Oh my, the heat is still on! Most days hitting 29 degrees but definitely cooler in the mornings, sometimes fog about 11/12 degrees. Which reminds me of the 15 panes of glass that are missing from the windows…eek! More about that later…. Cersei has started school …yay! And loves it …whew! She has met a group of girls her age who decided themselves they don’t need to wear makeup to school (refreshing) and phones are not allowed at school in the day – good start. Her day is 9 – 4 pm but the little school (under 10 yrs) next to the Manoir starts at 8.30 am and finishes at 6 pm …amazing. Some mornings you can hear the little ones when they sing in their assembly ..gorgeous. LA CHASSE..IS ON So between the months of September and February the Chasse is allowed. This means hunting. The French, since the Revolution, have been entitled to hunt the land freely as a right (rather then the aristocrats who hoarded all the land and the animals on it – until Madame Guillotine put a stop to that). So every Tom, Dick and Pierre can shoot, mainly Wednesdays and Saturdays, to their hearts content. So dogs on leads or in the garden those days – especially Pip as he’s as red as a fox and as draft as a brush, and would definitely head towards them on a promise of a Scooby snack.  FRIENDS & FAMILY…. We have had a steady flow of friends and family coming over which has been fabulous, especially for me. However, lots of beds to make, croissants to buy and I now know the route round the Manoir like a proper tour guide, just need a microphone and a flag on pole.  FIRST QUOTES ARE IN…. So, in August, we had lots of trades come in to quote for essential jobs that Alastair can’t do. There’s not many but in France everything (like electrics) has to be certified. Now I know this house needs rewiring and we need new systems for the coming art studios and gites but I still gulped when we received the electrician’s quote for 25,000 euros!!! Hello…..? make that one croissant not four next time I pop to the boulangerie. Well it has to be done and to be fair I had a figure of 20,000 euros in my head… c’est la vie. As I said earlier we need glass to replace some window panes (15) this gave excellent air conditioning in summer before the chill really sets in is the next job.  Now waiting on new boilers and plumbing quotes….gulp. |
