Here comes 2013

And so another eventful year draws to a close hopefully culminating in a splendid party tomorrow night. So far winter has failed to touch upon the Norman countryside and, instead of the gentle crunch under foot, there is a continual squelch of wet mud.

It's always nice to make resolutions for the coming year, lay down plans, touch on dreams and attempt to self motivate yourself into a better place. So here we go.

Last time we travelled about was in 2007. The kids don't really remember much about it but, as I look back to my own childhood,I have fond memories of Cornwall, Spain, Tunisia, Greece and Denmark. With this in mind from 2013 onwards, we are going to visit a different country every year with the kids. We're already looking into the trip for 2013 when we shall be driving to Switzerland to visit some virgin expats as they start their great adventure.

You may believe that during the days when I'm kicking around the house on my own I actually work quite hard. This is totally not the case and I have become an expert on "Homes under the hammer" and shed loads of true movies. 2013 will see a stop to this lethargy and an attempt, every day, to achieve something constructive and beneficial.

It is not unusual for those quite close to me to comment on my drinking habits.I am in full agreement that half a case of beer and two bottles of wine is a slightly excessive daily consumption. We have a New Years party to attend on 4th January after which I shall attempt to take some time out, only drinking when we go out or have guests.

Wishing all my friends and family a happy and prosperous New Year.

Love me XXX

Merry Christmas

Another year is coming to a close at Chateau Larcombe, that’ll be five we’re up to now, and once again I find myself looking back over the last 12 months and trying to consolidate the years events onto one side of A4 paper. Normally I have no struggles to fill a side of paper with stories of great adventures, mad inventions and humorous interactions with the locals but this year, and on attempt number 5 to write this I am, to say the least, lost for words. I may be able to sell a couple of the other attempts mind you as the first read more like a vicars sermon and the 3rd would have been a mean speech for a presidential candidate.

At the beginning of the year, after a fair few nights of insomnia, I came across an idea for one of my biggest projects to date. Those following the blog or friends on facebook will have seen the roundhouse progress from conception to reality and I must thank all of the numerous people who gave up their time and energy to assist in its construction. There’s still a little work to do on it but it can all wait until the weather is a little more forgiving. On the 9th November, we had the official opening party where “Erics Bar & Grill” played host to over 60 guests for a delightful evening drinks and partying. The roundhouse has been dedicated to my grandfather who sadly passed away this year. He always loved to entertain and was in his element surrounded by friends and family.

Our annual party, normally over the bank holiday weekend at the end of May, split this year into two separate events because the Queen decided to hijack our weekend for her Jubilee. For the planned weekend, we had numerous friends over from the UK and France and, as always, had a complete blast of a party. The second party was very close to my heart as we managed to get over 30 members of my family together for a long weekend of drink and conversation. Judging by the bottle count for that weekend, there is no doubting that alcohol consumption is hereditary. For those interested in joining us next year, the dates will be 24th to 27th May.

The softball has been condensed to one tournament a year and, apart from some stressing about hay and the numerous downpours in the run up, this year has been the biggest success to date. Friends flew in from the States and Malaysia to join us, as well as the usual crowd from the UK, plus a fair few new faces. 2013 dates are 2nd to 5th August.

Fortunately there have been no more additions to the livestock here however we have been suffering an insurgence of moles and mice this year. The usual methods of trapping have had minimal effect and even the poison seems to do little to dissuade the new super mice.

The kids are continuing to progress well at school scoring above class average in all subjects. Their French is exceptional and Peter regularly corrects daddy on his poor vocabulary and accent.

Jane has had a year crammed full of exams which created a small amount of stress on occasion. Her job at the bank is going well and she even managed to get a couple of days experience in the local branch in Aunay.

As always, I have a head full of ideas for the coming year here, swimming pool, lake, hot tub, giant aerial runway. All highly practical and of long term importance in my mind, however I think I may have to focus some more time on the house itself as roof repairs should really be the number one priority. Only time will tell.

Chateau Antoine

The more I think about it the more I am convinced that bringing this decrepit old beast back to life should now be high on my priority list. If it's allowed to decay any further, we may struggle to get permission to rebuild it.

Although it's possibly not the ideal time of year to be starting work on a project like this, the initial task of clearing the collapsed walls is only costing the price of fuel for the dumper and progress is being restricted to the days when I can actually get traction in the wet mud. My first attack was on a decidedly frosty morning when the ground was suitably hard enough to be able to drive every where with ease. Day 2, which I started in glorious sunshine, rapidly turned to torrential downpours but I persevered until I could no longer drive into the building.

