Friday, March 11, 2005
More mud
Albert our duck went missing Tuesday night when Caroline went to shut up the animals. She still hasn't reappeared. A search around hasn't revealed any feathers so we can only assume she has gone to make a nest somewhere. Lucy has started laying again, which might be a co-incidence.
Yesterday I spent all day cleaning out both the gites ready for the chape.
I'm not sure what the English translation is but the closest guess
would be a concrete screed. We've got a concrete mixer coming next
Tuesday with enough chape to do the kitchen in one gite and the whole
ground floor in the other gite. The chape is about 6cm thick to bring
the floor level up to the correct height and it should provide a smooth
flat base for the floor tiles. None of us done it before so wellies and
tamping sticks at the ready we'll have to see. Caroline did ask for an
8 hour retardant to be added to give us time to phaff about. Full
report Tuesday ( or Wednesday).
The
digger men (boys) returned to collect the diggers today. Before they
had a chance to load up and be gone we got them to dig a trench for the
main electric feed from the house to the two new gites. As you can see
the courtyard is a bit of a mess. Yes, that is a box of wine on the
doorstep. I find it's helps the day pass a little quicker, especially
when your back is aching from digging out the excess mud to try to
level up the ground for the new gravel. The electric cable is thread
inside gaine rouge, red conduit, which is buried in
the trench. Once the boys had finished digging Caroline and I quickly
threw the gaine in the trench, she fluttered her eye lashes and got
them to fill it all back in again.
Finally got around to fitting the Garde du Corps, safety barrier, across the window in Poire this afternoon as an interluded to digging and shifting gravel. Since we re-arranged the walls and stairs to incorporate the floor level window into the bedroom it has needed a barrier.
Caroline has ordered the pavers (6 tonnes, so another delivery truck I think), I've ordered 10 cubic meters of sand to go under them, and the floor tiles Caroline ordered last week for the downstairs rooms in the gites have arrived, ready for collection.
The next week is going to be tiring as well.
| 9:57:13 PM
More mud
