An extension

I had meant to follow up our super holiday on the Nivernais canal with a couple of postings but I have been slowed down by the technicalities of getting a couple of films edited and up and running. One is of Debbie, the Cradiac Rehab IV tutor, demonstrating useful exercises to do at home for her website. The other two are based on the holiday. "Baguettes....I've Had a Few" is a record of our time on the boats and if you say the title correctly you can hear the associated tune. The title was suggested by the impeccable David P. The second holiday film, "Les Madamoiselles des ecluses de Nivernais", is my salute to the beautiful and very fit young women operating the lock gates on the Nivernais this summer. There were young men and older men doing the job as well but the camera just wasn't attracted to them - they weren't as photogenic. I think, Kitten, that's why I prefer Next Top Model to Supermodel.



Kitten moves out of the family home at the end of July and I am going to miss the education in films and TV series I have overlooked. I am particularly enjoying "Bones" at the moment.



Anyways, this posting is entitled "An extension" because this week we are beginning to build a new extension on our house. My family have always claimed allegiance with Wrong Way Corrigan, who was refused permission in the early days of aviation to fly from Ireland to New York. One day he took off from a fog bound Ireland and, lo and behold, begorrah, and would you believe it, landed in New York! When taken to task for this unauthorised flight, his ingenious reply was "I must have flown the wrong way!" - hence his new name, Wrong Way Corrigan.



What has Wrong Way Corrigan to do with building an extension? Well, when everyone else is complaining about credit crunches and falling house prices, we are spending good money on building works. I feel my children at least might deserve an explanation as it is their inheritance I am spending!

I am also of that persuasion that if someone tells me there is something I shouldn't do, stubbornness kicks in and, even if it kills me, I will do whatever it is I shouldn't.



When we had both retired, we debated whether or not to downsize, but decided we hadn't really had the opportunity to enjoy this lovely house as much as we wanted. We discussed what was needed to help us enjoy it more. The first thing we decided was that a new kitchen was top priority. Ours has seen good service, and is familiar and comfortable, but showing signs of age. (I re-read that last sentence to myself and felt it would work as a self-description too.) We therefore decided we would need a new kitchen. Now at present a wall divides our kitchen from the dining room and the only connection is a small serving hatch between the two. This has been quite sufficient for me to bellow through at meal times but the Best Beloved has always hated the sense of detachment when we are entertaining. She wanted that wall down and the kitchen to become an integral part of the dining room. We explored the idea with an architect and suddenly the idea grew that we could extend the new kitchen/dining room out into the garden where our old patio is. Once we hit upon this ground floor extension it occurred to us that we could then add an en-suite to the master bedroom.



We have had Kitten as a house guest for a year now and believe me an en-suite would have been useful during that time. We also have a four bedroom house so our dreams of inviting people over for a Saturday meal and then offering accommodation afterwards could be realised. We also have a far flung family and circle of friends to whom we could offer a weekend retreat.

We also decided that unless circumstances drastically change we shall get a good ten years out of our extended house so here we go! Wish us luck!