Category Archives: sauret besserve

Sunday 7th March 2010 – I think that the Pentax has finally died

I went out this afternoon to see FC Pionsat St Hilaire play Montel-Villosanges at Villosanges. I took three sets of fully-charged batteries, one of which was brand-new, and all charged up on different chargers, and I couldn’t get a shot. The batteries “depleted” while I was poised for action. I know that it was bad before but the voyage to Trappes and back seems to have made it worse.

So that’s that!

Mind you, it was perishing cold – minus 5 out there. With a howling wind and driving snow it was uncomfortable even watching the match. Heaven knows what it was like on the pitch playing. The game was difficult which was no surprise given the conditions, and ended up 1-1. The Chimps are a naggy, aggravating side as I have said elsewhere and the ref had his work cut out what with the players and a crowd (for it was a crowd, to be sure) whose passion quite often went beyond the bounds of what might be called “reasonable”. We had a “fight” between two players – and I use the word with inverted commas because had the two players have come up against a couple of British Brownies en route for a Sunday School outing my money would have been on the Brownies.

After that it was round to see Liz and Terry to discuss our radio programme next week. It’s keeping me busy, all of this.

-8

Wednesday 24th February 2010 – Happy birthday to me!

Yes but at my age you don’t count the years you’ve had you count those that you have left. Liz and Terry kindly invited me around for tea and Liz made me a vegan chocolate cake. There were candles on it too and I went to blow them out but I was driven back by the heat.

Best present though was from Amazon. Many of you know about the Amazon waiting lists where you add your name and your offer of a price to a list of any out-of-stock item you want and then some retailer does his best to match the stock. Now back in 1976 Hawkwind did an album entitled “Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music” and Jackie Marshall liberated a copy from Nantwich Library for me to tape. It’s totally worn out now as it’s had plenty of airtime due primarily to “Reefer Madness” and “Steppenwolf” – the latter of which was my “theme tune” for a number of years and still is I suppose. Unfortunately Dave Brock didn’t like the album (and I really can’t think why) and so when it was released on CD back in 1986 he quickly suppressed it. It’s as rare as hens’ teeth and second-hand copies have changed hands for over a hundred quid. But yesterday morning a copy appeared in my mailbox for just £12:50. I’m ever so impressed.

The neighbour was at work again down the lane and so I’ve been reflecting about the situation. And what I’ve decided to do is to enlist Terry and Liz to help me clear some of the waste land around here one day early next week and put the Passat and the Escort onto it so that they are out of the way. And then enlist Bernard from the football club with his digger to dig out the patch I was always going to dig out, put some stones onto it and use that to park Caliburn and the trailers.

Sometimes you need something of an incentive to get you motivated.

-6

Sunday 14th February 2010 – We’ve still got tons of snow …

… even if nothing much has fallen within the last 24 hours. I only had to breathe on the solar panels and the light scattering of snow blew away. Hot stuff am I, what?

So after a … errr … leisurely breakfast I came back up here and swotted up on French building permits and so on. I can tell you everything that there is to know about it – including the fact that I can erect a statue of 11.99 metres height and 39.99 cubic metres volume in my garden without planning permission! Dunno about you but my imagination is working overtime. Just think of it – Turdi de Hatred, Caligula and Her Horse, Pol Pot’s Sibling, Andy Pandy and Aunt Ada Doom (and whatsisname that she saw in the woodshed) 11.99 metres high and right next to the beichstuhl! I could have hours of endless fun with all of that.

Works of art are also covered by that exemption and that gives me enormous scope. When you think of Tracey Eminem’s unmade bed being exhibited at the Hate Gallery I’m sure that my verandah and its contents would be covered by this. And when you think that the disorder that I can create even in an empty room, well just imagine it – “no, this object 11.99 metres high and 39.99 cubic metres volume is not a new house – it’s next year’s hot favourite for the Turnip Prize!” In any case, anything that I ever build is certainly a work of art and people come from miles around to gaze in bewilderment at my efforts.

