Category Archives: Claude

Wednesday 18th July 2012 – WHAT A NICE …

… surprise!

Yes, sounds of friendly voices and laughter down the road at Lieneke’s – good to hear her having fun.

And then silence, followed by a couple of voices out here. “Hmmm – I recognise those voices” I thought to myself;

And, yes, Claude and Françoise came to say hello. It’s been over 2 years since they were here, my neighbours from up the road who moved back to the Midi. And they’ve come back for a week’s holiday and to tell me all their news.

Firstly, they are no longer in the Midi.One thing that we forget, living out here in the wilds, that there is no stress at all except the stress that you make for yourself. Being in an urban environment you are involved with everyone else’s stresses. 10 years out of all that, and Claude couldn’t re-adapt.

Now they’ve found a quiet rural place in the Haute Loire.

All kinds of other changes too, and so we had quite a chat today about all of it. It’s nice to see them again.

Today was easily the best day of the year so far – totally glorious and 36°C outside. so why only 83.2 amp-hours of surplus energy?

holesaw bathroom wall les guis virlet puy de dome franceFirstly, I’ve had the core drill going for about an hour and I’ve made another 5cms of depth – now up to 42 centimetres.

The problem with this is that the drill is so heavy and the motor is so powerful and I’m working up a ladder, and so I can’t do more than a couple of minutes at a time without stopping for a rest and trying to stop my arms vibrating and my ears buzzing.

But at one point, being completely fed up, I used a long drill to break up the granite that’s in the wall and you can see that that has broken through in a few places.

From now on it should become easier and easier. But that sounds like famous last words, doesn’t it?

The second reason is that I had the electric vegetable steamer working again (just as well that I had some electric vegetables, isn’t it?).

I cooked the remainder of the potatoes to add to the mega-curry that was on the menu for tonight, and seeing as it did such a good job, I let it have a go at some rice as well.

And I’ll tell you what – I have never had rice that was cooked so well or tasted so nice. If this vegetable steamer holds the pace, it’s going to be an excellent little machine.

If that wasn’t enough to be going on with, I carried on building my wall today.

I didn’t actually build too much of it though. I didn’t think that I had enough stones to do it all (all those breeze blocks in view will eventually be ripped out and replaced by stones) and so I had a good scavenge around to see what stones I could find.

I’ve managed to unearth quite a pile – I hope that there will be enough by the time that I finish, whenever that may be.

lean to rebuilding stone wall les guis virlet puy de dome franceYou can see that I’ve hung a window frame up there. It will be pretty dark, especially as I forgot to install the roof-light that I had to hand, and so I need to be able to let the light in.

A glass door will go on the front, but a window in the side will do the rest.

I’ll build up underneath the sill with stones and then put brick pillars down the side. It should look quite nice when it’s done, whenever that might be.

With it being such a nice day, I finished off with a solar shower – the water was certainly warm enough. But I’m not sure what happened because at a certain moment the whole assembly dropped on my head. I’ll have to fix that tomorrow.

I also had a chat with Percy Penguin this evening. It’s her birthday today!

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Monday 28th June 2010 – Today’s pic …

new carpentry woodwork roofing sheets barn roof les guis virlet puy de dome france… features the work that we have managed to do today. All of the horizontal laths are on and we have done about one quarter of the roof covering.

We could have done so much more too but we were beset by a whole series of interruptions.

Firstly I had to go to Pionsat just before lunchtime to have a document signed. “Come at about 11:45 and the notaire will fit you in between two clients”. So there I was at 11:45 and I was seen at 12:30! And the notaire took his time to witness my signature – clearly going for his money’s worth.

Back at the ranch Lieneke came round for a chat and a gossip. She brought us some fruit too. She needs some work doing on her house but her husband is getting to the age where he feels unsafe on a roof – hence Terry’s involvement.

Then we needed to sort out the sheets. They are in two sizes – one for each side – and of course the ones that we wanted were on the bottom as you might expect so we had to move all of the others.

Once we had got the sheets round to this side of the barn then they were not strong enough to support their own weight when hauling them up the scaffolding. After giving it much consideration, talking about making cradles and the like, I hit upon the idea of sliding them up a ladder (one of us can walk up in front pulling and the other walk up behind pushing as the sheet slides up the stringers), Terry added the idea of a sling and then we were in business.

The sheet sit quite nicely on the framework and the special screws with silicon washers do a good job. All in all it’s a good fitting but you struggle with the weight and height when there are just two of you.

