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Saturday 25 August 2012

Plumbing & Murder

Now admit it, the title has you hooked hasn't it?

I know that you've all been waiting for a plumbing update. Andrew, poor soul, has been working flat out progressing the bathroom. Actually very little has taken place in the bathroom as such. Like always we've taken a seemingly simple project - a replacement bathroom and new en-suite  -  and turned it into an epic  that effects every room upstairs. This, the hottest week of the year, Andrew has been in the loft, lying flat on his stomach in the insulation, drilling holes at arms length. The hot water cylinder has been moved from one side of the house to the other. And not content with a perfectly satisfactory electric shower, oh no, we've installed the mother of all pumps so that I can stand under a rain showerhead thinking of the times we spent on Paragon, washing on deck during  tropical cloudbursts.

And we haven't even started on the en-suite yet.

So for the plumbing nerds among you a selection of photographs. Please don't ask me to explain them, I only recognise the pump which is so powerful Andrew had to make a concrete block for it to sit on.












And full credit to Andrew I've always had a hot shower in the morning and a flushing loo.

So what's the murder about?  Well, I'm not fluent in French. Nowhere near, if you were polite you may say I've reached a  reasonable holiday standard although I can read it quite well. But  the one area I excel in is estate agent-speak. I know my SdB from my RdC, my grenier from my sous sol. But this week I was flummoxed. An 'alerte' came in from an immobiliere and there was a word I didn't recognise, tucked in among the outbuildings was a 'meurtre'. As I was online I flicked to Google translate (I know not always the best option but I was comfortable on the sofa) and it said murder. Hmmm. So I did get up and went to the dictionary - murder. I went to the hefty brick of a dictionary. Murder.
Now as I said my French is not good enough to know if it's slang for something (an outside loo maybe?) or a mis-spelling of something. So if any of you French speakers can enlighten me I would be grateful. Meanwhile I'm giving that particular property a wide berth.

8 comments:

  1. Well, you really got us going. Someone gave us a nine-volume Robert (French only) dictionary, which had lots of stuff about murder-type usage, but nothing else. We have 2 French slang dictionaries. Nothing. We tried various mis-spellings. Nothing. We resign. Sorry. But your plumbing is VERY impressive. We're doing our bathroom too. As it's French, not a single wall is true, not a single surface level. We don't expect to finish it, ever.

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    1. You certainly put some effort into trying for me, so thank you Margaret. I think it will just have to remain one of those language mysteries. We've just filled the hot water system and not a leak to be had - Andrew certainly deserves double whisky rations tonight. Last report you had on your bathroom was the floor tiling - how's that coming along? Remember,small steps and it will be finished eventually. Honest.

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  2. That one has me stumped too! I'm going to ask my husband when he gets home because now you've got me curious :)

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  3. Any help gratefully received. And short of kidnapping Louis, Mortimer would love to come & play with Fifty (although not sure he'd be great fending off Nazi Zombies :-) )

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  4. When I read the title I just smiled to myself and nodded, in that kind of sad, knowing, bittersweet way ... and then I found out you hadn't murdered your plumber at all. You're a better woman than I am. (Well, okay, I didn't actually do it. But I fantasised about it, and still do). Those pipes are VERY impressive. Do you rent Andrew out at all?
    Oh, and I'm beaten as well.

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  5. I'm sure murder never crossed your mind Kalba during your extensive renovations. Not once. Ever.
    Andrew is available to rent but comes with his supervisor and canine defence attache. And I think that we'll never know what happened in the woodshed in that house:-(

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  6. Um. The floor's tiled. We got friends in to help(we did pay them though). More photos later.
    I’ve just been nominated for the One Lovely Blog Award, as you can see if you link to http://margaret21.wordpress.com/2012/09/01/one-lovely-blog-award/ In my turn, I’d like to nominate your blog. You’re under no obligation to nominate any blogs in your turn, but please do if you’d like to. The ‘rules’ I was asked to adhere to are at the bottom of my post. I so enjoy your blog, and I’m glad to have the chance to say a public ‘thank you’.

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  7. Have to say I'm deeply impressed with the plumbing, that pump looks so powerful it is liable to water blast the skin off rather than just clean it.

    Can't wait for the finished version.

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