It has been an interesting couple of weeks – and this week is a week that I think Pat and I would rather not repeat.
To start this week off I had my CT scan for my thyroid. A very easy process all in all – which surprised me and I was very thankful for. After scan (which was at 8:15 in the morning) we hit the café at the hospital and had relatively good coffee and a fantastic croissant for breakfast. It was a bank holiday in the UK so I had the day off which was nice, though I did have to do a bit of work and we did a few things around the house in preparation of visitors this weekend.
Tuesday was spent trying to catch up on work, however towards the end of the day we discovered that the lumber yard were not able to deliver our wood beams. So we (well Pat) spent a few hours trying to find a vehicle that we could hire that would take the 4 metre long beams. Vehicle found and a few phone calls later we were organised.
Wednesday another early start as we headed back to Limoges to speak to the specialist about my thyroid – and to discover that things were not great and I have now been referred on to another specialist as I will be needing an operation. On the way back from the hospital I dropped Pat off to pick up the hire vehicle and he headed off to get the flooring (not the beams). I headed home to get some work done. Late in the afternoon, off to the wood yard to pick-up our beams, now while there weren’t that many, and with a small fork lift they were relatively easy to get into the hire truck – we discovered that they had cut them too long, so they needed to be recut. Off back home to unpack the beams! Now we had been told that they were around 45 kilos each – they were not! I think they were easily closer to 65 kilos each, and when there are only 2 of you to carry the beams down a set of stairs, you know about it. We did the majority on the Wednesday evening to do the final 4 on Thursday morning before returning the vehicle.
At which stage they pointed out a scratch at the top of the vehicle, which Pat hadn’t even noticed happening. This means that they are keeping the deposit until we know what the cost of fixing it is. So not the best start to the day, but we headed home afterwards, for me to finish off some work before getting ready for the arrival of a couple of friends.
Pat had to do some running around, including returning a computer to a friend, at which point a car coming off a side track (and it was a side track) drove straight into the side of our car! With Pat in the car! Pat is fine – thankfully, but the driver’s side of our vehicle (it’s a right hand drive) is totally smashed in. Pat came home as I was trying to finish up my work to let me know what had happened. We then had 2 friends drop in – which we had forgotten about – to have a look at the beams and our cellar (cave) to talk about if he could help with the installing of the beams. By this stage, we had really decided we needed to get someone in to do the work! So I’m then off to get some friends from the airport – with a totally smashed in car. Thankfully the car was just about driveable, and I was able to pick them up without any problems, but I came home to Pat and the other driver going through the insurance paperwork, which apparently needed to be completed on the day of the accident.
Friday morning was spent by Pat finalising the paper work, speaking to the insurance company and getting the car off to the garage to be looked at and to pick up a courtesy car. Meanwhile I and my friends headed off to the small local market, we bought some nice cherries and strawberries and some cheese. We came home with the fruit and some patisseries to eat before heading off into the sunshine for lunch. A lovely lunch was spent at a restaurant beside a river eating lovely food and then a lovely walk around the village enjoying the sunshine before heading home (via the supermarket) for dinner of salad, bread and cheese while sitting outside.
It is great to have friends here to force us out and about to do things rather than sitting at home pondering on our fate! Hopefully Pat’s blog next week will tell you about all the wonderful things that have happened.
Enjoy your week and remember Pat’s blog next week – http://patblog.patbell.co.uk
Some pictures:
The freshly painted outdoor chair
Blue isn’t it?
The things you find at a fete – pink Kangaroo Paw – in France!
As I mentioned last blog – the new cave door
Yep same blue as the chair!