Friday 5 February 2016

Renovation project - Plumbing in France

Renovation project - Plumbing in France

We call in to Carhaix to collect the copper pipes from a shop there and also call into our insurance brokers to get the new car fully insured. We had taken out a short term policy to get us to France.

There is no problem with the new insurance and we also get to change our address again.

We are informed that we need too take the receipt from DVLA and the scrap company to the prefecture to declare the car as destroyed, not something I am looking forward too as we are told over and over again about how unhelpful the woman is at the prefecture (even if you can speak French, apparently she does not discriminate, she does not like anybody!)

Today we have a lot to do (I have a strange feeling of deja vue!)  but the first big job is to get the water that was recently connected running through the house so that we can move in.

John has to go out this afternoon to get the new washing machine which Simon has kindly offered to help with, so we only have a few hours.

I have to try and sort out our bank problem and get hold of the person selling the bed that we saw on a website (not easy with no internet), so John goes to the house on his own.

The bank is shut, it is Monday and it is time to remember the opening times in rural France.

There is nothing else I can do so I go to join John at the house and see if I can help in any way.

John has drilled holes in the ceiling and we unroll the coil of pipe, it all fits smoothly up the wall and through the hole, John goes to pull it into the attic as I push it up. We are hoping that we can get the pipe to where we want it with out having to use any connectors. Unfortunately this is not to be. So John decides where he wants the pipes to be cut and joined.

In the living room the pipe is measured to the meter and John has bought a tool that should easily bend the pipe to go around corners, it looks so simple, but as with most things in life looks can be deceiving and luckily a bit of brute force helps it on its way.

The bends are not good and not where John wants them, he gives up on the tool and decides to put elbows on instead, this will mean the pipe will go exactly where he wants it.

The rest of the pipe is put in place on the other side of the house. We are not removing the old sink yet, so the pipe goes around it, it doesn't look pretty but it will work for now.

plumbing a house in france

plumbing a house in france

plumbing a house in france

plumbing a house in france

We go back to the little house for lunch and I attempt to make some home made tomato soup, I really am going to keep us on this diet, but yet again the attempt is a disaster, the soup looks like pink milkshake and tastes like garlic!

home made tomato soup

It is so disgusting I give up and end up with a bowl of all bran, all that is keeping me going is the knowledge we are going to friends for dinner tonight!

I am not sure how long my super home made food diet is going to last, but we will certainly lose weight if everything I cook is as dreadful as the last couple of attempts!

At 2 John goes for the washing machine and I get to spend a couple of hours with Suzy, this is so nice and I have missed sitting and chatting with friends so much.

We have another lovely evening and as much as I miss Spain I am enjoying life here.

1 comment:

  1. Dear Jenny,
    You probably hire an expert plumber from your area, so that all the stuff could be fixed in short time. Tomato Soup looks great in form of pink shake.

    ReplyDelete