Fine sunny morning. Finished off the exams at hand and sent results to Monash. Irene and John brought Moet Chandon back across to our side of the canal, but had some difficulties with the breeze and water flow. We helped Irene bring her into the dock. Found out that a local had made an offer to buy their house, and asked them to “name their own price”. Hard to knock back such an offer!

Went up to the house to continue painting, and Rita called the plumber whose name we got from the next-door neighbour. He came round within 2 hours to check what we needed doing (never had such prompt service from a plumber before). He checked the furnace in the basement, and said that while it is quite old, it is a very good brand. He suggested that he give it a good cleaning and bring it up to the Compliance standards, and then we can see how it works and whether we want to keep it or get a more modern furnace. He said he would be away on holidays with his family for 2 weeks, but could do the work when he returned in late July. He also had a look at the radiators that we need to disconnect and move away from the walls to do the painting. He asked how quickly we needed them moved and, when we gave an unclear answer, he assumed we needed it done urgently and said he could come around early next week before he went on holiday. Amazed at the responsiveness! So we told him that late-July would be fine for everything and made an appointment. He gave us a quote which seemed to us to be very cheap. Maybe the economic conditions in France are forcing tradies to be responsive and inexpensive – we hope so! Maybe he can be the one to give Nico a hand when it comes time to installing the en-suites in the 3rd and 4th bedrooms on the first floor.

Rita asked if he knew anyone who does house painting, and he gave us a contact. We are thinking that perhaps we can get the house painted without spending all our time over here doing it ourselves. In fact, maybe a professional painter can get trade discounts on the paint, which would largely compensate for the cost of employing the painter (as happened when Iain bought the generator battery for us last week).