Progress.........

Its all happening at once this week. We are still on with the first fix electrics and everything else that has to go up in the roof space before we put the ceiling up. The bathroom fan & all lights have arrived safely, so we now know where all the wires are going.  We have made our decision  on the type of air conditioning/heating to put in and, after a site meeting, have decided (to save time) to let someone else fit this - it took us ages to fit the one in La Luques, the 1st villa, and we now have a deadline of May to finish this one -I have promised a dear friend, (and Heinz Baked Beans supplier), it will be ready for his holiday - It looks like Bryan may be working on Christmas day.




The digger man has been back to dig a trench across the track for us to put in the water and electric supply and make a mess in my garden for the waste water and drainage pipes. Bryan is down the trench fitting pipes together as I write this.










The guttering arrived this morning. It comes on a roll in the back of the van and is put through a forming machine and then cut to size. Hopefully we will fit this when Bryan has connected the drains.






Just to make our day the window man has just arrived with the last window we are waiting for - alas it is the same size as the one we sent back 5 weeks ago. Grrrrrrrr. I hope it is just a picking mistake because it has to be fit before we do the rendering on the outside of the building and the guys are coming to do this in the next few weeks. I am not a happy bunny, we can't put them off (Its taken 12 months for them to fit us in).    Mr  window man has gone to check his warehouse to see if he can find it - No comment from me !!!!!

We are recovering from a hectic family/ friend seeing weekend. There are always too many people to see when we go back and not enough time to get round everyone.  It was nice to be able to go to a friends 60th birthday and meet up with some of the gang we played badminton with for over 20 years. We miss them, and it, a lot.  It was also nice to catch up with family and spend some time with children and grandchildren - Taking some of them to school was a treat not to be missed.

We have had a few wet days this last week but yesterday Mr Sunshine was back and it was nice to be eating our lunches out on the terrace once again, the air temperature is about 22 degrees but sat in the sunshine it feels much warmer,  I wonder how long we will be able to carry on doing so ? I will no doubt let you know.

Work on La Picholine is ongoing. We now have the windows in, (well the ones that are here). We are still awaiting delivery on the bathroom window and the sill for the kitchen window has not arrived. It has been promised for later this week but we have a little trip to England planned so it will be later next week before we pick this up (and hopefully get it home and fit without breakages) . The shutters are on and working too. The gutters are on order and should be here for fitting the last week in October. Bryan has also started on the first fix electrics so I am getting bombarded with questions about where I want plug sockets and which walls are the beds going etc. All the light fittings are en route and the kitchen is designed. Hopefully it will all turn out as we have planned but it's work in progress and things could change......

We had our first days rain since May last Saturday, so the photoshoot we have to do of the grape harvest has been postponed due to the conditions underfoot. The red clay soil sticks to your shoes and you end up feeling like you are walking on stilts. We hope it will have dried up enough before Thursday or it won't get done.  We also did a shoot on Friday in nearby Neffies. A beautiful Chambres d'Hotes called "Maison Dix". Well worth a stay if you visit this region for a holiday. Bryan is working on the post production as I write this.

Yesterday morning was spent in the veg garden digging up the last of the tomato plants and planting up a new strawberry bed. We have to do a daily tour of the cabbages to check for caterpillars (or eggs). The butterflies are still around due to the warm weather and although they are lovely to watch their offspring can eat more cabbage leaves than you could imagine in one sitting. I have also taken some lavender cuttings to increase our planting stock for the new part of the garden around La Picholine.

A neighbour/friend passed on some spare quince so I have been busy making quince jelly to add to our growing store cupboard. It was my first attempt and it now needs a little time to mature so I will let you know in a few weeks if this has been a success.

The Olives are nearly ready for picking so we visited the nearest mill to us to find when we can take ours to be made into olive oil - Guess what my next job is for November........

Next on my list is packing. I hope all the little ones are ready for our visit. We are so looking forward to seeing them once again ( and the big ones too).  Here's hoping that the weather is kind to us and it's not too cold - we haven't worn long trousers or jackets since March so we are not used to it.