Well tha car is sorted with a shiny new windscreen and new plates. Here in France everytime you move to a different département - like a county - you have to change your number plates. We had ones ending in 24 as we bought it in the Dordogne, which is denoted by the number 24 and here we are in 66, the Pyrenees-Orientales. So we are officially 66ers now. Of-course this system is a real pain, and hopefully they will be changing the system next year where the car has one number for life - much more sensible, in my humble opinion.

We spent the weekend quite quietly - we didn't dare go out for the hoards of kids that are around at the moment. I was painting the windows, so I was on the street, as it were. This was rather nice as practically everyone who went past stopped for a chat, and as a consequence got little done, and the paint kept getting dry on the brush! So many people trying to come to the restaurant! Grrrrrrr. There was a race in town on Sunday where runners carrying 8kg weights run up to the top of the Canigou - the religious mountain which we are at the foot of. This commemorates a custom from the days before refrigeration had been invented when runners used to whizz up the Canigou for ice and the fastest one down would sell the most. I guess they were rich in those days and labour was cheap. Anyway some of the runners were popping by to eat. They have an early start - 5.45am! Ugh. Sunday we loafed around on the sundeck. It is so hot everything radiates heat.

However, Monday dawns and not only the builder turns up, but the kitchen people as well, with the shiny new (€4000!) extractor. They want to fit the motor before the walls go up upstairs, as it will go on top of the kitchen ceiling. Our builder seems to have lost a bundh of weight since we last saw him - and he didn't have much padding then! When I commented on it, he said that he had had a liver problem and was having tests, but that he felt much better but that he had lost 5 kg. Being French, of-course, he is taking artichoke extract for it. He doesn't eat lunch, but works right through, and says he is only eating vegetables right now, trying to get better. Of-course he is a single bloke and eats mainly pizza - and I'm not making it up, I asked him! I have tried to offer some nutritional advice - a guy working in heavy labour needs more than veg, after all. I even offered to cook him lunch. Free!!! But he won't have it. I feel that he's going to make himself really ill if he isn't careful. He even has that grey pallour - and he is a relatively young guy, he should look pink and healthy. But what can you do? Oh yes, and he seems to have lost his helper, as well. He just hasn't turned up, so Dave is helping where he can.

So I vacated yesterday and left all the boys to get on with it and went shopping. Whilst I was out there was a huge storm. Not surprising, really, it is so hot, it had to break. Dave said that he had never seen rain fall with such force - and as a result, it was coming in everywhere - even in the house, we had a big leak right over the printer on the mezzanine. In the restaurant it was coming in. The roof hasn't leaked since Dave went up there the last time and sorted the tiles out. They seem to move. So we were back on the roof today ( well, Dave was, and I was watching) and we'll see in the next rain if it holds. Damn!

Still, things are really taking shape now, the two extractors are up and piped in. The new extractor is hardly noticable, actually. They've fixed it to the ceiling and so it is quite high, and it isn't as bulky as the old ones - they seem to make much narrower hoods nowadays. Also, although the plasterboards haven't gone up (waiting for the electrics to be done), the frame is up and insulation in for the new walls upstairs, so we can get a real sense of what the new toilet and storage area will be like. I am happy to report that I am extremely pleased with how it is turning out - it's all very well seeing it on a plan, but it's quite different, often, when actually in place. However, the toilet feels more spacious than I thought it would, and there will be more space than I had imagined in the storage area. It's going to look great! Here are some pics:

Complete with welcome puss!Mezzanine with the bones going up

J-P fitting the motor  New doors in

small extractor in the washing-up area Shiny new extractor - most of the stainless steel is covered in white plastic.

And last but not least, our hero...