It was 17:00 when we knocked off. The sky had greyed over and we were exhausted. And not long after Terry had left, Claude and Francoise came round!! They have indeed moved down south. Apparently their daughter had found a small house for them and so they rang up a furniture removal firm in that area. And it just so happened that there was an empty lorry in the region travelling light back home. A good deal was arranged and that was that.

I also had a quick flashback to yesterday evening when I was leaving Terry’s – he accompanied me to the door.

“are you being polite or are you making sure that I’ve gone?” I queried
“Well actually” said Terry “I’m making sure that you don’t nick anything on your way out”.

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Wednesday 7th April 2010 – Think of a phrase that contains …

… the words “booze-up” and “brewery” – and we aren’t talking about the Open University Students’ Association either!

Yes, I thought that incompetence at its most stunning inefficiency could only be reached in the hands of that august body but I am fast changing my opinion. I have been reliably informed by one of my “moles on various committees” that this week’s radio programme was the one for the 1st week of March – the radio station appears to have thrown the wrong version onto the cutting room floor and gone with the one we discarded which is now 5 weeks out of date.

And that isn’t all either. I’ve been given a task to undertake by the footy club which requires them to send in a form. So I’ve been waiting 3 weeks and it’s not made it there yet. I obtained a duplicate and I rang up the President of the club about completing it – the deadline is Friday – but I got the answerphone so I left a message.

No callback by the time I went to training, so never mind – I’ll see the President’s son down at the ground. But down at the ground there were just 4 of us, and we were locked out of the stadium. It appears that the trainer has given the players the night off so that they can watch the footy on the box.

Unbelievable, isn’t it? Last Wednesday they were rained off; last Friday was someone’s birthday; today there’s something better on the box. And all the teams are struggling right now and need a change of fortune. Fitness is a big issue with the teams – watch them drop off the pace in the last 15 minutes – but the trainer cancels the training session. Stand by for a right spannering on Saturday and Sunday.

I did a couple of laps around the field and then came home. The President eventually rang me back at 21:00 and I explained the situation. “I’ll ring up the secretary right now and call you straight back”. It’s now 02:30 and guess what?

But it’s not all doom and gloom. You remember my action photo from the footy 10 days ago? Well the local rag has published it. It might only be La Montagne but it’s still nice to see my name in lights and it’s another addition to the portfolio. And Claude came back from his holiday in the Midi so we had coffee on the terrasse. We could do that because there was a moment when the rain stopped. After me crowing about the good weather yesterday it p155ed down for most of the day. But in between the showers I dug out a few more treestumps.

Tomorrow morning I’ll be starting to build the new megacloche. The afternoon will be spent at a talk on the history of the area of La Cellette. Marianne wants me to meet the organiser.

And 02:30 in the morning? This 3D program has taken hold of me. My two characters have now made it to the beach with a herd of wild rhinocerous hot on their heels. I shall be scanning the world-wide web tomorrow evening to see if I can find a freeware boat otherwise my little animation will come to a premature end.

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Saturday 13th March 2010 – What a night!

If you remember about a year ago I had a series of nights where I had some really bad attacks of cramp in bed. Last night I had another. I can’t think of anything more painful than that and in stretching my legs out to ease the pain I pulled mycalf muscles -both of them! It took ages for the pain to subside and another age for me to go back to sleep. No wonder I didn’t wake up until after 10:00.

I hope that this isn’t a portent for another series of attacks like last year.

I finally made it off to St Eloy for the shopping and spent quite a few bob there today. LIDL’s gardening sale was ongoing and I bought a 1.5×10-metre roll of black plastic mulching. My new raised beds are to be 1.5×1.5metres so I’ll cut this roll to size, make up a handy framework and use it in winter to keep out the weeds. Carrefour also had a gardening sale so I bought some seeds and a new lopper – €12.99 which is three times the price at LIDL but I hope it lasts 3 times longer. The LIDL ones have a weak spot, the aluminium jaw plate, but these don’t have that – just a simple scissor mechanism.

I popped round to see the European Cardboard Box Mountain that is Claude and Francoise’s apartment to see how they were all doing there, and then the final visit was to the new tyre place. They were advertising Caliburn-sized tyres for €70 each which isn’t too bad a price but by the time they had added on the valves, the balancing, the fitting and the VAT it came to almost €200 for a pair. I’m thinking that I may as well get the Goodyear tyres that were the original fitting seeing as they are only €50 extra for a pair all-in. One thing is certain – I’m not going to waste my snow tyres by running them through the summer. They’ve been invaluable in this weather.