This afternoon I went down to Liz and Terry’s to discuss this programme. Julie should have come with me (she’s our first guest) but she’s snowed (or rather iced) in. This is one of the perils that you have to risk when you buy a house by a bridge alongside a river – the only way out is upwards and with the gorges around here being so steep, if they don’t grit the roads then you are stuck.

So I went on my own instead – but not that I minded, it just meant more vegan fruit cake for me! Down to Pionsat was … errr … interesting but the D227 between Pionsat and St Gervais was clear even over the Font Nanaud. From St Gervais to Liz and Terry’s was also exciting.

So having done what we could I came back. And that was even more exciting as it was trying to snow down there. But I encountered two snowplough-gritters so they are taking it seriously for Monday morning’s commuter traffic. It’s also forecast bright sunny weather too for tomorrow but as you know I have my suspicions about that kind of thing.

And Claude’s removal is postponed again. His son never came up and so nothing has been packed. They’ll be running out of time at this rate.

-4

Sunday 7th February 2010 – We’re back in the usual routine.

A nice lie-in on Sunday morning interrupted by a torrential downpour. So out of bed by 09:45 (which is early for me as you know) and breakfast followed by tidying up the verandah. After that it was back up here and try out the new power supply for the old Lenovo that gave up the ghost back in the summer. Hunting around the other day for a replacement I came across one on eBay at a grand total of £7.45 plus £3.50 postage. And much to mysurprise it actually works! So now I can recover the data that wasn’t included in the last back-up.

st eloy les mines nord combraille football club de foot puy de dome franceThis afternoon it was down to St Eloy to watch Pionsat’s 1st XI play the Miners. And they lost 4-1. Mind you the scoreline is a totally unfair reflection of the result and they were so unlucky – they hit the woodwork three times. But in truth they offered litttle up front with no Cedric, even though the Nord Combraille goalkeeper was a pretty busy man rushing out after all of these through-balls. Pionsat had a patched-up defence and an injury to Yann made things even worse. By the time the final whistle went, Pionsat’s back-line consisted of Gregory the left-winger playing at left-back, Sebastien who plays midfield for the 2nd XI at centre-half partnered by Pierre from Brico-Depot who usually plays on the right wing, and someone who I had never seen before playing at right-back. Nevertheless it was a really good match and I quite enjoyed it despite the scoreline. Two of Nord Combraille’s goals were absolute peaches.

That wood-burning boiler that Terry bought does not weigh 270 kilos. In fact it weighs in at well over 300 and it’s blasted heavy and awkward. But with the aid of two scaffolding planks and a carpet we got it into the kitchen. It’s just as well as it’s Claude-moving starting tomorrow and Terry’s van needs to be empty!

-9

Thursday 4th February 2010 – We had a really good go at Terry’s kitchen floor today.

After we emptied the kitchen we set out to do the tiling. We had something of a production line going, with Terry measuring, me cutting and shaping and then him laying. As well as that, I was mixing and carrying.

And it’s amazing but once you get into a rhythm it’s amazing just how much you can do and we would have had it finished if the light and the weather had held up.

Of course there were lentilburgers involved in this, and also vegan chocolate cake so I am well-satisfied with today.

After tea we sat and synchronised our diaries. The lengths that we are having to go to now that things seem to be moving around here. I don’t know where I’m going to find the time to fit it all in.

But one job we can delete from the list for the moment is Claude’s removal. They switched on the water and the gas this afternoon in his new apartment and the boiler exploded. So “don’t call us – we’ll call you”.

-7

Wednesday 6th January 2010 – I’ve been out and about today.

centre ornithologique st gervais d'auvergne puy de dome franceTerry needed some hand with moving some timber and with fitting to his van the reversing sensors that I gave him a few weeks ago.

So delicately picking my way through the minus 3.5 degrees and the few inches of snow I set off. And I was thoroughly glad that I spent all of that money last week on new tyres for Caliburn. I now have two new road-going tyres on the back and two top-quality snow tyres on the front and you’ve absolutely no idea just how much better driving is in the snow and ice with this set-up. Money well spent!
centre ornithologique st gervais d'auvergne puy de dome franceI stopped off at my usual spot by the birdwatching point to see what I could see, and there was this absolutely magnificent view of this tree on the skyline with the Puy-de-Dome in the background. I’m well-impressed with that.

