It still feels like summer here in Mazeroux. It’s 30 degrees today, and although this is a high peak, it has generally been a very sunny and pleasant September to date. And dry too. Another reason it still feels like August is that work remains very quiet for us both. We’re not too concerned about it yet, particularly given the year we’ve had to date, but it would be reassuring to get a new project or two to keep us busy. My luxury apartment client that resurfaced recently has yet to give me any feedback so for now I’ve nothing on. Matt’s nearly finished migrating sites to our new server and when that’s done he too will be casting around for work.
Our terrace/driveway project is progressing, but as Benoît’s working alone, the pace is a little slow. The wall is now done, complete with spotlights, and it looks beautiful. He’s also started to line the well in stone. He was here this morning, but I think he’s decided it’s a bit too hot to be “breaking rocks in the hot sun” (to borrow a line from a Clash song) and he’s not returned this afternoon. There are some new photos in the album (click on the photo in Matt’s post below).
The other little bit of new concerns the electrics at Mum & Dad’s house. The wiring was all done in July, and it passed inspection by the Consuel (the regulatory body) in mid-August. Jean, our electrician, told me to next fill out an application with a company called Enedis. It was a bit of a faff, as these things always tend to be out here in France, but we got there. From that point on though, things stalled. I checked their website every few days, and every time it said things were progressing and I need take no action.
Fearing something was up, I contacted them last week. And what I learned was that they had: 1) noted down my phone number incorrectly, 2) been trying to phone me for days and 3) never thought to use their own website to contact me – or just to email. A confusing exchange followed with them giving me contradictory information about next steps. Finally on Friday morning, they rang me. The woman I spoke to asked me a few questions and then announced that I had no reason to contact her company at all – basically, that’d I’d just wasted a month for nothing. Apparently, the process has changed since the last time Jean did it, hence his wrong advice. Anyway, good news is that I can just pick any supplier I like and we should be able to get the house hooked up in mere days.
That aside there’s been no newsworthy occurences to report, so I’ll skip forward to our weekend. After a quiet Friday, we entertained on Saturday evening. We bumped into Jenny the other day and it prompted us to invite her over as we’d not seen her in ages. Her son Mathias who also came along is now 12 years old and is really is growing up fast (he was not yet 4 when we first moved in). We also invited Sam, and Françoise who Jenny hadn’t seen since she got back from Australia.
Although the days are still hot, the evenings are noticeably cooler here now, so we had aperitifs indoors. We kicked the evening off with some espressotinis and guacamole, then moved on to a main of roast pork with Matt’s creamy fig sauce. This was followed by cheese and then a peach cobbler for dessert. It was good to see Jenny again. She’s very much loved up at the moment, which is partly why we’ve seen so little of her. We’ve not met her fella Loïc yet, but may do so this week as he’s got a website issue he wants to discuss.
Mathias was competing in an event the next morning, so they didn’t stay late. Françoise joined us for a final cleanser, then we turned in as well. The following afternoon, we had our second band practise since the august break, and it went surprisingly well all told. We’ve no plans to play again this year, so we’ve plenty of time to hone our songs before then.
And that’s about all I have to say. I shall end by wishing a very happy birthday to Dad for this Wednesday!