Taking a break

Last week seemed to be really frustrating. It seemed as if progress was slow. It seemed as if the satisfaction of daily achievement had been replaced by a feeling of 'what have we done today?'

I'm not sure why this was. I say 'seemed' because, in actuality, a lot of progress was made. Most of the boarding is finished, all the plumbing is in place and just waiting to be tested with water in the pipes (a fairly essential step), the broken glass in the main living room has been replaced and so on. Despite this, somehow last week felt like we were standing still.

The extra porcelain tile order had not come in and the tile shop weren't sure why. My IKEA order for the apartment and studio kitchen looks like it will take longer than I expected to arrive and there is still a discrepancy between my order and their order confirmation to iron out. The false door on the front of the dishwasher fell off because my previously overpaid and useless builders had overtightened the screws on it and mangled the chipboard interior. I spent a large part of every day working on stuff for London, which is fine because it's my job, but is harder to manage when demands are spread over the week for an hour here or there rather than a block of time that I can devote solely to it.

So maybe it was a good time for us all to be taking a break. 'The genius' went back to England last Thursday to spend the bank holiday weekend with his girlfriend - he is back tomorrow. My wife flew down to Bergerac to stay with friends who have a chateau about halfway between Bergerac and Bordeaux - and I drove up to spend the weekend with her and them.

They bought the place four years ago and have transformed what was a house and outbuildings that had seen better days into a fabulous home and also, now, a fantastic holiday location, and they are now letting out the entire house or rooms for most of the year. Their renovation, which included extensive gardens, makes mine look like child's play, but then they had an army of workers, including 'the genius' in his previous role, to help them.

On Saturday evening they invited some English/French friends to dinner - that is English wives with French husbands. It was very interesting and a lot of fun. Both wives spoke fluent French and both husbands spoke very good English and the conversation moved back and forth between the two although mostly it was in English. The two Frenchmen were a contrast in French stereotypes. One, a wine merchant, was reserved, direct to the point of being rude and surly. Something upset him during the dinner conversation, after which he hardly said a word. The other, a lawyer and a confirmed socialist, was interesting, funny, chain smoking and wine drinking and thoroughly charming and entertaining. They could not have been more different and in their respective ways they represented both faces of France - engaging, beguiling and warm on one hand and yet reserved, distant and cold on the other. Needless to say the English wives lived up to expectation by drinking copiously and discussing their husbands intimate details with each other and all and sundry when it suited them - don't you just love them.

It was very, very good to spend some time with my wife away from the usual daily pressures of either Carcassonne or London. I think it was good for us both to be together outside the usual environments and made me realise how long it has been since we had a holiday together. I was especially happy that she decided not to go straight back to London, but returned with me to Carcassonne before we both return to the UK together tomorrow.

Mind you, the frustrations have carried on into the new week. As we came off the autoroute this evening I pulled into Tridome with the objective of ordering the seagrass flooring for the spare room. I was told that they didn't have enough and that they would only re-order when they had sold what they currently had - let's hope there is someone out there who wants a 2m piece of seagrass really soon! - what sort of stock management system is that? - I thought they would order another roll on the basis that I was a confirmed sale of 5.2m worth, but instead I was told to come back in about 15 days! - no wonder this country is falling apart from an economic point of view - like my previous experiences with the Audi service centre, they actively do their best not to make a sale wherever possible.