The tradesmen here have a different system. When they quote for doing work, they include the supply of fittings as well. For example, the plumber expects to supply the toilet, bathroom basin, taps and so on. The electrician will supply the sockets, fusebox, air-conditioning unit and so on. But not only that, they expect to supply the light fittings, heaters and more. If they don't supply, they don't give a guarantee on the unit. Ok, that's fine. But what about the price?
We found our way to the offices of our electrician and plumber on Monday afternoon to look at their catalogues and supposedly choose the fittings we want. No way. Their prices are roughly 2-3 times what you can buy something for in the big Mitre10-type shops in Perpignan. And they then add 10% tax on top of that. Not to be screwed over big-time, John and I set off for Perpignan yesterday, and we spent eight gruelling hours checking out kitchens, bathroom and toilet fittings, tiles, handles and a whole bunch of other stuff. We came home stuffed at 6:30pm, with a bargain toilet in the boot of the car and a few other odds and sods. After many hours of searching prices on the internet, we have compiled a list of fittings we will buy ourselves and then get the sparky and plumber to install. They won't be happy but c'est la vie. Granted some of the fittings we have chosen aren't over-the-top quality, but 'internet-direct' deals in particular are hugely cheaper than buying either from a store or a tradesman. For example we have bought another Brandt induction hob online exactly the same as we used in Place de l'Eglise, for €257 versus a standard price of €499 (still very cheap by New Zealand standards).
After a long day in the field yesterday John had to stay up late doing some paid work and I tidied the place up. I have to start compiling a database of our expenses so we can keep track of all our costs.
This morning we had our third French lesson with our friendly English teacher. She gives us homework each time, and always dedicates a bit of time to tell us some history about Céret. We are working our way up through the centuries. Today we found out that women property owners were able to vote in local elections in Céret in the 14th century! This right was later lost and not recovered until 1945.
Head-down, bum-up computer work today until mid-afternoon when we hope to do some more de-plastering. Did I say in the last blog that we were unsure when the builder might turn up this week given Thursday is again a holiday. Yeah, right. No show as of today (Wednesday) and given tomorrow is a holiday, the chances of the workmen arriving on Friday is probably less than slim. There goes a whole week's work on the house, though we know he was having to wait until Monday or Tuesday for his last mezzanine beam to arrive. We're not too fazed. It will happen in good French time.
As I write this today (Friday pm) my hands have got a bit of the shakes. Yep, another big day of digging out plaster and similar self-inflicted torture. All great fun (still) but a hard slog I must admit. We just about finished digging around the stones on Wednesday afternoon and this afternoon John just about finished scrubbing all the stones while I set to with hammer and chisel and knocked off heaps of plaster and tiles where the wall protruded too far out into the room. We reckon we have gained another 5cm depth in the bathroom, toilet and kitchen by doing so. Only one damaged digit this time (very angry looking thumb) but it was worth it. Took ages to gather all the debris into one pile (to try and make it look smaller for when the builder sees it) and sweep up the oceans of dust. We don't have too much more work to do on the wall now, so will soon be able to start turning out attention to sanding the shutters and windows. The joys in store .........
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| One pile of debris and one vaguely straight wall with most of the 'fat' sections knocked off it. |
Home to sluice down at 6.30pm and promptly down to our local equivalent of a NZ Four Square where we stocked up on ice-cream and a box of trumpets. That's dinner! Too weary to do anything else. Last night we went out with English friends and had a very pleasant meal and evening. It was only our second meal out so I guess we are doing our usual trick - not getting out enough and experiencing local cuisine. However, we do really enjoy it when we do venture forth, and in the meantime are having our share of simple but very tasty bread/cheese/saucisson etc meals.
In 'downtime', John has plenty of work on which he is struggling to keep up-to-date with and while he's doing that I'm working on John's father's diary. My deadline to get it to the publisher is probably about July but I would love to get it sent off by mid-June, which is when Alastair will be coming to spend a week or so with us.
