Today I shall be Mainly...

[Stanley]

I shall be in the shed working on the wobbler for an hour and then it looks as though walk and sit will be on as long as I am well wrapped up! I have a bit of Town Square shopping to do as well..... It's a couple of days since I had a walk, somehow an hour in bed is more important these days. A sign of age I reckon but I do not let it worry me, one day at a time.....

[Sue]

Morning

Hard work Ian. When we bought this place it had been renovated from a burnt out shell of a house and attached blacksmiths barn ( we think) by a young french couple, a carpenter and a hairdresser. He worked for Yves Rocher and we think some of the work had been done by his artisan work friends. She obviously had style as some of the rooms like the bathroom and kitchen were not the normal rural french style but were stylish colours and design.

The main garden had been laid out with lawn and expensive trees and shrubs. It had three finished large bedrooms and a fourth nearly completed. The laundry room only had a boiler and a dirt floor. The room we are doing now was the old grain store, no windows, a small step ladder in to it and a single electric light bulb. There was one bathroom ( we now have three) . However it had the most amazing lounge,/sejour. It is 60 square metres, and a lovely eye catching staircase that went to a mezzanine landing. We loved it straight away. We saw 12 house in 3 days. This was the first and nothing else could match it. It was to be our early retirements task. Bob was made redundant at 55, I retired the following year, also at 55.

Three children were born whilst they lived here and I think they ran out of time and money. By all accounts he was a bit of a tear away and into motorbikes. He piled the builders rubble up into large mounds in the field, (now orchard and railway track) and made a moto cross route. He got into drugs and alcohol( very common in rural Brittany) and she gave him an ultimatum for them to move elsewhere. They went to the alps near Grenoble. We never met them during the sale.

So we bought an unfinished renovation, rather battered by the three kids. There were floor to ceiling paintings in felt tip of Simpson characters and ballet dancers on the walls and doors. The walls had been chewed to death by dogs, obviously confined to rooms during the working day. The house had been empty for three years, the weeds in the gravel were knee high, we did not know we had fruit trees because of the length of grass and weeds in the field and those mounds of rubble have been a nightmare to deal with. Its been hard physical work but we are proud of the transformation. The 8 weeks when we were here in lockdown allowed us to finish so many tasks.

Yesterday was not as wet as expected. We had a productive morning in the new room, two thirds of which is now ready to paint, the other third is storing my art gear at the moment. We had a lovely late lunch, and afterwards I did the ironing and Bob filled some cracks with poly filler. Today we have a little shopping to do but will then continue with the decorating

Have a good day, its due to rain all day here.

[Stanley]

That's quite a story Sue and well done both of you for staying the course!
I've had a bit more than an hour in the shed. I finished the crankshaft and put a PCD in on the end for the crank pin. Than into the mill, drilled it and installed the tiny crank Pin I have made. I installed it bedded in Loctite 638 and hopefully by tomorrow it will be solid. If so I can go on to making the flywheel.

[Sue]

I never mentioned the rubbish. The field was littered with beer bottles, tablet packets, broken children's toys and general debris. The 4 old sheep stables were full to the roof with similar as was the old barn and the storeroom off the kitchen which is now Bobs workshop but also stores our small tractor and ride on mower. There was a lot of wooden debris, planks and such which over the years we have used as fuel or for the renovation. The big find were the cannabis seeds !

[Stanley]

Sounds horrendous Sue. Do you ever look back and wonder at what you did? I know I do when I look at Ellenroad and building the Whitelees. I have a job to recognise the bloke who drove those projects through. I certainly couldn't do it now!
Today I shall be in the shed putting the final touches to my wobbler. I might push the boat out later on and order a set of castings for another No. 9 engine! It's making engines that keeps me going.......
Not expecting a walk and sit, the weather looks too dodgy. We'll see later on.

[Sue]

Sounds horrendous Sue. Do you ever look back and wonder at what you did? I know I do when I look at Ellenroad and building the Whitelees. I have a job to recognise the bloke who drove those projects through. I certainly couldn't do it now!
Today I shall be in the shed putting the final touches to my wobbler. I might push the boat out later on and order a set of castings for another No. 9 engine! It's making engines that keeps me going.......
Not expecting a walk and sit, the weather looks too dodgy. We'll see later on.

Morning

We used to keep a diary of all our visits but I wasn’t as disciplined at writing daily as I am now. It makes interesting reading the bit I did and we have old photos. Even the blossoming wisteria we have these days was non existant . We planted it the second summer.