At Terry’s we did the reversing sensors but it was far too cold and icy to go down to the stream bed and haul up this tree trunk. So Liz did us proud with food and we discussed financial matters – with several cunning plans worked out. And then back here on the snow tyres in the minus 8 degrees. What was weird is that Terry and Liz live about 30km from here and between their house and Pionsat I just saw one other vehicle moving, and that was some distance away. And that’s a fairly major road too. But in the lane between Pionsat and here – just 5 km – I encountered 3 cars.

pionsat auvergne puy de dome franceBack here we had had a good morning with clear skies but the afternoon clouded over. I managed about 80 amp-hours of electricity which is a reasonable amount I suppose. But I wish I could have a consistently sunny day for once.

In other news, I have seen in the mainstream news something for the FIRST TIME EVER – despite over 40 years of waiting. Yes, a mainstream news item has been published concerning Palestinian CHRISTIANS.

Despite what the Zionists try to tell you, not all of the Arabs that they are brutalising, starving and slaughtering are evil Muslems. A great many of them are Christians – victims of Zionist atrocities – but it serves no-one’s purpose and no-one’s agenda to admit it. Think of the outcry if it were ever to become common knowledge. And so it was with total astonishment this evening that I saw on the BBC news a reference to Palestinian Christians.

The Bible Belt of the USA – that “beaten, ignorant Bible-ridden white South” of Arthur Schlesingers’s The Politics of Upheaval – whose “Christianity” of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” bears more of a resemblance to Old Testament Judaism that it ever did to the “Love Thy Neighbour” of Jesus, has been long supporters of the Zionist atrocities in Occupied Palestine, and on the grounds that the Palestinians are nothing more that “ignorant brown-skinned sand n*gg*rs”. But how will these Southerners react now that even the BBC is slowly becoming totally fed up of Zionist apologia and slowly beginning to let slip one or two little home-truths on the subject? Have apoplexy, I suppose, assuming that they can find someone able to read the article to them.

Given the amount of Bible-bashing that goes on in the Southern USA and to which I refer elsewhere, someone did once ask why it was that Jesus was not born amongst them. Of course the reason for this is quite easy to explain. In the whole of the Southern USA they couldn’t find a virgin and three wise men.

-9

Thursday 24th December 2009 – The one thing …

site ornithologique st gervais d'auvergne mont dore puy de sancy puy de dome france… about the drive down to Liz and Terry’s is the view from the birdwatching site just outside St Gervais d’Auvergne.

Although of course it’s always the same view, the different weather and lighting conditions make it seem totally different each time I drive by.

Although the snow has all-but-gone around here and even the Puy-de-Dome is bare, the Mont Dore and the Puy de Sancy are still plastered with the white stuff and look quite impressive.

This morning I had a lie-in until about 10:30, but I reckoned I needed it, being awoken by a torrential downpour at about 05:00.

So after a leisurely breakfast (I’m on holiday, remember) I bit the bullet, donned the chemical suit, the gas mask and the rubber gloves and cleaned the fridge. The fridge hadn’t been switched on for a few weeks (firstly as an electricity economy measure and secondly, who needs a fridge in this weather?) and was looking like it hadn’t been switched on for a couple of decades.

After lunch I read a book for a while and then went off to Liz and Terry’s as they had invited me round for the evening, which was nice of them. What was even nicer was never mind the vegan chocolate cake – Liz had baked me a vegan Christmas cake complete with icing. That was ever so nice of her and I am well-impressed.

And to tell you about the weather today, and how perverse it is. All day we have had heavy grey clinging cloud that has cut down once more the electricity I have available. But onn the way home tonight the skies were perfectly clear, thousands of stars, lovely bright conditions.

Why can’t we have this weather in the daytime? It’s about 4 or 5 times now that this has happened while I am in “energy saving” mode due to the overcast conditions since November 26th.

