First flight

After French yesterday Brian went out to finish off the first flight of the stairs, and attach it to the platform. It looks amazing, the finish, with all his carefully thought through details, is excellent – really proud of what he has achieved.

I have ordered some hard oil wax to protect the wood, so as soon as that’s delivered I can paint that on. We used this product on the floorboards in the attic rooms, and it has worked really well, we did them five years ago, and they still look amazing. The UK brand is Fiddes, but it’s not so easy to get that in France, however Osmo, I believe a German brand, is the same product and easily available here. It will get a lot of wear and tear with dirty shoes/boots going up and down it, so this will help protect it against the dirt, and any staining or possible water damage.

Next step is the second flight, which will go from the platform up to the room.

French lesson

There’s no doubt we are keeping ourselves busy with work on the house, what we are also doing is learning French. We try (and this is not easy to achieve now we are in confinement) to practice when we are going about our day-to-day life in addition to doing our homework at some point during the week, which can vary from spending a whole morning looking at a rule and practicing it, to spending an hour listening to a chapter in readiness for our next lesson. And today, as it’s Wednesday, we have our french lesson with Clare from ‘figure out french’. We have a 60 minute lesson once a week via Zoom. This gives us time for some conversational French before we dive into our lesson proper and tackle the grammar. One of the challenges we both have is our knowledge around true English grammar, neither of us could be described as exponents of the Queen’s English. So at times we feel we’re learning English and French.

What I love about our lessons is how Brian throws himself into pulling huge long sentences together. I’m probably what I would consider a little more reserved on the volume of words I use. Either way, being here and trying to use our newly learnt skill everyday, and improve our vocabulary, is great fun, and it’s so good to have positive interactions with the people in our village. Clare always tries to bring some fun into the lessons too.

Our homework from last week was particularly difficult for both of us. We were learning the difference between plus (ploo) and plus (ploos) and whether the locals have dropped the negative indicator from ‘ne (verb) plus’ and it becomes just plus, which can only be understood by whether you hear the s or not! A tricky but oh so subtle variation that can be the difference between saying you have enough time or do not have enough time. Our 50 something brains definitely need ‘plus time’ for the subtleties to sink in. I’m sure if we give it a few weeks/months it will be natural, just right now though it’s ‘très difficile’.

Our tutor Clare Jones has also written a couple of books, which are good fun. Over the years she has been enjoying speaking the language, she has learnt, and gathered together, lots of French idioms, just like we have in English, such as ‘it’s raining cats and dogs’. She provides not only the literal translation, but also the context of the saying and some background on how it came about. Such as ‘c’est du jus de chaussette’ - it’s like dishwater, literally ‘it is sock juice’. According to the Revue Lorraine Populaire, if nothing else better was available then they would use socks to filter coffee.

If you find French sayings interesting you can buy the books on Amazon here where Clare’s passion for the language shines through.

Decisions, decisions

Day 5 of confinement and all is well. Yesterday was a gorgeous sunny day, 22°c with bright blue skies. We made the most of it and enjoyed our lunch outside in the garden, where the braver of the roses are still holding onto their late blooms, whilst most have given into the vibrant red rose hips. We chose a good position in the corner, looking over the vineyards that had all but nearly lost their leaves, and feeling the warmth of the late Autumn sun. I really did not expect to be having days like that in November. I just spent the day pottering around in the garden, whilst Brian worked on the stairs.

Today the temperature dropped again to around 12°c, Brian doesn’t seem to mind though, he is just enjoying working on the stairs and getting a great result with the oak and beech. I have been trying to organise a French mobile phone for us, but it is proving a little challenging. We are with Orange for our broadband and landline, so I had hoped it would be easy to add a mobile phone contract on. But I’m being very indecisive, which is unlike me. The packages seem to vary immensely, and I’m very conscious of the small print. I think I need to sleep on it, then show Brian, then we will make a decision.

