Having arrived back at Les Terraces a fortnight ago I find myself (not altogether unhappily) almost 2 kilos lighter than when we touched down at Bordeaux. This is the third time that this has happened this year, so it can’t be a coincidence! Sadly, they’re the same 5lbs that I lost in February and again in May.
It is a very expensive program that involves trans-Atlantic airfares and 2-weeks unpaid holiday. However, you do get to eat and drink what you like. No restrictions on beer, red wine or Armagnac. You can also eat 5 times a day if you feel like it. The down-side is that it involves working like a dog from 8AM to 6PM with an hour off for lunch!
I know that this diet works for others as Graham lost a similar amount in May and again this trip and my step-father (God bless him) told me when I rang to say a very sincere “thank you” that he lost 6lbs in 5 days!!!
However, I am really pleased with what we managed to achieve …….. no thanks to the so-called, self-styled “renovation expert” who, instead of improving the house, did a pretty good job at screwing it up. We’ve taken pictures of some of the work done by his “artisans”, which I’ll upload later (when I’ve worked out how). There have been some mildly funny incidents, such as the person who went to use the recently extended bathroom and couldn’t get out because the the door stuck in the frame. It took 2 other people to spring her from the loo!
Yet again we’ve painted acres – ok not acres, but it feels like it – of walls. This time we’ve also sanded down doors that didn’t fit; I’ve learned new skills, such as basic carpentry and plastering. I’ve also installed my first light fixture. I realise that this may not be rocket science, but for someone who spends her time driving a desk it’s quite a departure, trust me.
Saturday morning was devoted to cleaning the incredible amounts of dust, dirt and ground-in plaster (the dastardly D apparently doesn’t know about drop-cloths) from the ground floor and actually putting things in place, putting loose covers on furniture, setting up the home cinema system and so on. It really felt good to get to that point. When we’d got everything in the sitting room in place we decided that it was time to reward ourselves with some time off for good behaviour and set off to people-watch during the weekly market from the vantage point of a table at The Globetrotter.
All that remains to be done now (for this year) is install some additional shelving in a kitchen and paint all of the hallways and apartment doors. I hope.
Perhaps next week we can relax, enjoy our home and our guests and try not to regain the weight that we’ve lost in the so doing.
Tags: Buying & Renovating