Well all of last week both the electricians and the builder were here. We are fairly sick of the mess that the electricians make. Poor Dave has spent ages making the walls all nice and smooth and they keep digging channels in it. Still, nothing to be done, I suppose. The poor malnourished builder seems to have lost his assistant permanently - I'm so frustrated, all I want to do is cook him a good meal! But all he wants to do is eat vegetables and drink artichoke extract. None of my business, at the end of the day.

 We went shopping for a few bits in Perpi on Thurs and went into the centre for the evening. Apparently during July and August, they have music, dancing and street theatre on the streets of Perpignan, so we went to check it out. I thought it may be difficult and expensive to park in the centre - but we got into a multi-storey right in the middle of the action, and it only cost us €1.50 for the whole evening. Very reasonable, I thought. The whole atmosphere was very holiday-like, and like a  big outdoor party.

The canal that runs through the midde of Perpignan

Aperitif time! A typically French looking café on the banks of the canal

We had a tasty chinese -haven't eaten chinese for ages- and then we had to tear ourselves away as we had about a 45 min drive and the pussycats would be wondering what on earth was going on! But it all seemed to be revving up when we came out of the restaurant at about 11pm.

2 friends are coming to stay next week for a couple of days which is exciting - our first guests (family, note!!!), so I am trying to get the spare room organised. We went and bought a new mattress for the spare bed and have got more towels etc. So we are all ready! The husband friend is riding his trail bike in a trial in a ski resort not too far from here. they are friends from the Dordogne, so hopefully they'll have some gossip.

Biggest surprise of all this week was the builder chappie turning up on saturday! He had hired a lifty machiney thingy to lift the plasterboards onto the ceiling, and has got them all up. Good progress! Today he started boarding the walls on the mezzanine as the electricians have finished putting in their cables. I would really like him to finish one part so that we can get in to finish it off, but it'll be done when it is done, I guess.