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Saturday 27th February 2010 – I had a quiet day today.

Up early enough and then after breakfast I did a few rearrangements downstairs and then came up here to catch up on some correspondence.

Lunchtime saw me head into St Eloy and shopping. There was nothing exciting at LIDL and so apart from the usual necessities my hands stayed in my pocket. I went to see the European Cardboard Box Mountain otherwise known as Claude’s new apartment and made sure that he and Francoise were ok.

This afternoon I went to the mairie to see the mayor. I’m a firm believer in turning things to my advantage and what with the Parisian being up to no good and the roadmaking project for Claude’s barn I’ll get my parking spaces yet! No harm in turning the screw a little.

This evening Guus and Lieneke came round. They are going back to the Netherlands tomorrow and so I invited them to have some birthday cake. They bought me a little birthday present which was quite nice of them.

And that was that really. No football so I haven’t done anything else.

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Friday 26th February 2010 – I knew I’d pay for yesterday.

Yes, I wasn’t feeling anything like it today. But then again thats what usually happens so I have to make the most of it.

I started again on cutting the wood but not as quickly as yesterday. And I was interrupted for an hour or so by Claude who came round to visit, with two important pieces of news.
Firstly Beethoven has died. And that’s devastating news. He was an Old English Sheepdog and had reached the age of 16 with all his faculties more-or-less intact although he did have to burrow under the fence to escape after the young lady dogs of the area rather than leap over it as he used to in his youth. He had bags of character and was the only dog I ever took to. However this last few weeks he had developed an ulcer on his nether regions that turned out to be a cancer. The vet had given him antibiotics but it seemed that they failed to work.
The second piece of news is much more exciting. Claude hasn’t sold all his land here – he’s still kept the plot down in the forest with the ruined barn. And he tells me that yesterday when he was up here doing something or other at his old property he heard a chainsaw in the forest. So off he wandered – and caught the Parisian in flagrante delicto cutting down one of Claude’s trees. And who should be strolling down the lane right at that moment but one of the mayor’s assistants. Claude and the Parisian hate each other with a passion that goes off the Richter Scale – and I have to say that I find the Parisian gratuitously disagreeable, and catching him red-handed with an impeccable witness in attendance is an answer to Claude’s dreams. From here on in, the matter is sub judice, as you might say.

I went round to see my new neighbours as well to bid them welcome and to offer them a bottle of wine as a housewarming present.There’s no harm whatever in laying the good foundations of friendship. They are Dutch and have moved here permanently so I told them about the Anglo-French group and the activities of the Reseau Rural – even though I don’t get on with the organisers of the Reseau as regular readers will know, I still support the aims of the organisation and give it all the encouragement I can.

In other news, the first buds are coming out on the trees.

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Tuesday 23rd February 2010 – I once knew a girl ….

…. called Summer (she had a sister called Sky – you have to feel sorry for kids with parents like that) and she had a boyfriend who was absolutely devoted to her. They used to have their own private little moments and like all teenagers they would get up to no good – in one particular way that pleased the young gentleman greatly.

After a while Summer moved on to pastures new and the young gentleman (whose name I forget) was devastated. No subsequent girlfriend that he found could make up for what he had lost. One day he confided in a girlfriend exactly what it was that made his relationship with Summer so special.
“That’s no big deal” she replied. “i have no inhibitions about that”
So a short while later, right after one of these private moments, she turned to him and said
“Has that helped you rekindle some of your enthusiasm for life?”
“Well” he replied, “one swallow doesn’t make a Summer”.

And that’s really the story of what has happened here this last few days. The temperature has warmed up dramatically and it’s feeling warm. I told you the other day about the temperature in the verandah. Yesterday it reached 30.6 degrees which is the highest total since October 30th.

Today though was not so impressive. The morning was fine and I finished round by Claude’s at 13:45. It’s sad to see the fruits of their 46 years of married life end up like this but age and ill-health catch up with everyone sooner or later. I got back the two huge armoured cupboards that I gave him back in 2002. He also gave me two kitchen unit bases – the 600mm size – and I’m going to put them upstairs in the barn with a plank or two across the top to make a joinery bench, using the two large cupboards to store my tools, nails, screws and the like. I’m glad I put a trapdoor in the barn floor when I redid it, so that I can lift stuff up and down.

This afternoon I carried on in the garden but the torrential rain that fell later on drove me inside. I continued with the insulation on the bedroom wall for a while until the light went – this torrential rainfall (we had 9mm in minutes) plotted everything out.