Yesterday was drier than expected and I managed to get some of the hedging trimmed in the orchard. It needed doing. The commune had been along the hamlet digging out the ditches and our 2 year old overhanging branches of hedgerow roses and other plants looked a mess. Where they scoured the grass whilst clearing the ditch I have planted wild flower seeds. I hope they take....they were a bit expensive. I also bought grass seed, some for the bare patches where we have covered the path across the lawn and some for the entrance by the gate where we are also getting rid of the gravel . It started raining at 3.30 pm so we retired in doors and did some more on the new room. I swept and vacuumed the floor of bits then washed down the wooden stairs and hand rails to get rid of the plaster and dust. I think we are ready to start painting. .

It was quite a day yesterday. Nic contacted me the evening before to say Barry had been rushed back into hospital with another heart attack, then last night she contacted again to say it was confusing. Drs did not know if it was a heart attack or angina so he was going back to the recuperation home. Almost at the same time Laetitia contacted to say her Mum, who is also back in hospital, has tested positive for covid. Luckily they visited us before they visited her. Now we cannot see them again this trip in case they are now infected and we also want to visit Roland later this week. Maman is in isolation in the hospital for 12 days which seems a very long time. She only has cold symptoms and is fully vaccinated. At least it will give Laetitia a break as she cannot visit

Today will be as yesterday, hedgerow cutting and decorating, depending on when the rain arrives. So far it is unexpectedly dry .

Have a good day all

[Stanley]

What you're describing with your friends is the new normal isn't it. We are accepting that regular periods of infection and quarantine are part of our lives even though the fear isn't there now because of our vaccinations.



I've had an hour and a half in the shed. I made the flywheel and fitted it and started to make the base on which the engine will sit.

[Sue]

What is the new normal is going in to hospital for one thing and a routine test shows they have covid like Laetitia's Mum. Barrys problem is quite different

Two more friends this morning report they have a cold but did a covid test that was positive. At the cost of tests I think people will just stop testing. The vast majority of people suffer no more than cold symptoms so do you test every time you have a cold , plus the following days after day 6 to see you are clear. At present inflation levels I think this is one cost people will reject. Many people say they have had worse colds than covid. Alright yes I know the complications but they exist for every respiratory infection.

[Stanley]

My feelings exactly....

[Big Kev]

P got a box of 5 PCR tests, from the chemist in Colne on Monday, gratis. Middle offspring tested positive.

[Sue]

I initially thought you could get them free if you had covid, then someone told me you couldn’t. All very confusing

[Sue]

I was partly right


https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavir ... ronavirus/

[Big Kev]

We were under the impression they had to be paid for too. Was surprised when they said they were free.

[Stanley]

I've got three boxes I won't be using if anyone wants them.....
Today I shall be working on the base for the wobbler. The forecast seems to be dry so a walk and a sit is on the cards later. (I never bothered yesterday.... I'm all in favour of exercise but not in the wind and rain!)

[Stanley]

I've had a nice hour in the shed using at least one new technique for me and finishing making my base. I shall drill and tap it tomorrow.

[Sue]

Morning

Sorry I am late this morning. My ipad did not charge overnight, so instead of writing this in bed I am writing over a cup of coffee after breakfast.

We too have about three boxes of LFT now stored in the bathroom cabinet just in case they are needed. We used a couple of test strips whe we had colds and were visiting Wendy.

It was a busy tiring day yesterday. I managed to get the rest of the hedge trimmed to fence level in the morning ( thats a total length of about 100+metre) . I did half yesterday. The hedging roses had branches about 15 feet long and desperately needed lopping off. Anyway its all tidy now, and I finished just as it started raining, which it did on and off for the rest of the day.

In the afternoon we managed to get three quarters of the new room covered with one coat of emulsion. The ceiling slopes upwards to a height of 14 feet, which can only reached on the highest of step ladders.I left these high bits for Bob. The other quarter has all the furniture and excess insulation piled there so this afternoons task is to move that then we can sand down the filler and tackle that bit. This morning we are going to ECOLAINE in Rennes. This one is for me. Its a fabulous craft and sewing warehouse with lots of fabric. Round the corner or two more if I don’t find what I want.

So thats today planned out. The forecast is good, 17 degrees. Have a good day all.

[Big Kev]

Working in the office for the first time since March 12th 2020, I won't be making a habit of it.

[Stanley]

"The forecast is good, 17 degrees."
We're going to be into single figures during the day in the next week Sue......
I shall be in the shed finishing the base for the wobbler and perhaps declaring that project finished. I must bite the bullet and order the castings for the Stuart No. 9! I can start making the crankshaft for it and machining the cylinder as I have a spare casting......
I had a walk and sit yesterday but it was cold, I shall do it again today, the forecast looks dry and perhaps even sunny at midday but only about 7C.....

