Thursday 16th June

Phew, what a few days.  We have had a new kitchen installed, and I have been helping, or hindering – whichever way you want to interpret it.  We have had an electrician wiring in the new oven and hob, and the plumber putting in a shower in one of the guest bedrooms and the new kitchen sink.  A sort of organised chaos, and amazingly it has all come together at the last minute.  We had guests arriving yesterday, and the plumber was still connecting sinks and showers as they arrived.  But remember, this is France and nothing is ever done on time.  We chose our kitchen at the beginning of May; the carcases were available in the shop and we took them home in the back of the car, but we had to order the doors.  Pas de problem, they will arrive in three weeks.  Of course, they didn’t.  Prochaine semaine, (next week) and next week was the same story.  In fact we didn’t have the doors the day the kitchen was about to be installed.  When I phoned and spoke to Christel, who we ordered the doors from, she said (you guessed – pas de problem, prochaine semaine).  I said to her in my poor French, but you say that every week.  Oui, she agreed with me.  And, I said, the doors never arrive.  Oui, she agreed with me, without any sign of embarrassment.  And so we went round in circles with her insisting that the doors would arrive next week, as she had done for several weeks already.

Anyway, BINGO.  Some of the doors arrived on Tuesday.  So, I take it all back Christel.  You were right all along – the doors will arrive next week.  But not all of them.  In fact about half  of them have still not arrived.  When will they be delivered Christel?  Ah, a different story this time – the remaining doors will arrive early July, J’espere (I hope) says our dear Christel.  Anyway, we have more than half a kitchen.  Lovely cupboards and worktops but only a few doors, but we do have a cooker and a sink.

But it feels as if I have had no time to think at all; busy helping to carry up heavy cupboards and work-tops and then sweeping and mopping up sawdust, as well as trying to help run the café.  Well, we can now breathe a sigh of relief, our visitors have arrived and tomorrow (today) and for four days we will have no building work, no sawdust, no mess.  And at last – a little time to think.