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12th January -
New Heating controller for radiator system |
17th January - 6
tonne of Calcaire for drive base coat |
20th January -
Spread over new drive area |
recovered from
old fosse area of garden |
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BUT - before we
could whack it down |
the snow arrived |
early Sunday
morning 5th February |
Very pretty but
it stopped all outside work |
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13th February -
tried to fit new ground anchors |
for new wind
turbine but had to wait until |
14th February
when the snow melted and the ground thawed |
15th February and
new turbine on-line |
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17th February -
Finally able to get on whacking down |
the Calcaire base
coat |
All ready for |
24th February
when 8 tonne of top coat delivered |
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This was spread
across the complete |
driveway using
spade, wheelbarrow |
and rake |
Hard work but
really finishes off the front |
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and side of the
house |
Been wanting to
do this since we moved in |
28th Feb- last
bonfire ready for bottom field grass sowing |
29th February
and garden maintenance commences with leaf hoovering |
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Antenna erected
for 6/2/70cms |
3rd March and we
acquire two new tools |
10th March plough bottom field |
ready for sowing grass seed |
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11th March Emma, Dave & Archie
visit |
and do little boys love tractors
? |
21st March - Mains inverter
installed - just in case |
28th March some spare top soil
for the bottom field |
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which covers up the rubble used
to create the slope |
spread it around a bit |
with the right equipment |
and then level off |
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Just need the grass to grow now |
29th March and time to move the
solar tracker tripod |
and rewire the 12 volt supply
cables |
bought 3 of these garden seats
for the summer |
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New hedge trimmer as the
battery one can't cope |
20th April John &
Kathy visit and we have a day out tasting
cognac |
28th April It just rained and
rained |
but not as bad as
the weather was in the
UK |
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1st May Guest Room 2 roof tile
repair |
The corrugated roof sheets were
falling apart |
and had let all that rain through
onto the |
ceiling of a room we had already
decorated |
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I tried to save the ceiling but
it just fell down |
Still, some placoplatre, filler
and paint |
and we are back in business ready
for the summer |
22nd May and time to play -
pneumatic 40 ft mast |
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Angle iron bolted through the
workshop wall |
to provide the fixings for the
angle iron support |
and "hey presto" instant 40 ft
antenna support |
26th May - back to work
fitting "man cave" roof light |
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This is prep for creating the new
Radio Room |
and lets loads of light into the
room |
27th May and we fit the workshop
roof light |
First one took 6 hours and the
second only 3 |
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This was a path we removed last
autumn |
and this is how it looks on 31st
May |
New strimmer - don't have
enough extension leads |
May 31st - Bottom field WITH GRASS |
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Solar hot water. Only 1 pellet burn during May |
2 June The 4*4 is
really useful when the mowers break |
down. Most things get fixed |
over here. Really pleased I
bought |
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a welder to France. |
7 June Our dear
friend Graham's 60th birthday |
More food and drink I'm afraid |
14 June Roof
repairs. Thanks Nigel. |
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15 June Paint kitchen
shutters |
21 June Sam &
Luke arrive |
Sam playing @ 4*4 driving |
23 June Chatain boules |
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and sam seems to be winning |
all good fun in the sun |
and in the evening a BBQ |
Everybody brings some food |
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and we all share. Bonfire afterwards |
A really great community day |
24 June Sam cutting the grass for me |
and trying out both mowers |
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A walk along the river Charente
|
You can tell she's a country lass |
and a BBQ to end the day |
Coffee @ Confolens |
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and a walk across the bridge over the
river |
26 June Dinner @ Porte bleu Verteuil |
that also has a fantastic Chateau |
5 July Building
materials delivery for workshop |
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9 July Ellie & Steph on holiday |
10 July Dinner @ Porte bleu |
Will the real Marylyn please "STANDEY
UPPEY" |
11 July Steph trying 4*4 driving |
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as does Ellie |
