We’ve had a productive, and also an expensive week. We had a visit from the company who sell home energy products door to door. They are the same people that we talked to a couple of years ago about a new heating system. It didn’t work out, thankfully since it wasn’t the best solution for us. We’ve now decided to heat the main room with wood, and the bed and bathrooms with electric heat. Last winter we got by with inefficient heaters in the bedroom, and practically nothing in the bathroom.
So this time, we’re buying proper electric heaters for the bath and bedrooms. We’re also getting off gas all together, and are replacing the hot water heater with an electric one. We’re also installing a water softener, and replacing the kitchen window that doesn’t lock, and insulating the corridor that we couldn’t reach. In all, it’s costing a fair bit of money, but they’re also doing some small things like fixing the front door, and removing the old heating system and bidet. They are meant to start in early May, and it shouldn’t take too long to get everything installed (he says hopefully).
We have the money Dad gave me at the start of the year, and with the sale of the house in Olney, Will is feeling flush at the moment. With that in mind, I’ll tell you about our other purchases. We finally broke down and made an appointment at the diesel specialist in Perigueux. Although Lola behaved a bit better after we gave her some fuel cleaner, she started acting up again recently. We left home bright and early on Friday morning and after a diagnostic, they decided to replace two valves related to the fuel pump. This was the same thing they replaced five years ago when she originally had this problem.
It took a few hours, so they gave us a loaner car, and we did a bit of shopping in the big city. Our main activity was finding the picture framer in the centre of town, who miraculously, stays open for lunch. We brought two prints with us, the Bowie-through-the-years I got Will for his bday, and a colourful cat, a present from Nan. After nearly five years here, we decided to decorate, and this gets us one step closer. We had the French equivalent of fast food then collected Lola, who is now functioning normally. We should be able get another few years out of her, or hope to anyway.
We had a few social activities during the week. On Wed, we saw Lewis and Pary, our language school clients, for a drink at their place. We discussed a couple designs that Will has done, but mostly sat outside and chatted. Our main event was Saturday when we had Nadine and Jean Claude over to dinner. They are both well, and JC sold a few paintings at his exhibit. Also, they put in an offer for a house in the south east, an big old place currently owned by an American. They have a few other places in mind if this one doesn’t work out. Also, we discussed the wind farm since JC is vehemently opposed.
For dinner, I made my onion, bacon, creme fraiche tarte, followed by Thai green curry and rice. It’s a chicken recipe, and I decided to do half of it beef which was a mistake. It came out a bit tough, although the sauce was still good. We had a bit of cheese, and later, chocolate mousse with red fruits. Nadine likes to smoke but just a little. We used to roll mixed joints, but now they’re pure. After the meal, she decided to try a bit, and had a few tokes. She was ok for a few minutes, then needed a bit of time outside to collect herself. She didn’t manage dessert, although she tried. At this point, she called it a night but as they were leaving, she started giggling uncontrollably, so came good in the end. She rang the next day to say that she giggled all the way home, but would limit herself to one puff next time.
We’ve done a few spring chores around here. Will trimmed most of the hedges the other day. He wanted to do them all, bit in the end, was defeated before finishing the big tall one next to the house. I went around collecting the trimmings and carting them to the pile at the back, a few times of the last two days. Today, Will treated the terra cotta tiles, which involves moving around all the furniture in the house. In other news, Will had his citizenship application returned to him, claiming that he missed crossing a few i’s and dotting some t’s, or something. It involves getting another document officially translated, which has already been done. So he’ll reapply again shortly with the corrections to his application.
The weather has been mostly nice, with temps today around 23C with lots of sun. I’ve had to mow the lawn twice already, and it needs it once a week at this point. With the diminished veggie plot, there’s now a bit more to mow in the back. The cats approve of the weather, and have been on a killing spree. We thought Louis had learned not to bring us presents, but if he did, he has since forgotten and we’ve been woken up early that past few mornings with his victory cries.
Lastly, the visitor season is officially kicking off this weekend with the arrival of my cousin Michele, her husband Hervé and their two boys. They live in Paris, and since we’ve been here, they’ve talked about coming to visit. It hasn’t worked out until now, and they arrive on Saturday for a few days. This will be followed by Will’s parents, who are arrive the following Tuesday. We’ll find plenty of work for everyone to do, although they may not know it yet.