French House Diary

July 2020

Thursday 9 July

Travel restrictions have been lifted for most of Europe as the Covid 19 virus has settled a bit, the death rate for yesterday was 85 with 642 new confirmed cases.  It’s still with us so it’s with trepidation that we booked the tunnel to France.  However, it was a doddle, we left home at 6am and got to St Ellier at 2.30pm British time. The traffic on the way was light and we arrived at Folkestone in good time and got on an earlier train. The terminal was quiet with only Starbucks and the toilets open.

Our French neighbour Gaby travelled from Caen to Portsmouth last week, no foot passengers allowed, you had to have a cabin and the boarding process took longer than usual but she said it was fine.

There haven’t been any visitors to the house since Don, Helen, Brenda and Martin last October.  Love the new picture and bookcase they brought with them. We’ve also had an upgrade with the dinner service and mugs.

New Picture

New Boockcase

 Apart from the expected cobwebs, spiders and flies it wasn’t too bad.  However, the ceilings were mouldy in the new upstairs, it did wash off but will probably need another coat of paint. It’s 29 degrees.

Friday 10 July

Rick can’t attack the grass as we’ve had quite a bit of rain. Very few youngsters were wearing masks at Super U.  There was sanitizer as you went in and although social distancing here is a metre very few were observing it. 

Sue in our Lawn!

Went for aperitifs at Julie and Rob’s and polished off a bottle of gin. The Paris family invited the couple from La Petite Maison up the hill to supper.  Julie said their phone rang at 3.30am with Phil is a panic as Kerry was very ill.  They rushed her to Alençon hospital where she was diagnosed with mushroom poisoning, the hallucinogenic type. The village gardener charged 90 euros to cut their grass and offered to charge them 50 Euros every fortnight to keep it up together. Wow, that was very expensive as it’s not a very big patch but to keep everyone happy they let him do it the once for 90 euros.  As you can imagine after all that gin we whizzed back on our bikes.

Saturday 11 July

Very productive morning with Rick cutting the grass and me cleaning the recreational area. Unfortunately, Rick and I were pulling at a particularly tough weed together when something went in my chest.  Very frustrating as I had to be careful for the rest of the day.  Lise called in and I caught up with the village news. Benoir’s house which is now sporting a new roof has been sold to a single man in his 30's.  The house that adjoins what was once our Granary has also been sold to a family with five children. It remains to be seen how they will all fit into that tiny house with no garden.  Also, there is a rumour that they are going to build a primary school in Longuenoe for children from the surrounding villages.

Unfortunately, Rick hit a snake with the mower

Pete had a fall at Warmere Court and was sent to hospital as a precaution. Julie and Rob came to supper, another very boozy, enjoyable evening.

Sunday 12 July

Mum and Elaine went to see Pete in hospital.  Mum hadn’t seen Pete since his birthday on March 1st.  They think he has fractured his pelvis.

The bank opposite the kitchen has been planted up

We are still working on the Wicks doors.  Rick has put a layer of glue underneath the veneer that is coming off. It was a lovely day but unfortunately my ribs are still sore so no bike riding.  We decided to go for a walk around Alençon. There were a few places open with pavement seating socially distanced, it’s only a metre here. Not many were wearing masks and there were lots of empty shops.

Monday 13 July

Rick took the window out in the second bedroom.

Removing the old window

Up the hill again to Julie and Rob’s, Ronnie Scott’s streaming live jazz tonight.  Julie and Rob are members of the club and treated us to a typical Ronnie Scott's burger.  Lovely evening and another empty gin bottle.

Tuesday 14 July

A wet but productive day.  Still working on doors and bedroom window. My chest was very sore as I must have slept awkwardly.  Window cleaning and preparing the loft windowsills for me to paint. We have brought with us a stair gate so that children will be safe upstairs. Also a replacement parasol after the last one snapped as it was full of woodworm. There is also a Shark vacuum cleaner which actually works!

Replacement television with sound bar

Mum was called into the hospital as Pete has taken a turn for the worst.

Wednesday 15 July

Pete has been taken off all food and fluids, given a relaxant and morphine for the pain. Diane arrived from Abbots Wood and mum and her spent some lovely time with him, he managed a smile when they played a couple of his favourite songs.

Meanwhile, sorting out the French bank day.  Lise spoke to them on the phone but we needed to go to the branch in Alençon. During this COVID period the bank have been sending out new secret codes by text message instead of through the post. It seems that they are not able to send it to a foreign mobile, so they sent it to Lise’s phone instead.  We were ages in the bank , their system is not very advanced.  We took Lise for a coffee in a street cafe afterwards which was very pleasant.  Lise is still concerned about my accent and says I should change my course for a more conversational one.   I think three hours of me did her head in and she said she needed to go home for a rest. 

Sue has sealed and painted the walls in the loft

I put pva on sills and sides of loft walls and painted sills white. Hopefully, this should keep the dust down.  Rick started to fill in the edges where the chipboard flooring ends, going to be a tedious job. 

Thursday 16 July

Pete passed away in hospital with mum and Di at his side.

Friday 17 July

No improvement with my chest so decided to take ibuprofen regularly and give myself a day off especially reducing the number of times I bend down.  Rick painted the final gloss on the doors for me and carried on filling round the new window.

Back stairs door has been painted

Repairing cracks in the steps

Forgot to say, Rick hasn’t escaped injuries as being in one position too long cementing the kitchen steps his back is now playing up.

Rob and Julie came for apéritifs and got deafened by the church bells again.  They’re good company.  We sat outside the kitchen and a surprising amount of traffic went by, the same motorbike came past a few times.

Saturday 18 July

Rick stained the new window and did some more cementing of the steps. I spent most of day cleaning up house, careful to not strain my chest.

Kitchen door has been painted    

However, we’ve decided to go home early to support mum but we haven’t really done much apart from things in the house and Rick said we should try a bike ride. We thought we would check to see if there were any changes in Carrouges. 

There are a couple of new wooden sculptures in the square

An electric car charging point by the Marie

The hotel opposite was advertising its restaurant and the Pizza restaurant was open , no takers that time of day though.

Final stop for a Pastis and beer

Sunday 19 July

Left St Ellier at 10am, breathalysed at 10.30am when joining motorway at Sees - passed of course.  Arrived early at Eurotunnel but managed to get on 15.30 train instead of 17.30 one, home 5pm. How great is that,8 hours door to door.

Sunrise on our final day

We hope to visit again sometime in September or October.

Job List

Paint around the new bedroom window

Finish staining new window

Finish off cementing steps

Fix canopy over stairs door

Install canopy over kitchen door

Another coat of preserver on staircase

Fit bedroom blinds

Fit metal register plate to woodburner.