A Water Tight Roof, and Babies Too

We made a conscious decision, and of course a financial one, to arrange for our furniture to be taken out of storage and to be delivered to us. We had kept it there far longer than we intended, and were paying a monthly fee for the privilege, so we arranged the date for about six weeks away, which gave us time to complete the roof on the larger of the two extensions, and make a water tight storage area.

Various friends helped us with this, which was great, and gave us a huge boost. There were a couple of weeks, when we had to cover the volige (in the UK, you would call them roofing sheets) with tarpaulin to save it from the typical Brittany weather and tiling here is not done in the same way as in England, so like the electrics, you need to understand, and get your head around the different methods.

When we were at this stage Ryan flew over to stay for a few days. It was his first visit here, so like when Tom visited earlier in the year, I'm sure it was a bit of a shock for him to see how we were living, but Ryan was prepared to 'muck in' and help.  He loved it here - the peace and quiet, the complete darkness at night, the animals, and the general lifestyle. First job though, was to buy him some wellies - always a priority here ! There was a good amount of father/son bonding time on this visit - building and painting new animal housing, cutting trees down, burning rubbish etc. We took him to the market at Chateauneuf de Faou and were disappointed that we weren't able to buy some more chickens, but discovered that they aren't available over the winter months - it seems sensible and obvious to us now, but we were still novices ourselves. It was disappointing when it was time for him to leave, but I'm sure he'll be back ! And of course, he will see the changes that have been made since the last visit.

As we were approaching Christmas, thoughts turned to presents and cards, and the difficulty and cost of finding appropriate items here to send back. I discovered a couple of suitable websites for cards, and use the Internet for presents now. It doesn't have the same personal touch though, which is a shame. I enjoy taking a trip to Ikea in Brest, as they always have a good variety and stock of useful items and their Christmas displays are lovely. I've been a few times with girl friends and enjoyed a pleasant lunch there too.

Craig desperately wanted to buy a tractor to help with the workload, and found one on E Bay, that we had shipped over here - cheaper than we could buy one here ! It was to be a bit of a project for when Craig had nothing to do !!!

We had our first babies - one of the rabbits produced her first litter. We were delighted, but couldn't see them as she had covered them with fur and straw. It was several days before we could count them, and about another two weeks before they started moving around their cage. How exciting though.

Right - the roof was sorted, so if Craig could get the floor laid in the extension, then we would be on track for the furniture .....

 

 

He did it.....just in time for the delivery. It was a huge amount of pressure on him, but he got there. Floor laid, and ceiling joists in place. I am very proud of him !

 

 



It gave us the opportunity to see the view we will have from the lounge when we are in there (and when it the building materials are cleared !), through the French doors....

 

 

How exciting it is all becoming.

Getting Closer to Watertight

Once the walls were well on the way to being completed, thoughts turned to the roof. Craig is not a great lover of heights, so we contemplated getting professional help - that is, until we had some quotes !! There were various options open to us - someone to do the job completely, maybe just the trusses, or perhaps the tiling. In the end, the decisions were made based on the finances, as is often the case. To have the trusses made and delivered would necessitate the need for a crane - and the costs incurred, so Craig called upon his professional knowledge, books and the Internet, and decided to do the work himself. It was hard and stressful at times, but as progress was being made - all worthwhile !

The larger, lounge 'end' is taking shape...

 

The whole house looks huge now - our elderly French neighbour asks if we are going to open it as a bar or a night club !



 

Craig is understandably proud of his work, and the fact that he is working so high despite his fears....

 



 

The inside of the roof looks great, almost a shame to hide it...

 



 

 

The local Fete du Beurre (Butter Fair) is an interesting afternoon out. It is held annually in the village next to ours - St Herbot - with many stalls - clog making, basket weaving, honey, butter (of course), cheese, cider making, Breton dancing etc. It is very well attended, and a good place to take visitors.

One issue that always tugs at the heart strings when you are away from home, is when members of the family are ill. At that point, the distance seems huge, and you feel very useless. Thank goodness for the telephone and Internet ! We have over time had various members of the family in hospital, so have had to rely on other people to give us updates and progress reports. It is a big tug on the heart strings though.

