Progress at Le Presbytere

We got to Thezan on Saturday afternoon and went to the house with some trepidation.
We knew that our builder had done the roof but we were rather hoping that the plumber and the electrician would have done their bit.
The roof was finished, the velux windows made a superb difference to the place lighting up the whole magnificent attic

and the opening he had cut for a window in what was to be our bedroom was amazing, gave a previously dead space a narrow view of the vineyards and the hill .

We knew we wouldn’t see any workmen until Monday so we headed off to Faugeres.

We have been granted an immense stroke of good fortune and kindness in that some friends of ours who have a house in the village of Faugeres told us they wouldn’t be using it until August and gave us the keys and their blessing.
We had assumed that we would be using this for the first few days but now it looks like at least a fortnight before our Presbytere is even ready to be squatted in.
Thank you again to Katherina and John.

On Sunday we were invited to lunch with our friends Barry and Mary, who bought in Thezan much the same time as us (and whom we met there for the first time, despite us both being at my brother Ted’s wedding thirty odd years ago).
They are old hands at living in France and not only were their builders come and gone but they now have a swimming pool.
We ate beside it on Sunday, and tried to convince ourselves that it was the most normal thing in the world to be eating and drinking there.
They also convinced us that if we wanted any chance of getting into our house by the summer we would have to stop being nice guys and start rattling some sabres.

We got ready for action therefore on Monday only to find the house a mad hive of activity with plumbers and builders (even at 8. in the morning) all plastering, hammering and sawing.
Our builder complained about the plumber not doing his job on time, the plumber blamed the builder, both blamed the electrician who we got on the phone and who promised to with us the following day.
It was I guess a typical build but with a lot more shrugging.
The system out here is that you employ the builder, plumber and electrician (and indeed the joiner should you need one) separately.
Even though our builder had recommended the others there was a lot of buck passing between one and the other and Sile was constantly having to phone one to pass on the same buck.
We are not quite sure whether all of this is quite as real as it seems, there could be bits of pantomime inserted for our benefit, but the work so far seems good and the builder has even managed to recycle some of the doors (at our request) despite his evident conviction that this is lunacy.

We have explained to them all the all of our families (La Toute Irlande) are arriving out on the 17th and we must have a habitable space in the house by then.
This isn’t as far from the truth as you might think. We are going to have a steady stream of visitors from the 20th to the end of August.
The builder has taken this on board (we are both convinced that he is a decent man) and has promised us the ground floor and the first, with bedrooms and bathrooms) by then.
The attic, two further bedrooms and a bathroom, will be done after we move in and (it may well happen) after the builders holidays in August.