Les Architectes

We are going through a hectic period. We had arranged to see a couple of architects and we had one on Tuesday morning and one on Wednesday morning. I do get a sense of fate and destiny about this house, or is it that coincidences do occur in life? When we got here we found that one of our neighbours was English and the woman, Lesley, went to our school and her brother was in our class. Now we find that the Architect who came first on Tuesday knows our house as he spent time here in his youth. Hence he remembers the house as it was and he told us some stories about it. He told us that in the courtyard was a small pool for the ducks and the water from the sink in the kitchen used to just pour out of a hole in the wall and presumably into the duck pond. The bulge in the rear wall has always been like it is. He also explained that the rainwater that collects in the tank under the terrasse was OK to drink. He told us of the time his brother, after milking the cows, poured milk into the water in the cistern!! It seems unbelievable that we should find an architect so connected to the house.

Having dealt with Architect number one, we spent the rest of the day in the garden in lovely sunny weather - at the end of November! We went to see Rene in hospital in Cahors and returned at about 7pm. To our consternation we had no water in the house. The water is supplied by the commune and so there is no emergency number to phone. We jokingly said that at least we had the water in the cistern. Sue suggested I phoned our neighbours Jean-Jaques and Nadine who are now in Paris. I did and asked if interruptions in the supply were normal. Definitely no! JJ said he would get his cousin who lives in the local village to phone us to help. However JJ phoned back to say that his cousin had no water also! 'If there is no water in the morning, go to the Marie, and if it is shut, phone the Mayor!!!' Thankfully, the water came back on later.

The second architect was OK and, in his favour, he said he liked modern interiors. We have taken to Architect number one but we just have to await their estimates and their suggestions before we can proceed further.