Slowly slowly....

The title of this update relates to the speed at which the lounge refurbishment is going!  Here we are at the end of March which means we've been stripping wallpaper for around two months!  Well, that is something of an exaggeration I suppose since we've not exactly been doing it constantly!  I really thought we'd get it finished yesterday but this patch is what we are left with now....

Surely, we'll finish that off tomorrow?!  For the last week, I have been doing most of this work so that Danny could get on with the electrical work he has to do before the plasterer comes in next week. That hasn't gone as smoothly as it might have done!

But first - and by way of explanation - let me tell you about our 'walls'.  You see, the actual walls of the house are granite.   The outside has been rendered but all of the inside walls are 'false' in that they are made of terracotta blocks, cemented together and plastered.  This photo taken last year when we had the new door put in the kitchen shows the sort of thing....

When the walls are plastered and decorated you wouldn't know and truthfully you don't even think that the 'real' walls are slabs of granite!  (Many people over here leave their houses that original way and of course it does give a more authentic French rural style.  But from a practical viewpoint, I am happier with what we have!)  Anyway, the reason I am telling you this is to set the scene for how difficult a task Danny has to install the extra electrical points and new light switches we want. Things were going relatively smoothly until the heavy duty hammer drill he was using suddenly swung to one side and made the hole you see in this next photo, near the bottom of this wall....!

Oops!

And repairing it is proving something of a challenge!

Anyway, as I say, we are expecting the plasterer to come toward the end of this coming week and barring disasters, we should be ready for him!

Talking of challenges....this parcel arrived for me this week.  Any guesses?

It's actually a roll of curtain fabric!  I couldn't find exactly what I wanted locally so I ordered some samples from a company in the UK and, having chosen my favourite, ordered enough fabric to make the curtains for the lounge.  Here's a sneaky peak at the fabric itself....

And here's the challenge.  Over here, eyelet headed curtains seem to be the most popular style of curtain and I happen to think they look very attractive.  But I've never made eyelet headed curtains before!  How difficult can it be, I asked myself!  Well, I decided to have a practice run by making some bedroom curtains first and having found a perfectly sized remnant of fabric, set about learning and practising!    If it could go wrong, it has gone wrong!  And I haven't even got to the heading stage yet!  Still, my confidence is not dented and I'm plodding on!  And surely it means that, by the time I get to starting on the lounge curtains, practice will have made perfect - or at least, okay!  Watch this space, as they say!!

Do you remember our ill-fated curry night a few weeks back?  Well, while we were there, we got talking to some other people (who were as disappointed as we were!).  One of them is a lady we know from the time we used to go to dog-training and having got talking to her, her husband and her friends, that led to her inviting us to another curry night but this time, cooked by her and in her home! This was last Friday and I'm pleased to say it was a wonderful evening with very good food and very good company.  Here's what some of the food looked like...

Needless to say, I overate!

Finally, just an update on my other activities.  Unfortunately, with having to give the work on the lounge priority coupled with some very bad weather of late, I have been for only a couple of walks since my last update.  Nonetheless, I am going to my yoga and aqua-gym classes regularly so I don't feel too guilty.  And I'm pleased to report that the aqua-gym is getting more energetic each week and although it's still not quite what I was used to in the UK, it's heading in the right direction.  I suddenly realised that one huge difference is that they don't use music here - perhaps that's what partly gives a slower feel to the session.

Well, that's it for another update.  À bientôt!