“Can you phone round a few places to see where flooring grade chipboard is cheapest?”. It doesn’t sound like too hard a job; but I find numbers the hardest bit of the French language and understanding phone conversations in French the hardest type of communication. So it was without a great deal of enthusiasm that I set about my allotted task this morning, asking not just the price, but size, thickness, price per board and per square metre. I also had to learn, as I went along, the vocab for “tongue and grooved” as well as marine, or bathroom quality. So imagine my sense of achievement, an hour later, when I had a list of prices, sizes, thicknesses, etc., for no fewer than eight shops! It also turned out that the one closest to home was only a few centimes more expensive than the cheapest, many miles away.

So this afternoon Nick and Kieran have collected 20 sheets of flooring grade chipboard, to put on yesterday’s beams, to make a ceiling above Nick’s workshop. They have also applied for an account at the builder’s merchants, which will give us extra discount in future.

Next job; a trip to the doctor’s, to get certificates to allow us to join the cycling club.

So no photos today, folks; everything looks just as it did yesterday.