Oh my Gawd!

Since Bob and Jenny left we've recommenced operations. Sue has cemented some more of her path, and I've begun fitting the guttering on the pigsty. Of course there were problems, but there always are, aren't there? Our idea was to collect the rainwater from the Porcherie roof in a couple of water-butts in the ruin. But, despite appearances, this system would only work if water would run uphill. When I tried to put up the guttering I realised that the roof is actually sloping and sloping the wrong way. So, new plan!

I've placed the downpipe at the other end of the guttering and we're letting the water spill out onto the ground. Whether we do anything about trying to collect this water has been left to await future events.

Meanwhile, Sue has finished putting the render onto the old brick pillars of the Porcherie. So it's now down to me to press on with making window frames, etc.

We had an amusing incident yesterday when a car which was obviously lost arrived outside of the porcherie and then decided that their route didn't include going up the hill. So they turned round in the area Bob and I had cleared beside our ruin! I've now put down a row of stones to discourage this.

However, the bombshell hit us this afternoon when our builder arrived with a plumber to give us a quote for the plumbing work in the house. Whilst they were here Cyrille, (our builder) said that he was expecting to start working on the rooms on the ground floor on the 15th October! Whilst this is great news, it means that when we return from our visit to South Korea to see Guy, we'll have 2 weeks to empty out the 'caves' and get ready for the off. Life's going to get hectic!