The other thing I’ve been considering is which saucepans to buy. Whilst Brian was working in London he’d seen some British made saucepans in Nesbits, which I’m thinking could be an option. I’m just waiting to hear from the makers Samuel Groves if they will ship to France.

Sunday

‘It is feeling like a lazy day. So I think we will go shopping…internet shopping that is. We can stop for coffee, I know a very pleasant barista who makes great coffee, then maybe an early dinner. Sounds marvellous!’

It has been a very pleasant day, taking some time out and relaxing together, and now a light apéro before dinner.

However, we weren’t able to just do nothing, so we started to do a bit of preparation for the store/work room in the barn. We looked at what we need to order to dry line the room. Brian spent some time modelling the space so we can send this to the builders merchant to obtain a quote for the materials. Let’s see how that works out this week.

Cat dracula

Day 2 of confinement, and what a beautiful day it has been, we opened up the shutters and woke to a gorgeous bright blue sky, not a cloud in sight. A quick breakfast of bread, homemade plum jam, yoghurt, apple juice and freshly made milky coffee, then on with our day.

I’d decided as it was such wonderful weather I would give the lawn one last cut before winter. So I got the mower out and completed the look by strimming the edges whilst Brian pushed ahead with the stairs. It was so warm outside working in our T shirts. We enjoyed morning coffee and lunch sitting in the Autumn air with the heat of the sun.

And we must not forget that it’s a full moon tonight and Halloween, so not only ghosts and ghouls, but werewolves and cat Dracula’s…… Happy Halloween all.

Looking good

The stairs are really starting to come together, and looking really good. The stringers and risers are all in place for the first flight up to the platform. Brian will look to fix the steps on tomorrow, he just placed them there to see how they looked. I couldn’t resist, and walked very gingerly up them. Although they felt solid, so I had nothing to worry about.

Today we started using our new cooker.

Originally I was set on having a gas hob, as that is what I was used to. However, as we would have needed to have had bottled gas, which would be a complication buying and changing bottles – and after a conversation with my nephew William about the dangers of having bottled gas in a residential environment – we looked at our other options. And I have to say we are now both loving the induction hob. It is so responsive.

The first meal I cooked for us was ‘brunch’ – scrambled egg, bacon and mushrooms.

The second meal, which we had tonight, was burgers. Brian does make extremely good burgers, so we enjoyed those with a cheese and mushroom topping, and a glass or two of Chinon. A favourite red wine of ours at the moment.

Le piano gastronome

Big day today, my Lacanche piano gastronome arrived. That’s my new range cooker. It seems an age since we ordered it, back in July when we’d first arrived in France.

The Lacanche factory in Burgundy had been closed during the first confinement in France, so were only just open again at the time, and behind on their orders. And with confinement firmly in mind I think we were very lucky to have arranged for delivery and installation today, as another day later and we could be waiting another month. The reason being that last night M. Macron announced a second confinement starting tonight and lasting for a minimum of one month. All of France are to be confined to their homes, only travelling out for essentials, medical reasons, exercise and work if they cannot work from home.

Christophe and the guys arrived about 9am. It was good to see the team of four working seamlessly together. It is quite a big item to be delivering and installing so it was really good to see the care and consideration they were taking with it. There was an air of excitement from all as they moved it in and unpacked it for me to see. I have to say it is rather a gorgeous cooker, and I can’t wait to start cooking on it. I wonder what dishes will be created on it during lockdown, there may be moments when I will need to be a little bit creative, especially as I have limited pans. The plan was to go to Troyes next week to buy some for use on an induction hob. But confinement has scuppered that idea.

Starting to look like a kitchen

Soup and baguette

We nipped into Bar-sur-Seine today to get a few bits. It was mainly a visit to Weldom (local DIY shop) to buy some bolts which we need for the kitchen, but I always ensure we go to one of the bakers for fresh bread if we are in town. In France you can always find a boulangerie open somewhere, it’s part of their constitution – to have bread available to all, every day. They stagger their opening hours to ensure the day is covered from 7am–7pm. And they do make the best bread. Nothing beats a fresh crusty baguette. I had made us some homemade cream of tomato soup for lunch, so a piece of buttered baguette was a must.

