Quite a lot has changed here at Port 80 during the past week. Much of this was made possible by Will’s parents, Anne and Andrew who arrived last Tuesday. Will collected them from the airport in the afternoon while I finished up some last minute work. We ate at home that night, starting with charcuterie, then carrot soup + onion tarte for the main, cheese and a store-bought strawberry tarte. Will opened up his bday gift from Lucien, a 2008 St Emilion which was superb.
The next day, we put them to work bright and early. We had a long list of chores for our visitors, and that started with a trip to Perigueux. We went to the DIY shop in the morning, then headed into the centre for a stroll, which turned into lunch. The weather had been unsettled the previous days, but was 17C and mostly sunny that day, so we ate outside on the Place St Louis. After lunch, we collected our two prints from the framing shop, then went to a different brico on the other side of town for supplies we had missed at the first one. We arrived home mid afternoon and got started on the list.
Over the next few days, an improvement was made to every room in the house. Andrew first tackled the bathroom where he installed cabinets, then put up shelves in the toilet to replace the ugly thing that came with the house. He inadvertently discovered that the wall between the toilet and shower is paper thin by drilling through some of the shower tiles. He was not amused, but no one else seemed to mind. This created an extra task for him, retiling the shower wall, which he did the following day.
In the bedrooms, Anne and Will hung one of the newly-framed prints, and fixed another frame that was coming apart. And we now have curtains in our room, and Will’s guitar/gym room. Andrew hung the curtain rails, and Anne hemmed them with some magical substance and an iron. It’s now darker in our bedroom, making it even more difficult to get out of bed. Will’s hand-me-down gym machine had been out of commission since a cable snapped many months ago. Andrew rigged up a new bit of cable, and it’s as good as new.
In the main room, we have the other newly-framed print, the many faces of Bowie through the ages. Will dispersed the coloured signs from the main wall, so it’s now looking a bit sparse, but more adult. Also in that room Andrew repaired our floor lamp and put up a guitar holder for Will’s soon-to-be-replaced acoustic guitar. In the mezzanine, he and I installed a wall mount for our tv, which we’d tried but failed to do during a previous visit. This time, we borrowed a drill from Manu that was more than up to the task.
All of the above took place on Wed and Thurs, punctuated by a few visits to the brico in Nontron. Other activities included dinner at home on Wed night, which was garden veggie enchiladas and salad, plus brownies for dessert. Like most nights, we played cards after dinner, and also had a game or two of scrabble on Friday when it rained.
We went out for dinner on Thursday night to the Hotel de France. This was only the second time we’ve managed to take Anne and Andrew there since they’re usually here on the weekend at they don’t do dinner. We’d heard rumours that the place had gone downhill since their new chef came on, but they proved to be false. You still have a choice of dishes for each course, but there were far fewer to choose from. Thankfully, we all found something to our liking and had an excellent meal.
On Friday, it rained the entire day. Andrew called it mizzle, which I believe is so-called since it’s a combo of mist and drizzle. We took it easy, played games, and relaxed after the previous days’ work. We had a few out door tasks on our list, but they were low priority since Will and I can do them ourselves. Dinner that night was a new recipe of leek and potato gratin, which didn’t turn out so well. It was a bit bland, and the potatoes were a bit too firm so not sure if I’ll try that one again.
The folks left on Saturday afternoon, but not before a morning trip to Brantome for the annual Spring Fair. Will and I go every year to commemorate our decision to stay in France, and also, to stock up on our favourite Cotes de Castilion. It was due to rain in the afternoon, but the weather was ok in the morning. After a brief stroll around, we got down to business of trying/buying wine. It was a bit different having a tasting before noon: hard work, but someone’s got to do it. After lunch, Will drove Anne and Andrew to Limoges for their flight back.
That evening, Will and I were invited over to Jenny’s for dinner with Benoit and Virginie. We were also joined by their daughter, Eva, a fellow grower/smoker. Jenny made a lovely meal of potato gratin, far better than the one I made, served with a roast turkey breast. For dessert, we had a chocolate cake, all accompanied by a lot of wine. The other guests smoke tobacco, so we indulged in a bit of that along with Eva’s home-grown, which is orders of magnitude better than ours. She buys her seeds online, and has a few years more experience than us, so her stuff is Amsterdam quality. She’s studying graphic design in Bordeaux, but comes home on the weekends so we hope to see more of her.
Sunday was a lazy day, and we watched some films on our newly wall-mounted tv. We also did a bit of band practice since our first gig of the year is at Jenny’s in late June. We’ve changed up the set list slightly, removing some difficult songs and replacing them with some that we hope are more well known.
The home improvements continued on Monday with the delivery and installation of the items we recently ordered. First we had the loft over the back corridor/bathrooms insulated. It’s an eco-friendly cotton-based product, which they spray in with hose through the roof. Next to arrive was the electrician and plumber who installed the bedroom/bathroom radiators and the new water heater. They also dismantled the old boiler and hot water heater and carted it all away.
The plumber came back today to remove the bidet from the bathroom. He was meant to install the water softener in the cave, but wasn’t able to. It needs to drain waste water somehow, and it currently isn’t possible. So someone else needs to come back and discuss our options, which may include a different system, or skipping the idea. From what we can tell, the newly installed equipment is all functioning properly, and it will be interesting to see how our utility bills change.
We’re very pleased with all the changes to the house, many of which have been needed for a long time. I would like to thank my Dad whose generous gift at the end of last year made this all possible, and of course, Anne and Andrew for all their hard work.