This is more like it.............

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Well, I have to say that I am now staying in the best place so far. The house is absolutely gorgeous. The guys who own it are very nice. And they only have a small dog, which is quite cute, and 1 cat. The house is literally on the banks of the river Charente, which runs through some of the most beautiful villages in France. I am being fed very well, and worked very hard. I think for the first time in a very long time I am burning more carbs than I am eating!!

But I have had some fun as well. I arrived here last Tuesday evening, and started work on wednesday morning. the first job was to clear out a couple of rooms in an outbuilding where the roof had fallen in, littering the floors with old oak beams, big stones from the dry built wall, and loads of tiles - and lots of dirt from years of lying there untouched. So, unperturbed by stories of snakes and rats living amongst the rubble, I set about clearing it out. First job was getting all the wood out, and putting it in a pile ready for a bonfire. Then came taking many barrow loads of dirt, mixed with bits of stone, tiles, and even old shoes, whisky bottles, and anti depressant tablets (!!!) to the river bank to help shore it up against future flooding, and then seperating the stone from the tiles. This took two days - wednesday and thursday.

Then came Friday, which was boys fun day!!! First off i had a massive bonfire, burning all the wood and saplings from within the rooms, and then when that had died down, I spent 2 hours smashing roof tiles in preperation for them being used as hard core in a concrete floor!!! Great fun - fire and smashing things up all in one day!!!

The weekend came, and I was exhausted after 3 days of solid manual labour. So I took myself off to the nearest city - Angouleme - for the day. The weather was fantastic - sunny and 30 degrees!!! - so I sat outside a coffee bar with a coffee and a cake and soaked up some rays. After wandering around the town for a couple of hours I went swimming at the local sports centre. Then back home for dinner and an early night. Sunday was spent entirely on web work, which was very fruitful.

Today - Monday - I spent most of the morning clearing part of the river bed, which is currently almost dry, of brambles, nettles, saplings, and old tyres and broken bottles. This is in an effort to stop it flooding too much later on in the year and preventing potential law suits from neighbours if their houses flood as a result of the river being blocked. Then i spent an hour smashing more tiles!!

Anyway, enough chit chat i think. here are a few photos of the new place for your delictation and delight! TTFN

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