Sunday 17 May 2026

This year we made a commitment to be in LPR while the building project was completed. This should finish around the end of October.  So, we are just living in rural Charente-Maritime at St Loup and earning our bed by gardening and house upkeep. Flashy is repairing and building a wire fence on the boundary and Lady P, after designing the kitchen extension and liaising with EL and the builders, is about to assist Flashy in the construction of a new woodshed.

This will not be any woodshed. The old one is to be dismantled and parts recycled for the new. Stand by for le Palais du Bois!

And now the story on the truck. We need some poles for the new woodshed. These were found high up on the wood stock in the timber yard and on special, at Bricomarche. Except they were four metres long. Not even two metre ones would fit in the Peugeot. ‘Have ‘em delivered,’ says Flashy’ ‘no monsieur, it’s much cheaper to hire the truck,’ says Pierre. So, for 30€ instead of 50€ we get the store’s four tonner.  Those of you who know the Indian public service administration standards, well, the French have it in spades. Firstly, you have to fill in the form. Then drive across the road and up the hill to fill in more forms and get a little card from the retail store. When you get back, Pierre has the truck loaded and then you pay for the timber and rapid set concrete. Emma Louise has all the licences and address requirements, so she is to drive. “EL, have you driven a manual truck?’ ‘Yes’. Well, a little kangaroo hop and ‘I can’t get it into first!!’ sees Flashy sitting next to her and ‘clutch in, Thelma, right she’s in first, clutch out slowly..’ Thankfully, a seven gear diesel Mercedes is pretty forgiving and we did a Thelma and Loui all the way to LPR and back. Through roundabouts and past large tractors, drifting right almost into ditches. At least she didn’t look at the gear stick. Lady P, driving behind was having kittens!

Returning the truck was almost the same admin in reverse but we got there.

The old woodshed.

Comments

  1. Graeme19 May 2026 at 20:16

    You should have employed some Poles to get the poles and also to do the construction work, they would also possibly be good trench diggers, given the number of times Poland has been invaded.

    ReplyDelete

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