And you just watch tomorrow – as soon as the sun rises over the valley across the way, the clouds will close right in and I’ll be struggling again. It’s really getting on my nerves.

-12

Saturday 28th November 2009 – I had a nice surprise this evening.

pierre dupoux 21st birthday pionsatNot quite as nice as the surprise Pierre had, but nice enough none-the-less.

There I was, quietly watching the football like I do, when Elodie (the young girl who works at Auchan and who persons the Pie Hut at the football ground) whispered in my little pointy ear “it’s Pierre (the footballer who works at Brico Depot)’s 21st birthday today and we’re having a surprise party for him after the game. Would you like to come?”

Now I don’t do social occasions as you know but firstly Elodie invited me and I think she’s cute. I have a little soft spot for her (her mother has a soft spot for me as well – in her case it’s the Goodwin Sands but I digress) and secondly it’s nice to be invited to close social arrangements in the village such as this. It’s not quite “come to my house and sleep with my daughter” but that will surely come. Give me another 50 years or so.

pointing stone wall liz terry messenger sauret besserve puy de dome franceWe were about 10 or 12 at Liz and Terry’s and did quite a bit of pointing although we didn’t go up to the top of the scaffolding – not with this howling gale that was blowing around. I spent most of the day pulling a primeval forest out of the cracks in the stonework.

We did tons of work – mostly in the morning. In the afternoon things went slower due to the extra weight that we were carrying. The food was gorgeous as usual.

And as suspected, no-one said anything to me at all about “witness X”. Isn’t that a surprise?

Talking of the football, I remember saying that Pionsat’s 2nd XI wouldn’t find it so easy in the 2nd Division as they did in the 3rd last season and the thrashing that they received on the opening day of the season went to reinforce that opinion. But tonight I have seen the worst team that I have seen for a while (anything in Division 4 excepted) and how Pionsat only scored 5 and how they let Charensat score 2 is a mystery that will stay with me for ever.

fcpsh football club de foot pionsat st hilaire st gervais d'auvergneThe 1st XI played hated local rivals St Gervais and drew 4-4 in a match that was filled with scandal, controversy, dubious tactics, dubious decisions and a sending-off for a headbutt. It was freezing cold all evening with this piercing wind
(“what did you say?” – ed)
(“piercing – what did you think I said?”)
but the action on the pitch warmed up the pretty large and voiciferous crowd, and of course a good time was had by all. Nothing like a bit of excitement and controversy to liven up a freezing cold Saturday evening.

-11

Friday 20th November 2009 – On my drive down to Liz and Terry’s yesterday …

gorges de la sioule sauret besserve puy de dome france microclimate… I stopped to take my traditional photograph of the Gorge of the Sioule bathed in cloud. Each time I go that way in the morning I always take a pic as the effects of the cloud are always different.

Yesterday we had an island – the peak of one of the hills in the gorge that was just peeking out above the level of the cloud. It looked like something that Roger Dean would have drawn for the cover of a “Yes” album.

After breakfast I telephoned this radio guy as requested.
“I’m sorry, he’s not here“
“Well, I’ll leave my number so he can call me back later“
“Actually he’s out all day“
“Never mind – he can call me on Monday“
“He has meetings all day Monday and Tuesday. So it won’t be before Wednesday“.
So much for urgency.

The weather is still unseasonably hot – the last four days have all been round the 20-degree mark. So I burnt a pile of rubbish in my galvanised steel dustbin, with which I am very impressed. But much of the paper is still wet and damp so it needs more time to dry out. It if keeps fine by Sunday I’ll have another fire and bake some spuds while I’m doing it. After all, there’s no footy on Sunday.

I’ve carried on with the tidying up too.

And earlier this evening I was sitting quietly in my room when there was a terrific crash from outside in the stairwell. I had 5 or 6 boxes of screws all neatly stacked and for no apparent reason they all fell down the stairs. There are thousands of screws everywhere now.

I must have a ghost, I suppose. My house in Crewe is haunted and the local vicar told me that he would come round and exorcise it. I asked him why. As far as I was concerned the ghost was one of the family and had just as much, if not even more right to be there.

