I have wanted to sit down and write a blog from the Spring but have had little bit of "writers block" I also wonder just how many people are actually interested in me wittering on about our French adventure after nearly 4 years has it become a little boring?
sitting here on a damp windy day in Scotland however it is nice to reflect back on what I perceive to be big achievements along the way.
April was an exciting trip with the arrival of the tractor now affectionately named "Hermione"( I think Rosemary came up with the name) Phil & Peter did a great job collecting her from Welshpool with only a couple of via's and one flat tyre! I am sure they got some strange looks along the motorways and a few fist shakes at crawling along at 40mph I half expected to hear about traffic delays on the motorways or to see them escorted in by a police car or gendarmerie! Hermione has become a little star in her own right at the B&B and it never ceases to amaze me the "Boys n Toys" syndrome that seems to affect even the most discerning of gentlemen. I know I haven't given this section as much attention as it deserves but hopefully the face book posts along the way showed how it was all progressing! www.facebook.com/leseauxdelapetitefontaine
April saw the installation of yet another en-suite but gosh that was hard work! I can just hear Phil in my ear saying I don't know the half of it! Once again assisted by his partner in Crime Peter the pair of them set to ripping apart "Willow" pulling down plaster board, lifting floorboards for pipes and drilling holes through very thick walls. Slowly over the first week it began to all take shape!
Meanwhile out in the garden Chris Godson, Fosse Septique man and saviour of many a problem at Les Eaux, was setting too fixing the leak in the pipe to the fountain. It had not been quite right over the past months not having the familiar trickle of water pouring through the fountain. Chris did a great job and it was a lovely moment when the water finally sprang forth into the fountain. You could hear the gurgle and splutter along the pipes before a gush of thick brown gunge spat into the fountain.
There were a few trips to the DIY store but better organised than the first bathroom installation where they seemed to be lost for days at a time around yet another DIY store. Peter being the project manager seemed to have it all under control.
The second week the Beechgrove parents arrived so the garden had a good make over they always do a fantastic job and its great to get the summer season started with a tidy garden and at least this year I was going to be around to keep on top of it!
We were then flat out and on a tight timescale to get "Willow" completed and it became a burden, exhausting, frustrating and many a mutter of "Never putting another bathroom in" mostly from me! On the night before we were due to fly home there was still so much to do and by 6pm I was in floods of tears. Phil had begun to make silly little mistakes and short cuts and being the perfectionist that he is I knew he would look back on it and regret it. We took some time out, sitting in the garden, and discussed it all sensibly. Deciding that we would need to come back we continued on as far as we could and finally just before midnight the walls were painted and the carpet down in the bedroom but no shower or toilet installed.
With hindsight now we definitely take on too much in too little time! Although there is still one more bathroom to do it has been agreed this will wait until end of 2015 when we hopefully will both be there full time and can take our time to complete it. Better make sure we can get Peter booked for a winter installation!
We returned to the UK, delayed for 5 hours at Southampton, but finally in the door at 8pm at night with both of us back to work the next morning.
2 weeks later we returned to Boussseresse, and I am delighted to say work continued at a much better pace and all the little jobs were completed. I now had another beautiful bedroom and gorgeous en-suite shower room. The boys did good, what a team! Oh yes and the painting looked good too ( by ME!)
Jean Marks I hope these pictures show up for you!
At last "Les Eaux De La Petite Fontaine" was ready to open its doors!
