All of our friends who are français d’origine Angleterre are constantly engaged in renovation projects. One friend said that his life in France so far had consisted of moving things, mostly piles of stone, from one place to another. We have been at it for three years on and off but hopefully the next four weeks will see the end of the grands travaux. There isn’t much left of the house we bought, it has all been replaced!
Despite the recent hot weather (the temperature reached 40°C in Cormatin yesterday) we are having a very smart heating system installed. It is called a pompe à chaleur and by some magic it extracts heat out of the air and sends it to warm the radiators and water even when the outside temperature reaches minus 15°C. It was delivered this morning and the only way to shift the heavy unit into the back garden was by tractor via next door through a huge hole in the hedge.
Coming through the garden
We now have a rather impressive silver cabinet straight out of Dr Who underneath the bathroom window. The next step is to rebuild the wall where all the gubbins go through and then destroy the present boiler room to accommodate two huge cylinders. The oil tank is coming out, goodness knows how. If I didn’t know this used to be cowshed built in 1850 I’d suspect the house had been built around the tank.
So soon we will be living the life of Riley in a house where nothing needs doing. Anybody need a hand?
