Living in that moment of Happiness and contemplation. Abruptly paused as Bertie the pooch trotted home with a tick stuck to his nose and then proceeded to get the full-on poops and sicks the following day – Trip to the vets now in French that was fun! MERDE
If you know Shih Tzu’s then you’ll know they get down in the dumps and it takes days to chivvy them back to their happy ways.
With a bloated tum and feeling poorly we managed to coax the little one back to good health this week.
Coco is, of course, making the most of pooch cuddles and extra love.
Feeling better now : )
Oh my! What a-to-do! One step forward. Two steps back.
Water Heater:
We have an electric water heater for our phase 1 water tank. This will become a back up when phase 2 boiler is installed but for now, this was a quick solution to get us up and running. NON.
The water heater was faulty, Simon tested it many times and then rang the UK manufacturers – who asked us to complete a few more tests. Now sending it back. Waited a week for the new one… YAY it arrived, fitted it and then in anticipation of a hot shower with a towel at the ready – NON.
Water Companies
The French water company switched the water off for over 24 hours. Yes, that’s right with no notice. At first, we thought it was because of the water shortages – it’s usual to get an hour or two ‘switch off’ during very dry periods (we’re still in the middle of a dry heatwave here). We chatted to our neighbors one of them rang the water company to find out that a digger had hit the water main. I can now report that the tank of hot water is hot and the heater is working. OUI.
Mobile Phone
I updated my phone to a pay as you go option. My phone contract is paid up so I’m still deciding what to buy. I’ll probably need a French phone contract but my UK Samsung J5 is just peachy for the next three months. Unfortunately, no one mentioned that I need to be in the UK to activate the new pack and switch data roaming on again. So I have a new number for the short term – if you need it text Simon. I shall resume my old number next week.
Next Adventure – Registering your French car in France…
Simon and I traveled in the cute little Citroen Picasso to the garage to get all it’s certificate and MOT’s done. Simple. NON. Several trips and 8 documents later we’re almost there! I’ll let Simon tell you the story when he’s got a moment the link will be here.
Progress in pictures THE SHOWER ROOM
Here’s the temporary basin and toilet while we fit the room and await our new Fosse Septique.
Door Removed to make room for epic shower Tray 
Skirting boards removed while we increase the floor depth 
Celotex insulation for underfloor heating 
Temporary wash stand with new taps and basin we’re fiting two… 
Plenty of buckets and woodchippings 
Shower drainage hole 
Cement Base waste in place 
Underside of shower tray test waste fits 
In position at last 
Ceiling work in progress 
Batons for wall and to hide pipework 
Level wall in place 
Scaffold up ready to bring in shower walls 
Level shower tray 
The Nuance Board visits the bathroom for a short period 
Pretty bathroom window
In the ongoing saga of the shower room, the progress continues and the problem solving wears thin. Deeper floors for underfloor heating and heavy supported shower trays mean shorter wall panels and 5mm has a knock-on effect.
OF COURSE IT DOES!
We chose to go with UK push-fit fittings and we brought tonnes of the stuff with us. Screwfix delivers to France so all is well. We got organised and made sure we have lots of spares.
Read on…
Less than perfect flat walls do not make for smoothe installation as per the youtube video. We gained a couple of extra mm’s of concrete to secure our (very heavy but none the less fabulous) shower tray in place. Note, don’t spread the concrete with your bare hands (in frustration when you put the aforementioned very heavy tray in place and the spirit level shows you’re way out) that burns (ouch). Now healed. I won’t be doing that again.
We had to take a second mortgage out to buy sand for the cement mix at the local Brico 6Euros for a very small bag. It’s the best cement you’ll see for miles. Anyhow after epic efforts in 33 degrees of heat in the late afternoon following a day at the office the shower tray was in but we still can’t get a shower. Why? Because Screwfix forgot to dispatch our order – we have to wait another 6 working days! We neeeeeed the water pipe push fit inserts. Very small but very essential. We are checking and tracking daily and the order is now on the way from Ireland. Meanwhile, I began to paint the ceiling and thought I’d like the shabby chic chalk look. I’m now not entirely convinced?
Here we are at week 4 of the shower fitting. Towel and soap at the ready – still smiling but have lost it and disturbed the countryside peace on more than one occasion. The crickets (in shock) stopped chirruping, they were stunned! The lizards took their opportunity to scoff a few.
Sunday afternoon family time
Erect your scaffolding together and bring the shower walls through the window. What could be more fun than that! It was a joyous occasion the thought of the not so instant walls going in place. No tiles, no grouting lines just seamless waterproof wall. It was at this point we realised that our very expensive sand and cement made all the difference of a few millimeters and now the super expensive nuance board (recycled refrigerators very clever stuff) now needed cutting shorter. At this point, the boards came back out of the window swiftly but carefully and I opened a bottle of wine. We all enjoyed our outdoor shower and BBQ steak for tea. Tomorrow is another day.