And Lee Pottymouth lives in a flat that is haunted by two ghosts, and he reckons that they are homosexual ghosts. “They don’t half put the willies up me” he said.

-7

Thursday 19th November 2009 – Can you see the point …

pointing stone wall liz terry messenger sauret besserve… of what we have been doing today?

The bottom left half of the photo is the “before” and the bottom right half of the photo is the “after”. You can click on the image to enlarge it, and you’ll see exactly what I mean.

And isn’t it a good job that we did too? It helps when you have
1) the right tools
2) the right materials
3) congenial company
4) someone who knows what to do, how to do it and how to explain it to everyone else.
So much so, in fact, that I was bunged half a bag of opened chalk and at the next available opportunity I shall be not merely pointing the gap in the stones by the kitchen but also ripping out all of the pointing that I did in August and September with cement and replacing it with a proper chalk and sand mixture. I was ever so impressed with what we did today and how well it looked.

What also helps is having a hostess who is psychic. There I was, discussing with Mark and Terry the benefits of a spouse who brings around mugs of coffee at opportune intervals, and right at that very moment Liz stuck her head around the corner and asked “who wants a brew?”

It goes without saying that we were all well-fed and that there was vegan cake (ginger today). And I was even given a doggy-bag.
“You can come and help me again next time the weather is decent if you like” said Terry.
Is the Pope a Catholic?

Liz also gave me my shopping order from the UK and I now have plenty of vegan cheese. I have yet to find a source of that in any shop over here. That will keep me going until Christmas.

And tomorrow I have to telephone this guy about this proposed radio programme.

-4

Tuesday 27th October 2009 – You can guess what Terry and I have been doing today.

For a change I was up nice and early and with Caliburn fully loaded with scaffolding we nipped round to Terry’s to unload.

Then it was back here again to load up all of the rest and it was quite a struggle to move Caliburn what with everything in it. But there’s much less stuff to trip over around here now and I won’t be using the scaffolding before springtime.

kwikstage scaffolding liz terry sauret besserve puy de dome franceAnyway, after a lunch of lentil soup (you might have guessed that there was an ulterior motive) we put up the scaffolding at the back of the house. Terry is keen to get some pointing done before the bad weather hits here. We managed to put it up without any major mishap. I avoided falling into the septic tank although I did put my foot into the drain.

You can see how impressive it is, this scaffolding. And this is by no means all of it. There are still two bays up at the side of my house where I need to do some pointing, and there’s a pile more that we didn’t put up yet. This scaffolding is a veritable bargain.

gorge de la sioule sauret besserve puy de dome france microclimateWhat was weird though was the weather. You know that I go on about the microclimates around here – at Terry and Liz’s the weather was as calm as a millpond yet at my place there was a howling raging gale with the wind turbine going round like the clappers.

Tea was vegan nut roast and veg followed by baked apple and vegan ginger and chocolate cake. And also an Eric bag full of leftovers. As I have said before, whenever there is an appeal for volunteers to do some work at Liz and Terry’s you get trampled to death in the stampede.

I also took advantage of the situation by asking whether I might use the shower there.
“I think it ought to be compulsory” said Terry
sniff> sniff> “I think you might be right“

-5

Wednesday 23rd September 2009 – NO VEGAN CHOCOLATE CAKE! SHOCK! HORROR!

But there was vegan ginger cake instead so that was ok.

And I reckoned I earned it too. Caliburn certainly did, hauling almost 2 tons of gravel over the Font Nanaud in the Sankey trailer. And then we had to unload it and bag it afterwards.

Terry offered me a shovel – a standard size one but I had my LIDL special – a long handled variety.
“It saves my back – I can shovel up while I’m stading upright”
“But the long-handle means you bash people with it when you turn round”
“Anyone who has worked with me for any length of time ought to know not to get too close to me no matter what tool it is that I’m wielding”.

space blanket insulation erecting stud wall attic les guis virlet puy de dome franceMeanwhile, back at the ranch, I’ve started to erect the other pillars and cross beams for the partition around the head of the stairs. This is the part where the door will go.

