Builders eh?

I am having a conservatory built on the back of the house. which I plan to use for my counselling. I say 'I' because it is my project, so the builder called in yesterday to lay out ready for the cement base to be put down today. There had been some discussion about whether to move the side gates or not and we had finally decided not, and when Bob the Builder turned up, we ran through the decisions we had made and he started to measure up.
"I'll just shut the back door," he said, "and get on with measuring."
So he did and I carried on doing what I was doing in the living room, roughly about six yards away from him.
Minutes later, Keith phoned.
"Is that all-right, then?" he asked.
"Is what all-right?"
"Moving the gates. He says he can't get the full width otherwise. Didn't he say anything to you? He's just rung me up to ask about it."
So, having shared my views on this way of going about things with Keith, (who then retired to nurse his sore ear), I waited...
When the gates had been moved and Bob and his sidekick were about to leave, I went to the door.
"Oh," I said sweetly, "I see you moved the gates after all."
"Oh yes, I rang the boss..." he began.
I stopped him there and explained it to him.
I was quite amicable about it. Not a word passed my lips about sexism or male chauvinist pigs - really.
"We'll be here between half eight and nine in the morning," he promised. "And I'll bring you a white hat, as you're the boss."
It's three minutes to nine and all is silent....

Photo gallery

Have a look at a selection of the photos we took on holiday. http://picasaweb.google.com/jennytc/FranceItaly2007

Touraine and its chateaux

Chateauroux and Montresor - just two of the chateaux that we looked in on during our two days in Blois in the Touraine. I spent six months in Tours in 1969 as part of my college course and so most of the chateaux names have some memories for me. It is an area that I'm particularly fond of. It was just a shame that the weather wasn't better - all that grey sky!!

Coming for a spin, anyone?

Chateaux viewing today. More pictures tomorrow, hopefully but this one's for Dale. Couldn't persuade Keith to have his photo taken, I'm afraid.

This is a Citroen C3 at the automobile museum in Valencay.

Cloud and more cloud

Very cloudy and rainy yesterday so not many photos taken at all, although we did venture forth around the region. We were around Chambery and Aix les Bains.

People watching

One thing I do enjoy doing when eating out is people watching.

Each morning here, there has been another couple, French, probably in their thirties, whom we have particularly noticed. This is because, while he takes himself off to a table of his choice, she descends on the self-service area, like a one-woman herd of locusts, helping herself to copious amounts of anything and everything on offer, piling oranges into the juicer and then proceeding to fry eggs and bacon on the grill plate. Her preparations are punctuated by questions to her husband, presumably about how he likes his eggs and would he like two or three kilos of bacon. Eventually, she sits down and the next several minutes are punctuated by the two of them leaping up for second helpings. This morning's meal was disturbed by the sound of her stirring her yogurt. How does one make this sound like the revving up of an automatic drill?

Breakfast finished, she slung a large bag over her shoulder and, on her way out, stopped briefly to sweep something into the bag before leaving the room with a sweet 'Bonjour' to the receptionist as she passed. He, meanwhile, contented himself with grabbing something to stuff into his pockets as he left a few seconds later.

And to add insult to injury, they are both as thin as rakes!

And the weather....?

We did the 400 hours from Florence back to Grenoble in a day, a day of extreme heat combined with the fact that Keith was not feeling too well. He seemed to have picked up a bug but fortunately, it only lasted 24 hours. However, yesterday and today we have made the decision not to go too far afield as we are staying here till tomorrow morning.

The problem now is... the weather!!! We have travelled a total of 2000 miles to get away from the rain and now, after the heat of Florence, it's wet and somewhat windy!

We did have a run round the mountains yesterday and took advantage of the glimmers of sun which burst through from time to time and the sight of the Alps swathed in cloud was atmospheric to say the least. These photos should give you some idea.