All fired up

Temperatures outside were low today, around 10°c, and although Brian was keen to get back to the staircase we decided we needed to focus on another important subject, our application to register to live in France. We have been here now for just over three months, and I think because we are doing lots of different things around the house our time has really flown by. The uk.gov post Brexit website is a great source of information for what’s needed to live in France. However, now the french online portal is open and working we now know exactly what information is needed, and in what format, for us to submit the application. I’m hoping that we will have everything we need to submit our application in the next couple of weeks. It’s then a case of waiting for our submission to be processed and the French prefecture in our area to advise us of our next steps. It’s surprising how long it takes to bring everything together and ensure it’s submitted correctly to save any delays.

This evening we are enjoying an early sit down in front of the fire with a cup of earl grey tea. It’s quiet, with just the crackle of the embers and the red glow of the flames flickering, oozing with warmth. It’s ‘toad in the hole’ for tea. Don’t you just love those cold Autumn evenings.

Plum crumbles

What a difference the clocks changing makes, I’m sure we must say that every year. However, this could be the last clock change for France. The EU voted not to follow ‘daylight saving’ across Europe, but have left it to the individual countries to decide when, and if, they will change. The pandemic has prevented a lot of things happening this year, and I understand that France did not make the change allowing for the daylight saving to be cancelled, which needed to go before government in April, so it’s unclear yet as to what will happen in 2021.

Anyway, thanks to the clocks going back we were up bright and early, which meant Brian made some good progress with the adaptation of the mahogany cupboard for the kitchen before coffee. I had spent some time preparing what we would have for dinner, which included a couple of juicy plum crumbles for dessert. They were ‘obviously’ made with our plums from the garden picked earlier in the year. I sweetened them slightly with some maple syrup, and added an oat and almond topping, which crisped up nicely in the oven. (For those eagle eyed amongst you, I have put two in the freezer for another meal.)

By mid morning, when I went out to get Brian for coffee, he had already shaped the back of the cupboard for access to the plumbing for the stone sink, cut away the wood to accommodate the sink, levelled off the top, and removed the feet. Tomorrow I will give it a good clean and polish.

Kitchen unit

It was a damp day today, but Brian was happy working on the kitchen cupboard in the barn area. We have bought two old mahogany cupboards, for less than the cost of the wood really, but they need a little adapting. The first job was to remove the top, which he did with a a couple of chisels at first, but needed to finish with a crowbar!. We did want to try and preserve the top to be used with the metal shelf we have to put up, but unfortunately it splintered a bit where it had been heavily glued. You can’t save everything, and the main thing is the cupboard is looking good.

Next task was to cut out where the sink is going to fit. Brian’s measured it all out again and again, and drew it all up in an application on the laptop, so when it finally came to cutting out the wood that needed to go he knew exactly what he had to do. Tomorrow he will be reinforcing the areas that may have been weakened by the removal of elements of the carcass. The marble effect sticky back plastic will also need to go!

Some bits came away in the removal of the top, but Brian is repairing those

Couvre-feu

A number of departments have gone into a couvre-feu (curfew), which includes the Aube, where we live. This means that bars are not able to sell drinks unless with meals, and you cannot be out between 21.00 and 0600. This will be in place for 6 weeks and then it will be reviewed. Bars and restaurants will obviously suffer the most from this. For us, we are just using the time to stay focussed on getting the work in the house progressed.

I can really start to see the staircase coming together, it is such a big project to take on, and will be a real achievement once it’s finished. For now it continues to be a work in progress, but it has a form. I am longing to be able to walk up it, but know it’s not something to be rushed.

