I've been neglecting you haven't I. But then again, I have been neglecting my family, my dog and my husband in particular so you're in no way special position.
What can I say for my defence... it's the holidays! You are supposed to spend time together; quietly contemplate the meaning of Christmas and be merry in your togetherness with a glass of mulled wine whilst wearing a stupid post ironic statement jumper. That sounds just lovely. It really does. Just don't shit a brick when you find yourself swept away by the realities of hosting a Christmas: all that cleaning and cooking. Keeping in mind that you are a capable adult is not going to help matters at all, not at Christmas, oh no, and especially when there are presents to be unwrapped and candy canes ready to be suckled into sharp shanks. You will pull through it, just like every Christmas before this one, just don't let the existential dread set in. Not too closely anyway.
I repeat: DO NOT LET IT SET IN.
We, James, Rusty and I, travelled home for the holidays. Chez Nous in Mazamet that is. Where, after a few variably chilly months in the good old West Riding Kindred Spirit, we were greeted by a warm and cosy house thanks to our wonderful friends who looked after her for us. And boy, I tell you, it was great to be back. Even the dog went a bit bonkers at first. A rescue with abandonment issues on top of his abandonment issues, he couldn't believe we were back at our regular old house and just kept running up and down the corridors and stairs. I do like living on a boat, honestly, but nothing beats your own bed and a good central heating system.
Oh, and just to mention, to get to France, we took the ferry as usual, but chose a dog friendly cabin for the first time. Although he was not over the moon about needing to be muzzled on the short walk to our cabin, Rusty loved it. He does not mind the car either, but certainly for overnights I'll be keeping my eyes out for these in the future. Brittany Ferries even gave us a little doggy-goodie bag with a collapsible wateterbowl, treats, poobags and a rope toy in it. What's not to like.
I repeat: DO NOT LET IT SET IN.
We, James, Rusty and I, travelled home for the holidays. Chez Nous in Mazamet that is. Where, after a few variably chilly months in the good old West Riding Kindred Spirit, we were greeted by a warm and cosy house thanks to our wonderful friends who looked after her for us. And boy, I tell you, it was great to be back. Even the dog went a bit bonkers at first. A rescue with abandonment issues on top of his abandonment issues, he couldn't believe we were back at our regular old house and just kept running up and down the corridors and stairs. I do like living on a boat, honestly, but nothing beats your own bed and a good central heating system.
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| Sleepy Rusty settling in for his first cruise in a cabin. |
Oh, and just to mention, to get to France, we took the ferry as usual, but chose a dog friendly cabin for the first time. Although he was not over the moon about needing to be muzzled on the short walk to our cabin, Rusty loved it. He does not mind the car either, but certainly for overnights I'll be keeping my eyes out for these in the future. Brittany Ferries even gave us a little doggy-goodie bag with a collapsible wateterbowl, treats, poobags and a rope toy in it. What's not to like.
To our mutual surprise, the roof over our kitchen had only leaked a little bit. Sounds very damning when you say it like that, but the alternative would have been a lot and I was incredibly happy the situation had not gone worse. Due to dismal weather right before we left for UK in October we did not have an opportunity to set things right beforehand, but that roof was going to get it this time. James had already purchased some felting so all we needed to do was to wait for the rain to stop to get cracking.
I never put down felt on a roof before, but it turned out to be easy as pie. Good thing, as we quickly realised the damaged part of roof with an array of ancient terracotta tiles was not going to take the weight of a grown man and pretty much all of the grunt fell on my shoulders. The damaged area was roughly five meters times two meters in size and from start to finish it took me five to six hours to remove and relay the existing old tiles plus a few spanking new replacements. Laying down the felt once the tiles were removed was not too bad, but clearing the thick layer of rubble that used to sit under the terracotta turned out to be a real time killer. If we didn't know this part of roof is to be ripped out, raised and replaced in a few years time, I would have replaced all of the woodwork as well, but in these circumstances that would have been a bit wasteful. So, I merely replaced a few completely rotted planks and blocked a hole or two before covering it all with felt and tiles.
Out of sight, out of mind, they say.
And rock me sideways, there have been no leaks since and the only damaged party turned out to be James' ego after he was told off for running errands and letting his wife work like a man. There will be no photos of this expedition as I did not want my dad ever to come across pictorial evidence of me dangling on roof without safety gear. *
*Please for the love of God - always were the appropriate safety gear. Do not do as I do, do as I say.
