As France kicks off ...again

so, life is being made difficult at the moment. France has a very large book called Loi de travaille, it is red and was started by the cause of most of the problems..Napoleon! It protects the employee and has been greatly added to over the decades. The government has decided it needs reforming but did not ask the opinion of the people. So we are now suffering lots of strikes. The law cripples small business and prevents competition. For example a doctor cannot advertise he speaks English! A supermarket cannot sell paracetamol as it would compete with pharmacies. There are many things like this.
The refineries were being blockaded so it has been difficult to get fuel. The police broke the blockade yesterday so now the refinery workers are on strike. There is virtually no diesel available and petrol is limited to €20. We are not allowed to fill up jerry cans so cannot use our petrol lawn mower. We are having to limit using the car.
Tomorrow we start power cuts and ferries, trains and planes are on strike too. It does not make me love living here!
We are doing well with getting the spare room done and I am winning with the veg patch. It is all hard work and my energy levels are not what they used to be!
Tomorrow our daughter and husband will set up as auto entrepreneurs. This will give them access to the French health care system and make them resident here. They are nervous about this which I understand as it is a big commitment. They are detremined to make living here work.
Meanwhile I am feeling very down and thinking more often I want to go back to the UK. I am hoping this is just a phase that I will get over as it is getting harder to hide how I feel.

Progress report on the chicks

So here they are. Feathers are growing fast now. Today I have taken away the heat lamp as they have enough feathers to keep them warm. I will cover the cage at night to keep them warm. If they are ok and the weather stays warm I will put the cage in the chicken barn. This gives them a chance to get used to the others birds and gore others to accept the chicks. There is always a bit of a fight in the early days as the pecking order is sorted but they eventually all settle down. The plan is that any cockerels will go in the freezer once big enough. As you know saying it and doing it are two different things.
It has been a difficult week. A man took a photo of me talking to a French friend. I was speaking in French. We challenge him as it is wrong to take a photo without permission. He said he was a politician with Le Front Nationale and he wanted the photo for his campaign to get people like me out of France. This upset me very much. What more can I do? I pay tax here and speak the language when needed. This has led to me feeling once more desperate to go back to the UK. I do not like being a foreigner. All our money is in this property which would have to be sold. Family are trying to calm me down and I hope to get over this latest crisis.
I have started renovating an old bed. It has a wooden frame and padded head and foot boards. I am planning to paint the frame and recover the head and foot. It is taking me ages to remove the old upholstery tacks. I will put up a photo of the finished bed.
Hubby is away in England for the footie! He managed to get a cup final ticket. Not a good time for me to be on my own!

Lots to do as always

For some reason I cannot load a picture today.
The back of our roof is coming on well and is nearly stripped. It means we just have roofing felt and battening between us and the weather. This has meant a few leaks one of which occurred over our bed! I keep being told you cannot make an omlette without breaking eggs but this does not really help me. There are a lot of patches where plaster has fallen off up stairs due to the hammering. At least today lots of the old tiles that were scattered over the back garden have been removed. It will be much harder when the front is done as the mess will be visible. Also the dogs like to be out the front which will not be possible with the tiles being thrown down! I will be very pleased when the job is done.
The spare room is coming on well. The new wall is built along with the cupboard. Just the filling to finish then I can paint and stain the beams. We found a beautiful old bed that I will need to upholster. The frame needs a new coat of paint so I have decided to shabby chic it. I need to get some chalk paint to do this. I have ordered fabric from eBay to do the re upholstery and make the curtains. It will all be pale blue and white.
I have started sorting out the paths between the veg beds. I have squirted white vinegar over the weeds, put down cardboard then scalpings on top. I hope this will control the weeds. I have done two sections and have quite a bit more to do. I will not use any chemicals due to the bees arriving soon.
The chicks are much bigger and all have lots of feathers now. Another couple of weeks and they can go out. They all look very healthy. Broody hen has lost several eggs I think due to the rat problem we have in the chicken barn. We have caught several but they live in the walls. I tried taking Frank into the barn but he did not really know what to do.
The sunshine helps to improve life here, I love being able to get into the garden most days. I think this will be a good year for fruit.

The roof work begins

So, Monday saw the start of re roofing our house. This is how it looked yesterday. The capping tiles are off as are many of the clay tiles. Our builder is sorting out the dips in the roof as he goes. He is fixing chunks of wood to the buckled beams. Our roof will never be totally straight as we cannot afford to have the roof beams replaced. The mess inside has been bad enough doing it this way!
The mice have been evicted at last and this is the first time the roof has had felt!
We will be having grey slate for our new roof to match the Gite barn.
I am looking forward to the pallets of slates arriving and daughter and I plan to turn them into planters. By lining them with black plastic and painting the wood they will look great planted out. It will put more flowers into our garden for our bees.
Lots of clearance work is going on too and it is so lovely to see a garden emerging. It will never be a fancy garden but we can now see across the fields on all sides.
We have friends of daughter and sil staying for nearly two weeks. We have given them use of the Gite    in return for help. They have worked really hard the first two days. It is great to have help like this. It makes sense given we have so few bookings this year.
I am hoping that once the referendum is over more bookings will come in.
Lots of work as always but it feels good to be moving forward.

Six slightly bigger chicks

They are all doing really well. Full of life and great fun to watch. They are starting to grow wing feathers now at only three days old. I am having to clean them out three times a day now. I am very tempted to put some duck eggs in the incubator but I am the only one here who wants to have ducks. I will not be beaten down on this, they are staying. The ducks have a new pile of eggs in their house so maybe one of the girls will sit now the weather has warmed up.
We took the dogs for a woodland walk this afternoon, it did us all good! Little Frank hates going in the car but enjoys the walk. Bruno loves car rides and will jump in the back as soon as the door is opened without being told.
Tomorrow I hope work will start on the roof. It will improve the look of our house and will make us warmer next winter. We currently have no roofing felt or insulation under the tiles.
Bit weird today, it is a bank holiday here...international labour day. Most places are shut on Sunday's anyway!
Today is the first evening we have not lit the wood burner. Hope this warmer weather is here to stay.