My intention is to clear the site completely freeing up access to both sides of the walls and digging down the internal floor as far as is feasibly possible without disturbing the outside walls. Then, subject to saving enough money, laying a structural slab of concrete so facilitate building internal walls providing an insulating cavity and a structure to support the first floor.

Five years went quick

It was December 10th 2007 when we signed our completion contract on Chateau Larcombe and parted with our hard earned cash. The years have raced by and yet, as I look back, I wonder how we have managed to cram so much in. Not only have we achieved an awful lot, but we have managed to do it all on a shoestring budget.

At present we are undecided on what the coming year will produce for us and although I have great dreams of lakes, swimming pools and hot tubs,none of these are really likely to materialise in the next 12 months.

I was fixed on the idea of setting up my own business in 2013 but the more I read up on it, the more I feel that we would actually end up being worse off than we are with me not working. For instance health care costs me nothing at the moment because I am covered through Janes work. As a self employed person I would immediately be faced with anything up to 1000 euros a year in taxes for healthcare regardless of whether or not I actually made money. Add to this the cost of insurances and 30% tax on any money I do make and the negatives really start to weigh the positives.

I am now contemplating throwing all my energies at Chateau Antoine, developing it into a proper, rentable house for the local long term market. Mission one will require my darling wife to have a chat with the mayor in order to check the feasibility of what we have in mind. Given the nod from him, we can look into borrowing some money and returning the building to the house that it once was. Watch this space for news.

The first snow of this winter has been falling making everywhere look clean and fresh along with motivating me to light both fires and keep them going throughout the days.

Holidays are coming

After spending a month here mother-in-law has finally left the building meaning that the washing and cooking have returned to my list of chores. Fortunately while she was here it facilitated me getting a few more jobs done including moving the living room around, decorating and finally building Janes shelf for the tea and coffee stuff.

The winter is now properly closing in on us with the onset of frosty mornings and a requirement to wear jeans and a jumper instead of shorts and t-shirt. With this cold spell I have decided it is time to return the green house fish back to the lake where they came from. Although my aquaponics experiment has been successful, barring the loss of one fish, the productivity was not as great as I would have liked so the system will be retired and no doubt transformed into something else in the future.

The greenhouse was a complete failure this year, not just in poor productivity levels, providing a home for more flies than you can possibly imagine. The olive tree has been suffering because, with all the rainfall, the humidity levels went through the roof and it is now covered in mildew like mould. Come the spring it will be relocated to the garden somewhere freeing up the space for my hot-tub project.
I have been helping out with bits for the schools Christmas market again this year. Possibly the worst job to date has been cutting out a pile of little Christmas trees with the jigsaw. Temperatures in the workshop were just hovering above freezing and, after 3 hours work, I could barely feel my fingers or find my tackle to use the toilet. All I have left to do now is to knock out some samosas or Krusti for Fridays big event.

With Christmas rapidly approaching Jane is struggling with the usual present problems for the tiddly peeps. On the brighter side however all of our cards have been written and the UK pile has been dispatched already. Just a few international ones left to post before it's too late.

Crossing some jobs off

You must excuse my excitement over a few menial tasks, but it's so rare for me to finish anything that I just had to share it. We recently took delivery of 10 cubic meters of firewood and, even with the change in weather, I have been slowly chipping away at chopping it up. In past years, I have always stacked it away in the log shed and then cut it as I needed it. This year I decided to cut the lot before stacking it saving me many hours in the depths of winter chopping wood outside. The log shed is now looking far more respectable and all set for the coming months.

After much pressure from wifey and mother-in-law, I pulled my finger out today and got on and put a curtain pole and curtain up in Joshes room. Hopefully this will now help to keep the frost out and reduce his risk of hypothermia during the winter.

My next task, and prior to mother-in-laws departure, is to get this years christmas card sorted so that we can save a fortune on postage by sending them all back with her.

Post Party Blues

I am forever starting this blog with my apologies for absence. Sometimes it reminds me of all those Parish Council meetings I used to go to with my dad. There is good justification however for my absence as I have mainly been drunk and inundated with guests, both completely self inflicted and both thoroughly appreciated.