We are expecting news this week of the oven being delivered, so work on the staircase is going to have to come to a halt for a few days, as we need to refocus on adapting the kitchen cupboards ready for the cooker to be fitted in between them. Hopefully we will have the cooker installed by the end of this week, the kitchen will not be finished though as the worktops are still a few weeks away.

One challenge I have with the new cooker is I currently only have one or maybe two pans that will work on the induction hob, so we will need to go shopping…that’s a shame.

Up, up, we’re there

So yesterday we put back the second set of shutters. It was all a bit scary as this pair did seem heavier, however I think the fact that they are at the front of the house, and the sheer fear of having someone witness us dropping them put us both on edge.

So we devised a plan, in hindsight there were so many things wrong with this plan, but at the time it sounded like a perfect plan. Brian suggested we tie a rope around the shutter so that I could stop it falling. Great idea I thought. I can do that. So this time instead of me hanging onto him, we’ve cut the middle man out and I’m hanging onto the shutter. So we have Brian now hanging out of the window hanging onto the shutter with his finger tips, and I have a piece of rope wrapped around my wrist guiding the shutter into place.

After a few choice words, and lots of ‘up, up, up - now down, hang on, don’t let go!’ ‘We’re nearly there’ we both exclaimed ‘yep’ ‘we’ve done it!’.

And what perfect deep blue sky for my picture

Golden vines

Taken from the ‘point de vue’ – Viviers-Sur-Artaut

It’s 21st October, the sky is a beautiful soft blue and the sun is making a very welcome appearance. It’s a tad windy but 22°C, an absolutely gorgeous day. And a great day to finish off the ‘shutter challenge’. Those that have been following my blog for a while, may recollect it was in early September when we took two pairs of shutters down to renovate. It was actually 10th September when we started them. Anyway, today I decided was the day to finish the final pair (for now, as I do need to remember I have two more pairs to do in the spring).

Brian was moving forward on making the stairs, cutting the second stringer, so it was nice to be outside together getting some jobs done.

As it was now the third and final coat it didn’t take too long to be at a point where I needed to leave both of the volets (shutters) to dry, so suggested we take a break and grab the opportunity of such a gorgeous day to go and take some pictures of the valley.

The vines were glowing in the sunshine – precious golds, deep crimson reds, tones of fiery orange flickering down the valley. It made for a spectacular view.

The church in Viviers-Sur-Artaut

The valley looking down towards Loches-sur-Ource

The next village to ours, Landreville

Driving out of Landreville

All systems go

Big day today, the Froling representative came to check everything was ok with the fitting of the new boiler. Christophe and Quentin were both here to talk him through how it had been set up, what they had done and the plan for the swap over. He then talked us through the set-up of the boiler and input our details into the boilers control panel. Whilst he did this we downloaded the Froling app to enable us to manage everything remotely. He showed us how we can set the temperatures for the heating, and vary them depending on the external air temperature, so it tracks the actual external temperature and adapts accordingly, which supports the efficiency of the boiler. We then fired it up so that we can start to heat our hot water and we can turn off the electric immersion heaters. We were also shown how we empty the ash, which is not difficult at all, and the system will warn us when it needs doing. This only needs doing every 700 hours.

First cut

All prepped and ready to start

Brian has been working hard over the weekend on the stairs, measuring, remeasuring and measuring again, and only then will he make the cut. He did a few practice cuts with his new saw, but firstly he laid out all his PPE (personal protective equipment) and then he was ready to get started proper.

He soon had cut the first couple of legs for the corner platform, and was moving on to the cross beams, ensuring everything was level along the way.

Level head

He ended the day having completed the framework for the mid-way platform, feeling quite exhausted but pleased with where he’d got to.

Today we woke to a beautiful blue sky and glorious sunshine, so Brian decided he wanted to give the slope one last cut before winter. The mower started first time and he was soon making good progress. So straight after lunch he was able to get back to the stairs.

Grubbed up!

