Le Projet begins
4.–10. maj, Frankrig ⋅ 🌧 14 °C
Emma Lou arrived yesterday to be on site for the commencement of Le Projet, which was scheduled to commence on Monday morning. However, mother nature had other plans as we woke up to pouring rain and a message from the builder that he will now arrive for an on site meeting tomorrow morning.
This gave us a welcome reprieve from too many on site decisions, the chance to get some groceries, and to determine a list of priorities to tick off while Emma Lou is here.
Tuesday morning dawned a stunning day, 10am came and we waited with bated breath. We'd heard stories of the French builders being a bit laissez faire, taking their time, and not necessarily 'getting on with the job'. So we had anticipated today's onsite meeting would be all paperwork, chatting and confirming site details.
How wrong we were! Willy, the builder and project manager, arrived just after 10am, along with a large yellow excavator on the back of a truck. There was great excitement - almost disbelief, and before we knew it, the measuring tapes were out, the hurdles put up (that's survey talk for the setup of the excavation), and the big yellow digger got to work. We were like school kids watching the on site action and by lunchtime, we all had a good idea of just how 'le projet' was going to sit on the block. At 12.30pm the boys all gave us a wave and said 'bon appetit' which we knew meant lunchtime and they were off in their little white van and home for lunch. This is very French and you may remember that the local hardware (think Bunnings equivalent) even closes for lunch for 2 hours! Cest la vie.
They were back on site by 2pm, refreshed and ready to work, which they did right through until 5.30pm. There is no checking mobile phones, chatting to the girlfriends, or mistresses as the case may be en France, when they work, they work. Hallelujah!
Emma Lou and I had a meeting with Patrick, the cabinet maker about the kitchen designs which were reviewed and reviewed again, and on Wednesday and Thursday we spent time collecting tile samples for the flooring, and looking at appliances. Meanwhile, the builders had been in demolishing mode, taking down the last of the little stone wall, and removing the ancient preform concrete BBQ, that had provided plenty of hot coals for the Aussies to cook on until the gas Weber arrived last year.
A decision was made to replace the old terrase, currently looking very tired and loosing its crazy paving stone tiles on an almost daily basis. It made sense to link it formally to the new upper terrase, and thus give the original maison, a connection to the new kitchen/dining room, which overlooks le jardin. Around the edge of the old terrase was a century old stone wall, just 'hanging in' with the help of some very old crumbly cement. This too was destined to go as a brand new wall tapered to ground level, was on the plans for le projet.
And it just so happened, that Friday 8th May was a Public Holiday in France- the official end of the Second World War, so there were no builders on site and we could all enjoy a long weekend. The sun was shining so the Aussie's, not wanting to appear lazy or idle, and always looking for ways to 'give back' for our free accommodation, decided to 'relocate' the old limestone fence to join the pile along the side fence.
A quick push of the 600mm high wall, and bingo, it totally collapses. Two days later, and many barrowloads of limestone rocks added to the pile and the job is done. All that's left is a pile of rubble, small rocks and old cement. You can imagine to look on Willy's face when he turned up the next day. We must be careful though, as we may be offered a job 😂 which is definitely against the rules of our long stay visa.
The long weekend began with a visit to the Saint Jean D'Angely Marché on Saturday and a wander up the road to the Spring Flower Fete in our lical village of St Loup. While most of the time it appears deserted like many other villages we pass through, one Fete days the people come from miles around, and imagine our surprise on this occasion to arrive to the sound of 'boot scooting' live music and a crowd of 50 or more French people, appropriately dressed, doing line dancing. The world is truly universal - just sorry I missed a video. We ended the long weekend by celebrating the Australian Mother's Day on Sunday, with a delicious roast chicken lunch.Læs mere