I’ll be fitting the water tank in the space over the top of the door but it’s looking smaller than I expected it to be. I have a 200-litre tank that someone gave me but I don’t think that it’s going to fit and so I’ll have to actually go out and buy … “you do know that word then” – ed … a smaller one.

Talking of buying, I’ll be having a weekend of not going to Brico Depot. Caliburn is still chock-full of stuff from last weekend and I’ve nowhere to store it, so I’m going to have to work on using all of the material that’s hanging around in order to make some space.

-6

Thursday 10th September 2009 – THE ROAD TO…

gorges de la sioule sauret besserve puy de dome france… chez Terry and Liz is quite beautiful and there is always something interesting to see.

They live right on the edge of the Gorges de la Sioule – a cleft in the rocks right in the centre of the Combrailles where the River Sioule has carved a deep, narrow valley.

The valley, being so sheltered as it is, has its own microclimate that is often totally at variance with the rest of the area. Today, even early in the morning, it was hot and sunny throughout the region but of course the valley, out of the shadow of the sun, was cold and damp.

And hence the dampness, trapped in the valley by what is the equivalent of the phenomenon known as “temperature inversion”, had condensed itself into a very low cloud that threaded its way along the valley floor. This happens quite often and it’s most spectacular seen from up in the hills.

Terry and Liz had done well in moving all of the wood that they had, but they weren’t joking when they said that there was just the heavy stuff left. Terry and I lifted what we could onto the saw bench (and believe me – there were some trunks that we couldn’t lift) and while Terry was cutting them with the chainsaw, I was splitting with the log splitter those that he had cut and then throwing them down the cellar where Liz was stacking them.

18:20 when the cutting was finished. There are still about 30 or 40 lumps of wood that need splitting, and about an hour or two’s worth of stacking but that can wait. There was vegan chili and rice and (of course) vegan chocolate cake with soya cream as well as a nice hot shower (we looked like snowmen, so covered were we with sawdust).

And Terry has a cunning plan. They still have a couple of visitors to come for the summer, but as soon as they are gone, why don’t we push on and do the barn roof?

This would mean that I won’t get into the attic to live for a few more weeks
but

  1. the roof on the barn is dreadful and the water pours in. There’s tons of stuff in there that’s being ruined in there, even though everything is covered with tarps
  2. it won’t take long to do as it’s going to be sheeted in tile-profiled corrugated sheet made-to-measure
  3. I have almost everything I need so it won’t cost very much at all
  4. I can fix the solar panels and wind turbine properly
  5. I’ll be able to rescue the flat-bed trailer
  6. the scaffolding will be finished with and that has an income-generating potential of about €500 per month and we can get it out on hire quicker
  7. I’ve lived in my cupboard for 2 years – another month won’t hurt
  8. It’s quite cosy in here and I survived a bad winter in here with no problems
  9. working inside can be done in the rain and snow – doing the barn roof would be done during the “Indian summer” that we have most years (but I bet we don’t have it this year now I want to do the barn)
  10. Terry is all fired up to get going

Stand by then for a change of plan.

-6

Saturday 15th August 2009 – I SAW THIS MOST MAGNIFICENT CLOUD …

anvil cloud thunderstorm clermont ferrand puy de dome france… on my way to Liz and Terry’s this evening. A finer example of an “anvil” cumulonimbus cloud you cannot hope to see.

It’s hovering just about over Clermont Ferrand so I reckon that the good citizens of that fair city are having a right pasting this evening, for “anvil” clouds are associated with heavy thunderstorms.

So what was I doing at Liz and Terry’s this evening? You may well ask.

In fact it all starts this morning at about 11.45. There I was casually nailing my fascia boards to the ends of the chevrons when suddenly Terry put in a dramatic appearance.

“There’s a damsel ( or was it a damson?) in distress at the Brico Depot in Montlucon” he announced

Of course, someone’s antlers pricked up at that. All his life he’s been in training for just this moment and despite one or two false starts
“Help help I’ve been tied to this tree and ravaged by the entire crew of the HMS Victory” cried a damsel in distress, tied to a tree in the forest.
“Well, it’s just not your lucky day, is it?” Strawberry Moose
, unbuckling his tunic.
he was well in form.

