HARD SLABBING

You may well think that we have been spending all our time lately lazing round the pool but you would be wrong.

Getting the pool in was only part of the story, as the finished pool was surrounded by a sea of mud. So we started work straight away, building a patio around the steps.

The digger man had scrapped away the top layer of soil, down to a firm base, so the first thing we had to do was to build it all up again with hardcore.

To make sure that I had the levels right, I staked out the beds to the correct height ( 8 cm). I re-cycled the wood from the pallets that the pool came on ( green/tight) as they were the right width for the concrete layer, and then we filled all the bays in with hardcore, rubble and gravel, up to the bottom of the wood.



We compressed it all down using a home made stave, and then started filling it up with concrete. It took a lot more concrete than we thought, half a tonne for each bay, about 40 wheelbarrow loads. It all proved too much for the patched up tyre, so I had to nip out and buy a new one, and take the wheelbarrow into the pits lane for a quick change.

Each bay took a day to fill, so it took a week for the concrete to be ready for the next stage

We carefully laid out the slabs to make sure it all lined up OK, and then had to make a few adjustments round the edges, adding a few Cm's of concrete here and there, where the concrete pad wasn't 100% square.

Finally we were ready to start laying the slabs. This involved Tina doing more mixing, as it needed a 3cm mortar base for the slabs.



The first few rows were fairly easy, although it took time to check that each slab was sloping in the right way (1/100) away from the pool in both directions. Then we got to the steps, and it got a bit tricky.



It took a lot of patience to cut each slab to the shape of the steps. The edging slabs on the pool overhung by a few Cm's but it still required cutting, fitting a recutting a few times to get it right. I tried making a template for the first slab out of cardboard, but found it easier in the end to scribe each slab using a block of wood, as I'd watch the carpenter do to fit the doors.

One week on, and it was all finished, including the grouting in, which only took us a few hours, using the secret mortar formula left for us by Michel the pool man.



We can't do the other sides of the pool until next year, to allow the earth to settle, which is handy in a way as we were both knackered by the time we'd finished the top end.

My levels have checked out quite well, as it rained for most of last week and there were no big puddles anywhere, unlike my first attempt at our old house.

Tour De France

This year the tour came quite close to our house, about 40 minutes drive south, so we thought that we would take in this legendary sporting event for the first time. A lot of our friends had the same idea as well. My brother and his family came to stay with us, Andy and Anna had a house full of there family and Pete Rat was down with some of his kids in his camper van.

All in all, there were 12 adults and 7 kids rendezvoused at a junction south of Dignac, where Pete had parked his van.

With only 3 and a half hours to go until the race arrived, it was time to get out the picnic's and then wait, and wait and wait some more.

As you can see, we marked out our territory, on the side of the road, just in case there were any Portsmouth types ( les skates as they are known in France). unlikely, but you never know, as there were a lot of caravans around.

Several hours, and several beers later, the tour caravan started to pass us, with all sorts of freebies and samples being thrown out by the tour sponsors. All I managed to pick up where two pens, but the kids did alright, even getting a Marge Simpson mask from the float advertising the Simpsons movie. Not very French, but that's the global village for you.

Things calmed down again for another hour or so, while Pete scoured the skies for the tell-tale signs of the TV helicopters filming the race. Then they were upon us.

There was a break away group of 4 , who came through at the sort of speed I could only manage down a steep hill, and about ten minutes later the pelethon arrived en masse. How the hell they don't crash into each other more often, God only knows.

As national obsessions go, there is more waiting round than at a test match, and a lot more drugs.

And that was that. We packed up and all headed back to our house for a barbecue. It seemed like a good idea, but it was hard work cooking for 17 people at once, but we coped, so much so that we could always come back to work in the Charcoal Grill in Andover, if we need some cash.

The pool was a big hit with everyone, as it was a rare hot weekend for this summer.

Pete stopped over with the kids for the weekend, and I even managed to fix an electrical fault on his camper van. My first job, but I didn't charge him a call out fee, as he was parked up in our garden.

Garden Nef Party

What the hell is the Garden Nef Party, I hear you ask.

It's another rock festival, a bit nearer to home, in Angouleme. It's a new festival, only it's second year, and it is on for two nights. We had been uhming and ahing about whether we were up to 2 nights rocking, but decided against the Friday night, as the only band we really wanted to see were Muse, and it was the day that the pool was due to be finished.

So we decided to go to the Saturday as we wanted to see Arcade Fire and Klaxons again, and there were so other interesting bands as well.

The festival site was in a park on a hillside, a few minutes walk from the town centre. It was a bit spooky when we got there, as you got to the festival by walking up the middle of the bye-pass which was closed down for the duration. It was so quiet that it felt like the start of a zombie movie or something. It took a while to get in, as the security was a bit tight and we had to check in our camera, so no pictures this time.

The first band up were Art Brut, and English band who are a bit like the Fall but with Hugh Grant instead of Mark E Smith. They were brilliant, and very funny, I would recommend anyone to go see them as they are so entertaining.

Next up were Klaxons, who were great as usual. Unfortunately, during their last song, the bass player decided to jump into the pit at the front of the stage, to get a bit closer to the audience. He jumped down, in rock and roll style, but never re-appeared, and the lyrics of the song changed to, "I think I might need some help guys, I've done something to my ankle".

The rest of the band carried on like true professionals, finished the song, waved to the crowd and walked off stage, without so much as a glance into the pit.

We kept seeing Klaxons wandering around the festival, enjoying the beer and the music but with no sign of the bass player. The rest of the band looked like they were about 16 years old, and were much smaller than they looked on stage. We must be getting old!

Hours later, and we were enjoying the LCD Soundsystem, when the lead singer looked down into the pit and said "Jamie from Klaxons went down there, and now he's in hospital".

We had a couple of American bands next, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, who were OK and Coco Rosie who seemed to be a bit of a US/Red Indian Bjork wannabe. It was a bit like an opera recital, so we watched from a distance, as we had found some chairs and a table, so we watched from a distance. The catering wasn't as interesting as the other festival, but the wine was good and cheap, (not for me though as I was driving) but it was all very civilized.

Arcade Fire were superb again, and had changed their set a bit from last time. The only problem with Arcade Fire, is that there are so many of them in the band , with so many instruments that it took an hour to clear the stage ready for the last band, LCD Soundsystem, so they didn't get on until 1:30 , well past our bedtime!

They were worth waiting for, and the lead singer is more our age, and looks like he enjoys a beer and a pie, so he made us feel more normal.

We left the festival at about 2:30, and got home just before 4 in the morning. I thought we would have had the roads to ourselves on the way back, but far from it. It was a as busy as the middle of the afternoon. Makes you wonder what the French get up to in the middle of the night when we are all tucked up in beddy byes.

All in all though, it was a great night, and we will try to go again next year, as it is well worth supporting.