In our garden is a hangar, soon to be a garage with photovoltaic panels on its roof (to sell electricity to the grid),  but before we can have the panels installed, we need to increase the slope of the roof to 25% so that the panels will capture as much sunlight as possible and build a front wall with garage doors in it. The roof is currently made of asbestos, so it needs disposing of safely and legally. I read on a website that all the tips in France will accept asbestos one day a month and that the mairie (town hall) can tell you when that day is, so we went to the mairie in Nogaro, where a very helpful lady suggested we ask at the tip. We went to the tip, but they knew nothing of the scheme. Back at the mairie, the same helpful lady made a few phone calls and eventually gave us the number of someone to call, who gave us the number of the manager of the tip geared up to accept this sort of stuff in this area. Success!

I rang the man at the tip, who explained that we’d need  “les big bags”, which he could supply; so this morning Nick and Kieran went to get the bags as well as disposable boiler suits, masks, and gloves. At 32ºC in the shade, it wasn’t an ideal day for working on a roof in extra clothing, but they’re brave souls and by this afternoon the roof was down and bagged and one load  already taken to the tip. The rest will go in the morning.