So, the days of early morning conversations in technical French are not yet behind us.  And yes, before you ask, “merde” is absolutely right up at the top of my French dictionary of building terms, right alongside “poutre”, which has occasionally been known to come out as “putain”  for reasons I have yet to fathom.  I think that we’re on a tapering down, though.  I hope so.

Week 8 of the renovation is fast approaching.  For those not in the know that makes it week 6 + 2.  We had envisioned the work taking 6 weeks, but realistically expected it to be closer to 8.  In truth it will be almost 10 weeks from start to finish.  But hey, shrouds have no pockets ….. anyone want to donate a shroud or two?  The good news is that things are really starting to come together.  Robin (my stepfather, and lead on this project) has worked tirelessly since he and my mother arrived at Les Terraces the end of the first week of January.  So hard that I hear he has lost a load of weight and had to buy a new belt in order to keep his trousers up!  He has encountered all manner of challenges and handled every single one of then (including the stroppy step-daughter) with the calm and smile for which he is renowned (anyone needing an ace plumber send me an email and I’ll share his contact details!!).

We had hoped to have a week-to-week photo-diary of the project not to bore you, but for reference purposes.  However, it’s been more like a once-a-month diary, which I now need to assemble for no other purpose save our own reference, if nothing more.  I have promised photos before, and am now planning a short before-during-during-& (eventually)-after series (please feel free to yawn!) but won’t have that before this forthcoming holiday weekend.