Up early to get up to the house before 8am to wait for the EDF gas man to come before noon to connect the gas. He arrived around 10.30am and then re-connected the gas, put in a new meter (swapping an older style for their more modern variety) and then tested the gas. He advised me to get a plumber in to look at the stove connections and the furnace downstairs. The stove was only getting a little bit of gas through, while he could not work out how to start the furnace in the basement. But, overall, a successful morning. Especially, since he spoke no English and I speak so little French. He accepted my apology (in google-French, Je suis désolé mais je parle très peu le français) when I opened the door, and then we just got on with it, with hand signs and a few shared phrases. And the 2+ hours I spent waiting for him was useful, as I got a good chance to have a slow look at many of the rooms and think about what might need to be done.

I also spent some time thinking about my wheelhouse dripline problem, and came up with a solution (I hoped). The challenge was to break the surface tension between the rain and the curved edge of the roof. So what I needed was a sharp edge from which the rain had no choice but to drop straight down. So, when I got back to the barge, and in between showers, I put a strip of white plastic tape along the edge of the roof extending below the bottom of the roof edge as shown. I did half of both sides of the wheelhouse and waited for the next shower (which turned out to be a downpour). Voila! Worked liked a charm. On the taped edge, the rain fell straight to the steel deck below. On the untaped edge, it continued to curl in under the dripline and run down the windows and walls. May need to think of a more permanent solution (don't know how long the tape will last in exposed conditions) but at least the principle has been proved. As the Mythbusters would say: "Busted!".

The OzForex money arrived in the Credit Agricole account today, so now we are solvent in France. Rita also received an email from Adeline at CA saying that our Cards were ready to pick up at the bank (which means we can then get our mobile SIMs from SFR). We also need to go to the Water Office at the Mairie to open our water supply account (and try to find out how we turn the water on!). Sounds like next Thursday will be a busy day for us in Moissac.

Rita also phoned the wife of the car seller, and found out they have got the wheel bearing repair done and also got the CT for the Scenic. She will bring the CT to the Capitainerie at 5pm on Friday. She will also leave her French ID card as a guarantee of delivering the car after we make the payment into their account (which I can do by OzForex over the weekend). So, everything seems to be falling into place.

However, the rain over the past week and especially the heavy rain today over the upper reaches of the Tarn may well mean that the Tarn is in flood next week, thus preventing us from gaining access to the river at Montauban with Hilda May. We will need to keep an eye on river levels (www.vigicrues.ecologie.gouv.fr).

Went down to the Sunbeam Cafe for a pizza for dinner, and met Iain who had similar ideas. A group of cyclists passed in the rain, then did a u-turn when they saw the lights on. Came in and asked if they could get something to eat and drink. The proprietor said he would have to ring the chef to see if he could come in, even though he himself was preparing my pizza at the time. As I left, one of the cyclists came up to me and said “How do I get a pizza here?”. I replied “Just smile”, to which she replied “But he never smiles back!”. I wonder whether they ever got their pizzas. I’m still not sure how to take the proprietor; must ask Iain. Back to the barge in the driving rain. Nice pizza!