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The idea this year was to go to the house in March or April with Jan and the dogs for two or three weeks and get the upstairs walls in the grenier built to form the new bedroom and bathroom and a landing for where I wanted to build the new staircase. That plan didn't come to fruition as when we checked the dog's passports at the beginning of February we found that the one for Storm our Tibetan Terrier had lapsed by a few days. I got her a fresh jab straight away but according to DEFRA there was no leeway so we had to start the process afresh and have another blood-test a month after which meant apart from the extra expense that we couldn't take her until September.

The only way to get the job started was for me to go alone again. The problem then arose that out of nowhere I contracted a bout of Vertigo that lasted for weeks. My balance was badly affected and I didn't feel able to drive to Portsmouth and then through France on my own until I got better. This of course gave me a bit of time. I had a bit of furniture and a load of materials that I had collected that obviously was not going to fit in the Volvo so one day when we were out walking the dogs we saw a Mercedes Sprinter van with a for-sale sign on it. A few days later after umming and ahhing we had bought it, hoping to sell it later in the year without loosing too much money therefore getting the stuff to France relatively cheaply.

I eventually got used to the vertgo so decided to go anyway in April and left from St Malo on the 26th with the van full of stuff again. Because I had the room I took a bed settee, the timber and boards to do the walls, the w.c. pan and cistern and wash basin and pedestal that I had found in the roof of the house we moved into in 2002, various painting stuff, another bike that had been donated by friends trying to offload unwanted stuff and other 'objects d'art' that would find a good home in France.

Two days after I got there and done the usual things like cutting the grass and doing the shopping I woke up one morning to find the Vertigo had gone as quickly as it had come and I haven't had it since!!

I swept out the big room in the grenier that I was going to convert and set-out the proposed room dimensions in chalk. Everything looked ok so without further ado, I got the materials and machinery in and started.

All went well. In a few days I had the stud partitions built and lagged, wiring in and boarded. The stopping-in and painting didn't take long and before you knew it it almost looked habitable. I laid the laminate floor to cover the old grenier boards that were sound but knocked about a lot and then fitted the bathroom furniture in position to give a look of progress. I made and fitted the timber doors and painted them and wow - I could rent this out!!.


Building the stud partition	Lagging etc.

Boarding	Finished with door, dado and floor.

The next job was to cut-out a hole between the new landing area and the study below to form an opening for the stairs so I could accurately measure the opening and get the stairs made at home. It was going to be a tight steep fit but it was the only place possible. I cut open the floor with a circular saw and lifted the boards, then cut off the joist and repositioned some of it to stengthen what was left. I could then make a very accurate drawing of what I wanted. I also fitted a balustrade to the resulting hole so I didn't fall to a certain death in the night!!


Boards removed	Floor strengthened

Balustrade fitted	From the room below

I had done quite a bit and was now running out of stuff so I started making a list of things to get and do next time. The plumbing would have to wait as I couldn't find the adaptors I wanted in the local brico.

I had worked it out with my mate Ray that we would do the rally in Angouleme again this year so I would come back in September hopefully with Jan and the dogs this time for a couple of weeks and do the rally in the middle weekend. I had also negotiated with Rene my neighbour to buy his garden that connected to mine so that I could use it for parking the caravan and the cars. To do this I had to buy the house on the land too. It had not been lived in for years, the last people being his grandparents. It was in reasonable condition but not expensive. I wrote a letter to the Notaire in French and Rene made all the arrangements for us to purchase the property in September too. I returned home on May 14th tired again.

With the plans for my new staircase in my hand I went to see an old friend of mine who owns a joinery business to see if he could make what I wanted. He seemed to think he could do it and 'phoned me with a price a couple of weeks later. After a false start he eventually got it finished a few days before my next departure in September. Because of the wind in the stairs it was made in two sections which helped me get it in tha van. More materials and another bike plus Jan and the dogs and all of our neccessary bagage and we were off again on September 11th for the Hi-Speed ferry from Portsmouth to Cherbourg. We had to leave at 3.30 am for the 8 am ferry. The dogs were ok for the 3 hour crossing but in the loaded van it took us seven hours to get to the house including stops. It was almost dark. It was good to get there.

Next day we did some shopping etc. and got ready to fit the stairs. Considering that I had measured them four months before and they were made by somebody who hadn't seen the location they fitted almost perfectly. In the next few days they were fitted painted and carpeted and they looked like they had always been there.


New stairs fitted	From above

Sans ladder	Painted and carpeted

Jan set about doing the garden for want of a better word. I usually cut the grass with our petrol mower which cuts the weeds too but Jan was all for pulling up the weeds so they didn't come back again - I'm no gardener - I didn't know that!

I used to put all of the garden waste in the corner of our field across the road but I was about to sell that to another neighbour to help finance the house and garden I was buying so we made a pile right at the end of our existing garden at the end of the lane and designated it 'the compost heap'.

The dogs were enjoying being away until the sunday when the French farmers go out on the 'Chasse' and shoot anything moving. Storm didn't like the bangs so set herself up in the house and was not going tio go out for anyone. One night I twisted my right knee badly and found it hard to walk or even lie down so when the day came to go to the Notaire we all piled in Rene's little car as I found it difficult to drive. The paperwork was relatively easy to understand but we had to sign every one of about forty pages. We sold two plots of land and bought the house and garden next door all in about and hour then retreated back to our place for Pastis and nibbles with all concerned. They were impressed with what we have done so far.

We decided to give the front of the 'new' house a coat of Sandtex to brighten it up but first we had to scrape off years of ivy and brambles. It is the first house you see as you come up the hill in to the village so it was due a makeover.


Before	After (doors and windows next time)

I didn't do the rally after all for various reasons but Ray did it with his son. He came over to see us after the rally as I had brought down some of his things that he couldn't get in the MGB as he was staying at his place for another couple of weeks. Some other friends of ours did the the Angouleme rally too and came fifth then carried on down to marshal on another rally for a week which finished in Biarritz then thay came to see us on the way home and stayed overnight.

We got the dogs checked over by the local Vet on monday 25th and drove home the next day. Next time we may have a bit more leisure time!