France Update

I know these France updates are sorely lacking in pictures - tell me about it - I am constantly nagging son and girlfriend for more photos so they put them on Facebook, which is great for me, not so good for the rest of you, sorry.  Let me assure you it still looks pretty bleak.

Now that they have satellite TV they are privy to the world fear of Swine Flu - they hadn't heard a thing about it through the village grapevine and so it was pretty intense to get the full on version on English TV, however living in rural France I don't think they have too much to worry about.  A bigger concern for them is the possible ill effects brought about by discovering the septic tank under the bathroom floor when in the process of laying in the mains drainage.  That created a horrible stink as you can imagine but fingers crossed this can be resolved with a lot of concrete!! 

The basic rewiring has been completed so now we have a new fuse box located in the small bedroom to the right of the front door rather than in the prominent place of right beside the front door in the living room.  Apparently we still have to have the meter in that position when EDF come to install it but it wont be as large and unsightly as the last one, or that is what I am told.  So now they have safe modern electricity in all rooms and more outlets so they can re-locate the fridge and toaster oven back in to the kitchen rather than the utility room.

Apparently because we have a small bathroom (about 5ft x 11ft - which come to think of it is not much smaller than my bathroom here and we are allowed ordinary lighting) we have to have an IP 65 light fitting in there, and all the ones I have seen on the internet at Leroy Merlin etc look like pool lights and factory lighting, nothing attractive. I could understand it if the light was actually in the shower but it will be about 6ft away above the vanity. So we are still on the hunt there but may have to make do until EDF have signed us off and then replace it with something more attractive.

But we do have external lights front and back and an outlet in the barn so we are pretty happy with that.  I know, it is sad what you can get excited about.

Looks like son and girlfriend are planning to move on to Barcelona when the plumber has finished in two or three weeks but hoping to get back up to see us if and when we get there in July, fingers crossed.

Still waiting on France Telecom, surprise surprise. 

However all the work they have done means when we finally get there we will have heat, hot water, electricity, a bed and if we are really lucky some home grown vegetables as they are planting tomatoes, zucchini and onions plus a few herbs - apparently one of the neighbours has promised to keep an eye on those once they leave.  

As you can imagine, I am saving all my pennies to make sure we do get there in July and then I will have loads of photos.