The Saga Continues

Cyrille and Patrick turned up again today and finished connecting up all of the pipes to and from the Septic Tank. I understood that nothing could be covered up until 'the man from the Ministry' came out to inspect. However, Cyrille knows 'the man' and a quick telephone call was all that was required.

So, all of the pipes are now covered over, and Cyrille says that he will be digging a trench through the barn tomorrow. We at last seem to have recovered our courtyard.

Cyrille and Patrick have also been doing some tidying up. All that is left in front of the house is a heap of earth, which is to be spread about tomorrow, and the last of the roof tiles, which are awaiting 2 fine days so that the ridge tiles can be put in place.

Meanwhile my labourer had been emptying the trailer of a full load of sand, hence why she looks a trifle fatigued.

Over to Sue:-

I had also been into battle with the tile man. You will recall that he had sold the tiles which he was storing for us and for which we had paid a hefty deposit. John rang yesterday to give him time to contact the manufacturer to establish when and if the said tiles would be delivered. When we arrived at the shop he produced a fax stating that the tiles would not be delivered to Italy until about the 25th of June and goodness knows when they would be delivered to France. Remember no tiles equals no shower. The out come was that we had to choose some more; luckily John and I managed to agree on an alternative from what he had in his shop. Tile man established that between their two shops they have sufficient in stock for our needs. He said that he would put a total freeze on these tiles until we had what we needed. I suggested "ironically" that that was a "bon idea". Bearing in mind that he has already admitted his "faux pas" and cannot say anything in his defence, my next question was "what about the price". Well the figure he came up with was what I intended to pay so it wasn't until I got home that I reflected and thought that I had heaps of leverage to haggle. Missed opportunity but a lesson learnt!!

Hence why I was emptying the trailer so that John can start collecting the tiles tomorrow morning.