Still not a bank holiday

...and still a good hot August day. Our neighbours say that thunderstorms are on their way later in the week, but who knows? The grass is now looking distinctly parched.

Marcel the menuisier was back at work today, and the barn doors are now finished off properly with the fixed upper portion in place.



The upper part hadn't had a coat of linseed oil when the picture was taken earlier today, but it has now. I am not sure how much of a good idea it is to be at the top of a tall and rickety stepladder with a saucepan of near-boiling oil, but fortunately this time there were no problems. It needs three more coats though, so there's still plenty of time to do something stupid.

We spent the morning putting up more glassfibre wallpaper (on the chipboard ceiling). One more day and it should be done, and it'll be a good thing as it's a really horrid job, prickly fibres all over everything. Then this afternoon off to the tip with a carload of cardboard, formerly protecting the new wood floor. The tip experience here is quite different from Ashford, where large numbers of surly council workers try to make you feel unwelcome and resolutely ignore you if you're trying to shift something heavy. There's just the one man at the Maurs dechetterie, and he shakes your hand when you arrive, helps you unload the rubbish, and compares (favourably) the ability of the Dutch and the English with that of the French when it comes to sorting out the recyclable stuff before they get there. Of course, I've no idea what he says to his French friends about the repeated visits made by the Dutch and the English.

But he wishes you a polite au revoir and bon continuation as if he genuinely hopes to see you again soon.

The cardboard might in principle have gone into a bonfire. We consulted a neighbour about having one. He considered the pros and cons, yes it is a bit dry, you'd have to be careful, make sure the grass doesn't catch - only mentioning at the end that in dry weather like this it is actually interdit. That's presumably a minor consideration round here.