On the 9th of November, the roundhouse was host to it's first official function and opening party. Although I was slightly nervous at the thought of hosting 60 people in an untested venue, there is no question at all of the great success that it proved to be. After Jane cut through the ribbon to "Erics Bar & Grill" so friends and family flowed through the doors into the cosy, homely atmosphere. During the day the troops at Chateau Larcombe had produced an abundance of snacks and nibbles to titillate the palettes of the masses and the final bit of brilliance was the "chestnuts roasting on an open fire" to coin a line from that famous song. The numerous children were kept entertained by the addition of a couple of packets of glow sticks, stolen from the kids stocking pile, leaving the adults free to drink and converse well into the night. At the request of Jane, I whipped out the accordion and tinkled the ivories to add a little French nostalgia to the ambience. Once again I am left with an event that will be hard to outdo, sounds like a challenge to me!!!

Next on the events schedule was Janes birthday party on 10th November. This time we had lined up a sit down meal for 30 great friends and family. Normally I have every detail of a party planned to the minutest of details weeks in advance but, on this occasion, it was Saturday morning when I finally committed to the menu. We knocked out a carvery style menu with roast pork, lamb and beef alongside a salmon for the vegetarians and more cultured diners. Thanks to all who helped out in the kitchen that night facilitating a timely deliverance of hot food for all and clearing up the aftermath of washing up that always seems to shadow these events. Our friend Jill made Jane a roundhouse birthday cake which I hope someone has some photos of as I have had an epic fail at taking any pictures in recent weeks.

In amongst all this excitement at the Chateau, or crazy box of frogs as it was recently described as, we managed to go off roading with the dumper truck before carrying out a salvage operation with the range rover. We also got my 80+ year old grandma driving the dumper with great success unlike Lady Lucy who attempted to drive over the log pile. This was possibly caused because she was laughing so much she couldn't keep her eyes open. We also squeezed in some rifle shooting, archery and guitar hero.

Did I mention the foam machine??

We are now winding right down with very little happening until New Years eve. Mother-in-Law is the only remaining guest and is doing an outstanding job of clearing up the devastation and washing and drying a dozen sets of bedding. Jane has returned to work begrudgingly, possibly because she's old now and started feeling it in her joints.

For me, it's time to look at my list of jobs and decide which ones I don't have to do today. Having concluded that everything will wait until tomorrow, I believe a day off is called for.

6 Days and counting

It's probably no surprise to hear that we've had a house full of people for the last week. Having finished his first season as a dive instructor, my brother has come to visit from Greece. In order to celebrate his arrival, my mum, sister, grandma, mother-in-law and niece all came over from the UK to party with us. As normal, much alcohol was consumed and a great time was had by all even with the shedding of a fair few emotional tears.

The continuing wet weather has hampered progress on the roundhouse roof as the remaining turfs that need to be cut presently resemble a soggy carpet. I have however finished the sign over the door and installed Janes birthday present, a 12 sided table that will be essential for the numerous parties that we hope to host.

Yesterday my brother and I harvested this years grapes. The quality has not been as good as previous years and less than half were properly ripe but I feel confident that we will get a semi reasonable rose wine for next year. What is great is that quantity wise it has been the biggest harvest leaving us with 20 litres fermenting in the barrel.

It looks like I may have now sourced the oak timbers for building the porch on the front of the house. I hope this will help to keep the cold out a bit and will also provide us with somewhere to have a door mat and keep the wellies.

I am praying for some good weather for Friday as the plan is to cook a paella for the grand opening party. As for the menu for Janes birthday, I am still undecided however working with my brother I think it may turn into a dim sum night.

Counting down to party time

The grand opening of the roundhouse is scheduled for 9th November and, as always, I may have invited a few too many people. If everyone turns up we should have about 60 for drinks and nibbles. As if this wasn't enough, Janes big 40 party is all set up for the 10th November when we shall have a banquet of sorts/sit down meal for about 30 people.

Having installed the pit grill and fitted the chimney, I had the first fire last night and cooked a mind blowing chilli and garlic flat breads. Although dinner was exceptional, the grill did not perform as wonderfully as I would have liked, leaving the roundhouse smelling like a bonfire. On the brighter side though, because there's always one of those, hopefully the abundance of smoke will have convinced some of the livestock living in the roof that it's time to move out and find a nicer smelling home.

I took advantage of a brief spell of sunshine on Tuesday to get up on the roof and sweep the chimney. I say a brief spell of sunshine because we live in Normandy and, within half an hour of starting, the heavens opened and I got deluged. The adventure to the top of the chimney highlighted yet more work for my list of jobs as there are loose bricks and render as well as missing bricks. Although it won't take long to fix when I get going, it will require a couple of rain and frost free days.

