Planning Problems

Friday 25 April

The new window spaces are looking fab.  Unfortunately last night we had a mammoth storm and the north wind whistled around and through the house, banging things all night.  The noises were slightly drowned out by Chris's snoring.  So not a lot of sleep.

Today started badly with 5 loads of washing to take to the laundrette to dry and another drying in between showers, well, until it fell over and got covered in mud.  I was busy cleaning up the mess caused by the builders yesterday and Chris went to the Mairie to discuss some recycling issue.  He was gone ages and came back in a total funk.  They have rejected our planning application because the garage is on the 3/4 of our land which has just been declared for agricultural use only.  It was rejected about a week ago but they hadn't got around to telling us, which as there is a deadline to meet if we want to build a garage big enough for Chris, is not very helpful at all. 

It's a real blow. Our choices are 1] forget the garage - can't do that.  2] put in another application for a garage the same size on the small plot of land  or  3] build a smaller garage - not a problem for me but Chris prefers one that can store all sorts of stuff.

Anyway, it was lucky that Chris went down when he did because after Monday garages will have a maximum size of 40 sq m and ours is supposed to be 54 sq m.  So we had to put in another application this afternoon - at this point it was noon and nothing was open apart from the laundrette and one supermarket - so we decided to get the 2 big bags of washing dry and go to the supermarket to buy some glue and scissors so that I could literally cut and paste the diagrams that I have spent ages creating at home in Pretoria. That way, we could hopefully submit a new application this afternoon.

We settled in the caravan and worked at changing our plans to conform with the new rules.  The problem is that if the garage has to move, then the swimming pool will be really squished and we might even have to have an above ground one.  Although a bit disheartened, we realise the this change has affected loads of people not just us and we will just have to find a way around it.  This stoicism is the direct result of a lunchtime beer.

As well as working on paper, we had to get outside and measure up and check distances etc.  Every time it became imperative to measure something, the Heavens opened and we just had to sit and wait it out.  Of course, things weren't helped by the fact that the caravan is right slap bang in the middle of the area we needed to measure.  The whole thing was really frustrating.  We had just got an updated application ready when the electrician turned up to remove the electrics from the caravan and put the phone and internet in the house.  So no power. So no facility to produce the 4 photocopies of everything needed for the application. I stayed behind to continue cleaning up after yesterday's work while Chris rushed our revised application to the Mairie.  He is now on first name terms with Mrs Mayor. and was hoping to get her to do the copies for us.  I was washing the toilet floor for the 5th time and wondering if it would ever look clean [the answer is no, it won't] when he came back and announced that he'd talked to a woman who is ever so slightly higher up the hierarchy than the Maire and this lady is meeting someone who is ever so slightly more influential that she is in this system on Monday.  She had looked at the plans and agreed that it was pretty unfair to just take an arbitrary line 3/4 of the way across the plot and she intends to ask that the boundary for the agricultural zoning is moved a few metres which would enable us to build the garage we want where we want, as long as the application is in by Monday.

She is meeting God's representative in Gironde on Monday and so we should know by Monday afternoon whether we need to put in a new application with all the changes that entails or whether we can go ahead with the original application and hope that they pass it.

The good news today is that the devis for the sun tunnel is less than 1000 euro, which is about the first time I can remember something being less than I thought it would be.  We're definitely getting that, it's obviously a bargain!!

Did some gardening in between bouts of torrential rain and then ate at the hypermarket café.  My delicious chicken and lemon sauce was overwhelmed by the smell of Chris's moules frites but some red wine smoothed things over.  Tempers were short, it's been a hard day.

Sat 26 April
My longed-for sleep was interrupted twice at 2am by Chris's phone going off and I couldn't get back to sleep.  I am beginning to find the strain of all these sleepless nights is building up.

In an effort to be positive I decided to list all the things we've done this month [not involving paint or skiing]
1. Old roof repaired
2  Moved into house
3  Shutters sanded and primed
4  Garden tidied a bit
5  Window openings ready for windows but windows not yet ordered
6  Sun tunnel organised
7  Arranged for spare fireplace to be removed and taken away [if they turn up]
8  Ordered cabinet de douche
9  Arranged for caravan to be moved once the water is disconnected
10 Painted security bars [twice, because the workmen caused some damage]
11 Got internet and phone moved to the house from the caravan.

Not too bad.  But what I'd give for a decent night's sleep.

Of course, I slept in late and we didn't start working til after 10. I was repainting the black metal door furniture on the shutters, fiddly but not too taxing. Chris had had enough by 3.30 and kept asking me if I'd like a drink, which is code for him wanting a beer.  At around 5, I gave in on the 6th time of asking and had a few.....slept very well.

Sunday 27 April
Weather extraordinarily changeable so couldn't settle to doing any work in the garden as there were strong winds and downpours every half an hour or so.  Chris blocked up 2 of the window holes with the windows which had been removed and we really MUST make a decision about the new windows tomorrow and get things underway.  We spent most of the afternoon sitting in the caravan as it's warmer than the house during the day [and much colder at night].  I think we're both tense about tomorrow's planning decision and can't settle to anything.  Ate a mammoth beef stew, just to pass the time.