Our daily routines are often interrupted by visitors, which is great (most of the time !), and gives us the opportunity to stop, have a cup of tea, and catch up. It is nice to think that people are made to feel welcome enough to return for another visit - maybe it's the cakes that I have time to bake now ! We have made some good friends here - who can be relied on when we need help, and who we are more than happy to help out when they need us. The tendency is to gravitate towards the English speakers, understandably, but we have tried to integrate as much as we are able, and we are on speaking terms with all the French neighbours, and have been invited for coffee and aperitifs by them, on many occasions. We know that they are always there to help us too, and have in fact done that every time we have asked.

Days Out But Still Continuing Progress

One of our favourite trips out is to the annual Onion Fair (Fete de l'oignon) in Roscoff. During the
whole weekend, various activities are held: including an Onion Market, a demonstration of onion braids, a display of old tractors and old tools, cider and bread making and other street events.

The onions for the annual festival are supplied as bulk or braided, both organic and traditionally grown. It is also possible to taste bread with stewed onions, onion pie, bread stuffed with onion and of course the inevitable onion soup. Traditionally, the red onions were distributed across the sea, by the 'Onion Johnnys' who carried the onions in braids on their bicycles, and sold from door to door in England. I had never heard of this, but when I spoke of it to my Dad, he remembered their visits !

 

We always buy some of the produce to show our support, although we now grow our own of course, and proudly braid and hang them in the kitchen.

 

 

It's always a lovely day out, and something we have done every year so far.

Another annual fair that we try to go to, is the street fair in Commana. It is very traditional, with animals - horses, chickens, rabbits, even kittens being sold, stalls selling cheeses, meats, craft items, and also fairground rides. We bought a male rabbit to add to the growing collection, and named him Roger !

About this time too, we further added to our growing menagerie, as a neighbour very kindly donated four very sweet, quite tiny ducklings - be warned, they grow - very quickly ! Two were bigger, but she persuaded us to have the two smaller ones too, as they had been 'adopted' by the bigger ones. The funny thing about the ducks, and the other birds we have had over the last couple of years too, is that it becomes a little battle to get them into their houses at night and close them in. They learn after about a week what they have to do, but until then, we have to allow ourselves time to chase them around the pens and under the houses. Sometimes, we have to 'handball' them in to start with, until they become used to the routine. All good fun !

So, with these, and the rabbits, and the dog, we were starting to feel like a little smallholding....

 

The building work was continuing at a good pace too. We had a delivery of concrete in the pouring rain - not one of our better days ! I think to be honest, that to say it was pouring, was an understatement - it was torrential, and thundering at the same time. For those of you who know about these things, you will understand the dilemma, and the frustration that Craig felt at this point. He felt that we had just wasted best part of 1000 Euros, but he did manage to salvage the situation in the end.

Once the floors were dried, the walls started to go up, and luckily for us, the weather wasn't too bad. We did have a few wet days, but we also had days when it was so hot that work could only be done in the morning, and then early evening.

At this point, I made a trip back to the UK, to celebrate the first and second birthdays of our granddaughter and grandson respectively, so it was quite exciting to return and see the progress that had been made. Sometimes it is good to take a break like this to enable a fresh view to be seen, but Craig was unable to do the trip this time, as he needed to crack on with the build.

We had brought our car from the UK with us, and needed to re-register it here with French plates, and French insurance etc. It is not an easy process - or cheap either ! Firstly, we had to obtain a Certificate of Conformity from the manufacturer (I understand that some supply it free - ours didn't !), and change the headlights so that the lights shine away from oncoming traffic - we had a good result there, as our headlights had a switch on the back which altered them so we didn't need to buy new ones. Next step was a CT test (Controle Technique), which is a little like an MOT, but lasts two years, and then a visit to pay the Import tax at the Tax Office, and also the tax at the Prefecture. Yes, it's all pay, pay, pay !  Eventually, we received the new registration number through the post, and we could buy new number plates. It is strange not to have a Tax Disc on the windscreen, and we now have the CT sticker and an insurance sticker there instead. At a glance, you can see whether a car is legally on the road with correct insurance and a valid CT, which I think is a good idea.