So it snowed this month. February is a very difficult
month for work, it really should be spent skiing, so after a little taster in
the Alps, we tried out our local ski resort (which shall remain nameless for
fear of many Brits getting hold of it for cheap weekends away!). We can’t
complain living two and half hours from a number of ski resorts. Just to rub
it in, the powder was fab.
We had a bit of an unexpected firework display this month too. I was happily cooking sausages, Dan was in the shower, when I heard hissing and sizzling – I thought that’s a funny noise (even if I am cooking bangers!) – I turned round just in time to see a blue flame erupting from an electrical junction box accompanied by a bang and several sparks spitting out on to the floor, much like the end of a Catherine Wheel. Oh good! – you remember when we first moved in we were concerned about overloading the system and this particular box getting extremely hot – well, unfortunately that slipped our minds!
I shouted Dan to check he was ok – electrics and water and all that, he was fine – course, he didn’t believe me, said I was exaggerating and being alarmist (overactive imagination) until the next day when he took the box apart to find the wires had melted into the plastic of the box , then Dan rewired the house. Sausages were cooked on the wood burning stove, just like the old days!
Work
Planning Permission
Planning permission for the first gite has been submitted – very exciting
– only about 3 months to wait then, assuming no hitch!
Poo pipe
We never thought we would dig our own poo pipe! – actually, I only dug
the first metre – a token effort – I got a bit bored after that,
a very laborious process of cutting and chiseling out rock. Dan got lumbered
with the rest and for that matter, he chiseled out the entire floor and walls,
the trench for the waste pipe, the grease pipe and the hot and cold water pipes,
I felt totally exhausted watching him!
Barn Floor
The barn floor saga continues. Just as Dan thought he had dug out all the rock
including trenches for waste pipes, he realized he had forgotten the grease
trap and pipes – see what fun we have!
Finally, all trenches were dug:
and concreting could begin. A friend came to help mix:
Dan concreted the first quarter:
 |
 |
Then the temperature dropped to minus 16. Ridiculous temperature – we live in the south of France – that is colder than England – what??? Obviously we felt better (not) when the locals ( oh, that’d be us) I mean the French people who have lived here forever, told us that it was bizarre et pas normale. Problem was, it’s all very nice discussing the weather but what about our beautifully concreted quarter of a floor? We put the heater in there for 3 days and nights but it still didn’t dry completely, we are still waiting – oh such sad, sad times.
Driveway
Following the melting of the snow, the mud was horrific. I really wasn’t
enjoying the mud and my beautifully swept step, was a constant quagmuire. I
decided to reduce the mud by building a driveway. This is the parking area (in
the summer) before I began:
Dan thought it was a lovely idea but one for the future as he was concentrating on building us somewhere decent to live, being the first gite. If I wanted this driveway, it looked like I’d have to build it. So, determined as ever, I set to work. Of course, if you are going to build a driveway there is no point in just building it for one car, so I decided that I would make a driveway for 5-6 cars at 100m2. Dan thought this hilarious, which made me even more determined. After 3 days of digging and having only dug half of it 5cm down, I was a little less enthusiastic. With only another 15 cm depth to dig, I plodded on.
 |
 |
Luckily, Dan worked out that to level the drive, more stones should be placed on the half that I had not dug out, hence I need not dig out anymore – excellent. Just as I thought it was now going to be easy, the stones for the base arrived:
I then had to spend the next 4 days spreading the stones around – my back is killing me!
Tree
Dan and Christophe cut down the tree between the two gites:
 |
 |
Shopping
Sadly, only waste pipe and all its connections, stones and petrol for the chainsaw and concrete saw – oh yes, and a couple of ski passes. Oh and a clock, which I had to smuggle into the house!