But what I did manage to photograph was some pretty charming 1920's wallpaper I uncovered while stripping the walls of our lounge. I had seen little slivers of it before, but the steamer allowed me to uncover parts previously hidden by 1940's, 70's and 00's wallpaper, revealing for the first time the complete pattern of this floral art nouveau gem. The results of the strip, if you will, will be revealed later. Not for any other reason that I forgot to snap a few photos. Dang, there creeps the existential dread again..
I never put down felt on a roof before, but it turned out to be easy as pie. Good thing, as we quickly realised the damaged part of roof with an array of ancient terracotta tiles was not going to take the weight of a grown man and pretty much all of the grunt fell on my shoulders. The damaged area was roughly five meters times two meters in size and from start to finish it took me five to six hours to remove and relay the existing old tiles plus a few spanking new replacements. Laying down the felt once the tiles were removed was not too bad, but clearing the thick layer of rubble that used to sit under the terracotta turned out to be a real time killer. If we didn't know this part of roof is to be ripped out, raised and replaced in a few years time, I would have replaced all of the woodwork as well, but in these circumstances that would have been a bit wasteful. So, I merely replaced a few completely rotted planks and blocked a hole or two before covering it all with felt and tiles.
Out of sight, out of mind, they say.
And rock me sideways, there have been no leaks since and the only damaged party turned out to be James' ego after he was told off for running errands and letting his wife work like a man. There will be no photos of this expedition as I did not want my dad ever to come across pictorial evidence of me dangling on roof without safety gear. *
*Please for the love of God - always were the appropriate safety gear. Do not do as I do, do as I say.
But what I did manage to photograph was some pretty charming 1920's wallpaper I uncovered while stripping the walls of our lounge. I had seen little slivers of it before, but the steamer allowed me to uncover parts previously hidden by 1940's, 70's and 00's wallpaper, revealing for the first time the complete pattern of this floral art nouveau gem. The results of the strip, if you will, will be revealed later. Not for any other reason that I forgot to snap a few photos. Dang, there creeps the existential dread again..
DO NOT LET IT SET IN!
Decorating what is basically a building site for the holidays could be challenging. We got a lovely little tree, (still in its pot and currently in our garden waiting for next Christmas) that immediately made everything look festive and James drove me to the mountains to nick few bits of evergreen to dump on the mantelpieces. And it looked great, even if I say so myself. We even got ourselves a little piece of mistletoe from the Mazamet market. I put fairylights on everything and let me tell you, you could make Draculas grave look cosy with that stuff.
Perhaps it is because we are both blind to it already, James and I don't mind the cracked plaster nor the half stripped wallpaper anymore. It is our home regardless. Even if our budget for this renovation was bottomless, I think we would still prefer to take things easy, live in our house and make the decisions regarding future finished and layout when it feels right rather than as soon as possible. It would be so easy to fall into the same trap with the previous owners of our house and try to keep the ageing building liveable by cheap cosmetic fixes like wallpapering on top of damp or covering up tiles in vinyl rather than taking care of them.
We have been privileged to call the N°21 our home for over a year now and it's been tough at times. The little time we had to spend in Mazamet during the holidays wasn't nearly enough and every bit of me just wants to go back home. To my own bed, my central heating and my bath. Yet I recognise time spent away is temporary and necessary, for me and James to be together a bit more, but also to raise enough capital to afford the next face of our renovation - and that will be something to look forward to.
Stay tuned and remember, DO NOT LET THE EXISTENTIAL DREAD SET IN.
DON'T LET IT SET IN.
Perhaps it is because we are both blind to it already, James and I don't mind the cracked plaster nor the half stripped wallpaper anymore. It is our home regardless. Even if our budget for this renovation was bottomless, I think we would still prefer to take things easy, live in our house and make the decisions regarding future finished and layout when it feels right rather than as soon as possible. It would be so easy to fall into the same trap with the previous owners of our house and try to keep the ageing building liveable by cheap cosmetic fixes like wallpapering on top of damp or covering up tiles in vinyl rather than taking care of them.
We have been privileged to call the N°21 our home for over a year now and it's been tough at times. The little time we had to spend in Mazamet during the holidays wasn't nearly enough and every bit of me just wants to go back home. To my own bed, my central heating and my bath. Yet I recognise time spent away is temporary and necessary, for me and James to be together a bit more, but also to raise enough capital to afford the next face of our renovation - and that will be something to look forward to.
Stay tuned and remember, DO NOT LET THE EXISTENTIAL DREAD SET IN.
DON'T LET IT SET IN.
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