they were going to take the game away...

Prior to the match Wendy and I managed a good ride down to the Dardogne with some tremendus roads and whilst we were out enjoying ourselves Mark and John removed the unsightly plethora of antenna sprouting from our chimney (unfortunately they were unable to get a picture on their telly maybe next time they are here.

Sunday saw us sat in the sun drinking Pastis with Mark and Natilie Mark and Kay and John a fitting end to the weekend.

Catch up

Well the plumber boiler man has been out and done the typical look under hood shake head strip a few bits down, shake head once more then depart promising to return with the spare part lol. this is what it looks like at the moment -

and we are expecting him to return today at 17h00 he has phoned and said he will be here now at 16h00 so looking good.


Did I mention I had fitted my prized weather vain on the pig sty roof - it is brilliant a present from my work mates on leaving Silversands - I was gobsmacked and lost for words - the weather vain has already become a talking point in Le Theil.

I have updated the bikeing site so http://www.whereistonynow.co.uk/frjun07.htm <--here is the link.

Just Chilling

That's true just chilling and enjoying the peace and quiet.

The weather has picked up again and we are enjoying warm days with a mixture of overcast and sunny spells. We have started to light the log fire of a night more out of novelty than really needing it to keep warm, it is surprising how cosy it makes the place and makes watching the box all the more homely. Although we are still waiting for the man in the shop to get his act together after a week and a half to come round and fit us a satellite dish to receive Sky we are still able to watch a plethora of films and pre-recorded series which some good friends a work were able to provide before we departed, thank you guy's you know who you are...

Mark Kay's place on the left ours on the right

Mark & Kay our nearest neighbours are over for a working visit renovating their barn so we have been out to the local restaurant for Sunday lunch and even took in lunch and a few beers whilst watching England gain a deserved (my oppinion) win over Austrailia on Saturday. Mark & Kay are from the UK (Kent) and own the barn and land to the left and front of us.

We also finally bit the bullet and subscribed to Dial-up internet only 20 euros a month unlimited access which is just as well as it took almost 15 hours to update both the laptop with Microsoft security fixes and anti virus definitions. So we are now in communicado and can be found on MSN from time to time.

I have cracked half the barn now with battons in preperation for Action Mike returnng and us crackng on with the work to turn the Barn into 3 shower/toilet rooms and a communial space for 8 to 10 guest motorcyclists.

Wendy has been cracking on with the double rooms and has stripped down one and is busy making good before wallpapering the room and painting it. We are still undecided on what floor covering to use but I am sure we will decide before long...

I am fully moved into the study now which reduced the number of boxes laying around the rooms since most contained stuff for the study.

The view from the study window

Well challenges ahead are more about getting on with things as we are tempted to stay chilling longer and getting the bikes out is still tempting - we hope also to have had the boiler services the plumber we are using knows the house and the boiler and seems to believe the problem is only a minor one, so we shall see...

Wendy's fav spot

Another Day in France

27 September and the weather has taken a dastardly turn and has gone from a sunny 20+ to a 9 and raining quite cold in contrast. We now have a more urgent (not emergency) need to get the central heating boiler serviced and working if only for peace of mind that when it gets freezing (and it will) we can at least rely on the central heating. We have already repaired a burst pipe from last year and need to know which pipes (there are a few) in the attic need insulating and which are redundant. The French have a knack of leaving things in place even if they are of no use or serve no purpose other than to confuse of course...

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 ;)

What still no Internet - Groan - lol

Wendy in Treignac

Well time has flown since we arrived at our new home, now refered to as "RidersRest".
We now have a phone line after some initial teething problems +33 (0)555 731433 - the line was down somewhere up the road which had to be relaid, thanks to the Immobiliare and Catherine who sorted it out for us. We are still no further down the line regarding Internet Connection at home so will need to set up some sort of dial up to at least get email and do some painfully slow surfing. We are looking into a Satelite provider but as yet have not contacted anyone in the know...

A visiter

We arrived on the 4th mid afternoon and from the 5th to the 10th we cleaned and got everything set up and started to manage the grounds around the house and cut it all back to a reasonable height, it is surprising how quickly everything has become overgrown again.
We also managed a couple of rideouts together after insuring the FJR which was a challenge. To be fair the weather has been great and we have ridden every day so far.

The insurance for the FJR started at 990 euros for all risk and any rider, down to 170 euros 3rd Party just me riding. so it is about 500 euros for fully comp (equiv) discounted to 350euros if I have my house insurance with the same agency (you can sign a promse to change to them on your renewal date to get the discount immediately which I did). I took the 3rd Part policy gotta think of the pocket.

We spend some time trying to get the Rocket registered at Tulle but came accross a brick wall and was thrust a mega cmplex form which we had to fill in and take to the DRIRE in Brive and for a small fee they would provide all relevant details to the Profectur in Tulle so they can issue a Cart Grise so with a bit of luck I should have it all sorted by the end of the month ( the forms are with the DRIRE but everything takes 10 days ).

The 11th was an eventful day as we had our first proper guests. I met John, Dave and Lisa on the ferry over on the 4th and gave them a card inviting them to stay if they found theselves close, they stayed overnigh on the 11/12th. We used this experience as a dry run to what it was going to be like when we were open for business properly. We consumed some wine and beer and made us realise how good the social life was ging to be and also how easy it was oing to be to drink the profits...

The same day 11th Mike (ActionMike) arrived for a weeks riding holiday intermingled with a look arround and measure up for the building work he is going to be doing for/with us, namely getting the place together so we can provide sleeping and ablutions facilities for the group accommodation. by the end of the week he didn' want to leave but even though it was raining we rode with him to the A20 to see him on his way. He will be back and left a monster shopping list of materials and fixtures for us to get. Again Mike came on his Rocket so we proudly rode around some of the local twisties and out as far as Toulouse in search of a Brico-Depot for a catelogue so Mike could complile the said shopping list. Along with the shopping list there is a list (VShort) of things I can be gettng on with - The one thing that Mike did do when he was here was reasure us that what we were trying to do with the available space was possible and we were able to measure up and divide the space into actual rooms so we could get a feel for sizes - cheers Mike.

We took in some of the culture in Treignac wandering round the Medievil town and even though we were impressed with the bits we had seen up til now we were impressed at how beautiful the town was and how well maintained everything is, a great place to wonder around some of the building are dated 1500 and still being used.

I think Mike was sad to go since Wendy cooked some outstanding meals for us even managing to cook a fresh cake for our morning brew.