Wednesday 12th August

had another early start sanding down and filling in around joints some more and chiselling away at the wall partly struggling cos of our blisters! We realised today just how long it would take to get the joints looking perfect and smooth - bit frustrating as we like being able to stand back and see what we have completed at the end of the day and there never seems to be much difference. Holly and George went to the lake but i decided not to and stayed back to read for a bit, shower and start on the canneloni - a mission which i started at half 4 and didn't finish till 7! not something i enjoyed in the harsh heat!

Thursday 13th

another morning of chiselling and filing, bit of plasterboarding upstairs too. Then our french lesson which was quite amusing this week asking lots of questions about slang and phrases popularly used in France. We finished after lunch and headed down to the lake for some more quality time volleyballing with George :) When we arrived back Pete, Trisha, and their sons ben and Chris and Chris' gf Catherine had arrived and were putting up their tent in the garden -  a proper full house! We had a BBQ the only real way to cater for 16 people! i made 2 raspeberry tarts for pud which were lush! We ate earlier in order to still make the lake and a good job we did as the band was by far the best yet - best looking too. I donned my new pink heels- simply cos i wanted to wear them forgetting we needed to walk through the woods, fields and make a jump all in the dark. needless to say, i got a blister! We decided to move closer to the band to get a better view, little did we know that the ladies in front of us were the partners! making some off the cuff comments regarding which band members were whose, we were later slightly embarassed when we realsied what we'd done! Holly bought the CD and we all got free posters and stickers. Most of us headed home, leaving Christine chatting with her friendly french locals and holly, George, lucy and becky  (the neigbour's daughter and friend) making some new french amis.

Friday 14th

we had a later start due to the late night from yesterday although Olivier ahd arrived ready to work at 7! think he got a bit annoyed at us today when he started to cement the floor. We had been told that was our main job today but didn't want to start the mixer too early and wake the others, especially those in the tent so we busied ourselves with the wall to start. Later we realised he had started amd offered to help but all we got was a slightly shouted 'Quoi?' - what do you want? giving us the impression we were just in his way. We just kept our heads down and had a nice chat whilst slowly chiselling away like little dwarfs! At breaktime we said our goodbyes to Lisa and at lunch also Dave, Tracy and Georgie - which was always going to be sad. Hopefully, Lisa will achieve everything she hopes for and i mite even see her if i take a trip to Rome. As for the others they only live down the road in Ruislip so i'm very keen to play some more watervolleyball in ruislip lido with George!

It was so hot today that Paul let us have the afternoon off which was very kind of him. We spent the afternoon inside trying to keep cool and chatting then after an hour in the sun reading Tracy's magazines she'd left, Holly made us all salmon pasta which was yummy! I then headed down to the Tennis courts with Joe (the 11 year old) which was awesome. I've been wanting to play tennis for weeks as the courts here are amazing, but no one else fancied it. After some warm-up rallies and practises we started a game but by the time it got to 5-4 (to him) we retired as it was too dark. Hopefully i will get a chance to play again with him before they leave on Tues. A very talented young boy whom i think could go far with the right training. We finished and went straight to St Bernards for a drink with the rest - always a laugh! Had my second journey as an extra in Paul's van!

Saturday 15th

had our typical day off lie in - getting less each time! we headed off to an art fete thing in Montguyron about 10 after looking around and buying a few bits, climbing the tower, (charlie made some lace) we headed to the nearby lake Beau Vallon which is stunning! with blue water, pedaloes, motorised boats, a restaurant and more sand it is a lot nice than Brossac and a real shame its just a bit too far to cycle to. We spent the day lazing, swimming and eating. A lovely day out  with the girls. We returned and spent hours on my comp sorting out things for my year abroad, making calls and catching up. A fantastic start to my last weekend ieven if a bit hot!