And the Parisian is nosing around the ruined house by here and hacking away at the undergrowth. He’s up to something, my nasty suspicious little mind tells me, and I wonder what it is. He had a whinge about the Passat and the Escort blocking the track. He’s right but there’s nothing much I can do about this until the local Mayor pulls his finger out and does something about my proposition about buying the communal land round here. I suppose I’d better go and have a chat to him on Saturday.

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Monday 22 February 2010 – Only one more day …

…and this furniture removal will be over. And I can’t say that I’m sorry either. Today we took the final two loads to the new flat in St Eloy and then afterwards the first of the loads to the dechetterie. And just for a change the guy who was working there was extremely helpful and did his best to sort us out, including getting his own hands dirty.

But amongst the rubble set aside for the next visit to the tip (the first one of tomorrow) was an incredible find. Long-term readers of my ramblings will recall the discovery at the Montaigut brocante in the summer of 2008 of a parabolic heater attachment for the 920 series of Camping Gas bottles, together with an almost-full bottle. In the rubbish for the tip was a cooker attachment for the 920 series of bottles, complete with an almost-full bottle. I have issues about standardisation when I’m living in Caliburn and I’ve been trying to settle on a heater and cooker system that uses the same gas bottles. I’ve had to resort to those tube canister things with a stove and heater but they aren’t all that satisfactory. But with this find to go with the heater, I’m now set up exactly as I want.

Lieneke is here too and I went for a chat with her after I finished with Claude. It’s nice to see her again and we had a good old chinwag. after that I came home and lit the fire in the woodstove and got a nice roaring blaze after many tribulations. But then someone called me on the phone and kept me chatting for ages and the blasted thing went out.

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Friday 19th February 2010 -This furniture removal is wearing me out.

I’m clearly not as young as I was. Today was the heavy stuff, and heavy it certainly was. And I’m not sure what is worse, running up and down the stairs a few dozen times with a pile of loaded cardboard boxes, or struggling up and down stairs half a dozen times with some enormous and heavy furniture. I broke both my knees in a motorbike accident when I was 17 and today I was feeling every single one of the splinters.

view montlucon abbaye bellaigues les guis virlet puy de dome franceAt least the weather was fine and the view was spectacular out towards the north.

Later this afternoon I came back and crashed out. It’s clearly getting to me and I shan’t be sorry when it’s finished.

I’ve discovered the secret of why grandfather’s chair is following her around in all of her many removals. Apparently her grandfather and her father both died in it. I told Claude that if ever Francoise tells him to sit in it then he knows his days are numbered.

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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.

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Tuesday 9th February 2010 – This radio programme is taking shape

We were out at the SMADC offices today – the SMADC being something like Syndicat Mixte pour l’Amenagement et Developpement des Combrailles – where we discussed our tactics for the radio programme. Christian was there with his floozy and I was there with Liz. I have plenty of ideas and Liz approves of them and as far as the SMADC and the radio station go, then I don’t imagine that they will care less as long as we do it.

Apart from that, this morning I cracked on with my plasterboarding and it’s all but finished now. All I need to do now is to join things up with the tape and then fill over it. Of course I have put my jointing tape somewhere safe – so safe in fact that I can’t find it now. That’s a badger! But as soon as I find it and tape things up I can start to do the ceiling – with tongue-and-grooving. I can do that on my own and I don’t have any inhibitions as to how it’ll look.

And Claude came round. Yesterday finished him off for good and he wants to pause until Monday. He’s getting his son up over the weekend to move the heavy objects ready for us to load on Monday. But on Monday Terry is giving blood, Tuesday Liz and I are in studio and on Wednesday we are all at the bank. This timetable for moving Claude is shrinking rapidly.

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Monday 8th February 2010 – We started on Claude’s removal today

And so well did we do it and so well did we pack the vans that everything that was prepared for today was in the vans with space to spare on the first load and we had to go scratching around for stuff to make the trip worthwhile. And it’s amazing just how much stuff you can pack into a couple of Ford Transits.

For the second load we took the fitted kitchen that had been hawked all around the South of France and is destined to be hawked all the way back there again even though it has seen far better days , and also another huge pile of boxes. The thing that worries me in all of this is that this is the end of day One (we finished after the two loads because there was nothing else ready to take) out of Five and the apartment is pretty full. By the end of day Five I’m just wondering how Claude and Francoise will be able to fit in there.

