Our 5th Grandchild Arrives.

My next trip back to the UK was a lot more exciting as I was able to combine two separate work 'stints' with a visit to see our 5th grandchild and newest grandson - Jake Joseph - who was born in October.

Here he is pictured with his brother and two cousins.....

We do miss them all so much......., but it was very nice to catch up even if for such a short time, before work called again.

Arriving back this time, we were caught out by a Bank Holiday here - technically, they are not called that here, but you know what I mean. I think they catch us out, as in the UK, they tend to be the nearest Monday to a particular date ( the Monday after May 1st for example). Here in France, they are the exact day, so May 1st, November 1st etc. For this reason, and the fact that I am hovering between the two countries, I forgot, and we travelled to Carhaix, only to find that nowhere was open !

Craig had managed to do lots of smaller jobs that he had been putting off, but that made a huge difference with nice finishing touches. 

He finished laying the stone....he painted the stair well and he waxed the stairs...

This made a world of difference, as before it was just plain wood, and now it had a colour and a finish to it. We had pondered with the idea of carpet, but the logistics of buying and getting it fitted were just too much. It's not something that the French have very much of here, so the quality is quite poor. I am pleased with this effect, and it's easy to keep clean too.

The biggest achievement however, was that the roof damaged by a tractor in 2013 was finally repaired !!!! It only took twelve months, multiple phone calls, site visits by the Insurance company, contractors, and numerous letters to finally get it sorted out. Our main beef, was the fact that the roofing is asbestos, and Craig was very conscious that the workman should be provided with the correct equipment, and the asbestos should be disposed of in the correct way. Needless to say, this is the contractor at work....

Craig was almost apoplectic with rage and the finished job wasn't any better either really.

In fact, finally the Insurance company gave us an allowance so that Craig could finish the work himself. What do we pay these companies for eh ? Mind you, it gave us the impetus to change all of our policies we held with them over the next few months.

It was nice to see various jobs being completed - we even now have skirting in rooms which is nice to see. 

Our internet here is quite slow, and we have no option to change providers, as Orange have the monopoly in our area. Most of the time, it is OK, but we have friends who rely very heavily on their connection for work purposes, so it is always very inconvenient if there is a problem. In fact, they have been known to travel to us, to work from here if their connection is down, and the next time the engineer can visit is 10 days away !! It's a situation that we find quite bizarre, and we find the Customer Service here a lot to be desired.

We have many examples that I could relate of this, but one that could make you smile, and doesn't implicate or condemn anyone is the fact that I can't pay any money into the Bank without taking ID !!! What is all that about ??? It's paying in, not withdrawing, and what does it matter who pays into my/our account ???

We desperately wanted to have our wood burner fitted and working for this winter, but the problem was getting the flue pipe into the chimney. Craig wanted to drop it - well not literally - more lower it, from the top of the chimney downwards, but we needed someone, and something, to get Craig + pipe to the top of the chimney. We approached several of the local farmers who all have large tractors and other machinery, but no one had anything suitable, so this was another conundrum for Craig to get his head around. They were all very friendly, and helpful in their own way, but were unable to help.  

I had one more trip back to the UK before Christmas, so I was very organised with my Christmas cards and presents this year, so that I could post or deliver them while I was there. It was a nice feeling to be so up to date for a change.