Heading back from the boulangerie yesterday, I noticed that they have grubbed up a bunch of vines – quite a lot actually. It looked so unusual seeing them all piled up, like they were preparing for bonfire night. One heck of an expensive bonfire!

The grey sky, and damp weather is feeling like Autumn is in full flow, and when I got home I felt I needed to bring some colour into the house. I scoured the garden for a few last blooms, some interesting foliage and herbs and some luscious red rose hips to punctuate the vase.

In the Salle a manger I used three beautiful late season blooms from the hydrangea, some bright yellow daisies, and some fennel that had self seeded. This one looked very carefree.

Not a clue

It’s Friday morning and Brian’s excited as he is going to make a start on the stairs today for the barn. He is outside planning his approach and getting ready.

I’m indoors sorting a few bits out, however my aim over the coming days is to get the second set of shutters finished so we can get them back up. But I’ve got sidetracked, my cupboard under the dresser has been commandeered for a couple of new pipes to run through, so all my gardening paraphernalia which was in there needs a new home. Actually, I’m not too bothered as it was never a great place for it. So I have moved it to the laundry room where I’ve made some space for it, which makes more sense.

We both had got sidetracked on Thursday, a friend had invited us to join in his virtual bubble as part of the live audience for a radio 4 show called ‘I’m sorry I haven’t a clue’ hosted by Jack Dee. Apparently it was the first time a radio panel show has been recorded with a live virtual audience. I thought it was a rather aptly named show to be part of, it was also an interesting distraction whilst of course making us both laugh, you may well get to hear my laugh if you listen to it!

We had to nip out briefly to get some drill bits for Brian, and on the way back we noticed a new sign had gone up on the outskirts of the village.

Translated ~ committed commune; hillsides, houses and cellars of Champagne - world heritage

In 2015 The UNESCO World Heritage Committee decided to include the Champagne Slopes, Houses and Cellars on its world heritage list. It was an historic decision as the 21 representatives of UNESCO unanimously voted in favour of including them in the ‘Living Cultural Landscapes’ category. It centres around the ‘Avenue de Champagne’ in Épernay, the caves of Reims and the small villages of Ay and Hautvillers, the latter being where Dom Perignon lived and is now buried.

Dig that look

When Quentin arrived on Monday morning we knew the plan was to dig up the courtyard to lay the new hot water pipes. We had done some preparation at the weekend moving some of the stones to one side, and moving a couple of roses, which I wanted to protect. However it was still tough to watch him as he started to pick axe his way across the courtyard. The good thing though is that Antoine, the previous owner, had sunk a trough across the courtyard for the hot water pipes for the heating, so in theory we just needed to locate the trough. Quentin got stuck in and soon made light work of the job.

The old pipes were looking a bit rusty so they received a coat of paint and got new lagging. He then had to run a new electric cable for the electrician, an ethernet cable and the new pipes for the hot water. Again fully lagging them.

By the end of the day on Tuesday the courtyard was back to normal, and you would not have known he’d been there. We replanted the two roses, which I will need to keep an eye on to check that they reestablish themselves. I do want to plant a new Lavender, as we did need to cut one back, I will do this early next year.

The plan is to use up the oil we have with the old boiler, and then Quentin will come back and swap it over.

Skirting around

Monday - 12th October. Julian arrived today to put the skirting on in the kitchen. It made such a difference in completing the look of the hardwood floor, showing it off to its best. It didn’t take him long, couple of hours, measuring and cutting perfect angles as he went.

Once he’d left we were able to move everything back into the pantry area. Brian put another set of shelves up, and we repositioned my set of old french epicerie scales into the corner. We bought these a few years ago from a French Brocante in Bar-Sur-Seine. I love going in there, he normally has something ‘I definitely need’. They cost me about 40 euros.

Brian also put up a small mahogany cupboard we’d bought through eBay before leaving the UK. It still has the old original glass in it, which provides a mottled reflection. That part of the kitchen is nearly finished now, we are considering putting a plate shelf up around the top, but that’s not a priority at the moment.