New Year 2005/6 27 Dec-1 Jan

Well an eventful trip over!

We were meant to arrive on 26 December but missed the flights at Stansted (well the family made it, but I was late due to parking the car!) due to amazingly heavy traffic on the M3 and M25. Ryanair were not at all helpful so in the end I phoned a friend who booked us seats on FlyBe out of Southampton the next morning. So we drove home (in 2 hours, rather then the 4 it took to get there), arranged a lift to Southampton airport the next morning etc…..

When we checked in at Southampton (nice and early of course!) we were advised there was bad weather in Limoges and the plane might have to turn around and come back. Just what we needed! Anyway the plane took off and the Pilot informed us that the weather in Limoges was 'perfect'!

So we arrived a day late, but happy to be there. Over the years I have flown hundreds of times and had until this trip only ever missed one plane, and that was hi-jacked! So while being annoyed at missing the flight, and the extra cost, was pretty laid back about it.

It was COLD in the Dordogne, the local lakes and rivers were frozen and when we arrived at the house the outside temperature was -7C. And inside? Well a welcoming +1C…. it was at that moment I realised that putting the woodburner in on the last trip was meant to be. Before the car was unpacked the fire was alight and slowly the room warmed up to about 16 on the first night. However in a couple of days the girls were complaining it was too hot at 26C.

After the first night I was outside doing my 'man' thing with the chainsaw cutting up wood for the fire when our roofer, Gerard, arrived. Gerard doesn't speak a word of English but is a delight to try and talk to. In fact all the artisans we have dealt with have been very patient with our limited French and have taken the time needed to communicate.

The good news was that Gerard also provides firewood so he measured up the woodburner, for the length of logs needed, and at 4 in the afternoon turned up with a flatbed truck full of cut oak. About 2.5 cubic metres for 70 euro. Only problem was I now had no excuse now to use the chainsaw…….

Gerard had not come looking to sell firewood but to agree the final details on the new roof. We are going to convert the attic and after much debate decided a new roof now would save a lot of time and money in a few years. The 4 main 'A' frames and joining timbers will stay (which is great as they are fantastic. In fact if you have been upsatirs in WH Smiths in Winchester it is exactly the same roof design) but everyhting else is being replaced. Plus insulation and 8 velux windows. So we agreed the last bits and gave him a 30% down payment. Work to start mid January.

The rest of our time there we took it easy, did some shopping, bought new lamps for the lounge and various bits and pieces. We were invited to dinner with our Dutch neighbours and they visited us for a short while on new years eve. We almost missed midnight! But luckily we manged to pour ourselves glasses of Lanson Moet , no it was Evian! We were all so tired we then went to bed!

The house is on 3 phase so while we were there Sue and I drew diagrams of the wiring. Now Sue and I are both engineers (Sue is the bright one with the degree in Electrical and Electonic engineering!) so we have a vague idea of what should be connected to what. What became very clear is that whoever wired the place up did not 'balance' the load across the 3 phases. So more work identified here for a future visit!

Need to get the new doors and windows sorted next.

Good think this is a long term project!

Next Trip end of Jan to see progress on roof….