For those of you who don't keep up with our antics on facebbok, you'll be pleased to know that Greg and Viki had their baby yesterday. No more details as yet but I'll keep you posted.

More fire pit

In between down pours, I have managed to progress the firepit towards looking like a pucker piece of kit. So far I have mounted 3 grills, all of which will be height adjustable, and 1 pan holder. Still got a pot hanger and rotisserie to go then I shall start on the fire base and the chimney.

During yesterday mornings rain, I also had a go at building a foam machine for next years summer parties. Although it was a reasonable success, and a great hit with the kids, it needs a bigger input of air so I have managed to blag a garden blower from Steve and Laura which should do just the trick.

Preparations for Janes party are going well. I finished building one of her presents this morning, got the floor down in the round house and have sorted out guests from as far afield as Greece. I have a fair few other jobs to finish between now and then but am quietly confident, touch wood, that everything will be fine.

Time for an indoor barbecue

I'm working hard to get the roundhouse usable this winter so, having got the straw bale walls built, my next focus is on the indoor barbecue/fire pit. I have based my idea on a Finland style Kota Grill. Fingers crossed it will generate enough heat to keep the place warm, otherwise we'll be boosting it up with gas heaters.

Landscaping day

Having bought the farm tug, it was only right to really put it through it's paces. I have to say that, after 1 days work, it's already paid for itself. Lot's of thanks must go to Dave and the mini digger who kindly loaded the beast about 60 times to clear all the mounds of earth around the round house.

As I was up bright and early, I thought we'd have some pictures with the lights on while it was still dark. While? or is it Whilst? I'm never sure.

The new farm tug

Let there be light !!!

Well there wouldn't be if I hadn't inadvertently picked up bayonet bulbs instead of Edison Screw. Oh well, a minor mishap in a major piece of genius.

Things are really going well at the moment and I may well, fingers crossed, take delivery of a dumper truck tomorrow. Although she's not a looker, in need of a new seat, brakes may also be beneficial. The diesel hand cranked engine started on the second attempt and forward and backward gears both work. I think the brakes may be seized on a little but it demonstrated that the differential was still working on the front. There are a few holes in the bucket but at least that means it won't be full of rain water. As I'm sure you can imagine, Jane is highly enthused with my latest purchase and probably, even more so, when it arrives.

The lights have all gone up in the round house and I have filled in some of the gaps around the door way. Thierry turned up today to say that the straw for the walls will arrive in the next couple of weeks which will mean I can make the place weather tight ish.

The kids are back at school hence my jovial mood for the first time in weeks. Peter actually enjoys the fact that he also gets home work now like the big kids.

We are guest free for the foreseeable future leaving me no choice but to get on with some of the things on my immense list of jobs. I'm seriously thinking about the heating in the house, the fact that I have the radiators in now, the stove in pieces in the barn, the boiler in the workshop waiting to be welded back together, the need for a trip to the UK to pick up a tonne of copper tube, fittings and tanks etc. Thinking is, for the time being, as far as it goes as my present focus is to make the round house weather tight in preparation for Janes big 40. Those interested in attending feel free to contact me by private email andywork@hotmail.com

Round one complete

The rain comes down and the turfs go up

There's no doubting my Britishness when I start complaining about the weather. As I started writing todays blog, the heavens had opened and the rain was falling hard, but here, less than two minutes later, the sun is once again blazing through the window. As always though, to every negative we find a positive which, on this occasion, is not having to water the roof.

I have found a major floor to my "turfing the roof" plan. My delightful home grown Normandy field grass contains numerous surprises, the results of which can be plainly see on my fore arms at present. Initially, the first few thistles hurt somewhat but after the numerous nettle stings, I could no longer feel the thistles and, after the untold number of red ant bites I could no longer feel the nettle stings. Better still is that now I can no longer feel my arms so I can carry on regardless.

Time for some grass

Almost water tight

Time to batten the top now

We're now down to just the one pair of hands and progress is at an all time slow. Not only that but my hands have so many cuts and scrapes that you could be mistaken for thinking I'd fed them into a flail mower.

The lower ring beam is now complete so there's just the top left to batten before I can start putting the straw up.

Come Friday, we have another 2 pairs of hands showing up for the day so that, subject to weather, is my preferred day for getting the roof water tight.