Well I have been here in Hure today for 11 days and it’s been quite chaotic really. For those who see our life here as some kind of glamorous activity, please read on. On the plus side we have actually started on our work in the attic (in French it’s called amenager le grenier – sort of like make the attic ready for living in) . So far we’ve had a lot of building materials delivered: the wall and ceiling plasterboard, the replacement flooring for the part where the old oak boards are too damaged (abimes) , and the metal supports for the walls (here nothing is nailed to the wooden beams because changes in climate make everything move more.) As the truck could not get down our drive, we had to lug them down ourselves and tomorrow, we’ve to get the boards up into the attic through the hole in the floor, once Jack has removed the old boards. It’s only just dawning on me what a job it all will be!!!! We are running out of money fast.
And the garden survived remarkably well the long cold winter. We’ve had a lot to do but actually it’s not looking too bad as as the growing season continues, it will get better. I have some perennials now and with the help of new petunias and geraniums, it should do quite nicely.
But it will be good to get the attic started. We are going to lay a kind of chipboard over the dining room exposed beams as those boards have had it. We'll paint it a light colour underneath to make the room more light. We will have two (or three) bedrooms up there and a bathroom. Karim (across the road) is repointing the chimney above the dining room in the attic area and it looks great. It will be a lovely feature in the main bedroom there. He also did the back of the fireplace in the living room and I am very pleased with that too.
On a sadder note, M Flamand (our pool man), who volunteered some time ago to replace the old Girondine tiles in the dining room with other tiles from the period, found that the ones he had were the wrong size. In our part of France, the traditional tiling is called Girondine (we live in the department of La Gironde which has the number 33). The Girondine tiles are 33 cms square and very hard to acquire. M Flamand got new ones -the right size but bright and clean - they look awful. There’s a process to make them look less new but I think it will require time (centuries maybe – the floor is a couple of hundred years old.) And the pool is leaking again and going green while we wait for the pool techie (and /or M Flamand) to come.
And even worse, we have learned that somehow the roofing we had purchased and which Jack painstaking laid on the old Hangar in the garden, will not bear the weight of the old tiles we hoped to relay on it. So it seems we are stuck with a bright and shiny fake tile roof. I think I have been very restrained in my comments.
The carpets that we bought in India silk and woollen) arrived yesterday. Unfortunately one is missing. Despite rather insistent emails to the Indian company, nothing has happened as yet. I don’t know how to address this problem. As well we had to pay import tax in France which rather upped the price of the carpets. They certainly look good (the three that we have) but we would like to find the fourth (even though it will involve more tax.)
But the days are long and the sun shines when it is not raining. The garden is looking good. There’s a wonderful transparent light in the garden in the evening and a softness in the air that is indescribable. Our days are long because night falls so late and because there is so much to do and so little time.
I’m off to Valenciennes on Friday to spend a week with Clare and Ilan and the littlies. It will be a happy week. In the meantime, Jack will be struggling with the construction. On my return, the warm weather should be with us, we’ll have Carol and Bruce to stay, a visit to Paris and Lille and to the Australian Government World War 1 ceremony and then back to Hure for the summer. Despite all the hitches, I am looking forward to it.
Post script;
We have located the 4th carpet and it will be delivered tomorrow. The pool techie came and we think the problem has been solved. However it’s raining so hard we can’t tell yet.
Karim came over and we have redesigned the access to the grenier and almost committed to a pompe a chaleur for central heating. I have almost finished painting the boards for the new ceiling. When the old one comes down (today I hope) there will be a huge mess which I need to clean up before I leave for Valenciennes.
Festinate lente (make haste slowly) as the Latins said.
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