Back on board... to install a kitchen?

You cannot blame a woman for wanting to return "home"! They say home is where your wardrobe is.........that is certainly true. On arrival in Geneva we stopped in at Jon and Niki Low for a coffee and the rented car brought us to the barge where we were warmly welcomed by Michael and Rosemary Wray with a cold beer and a lovely curry dinner that evening.

I haven't mentioned that the we I was talking about is that Carl, Attie's brother from Cape Town who joined us for a month to assist Attie in finishing some of the important jobs on the barge.

Now where do we start???

Balloons taking off at Pont de Vaux

I am happy to report that Attie and I now actually sleep on a proper bed and shelving has been installed which is looking just beautiful. They have also done the flooring in the main bedroom, passage and guest room. Carl built two single beds in the guest room. Now at least we can have people over and they can be comfortable. But oh my the dust!!!!!!!!!! They will hopefully finish all of that soon, then I can get cracking with the painting. The ultimate of Carl's visit was the installation of the new kitchen, or should we more nautically say "galley". Carl and Attie went to Ikea in Lyon in a rented truck to pick up the chosen cupboards, gas hob and worktop and started installing it during the week of Carl's departure.

I have actually been out of the whole working scenario. I was all keen to give the cabin another coat of paint and then start on the deck painting and the anchor winch, but when the temperature outside rose to 38 degrees I decided that I refuse to expose myself to such torture, so now I am mainly the chief cook and bottle washer. A woman must know her place in life and shrivelling up in the heat outside is not that place. This morning I thought ah a lovely cool and overcast day, perfect for painting and then it started to rain. I think when the men have done their chores I will ask Attie to steer us to a shady canal where I can paint to my heart's content.

Tired working attire

Painting the new wardrobe

I hear all kinds of whispers that some family and friends are planning to visit us, but I will not say a word until I actually receive arrival dates. We are planning to cruise up the Canal du Centre and Canal de Nivernais once the main outstanding bits of work have been completed. Watch this space.

Our direct neighbours are a very friendly French couple, Cecile and Ludo. Cecile speaks a bit of English and we invited them over for dinner the other evening and they have reciprocated the evening before Carl's departure. Both evenings were very interesting with our limited French and their limited English but both evenings turned out very relaxed and enjoyable, with much translation and fun in the process! They have been kind enough to ignore the dust, construction noise and the mess, all she said about it is " a poof, ze men are working and it's going to look very nice"!

Neighbour Cecile Bobi

Feeling a little annoyed today. New neighbours arrived on their fancy boat last night and I saw the guy this morning shooting at poor ducks with his catapult, "kettie". I would love to do something about that but what? I will have a word with my new French friend and we can maybe make a plan. Disgusting behaviour! Another guy got into his dingy, rowed to the side of the marina and started attacking frogs with a pole! What is wrong with these people!

Something funny........we've been sleeping on the floor for a very long time and so Attie built us a bed. OK this bed is higher than the normal standard beds as the space underneath is designed for storage. After he finished the bed what a joy it was not sleeping on the mattress on the floor that night! I had become quite used to manoeuvring myself up into a standing position on the bed in the rather cramped cabin and then walking over the two mattresses into the passage. The morning after sleeping in the bed I did the same and first banged my head on the ceiling, gave one step and stepped off this high bed! It was only a stroke of luck that my right knee broke the fall by bending and supported my body on the bed. I could have seriously hurt myself and I could hear Carl laughing as if he was waiting for this to happen. I am not a good morning person nor alert first thing in the mornings.

The first 28 days back on the barge have been a pleasure albeit committed to work and what goes with it. It is also disappointing that we were not able to do some cruising due to some necessary work on the engine that was delayed by the local Mercedes distributor not being able to find the right part based on the specifications I supplied of our engine. The correct part arrived from Germany the day before Carl left. We were trying to get the main construction of the kitchen done before he was due to leave us. He and his wife Madeleine will simply have to come back again to enjoy some cruising with us!

The registered OM621 engine turns out to be something different

The hardware store, or "bricolage" is about 3 kms away from the marina and up a rather steep hill. Carl and I have now done the trip a number of times and have carted all kinds of large items either in rented or friend's cars or hilariously on the bikes back down the hill to the boat, I am sure, to much amusement of the locals in the town square which we have to traverse upon our return.

Trusty steeds

We have completed most of the outstanding and intended construction work in Linquenda. Between Carl and I we built beds in both the main and guest cabins, cupboards and shelves in both areas, installed oak flooring in the cabins and gangway and laminate flooring in the bathroom. We then tackled the salon and kitchen/dining area, preparing it for the new kitchen. I was worried about the sagging of some of the existing ceiling and how we would be able to install matching new ceilings in the new kitchen as we had not been able to find the same profiles in Zaandam. I had purchased in Zaandam a very nifty and expensive gadget for finding metal and electrical fittings in walls and it really came to the party by showing us where the ceiling supports were in the existing ceiling and we were able to refit all the sagging bits to the supports and we were able to find some pine tongue and groove ceiling at the local bricolage that matches the existing quite well. I am very pleased with the result which now only requires a good paint job.

New wardrobe in passage

Guest bedroom cum study

                                                    

After some further dismantling by Carl of some existing and protruding shelving where the new kitchen units were to be placed we were ready to start the process of assembling the kitchen. What an eye-opening pleasure it was to both seeing the simplicity and good engineering of the construction and to see the end result come together better than we could have imagined it!

Both Carl and I marvelled at the ingenuity and thoughtfulness of the engineering that has gone into Ikea kitchen units. The pictogram assembly instructions are very clear and all the items required for fitment are supplied. The quality of the units is impeccable and drawers have quiet-close fittings which are a dream.

Kitchen units arriving on deck

Bags full of necesities arriving from Ikea

We have had a number of lovely visits by and with friends. Gerda van Dijk came to visit us before a meeting in Geneva and stayed over at a local hotel for Saturday night. She kindly brought me the balance of medication I needed from Pretoria. Heidi Hadsell accompanied by her architect friend Kirstin, came up from St Hilaire where they were planning the refurbishment of the two hundred year old house Heidi has bought there. We met them in Macon where we watched the start of the Macon stage of the Tour de France on 11 July. They also spent the night in a hotel in Pont de Vaux. Michael and Rosemary Wray came down from St Jean de Losne in their barge and welcomed us in Pont de Vaux with he customary safe arrival drinks and a lovely curry dinner. Niki and Jon Low visited us on two occasions, once with Niki's mom and the next with their daughter Katherine.

Visit to Cluny, heartland of French Catholicism

Funky gargoyle

At Macon with Heidi and Kirstin

 

Young supporter

Imax camera

Gerda's visit coincided with Puce Marche - flee market

Local wildlife visitor

Early morning jewels

                                                       

Successful local angler

Sunday lunch at Auberge d'Ecluse Branges

Lunch in Cluny with Rosemary and Michael

Louhans

2CVs on Sunday breakfast run

Carls' departure back to Geneva airport with Jon and Katherine and then on to Cape Town was a tearful event and we both miss him dearly, not only for the enormous efforts he put into the refurbishment, but his good company and positive spirit. We really got to know one another as adults and the experience was very rewarding. Thanks Carl!