I quietly admire the French disregard for health and safety. I’m never sure if it’s borne out of genuine belief in what they are doing, or (more likely, I suspect) simply a heartfelt cocksure two-fingers-up to everyone
Either way, as the wannabe bathroom progressed this week, a lot of tramping through the house with buckets was avoided by using a cherry picker up to the first floor balcony, loaded with an oversized wheelbarrow, loaded in turn with pre-mixed cement and two shovels. What I hadn’t expected was for the two guys to jump into this wheelbarrow and to shovel the cement over our balcony and onto the bathroom floor
Clearly, madness
Two men in a mid-air wheelbarrow? Well, it worked brilliantly. There should be a dramatic picture here but one was face on and that’s an invasion of privacy. The other had an inadvertent (I think) builders bum. Also an invasion of privacy, and I’ll spare you
I really am a bath person, so I had a bit of a wobble when the building crew told me I wouldn’t fit my ‘baignoire’ into the tiny space, but Smiley Plumbers Un et Deux, for there are actually two of them, said we’d squeeze it in, though we did only half-joke that I will have to dive in
The guys have worked so hard this week. They were here until 6.30 last night because the toilet was problematic. It didn’t help that I had brought them a cheap flatpack English toilet to work with, which had terrible instructions and a totally crap diagram – none of us recognised the ‘black ring’. Three of us pondered the issue that ‘we don’t have zeess system in France’ and ‘ze wall it is like zeess’. It is indeed ‘like zat’, all organic shapes busting out where you least need them, but when I said I still wouldn’t plasterboard to assist fitting the loo, they didn’t throw a strop, but found an equally organic solution. All credit to them
Today we all three walked the house again and discussed places for the radiators. Of course, everything we do here is a compromise because this lovely old house was not built for modern life, but I have enormous respect for the guys working on it. They remain polite always, they good-naturedly tolerate my British humour (and I frequently resort to humour) and they respond with theirs. Ultimately they see what the house’s beauty means to me and there is an unexpected synergy
Joyeuses Pâques, tout le monde x
Poshbird with Passion 
Enjoying your renovation posts even if it can’t be much fun to live through. We did a major bathroom renovation three years ago, which was bigger than Ben Hur ..worth it in the end! Have a Happy Easter and good luck with the bathroom! 🙂
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Thank you. Hope you really love your bathroom after all the effort! We did our two UK bathrooms a little over ten years ago and I wish I had done them differently. They just look the same as everyone else’s bathrooms because I accepted other peoples choices. Never again!
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Our bathroom is lovely – it was such a major job as all the underfloor plumbing had to be redone (the workmen found tree roots under there!). I did plan it myself and we ended up with a lovely soft grey stone floor – only thing is it is quite difficult to clean as you have to use very soft products on it (which I don’t mind as I hate chemicals!). It’s actually quite a French feel I think with soft whites and greys but with a large silver framed mirror on the wall above the sink (it’s reproduction from an antiques store and I got it half price in their sale). Good luck with it all! 🙂
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Artisans are a little bit like waiters. You can want to have a café crème in the afternoon, but they will say to themselves, “ah, that is only for breakfast,” and ignore your request, because surely you are mistaken. You can tell an electrician you want two outlets in a spot, and he will say, “one outlet is plenty, and if she really wants two, she can use an extension cord.” Except that you really, really don’t want extension cords. Even my francophone husband, who has built a house with his own two hands and thus speaks artisan (French artisan, no less), cannot get through. So hats off to you if you managed to get through to them.
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I’m amazed that they listen to me at all, what with me just being a gal and all that, but they really have been sweeties
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I think you are very lucky to have found such smiley plumbers. I am desperate to get a bathroom makeover and have hesitated so long on who to use that everybody now has a six month to a year waiting list 😦 Are you here alone for the whole of Easter?
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I came home yesterday because the flight was cheap! And yes, it’s a fluke that we fond such lovely guys. Good luck! (If it’s just a makeover your bathroom needs, do you think you could do it yourselves?)
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Humour works wonders. Good to know the work progresses.
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It’s so heartening when things come together. I’m truly happy for you that progress is being made
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Thank you. You are always such a great support. If only all weeks were like this…x
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Enjoy the good bits. Save your strength for the set backs. (I’d be fine wouldn’t I if I took my own advice?!) HA
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