and Matt |
and Chris who have also arrived |
12 July Chinese in Rufec |
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makes a nice change in rural France |
14 July Bastille Day - A BIG holiday
in France |
A really nice day with loads of food |
and drink |
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15 July A walk around Bonnifont |
17 July Jen &
kids go to Euro Disney |
for the day |
While I carry on
building in the workshop |
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18 July Charente
Lakes for the afternoon |
19 July Dinner @
Edna's |
30 July Fit
Chimney cap to stop rain down the chimney |
1 August Start
Workshop stud wall |
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All timber recovered from old sheep
pen |
Thought about how to do this skylight
for months |
New wall to form separate radio shack
and workshop |
Stud walls well insulated to stop
boiler noise |
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7 August Study
Group BBQ |
21 guests all bringing their own food |
and drink which Kevin and I cooked |
on two BBQ's. |
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A fantastic evening with really
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good company. Looking
forward to the next one. |
Workshop stud wall taking shape |
Polystyrene backed plasterboard for
insulation |
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on exterior walls to cope with -15o
C winters |
13 August Jen's Birthday |
Man cave "Shack" flooring |
24 August Gemma, Rob & family visit |
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25 August reconnect battery bank |
26 August 3 cords of firewood ready
for the winter |
Furniture into shack |
Clearout Pig Pen |
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and hard standing for firewood
storage |
2 September All firewood stacked in
Pig Pen |
Even finding time for some of the
little jobs now like a new loo seat and co-ordinated loo roll holder |
and an improved method of
storing the welly boots |
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New radio
operating desk |
and this is the
only time the workbench will look as tidy as this |
After four years
my radio equipment is now out of boxes |
My birthday
celebration. Kevin & Sue dressed as pirates |
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and we all had a
great evening with fireworks!! |
Back to work -
Stud wall dividing Guest Room 3 from the new utility room |
Utility room wall
which now needs a new door |
Hey presto! A
utility room door. I really hope this is the last time I need
to knock French wall bricks out |
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Painting the new
utility room |
And I even get a
new stool for sitting at my workbench |
Utility room (hereinafter referred to
as the Belfry) with worktop fitted |
28th September - Holiday time - a few
days at Gerry and Vicki's |
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Back home and unpacking the
winemaking kit prior to relocation to the Belfry |
4th October - Playtime. New 2m
10 element beam assembled |
and fitted to pump-up mast |
Oh Yes!! |
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16 October and Emma, Dave and Archie
arrives for a week's break |
18th October - Belfry operational |
19th October - Work commences on new
Guest Room 3 |
Repair small wind
generator cable fault |
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23 October 2 days
of repairing roof leaks |
25 October
Finally time to sort out the slope to the grass |
28 October 8 bags
of sand later - much better |
18 November GR3 finished |
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Even fitted the window blind |
very pleased this room is now
complete |
Because GR3 is now complete GR2 is
now back in service |
This room hasn't looked like this for
a long time |
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and very pleased this room is
back in service. |
28 November -
East corridor skylight insulation panel |
and two
insulation panels for the shack |
6 December -
Emptying the pneumatic mast of water |
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7 December - More
plasterboard for the east corridor walls |
9 December - and
not long before it's fixed |
to the walls.
Only 2 hours for the paste to go off |
11 December - Jen
making mince pies for our DIY Carol Concert |
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Great fun with a
sing-a-long carol service with live keyboard accompaniment |
13 December -
back to work plaster boarding the last of the workshop |
Helps keep the
heat in |
18 December Pere Noel visits the
children of Chatain School |
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22 December Live nativity for
Chatain commune |
followed by an evening Christmas
bring and share meal |
25 December - And
here we are again. Our third Christmas in France. |
27 December - This
seems to becoming an annual event. Very gusty winds ripped the
lamp out of the old summer kitchen again. |
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31 December - New
Years Eve celebrations |
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