We have liftoff!

At last, the internet is back on stream at Bas Etang. But only after 5 visits by the France Telecom engineers. They replaced the 50 metres of overhead cable that stretched from the house to a nearby pole. That reinstated the voice line, after it had been silent for 5 days. The ADSL line still didn't work. But then they went to the Lavausseau exchange, and changed a module there. Voila! It works, at last, after 2 weeks.
Last week I received the new desktop PC from Dell, only 3 days after ordering it from the UK (via Bombay). However, Dell had declined to accept my credit card (after taking down all the details)as I lived in France. They couldn't explain why that was a problem, even though the UK credit card is registered to me at the French address where delivery was to be made. So I had to make a transfer bank to bank, which I swiftly did over the internet. However, Dell then charged the credit card and received the cash in their bank too. I notified them straight away, requesting the £22 fee for the BACS transfer cost as well as the refund. Dell then informed me that they would send the refund together with £165 compensation. You could have knocked me off my perch with a feather!

The new balcony at Bas Etang 2

The new balcony 
We finally had the new balcony made and installed a couple of weeks ago. The next tasks there are to retile the verandah, and paint the wall of the verandah white.

Troubles at Bas Etang

A couple of days ago my Dell notebook crashed permanently. It was at least 6 years old, and the hard disk had failed. I'm not too bothered about losing everything on it, as I have crucial data and programs stored elsewhere. But, then the worst thing happened - we lost our internet connection altogether. So Amanda's PC can't act as my backup either. My Netgear ADSL Router was losing the connection at a greater frequency than previously, until total failure occurred. France Telecom recognise the symptoms, and have promised to come in the next few days to restore the connection. Meanwhile I am posting this blog via Bas Etang 2.

I have ordered a new PC from Dell. It is a desktop, with a 3.2Ghz Pentium 4 processor, 1 Gigabyte of RAM, a 320 Gb hard disk, and a 19" UltraSharp LCD Screen. It is due to arrive in the next fortnight or so. Meantime, I've managed to borrow another Dell Notebook.

One other item of note is that the Balcony is being installed on the terrace of Bas Etang 2 today. Pictures of that achievement will be posted shortly.

The Cave

We have found a Cave in the woods nearby, about 300 yards from our house. The history of the Cave will be told in a later blog.

The Cave 

The Cave 2