Tomorrow is a day off as Liz and I are going to see the guy from SMADC to talk to him about building permits in France. That’s going to be the subject of our first radio programme. It’ll give Claude and Francoise a chance to pack up some more stuff (if they stop throwing boxes at each other) so that on Wednesday we can have a really good go at this moving lark.

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Tuesday 2nd February 2010 – I’ve had another one of these days …

… where I haven’t done very much. Life seems to be conspiring against me right now.

I was awake long before the alarm went off – in fact I had to crawl out of bed to go for a Gipsy’s but it was far too cold to stay up so I went back to bed until the alarm went off. At least, that was the plan but for some reason or another it was 10:04 when I came to my senses (such as they are).

I didn’t have time to have my breakfast either for while the kettle was boiling the phone rang. It was the Mairie ringing up – could the woman doing the census come round and take my details? So she and her minder came round (they’ve clearly heard all about me) and took down my particulars. It was a good job I had put clean ones on. But the French census is a lark – they just want to know your age, place of birth, profession, education standard and your employment as well as something about the conditions in which you live. Vastly different from the UK where they want to know more about you than you know about yourself.

After that, someone from the Conversation Group rang up with a chagrin d’amour. I suppose that I should be pleased that people feel comfortable in confiding their problems to me. It’s a pleasant change from being totally ingored – the usual state of affairs.

I managed an hour or two on the wall but it was then time to go off to Montaigut to look at these two houses. One is supposed to be livable in a certain fashion but the other one is merely four walls and a roof. We had a good poke around and as you might expect the “livable” one didn’t live up to expectations – damp penetration being one of the major problems. And from the corner of the roof that was supposed to have been fixed. But we had a good chat afterwards and some serious discussions took place, with the result that for better or for worse we placed an offer on the properties – suitably balanced to cover the cost of re-redoing the roof (I made sure that the estate agent was aware of the defect) and putting right the damage. The way we see it, the more time we spend discussing the situation the longer it’s going to take us to make a start. And all the time with inflation at 3% and bank interest at just 0.5% the longer you wait the more the real value of your savings melts away before your eyes. The quicker we can find something suitable and start to invest our labour into it the better.

After that, it was 17:00 when I came home and I didn’t feel like starting work again just for an hour – which was just as well as Claude came round for a chat and he was here for over an hour. I’m going to have to put in a good day tomorrow.

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Monday 1st February 2010 – You might be excused for thinking …

… that Sunday’s lowest temperature – minus 8.2 degrees – was blasted cold. But that wasn’t a patch on last night’s minus 9.8. It was the coldest night of the winter so far and almost reaching the depths of minus 10.4 – the figure recorded in January last year which was the lowest that I have ever seen.

Even more impressive was the figure recorded in the verandah which was minus 8 degrees. And that is definitely the lowest figure that has happened in there. In fact it was still so cold this morning that the water in my glass froze while I was cleaning my teeth.

It was also bright and clear with a beautiful sunshine – so much so in fact that everything was fully charged by 11:00. That prompted me to run the heater again in the attic but this time the weather was ready for me and it immediately clouded over and started to snow. Serves me right. But at least it warmed up. Mind you it felt warmer in the bright sunshine at minus 5 than it did in the damp and cloudy plus 1.

Round at Claude’s, he’s definitely out of it. So he made enquiries about the cost of hiring a van for 5 days and he’s going to engage Terry and his van for equal terms. Terry and I will move Claude and Francoise – I reckon we can do it in less time than they will.

This idea I had about hotwiring this wattmeter into my system – I’ve abandoned that. Taking the thing apart revealed just how badly it was assembled inside and at the first sign of any serious manipulation (“personipulation please” – ed) the solder for one of the wires on the PCB broke and the wire fell off. I reckon that if I’m going to go down this hardwiring route I’m going to need something much more solid than anything made in China and sold by LIDL.

This afternoon I started to put the insulation down the walls of the cupboard that is the gap behind the stairs. I want to get that finished pretty quickly so I can put some shelves in it.

At the Conversation Group tonight Liz and I spent most of the time chatting about this radio programme we’ll be doing and also about these CREFAD courses such as we went to on Friday evening. There’s one or two that interest us and they are presented simultaneously at Pontaumur and St Gervais.
“Which one are we going to?” asked Liz
“Whichever one Katrine is taking“
“Ohhh yes?” exclaimed Liz. “Chasing after her, are you?“
“Indeed I am” I replied. “And I’m just hoping that I can remember what to do when I catch her“.

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