He leapt into Caliburn, his trusty steed (in the old days when I used to be a superhero all on my own and the job didn’t pay as well as it does now, some of the vehicles I owned were rather less than reputable and were more like rusty steeds, but certainly not Caliburn) and as his driver, I leapt in beside him and we chaud-pieded it to Montlucon.

This digital revolution and mobile communications has brought about some significant benefits and so on – but also a major disadvantage that as far as I know, everyone else has overlooked. In order to be a superhero you need to have your underpants on outside your trousers, and telephone boxes are the traditional places for superheroes to change their clothing.

But try finding a telephone box these days now that everyone has a mobile phone! Strawberry and I had to search for ages until we found a suitable telephone box to change in, and that’s in the Auvergne where mobile phone coverage is patchy at best. How is Superperson managing in the USA where telephone boxes are all but redundant?

Superheroes will have to find new venues in which to change.

Public toilets are likely to receive plenty of support, and I have indeed made use of just such a venue on a previous occasion. But these days you have to fight your way into a public toilet past the drug abusers, the cottagers, the cross-dressers (“Mabel, if you don’t let me wear your tights I’ll smash your ****ing face in!”) and the like.

Mind you, I did have a brother who almost always used to come out of a public toilet with his underpants on outside his trousers, but that was more to do with his status as being a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic rather than any superhero status he might (or might not) wish to claim.

So Strawberry Moose
, Caliburn and I duly arrived at Brico Depot and found Terry standing guard over a trolley with a pile of windows too large to go in the back of his car.
“Where’s Liz?” I asked
“Ohh, she’s going to take advantage of you while you’re here” he replied.
Now, I don’t know about you, but it’s a long time since anyone has ever said anything like that to me, and my surprise was quite clearly written all over my face.
“She wants to make use of Caliburn now you are all here by getting some more windows”
“Ahhhh” I replied, this time with disappointment all over my face.

Liz asked me if I could deliver the windows this evening.
“Might that involve some of your vegan chocolate cake?” I enquired.
“I’ll see what I can do” she replied.

And hence my visit to Liz and Terry’s this evening. And not only was there vegan chocolate cake, there was some vegetable curry with rice, and some vegan chocolate cake to bring home.

We have a system round here of chantiers communaux – where if anyone has a work project that needs many hands, we all do a blitz on their premises to get the job done. And whenever there’s a chantiers communaux at Liz and Terrys, you are usually trampled to death in the stampede, so well-known is Liz’s vegan chocolate cake.

And in other news, it was the hottest day of the year so far – almost 42 degrees – and I’ve fixed the fascia boards, tacked on the guttering (I can’t fix it on until the scaffolding is moved) and put on the first row of tiles.

-3

Friday 24th July 2009 – WE WERE LUCKY WITH THE WEATHER TODAY

kwikstage scaffolding aspire recycled slates les guis virlet puy de dome franceMostly cool and overcast, with just the occasional passing shower. A good day for working on the roof and so with no misadventures and without any excitement we finished the slating of the back of the roof.

By 16:00 it was all done and as it wasn’t worth starting anything fresh we called it a night.

We had plenty of visitors though. Liz passed by to check up on us, followed by Claude and then by Dave (or Mr Blobby as those of you who followed this blog over from its previous home will remember) who drove over from La Chatre to check up on us, and finally by Tijas.

Despite my reference earlier to “a passing shower”, no-one from the Open University Students Association Executive Committee came here.

Dave acompanied us, not to the police station but to Terry and Liz’s where he was introduced to Liz’s cooking and was then given a guided tour over the Viaduc des Fades.

I’m back at home for now as I have so much to do and in any case Terry and Liz deserve some peace and quiet.

Tomorrow we are starting on the front of the roof. This will be easier to do but we have to fit the two windows and the brackets for the solar panels so I doubt if it will be quicker.

-5