We slept well and surprisingly awoke at a respectable time (6am). Our first job for the day was to head out to Intermarche in the car and do a stock-up of supplies that we would need for the season. This is always our biggest shopping trip for the year, but it still only came to 250euro (including 60euro for a giant cooking pot, which will be used for large pasta cook-ups for the band). We also filled up with diesel at the new Intermarche fuel station - only 60euro for a full tank which will last for quite a while.

But our big job for the day was bed hunting which we did at BUT in Castelsarrasin. The salesperson was a bit surprised when she asked how many beds we wanted - five queen-size and four singles, please. After recovering from the shock, she was very helpful in guiding us through the options and informing us of the special deals that were available in July. We experimented with some mix&match options for mattresses and bases, and finally settled on what we thought was a good compromise between quality and price. But at the last moment we realised that the power points and light switches had already been installed in the walls at the house, and given that there were three possible double-bed widths (140cm, 160cm and 180cm), we thought we should go and measure the spacings when we inspected the house tonight before committing to the purchase.

At 6pm we headed up to the house for a quick look with Nico and Miyu (after all the workers had knocked off for the day). We were going to walk, but then decided to drive given the changeable weather. On the way we found out that someone else in Quai Antoine Hebrard was also doing some renovations, on an even larger scale than us, and had blocked off the street with a crane that was helping with the roofing works. Given all the one-way streets in the area, it was no mean feat finding an alternative route to the house. But we managed to get there not too late.

Nico was waiting for us and Miyu and Massa arrived not long thereafter, and then we went on the guided tour. I had been following the renovations very closely and was pretty much aware of what I would see (but it still looked different in person), while Rita was surprised and delighted with what she saw. We were so busy looking that I didn’t take much time for photos - that will come later when we can just wander at leisure around the house. While it is now clear that not everything will be finished before the band arrives in 6 weeks time, it will clearly be habitable. The band will just be part of the process, rather than users of the finished product.