I poured the half the slab for the terrace last week.I took a leaf from the frogs book as they very often mix their concrete themselves as there are no minimix here.you can buy a 'BigBag' of stone mixed with sand, so all you need to do is add the cement and water and away you go.Its a lot cheaper than ordering the concrete from the plant.And now we have an area to relax outside.I've taken Lola surfing the last 3 days and she loves it.Small summer waves here are perfect for kids to learn.

Pauline arrives tomorrow with Daisy and Lily so Lola is very exited.Paul arrives on Thursday.Should be a fun week

The Lawsons left here last week and are probably nearly home in Flinders by now.We had a couple of meals with them.It was great to see Sandrine again and Lola enjoyed her time with Emma, and the beautiful littleNina.Pete was lucky to get some good waves with nothing epic but some pretty good sessions that were much better than home.

Lolas on school hols now so if the sun is shining we'll spend plenty of time at the beach

Nearly finished the bathroom/toilet downstairs and it is now fully functionable.Bliss!!So good to have a new 900mm cooktop/oven to use, its a luxury after what weve had.

Derek is here at the moment and we've had a cuople of surfs together but its been pretty ordinary.Mavybe tomorrow.

We are finally in our house!!!!

Sorry about the lack of updates but I've been working 7 days a week to get it ready to move in and havent had time to scratch myself!! Its a long way from being finished nbut its habitable.Lots of things have happened .I have managed to sneak in a couple of good surfs at Vieux Boucau ,had Lolas concert and breakup fiesta, bought some great antiques including 2 beautiful wardrobes,old sewing machine,some beautifully restored oil lamps an antique camera on a tripod and an amazing squeezbox among other things for a ridiculously cheap price.

Lola starts her summer school hols for 8 weeks this week.Its been very hot with heatwave conditions for the last week or so.30 -36° ,very hot for here and the frogs cant handle it,I love it and I get great pleasure out of seeing them squirm and sweat and whinge and cringe.Ha Ha, the hotter the better I reckon!And theres more to come,haha

check out the size of the bug!

The stairs are done for now.I will tile them at a later date.Time now to floor Lolas room and support the beam i have to cut that runs over the stairs.I'm so busy every day that with getting the odd wave in and working on the house i'm sleeping very soundly.The last three days i've managed to sneak in some great waves with Pete Lawson.He's very happy to have scored good waves everyday since he arrived 6 days ago.He came over for dinner last night and we had the mandatory Confit de Canard.OOOHHHH and of course wine to match.

We're looking forward to seeing Paul(my brother inlaw) this weekend for 3 nights.More good food and wine.

Lola is in Paris with the school to visit the eiffel tower,the dinosaur museum a boat cruise and macdonalds.She gets back tonite.That will make us happy.Her first trip away from us both was a little hard for corinne.(and Lola)(and me of course)

What a huge month its been.We've been very productive on the house.This week I put in the windows/doors,prepared for the plumber ,rejoisted the floor in Lolas room and broke through to the old part of the house which required some demolition,some propping up of an old wall and installation of an old oak post and beam as a feature.I had to patch some of the original brickwork with the old salvaged hand made bricks and relay them with a lime/sand mortar mix.I still have to finish patching the wall but that can be done later.The plumber comes tomorrow(monday) and i want to start the stairs this week.Its all happening now!!!!

Its been another big week working on the house.A scottish guy called Harvey came to do the Zingeurie.Thats the roof flashings which i could normally do but the techniques are different here so i needed to get him to help.The Electrician came to install the new switchboard in a temporary set up until i break through to the old part of the house.And the plumber came to sort out what we need for the new bathroom downstairs.He's coming back Friday.The septic system is to be started tomorrow,but its expected to rain and the septic man is very elusive and wont need much of an excuse to avoid coming here.He is always a weak link and should have started months ago.
Lola is back at school tomorrow after the easter holidays.Peter and Sandrine Lawson arrive in france next week for a couple of months.I need to go surfing this week,as i havent had much time with all the work going on here.I got my van back on Friday after 3 weeks without it.fuel pumps arent cheap,especially when the first mechanic couldnt quite find the problem,and charged me quite heavily

ROOF IS ON!Not finished but on .This week was huge and i need a coupla days off.I'm knackered!!Too old for this s--t.Murph and Howey put in some hard days and we were expecting rain yesterday and it did,so murph called in some more manpower and by 12.30 the tiles were up and on .Big changes .Strange but lucky that good friday isnt a public holiday here so we could lay the tiles before murph heads back to oz for a coupla weeks