[Sue]

Morning

Its another day of continuous rain according to the forecast and the temperature has dropped again and will continue to do so over tge next few days. I think 14 is forecast by the weekend. Whilst still warmer than home the house here is noticeably cooler than it was a week ago and we are thankful for the wood burning stove every evening. I have had to wash daily as nothing would dry outside due to either rain or high humidity and anything thick like bath towels are taking two days to dry. I am having to plan bedding changing and such before we leave. It looks like Friday and Saturday are due to be dry and the former is windy so we shall put the whirly line up and see if it will help. I don’t like leaving washing hanging all winter and we won’t be back again till late February or early March .

We had a good morning in Rennes . I bought two pieces of fabric and then we visited Castorama ( B&Q in the UK) to look for light fittings. The afternoon was taken up with cleaning my art furniture in the new room whilst Bob removed the surplus wood and insulation material. I then swept whilst Bob finished the last bit of filler sanding on the last quarter of the room. Today I will do the second coat of white paint, where it is going to be white. Bob will probably be working on the last quarter. He is hoping to get some light fittings up before we leave on Sunday.

I made a fig tarte tatin, in tge afternoon as we have an absolute glut of figs. It tasted delicious but looked rather soggy as the pastry had absorbed all the rich juices like a sponge. We had a piece with our tea but the rest has gone in the freezer. After tea we phoned Nicole and arranged to see Roland on Friday afternoon. We left it till now as we wanted to be sure we were both over our colds. I also contacted Laetitia who tells me that they are testing negative for covid, and that her Mum is not ill at all but very bored being by herself.

Another wet day decorating here, have a good day all.

[Stanley]

Morning Sue, you sound as though you are getting through the list of jobs OK. With wind chill we are down to 8C today so you'll feel a difference when you come back on Sunday....



Finishing the wobbler. I drilled and tapped the base for the 5BA set screws that will fasten it down, installed the bolts and cut off the excess from the bottom of the base. Then stuck a piece of fabric on the bottom to protect the surface it stands on. I shall leave the glue until tomorrow to set and then cut the excess off.
Looking at the engine objectively it's OK but the standard is falling, I think my age is taking a toll but that's only to be expected!

[Sue]

I am sure we will feel the difference. However our house in the UK is a lot warmer than the one here. This is a big stone house and takes a lot of heating. We don’t notice how cool it is during the day as we are busy, but we do notice in the evening. Its ok when the sun is out as it heats the rooms we live in during the day but when its rain like today we feel the difference. I have cold feet as I write. The temperature outside this morning is 13 degrees

[Sue]

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Not much of a view today and the rain is deafening

[Stanley]

Sounds worse than here Sue, at least we have some sun.... I am just off out for a bit of light veggie shopping.
Tell Bob I have bitten the bullet and ordered a set of Number 9 castings..... That should get me past my 87th birthday and through winter!

[Stanley]

I shall be in the shed first thing getting ready to make the crankshaft for the next engine. Then at 07:00 it's early doors shopping at the Co-op followed by second sleep. Then Susan comes to give my feet a treat to tide me over while she is in Oz, she flies out for Grand daughter Holly's wedding and will be away for a month. After that I shall take a view, a good day for a walk and sit but I'll see how i feel.

[Sue]

Morning

Not the best day weather-wise yesterday, intermittent sun and rain which will continue this morning. Then it is supposed to be sunny. Its is 10 degrees at the moment feeling like 8 and rising to 14. I see next week there is little difference between here and Rochdale. This morning I shall strip our bed and wash the bedding. At least then it has two days to dry. I shall do the towels tomorrow. Normally I just leave the damp washing over the airer in the laundry room but don’t like to leave it all Winter collecting dust and dead flies.

This after noon we are going to see Roland and later will phone Briony as it is her 11 th birthday today . She is away on a school resudential all week and not back till later today so our usual birthday breakfast phone call will be delayed till her return. It is also the anniversary of the death of both our Mums , mine in 2001 and Bobs in 2003 . Its not a date easily forgotten

Yesterday was a long hard day of decorating . We ran out of paint so dashed off to the shops at lunchtime to get another giant tub. I was also painting some old furniture that I use to store my art stuff. It looked very shabby for such a smart new room I have the second coat to do on some of that , plus the first coat of emulsion on that fourth quarter of the walls . We may even get the second coat on if it dries quickly enough. The two end walls will be a different colour. We want to keep it light and airy and cool looking as it can get very hot in there in the summer so we have opted for a pale blue. We have half a tub of blue left over from our bedroom so we will mix some white in with it. That may not get done this visit. We shall see.

So thats our day, a few domestic tasks and decorating. I see the grass is growing furiously outside, but it is far too wet to cut. The new lawn seed should thrive.

Have a good day all.