Anyone who reads my posts regularly will be familiar with the problems we’ve had with the company who installed our photovoltaic panels. The workmanship was fine, the problem was the paperwork; they seemed incapable of filling in the necessary forms correctly, so, nearly two years down the line, we’re still not connected to the grid.

For the last 5 months they had refused to reply to my phone calls, emails or even letters sent recorded delivery, so in the end, we went to see the huissier (translates as bailiff). As we live in the Gers and our complaint was against a company in the Landes, he couldn’t do anything directly, but sent a colleague from the Landes to see them, to give them an ultimatum to get this sorted out. As if by magic, a few weeks later, the necessary paper arrived from the Consuel, making an appointment to inspect the work.

I phoned the company to let them know, as they had to be here too. The huissier had obviously put the fear of God into them; they made gushing apologies for the delay, alongside excuses as to why it had taken so long; “It’s always slow in the Gers……..they sent us the wrong forms……we phoned the Consuel all the time, but they wouldn’t tell us what the problem was……” Strange; the lady at the Consuel told me they had heard nothing from them since September.

Still, the inspector came this morning and the work passed muster. He will send the company a form, which they send to EDF, who then come and hook us up to the grid. Nobody knows how long that will take, but we seem to be heading in the right direction at last.

Les gens qui lisent mon blog régulièrement  connaissent  les problèmes que nous avons eus avec les installateurs nos panneaux photovoltaïques. Le travail était bien fait, le problème était les papiers; ils semblaient incapables de remplir les formulaires nécessaires correctement, donc, presque deux ans plus tard, nous ne sommes toujours pas raccordés au réseau.

As our St. Patrick’s night gig neared, things just seemed to go from bad to worse. First Nellie, then me, followed by Alain and Yvonick, all went down with a virus that left us thin and weak.

Nine days to go and we had to cancel our rehearsal. One week to go; we had to cancel a small gig in a local bar as only Jacques and Hervé were well enough to go. Two days to go; only four of us able to go to rehearsal. One day to go; our sound man had to fly back to England due to a family bereavement. Saturday arrived and Hervé succumbed to the virus.

My plans for making the dessert were long dead; there was no way I was well enough, so a crumble was ordered from the caterer and I was told to rest and conserve my strength.

Nick met Jacques at the salle des fetes on Saturday afternoon. The room had been transformed by the teams of volunteers from the walking club; balloons, garlands, bunting, all in orange, white and green, adorned the room and the tables were set with orange and green serviettes and table runners.

Fortunately, Jacques has some idea of how to use a mixing desk, as we unwrapped our shiny new purchase and plugged in mikes, monitors and speakers. Nick and Jacques set up the new system, labelling each entry with the name of the person and/or instrument it was for, methodically from left to right, to make it more intuitive to use.

7pm The sound system was working and Nick felt he had some idea of how to use it, the basics, at least. Everybody but Hervé was there, including Yvonick, who’s very adaptable and was able to play Hervé’s percussion where necessary. The room was filling with people, friends from the walking and cycling clubs and from the village, as well as lots of people I didn’t know. There were lovely smells drifting from the kitchen. At last we were able to relax and begin to believe it would be alright.

1am We finished playing, packed up and went home, content that the evening had been a success. The food was excellent, the ambiance great and even if Nellie and I felt our voices weren’t quite up to scratch, nobody seemed to mind. I think everyone who went enjoyed the evening.

With just eight days to go till our big gig, which must be the raison d’etre of Irish bands the world over, our St. Patrick’s day bash, things are moving on apace. All the tickets are now sold, food is ordered, Guinness is bought and the band is rehearsing hard – well, we should be. The reality is, however, that Nellie has a virus and can hardly leave her bed, Alain has flu (the man variety, I hope) and I have bronchitis and a voice more reminiscient of Elkie Brooks’ than my own. We’ve now bought our own shiny, new mixing desk, which Ade is going to teach Nick to operate; I’m just hoping that we all recover in time to put it to good use!

Il ne reste que huit jours jusqu’à notre grand concert, qui doit être la raison d’être des groupes irlandais dans le monde entier,  notre fete de Saint-Patrick, les choses évoluent à grands pas. Tous les billets sont vendus, la nourriture est commandé, Guinness est acheté et le groupe est en train de répéter dur – eh bien, nous devrions repeter dur. La réalité est cependant que Nellie a un virus et ne peut guère quitter son lit, Alain a la grippe (l’homme variété, je l’espère) et j’ai une bronchite et une voix plus reminiscient de celle de Elkie Brooks que la mienne. Nous avons recemment acheté notre propre table de mixage, et Ade va enseigner à Nick comment l’employer; je espère simplement que nous aurons tous rétabli  pour le mettre à bon usage!

It took us ages to find floor tiles we liked; neutral but interesting, non slippery and a mix of sizes so the design can look random. At last we found what we wanted and they’ve sat in the carport Perth for months now, till the plasterboard joint filling was finished.

It takes1 big tile, 2 medium and 3 small to make up the design, an interlocking L-shape, and there are numerous ways of arranging the tiles within that pattern; so Nick drew out all the possibilities and is working with his templates.

The weather’s miserable at the moment, there’s no incentive to do anything outdoors, so Nick’s making amazing progress; he’s finished the spare room and partly done the hall. It looks great.