France is still a patriarchal society and I suppose this shows nowhere more than in the building trade. Joel and his lads are quite happy that I regularly take them drinks and cake, and even that I’m consulted on such points as the size and position of windows and doors, the placing of items in the bathroom, etc. But Joel’s face was a picture yesterday when he came in to explain something and found me tiling the arrière cuisine walls; it was a look of total disbelief! Once he’d got over his shock, however, and conceded that, actually, I’m not making a bad job of it, he offered to bring round any extra tiles he’s got left over from jobs he’s done, that would be the right size.

He and the boys finished the brickwork on the chaufferie yesterday; we won’t see them now for a fortnight as Joel’s going to Guadeloupe for a holiday (we must be paying him too much!) When they get back, the next job is to replace the roof; but in the meantime, Nick and Kieran have been left their homework to get on with while he’s away, cementing around windows and doors.

They have spent the last couple of days building a temporary staircase in the new house; a ladder is just too precarious for carrying stuff up and down. Having a staircase seems to transform it from just a building site into something that may, one day, become a home. 😉