Huset - en landsbygyser

Venner og familie spørger os jævnligt, hvordan det går med renoveringen af det lille hus på landet. Forbedringerne er ret ujævnt fordelt, men nu er de store renoveringsarbejder gået ind i en afgørende og bestemt spændende fase.

Friends and family regularly ask us, how we are doing with renovating our little countryside house. The improvements have been rather uneven so far, but now they enter a more decisive and certainly more interesting phase.



Fredag var Alains svoger Roger og gamle ven Thierry hidkaldt for at hjælpe med at tæske en gammel skorsten omkuld. Murbrokkerne blev hejst ud af vinduet i det der engang forhåbentlig skal blive til Clements værelse.

Friday Alains brother in law, Roger, and old school friend Thierry came to assist taking down an old chimney on the first floor. The stones were taken out of the window in what is supposed to be Clements room one day.



Det gik fint med at banke ned og tømme ud i traileren. Mere spændende var den virkelighed, der langsomt åbenbarede sig i det tidligere badeværelse. Der manglede simpelthen et stykke mur.

Putting down stones and store them in the trailer went just fine. More exciting was the fact that soon became evident. A part of the wall was simply missing in the bathroom.



Hvorfor og hvordan ved vi ikke. Heldigvis fik Alain lov at bese skaderne fra naboens side og kunne derfor konstatere at det mur, der er mellem de to huse i det mindste er knastørt. Den manglende mur er formentlig forsvundet pga en gammel vandskade. Det stykke murstensmur, man ser på billedet, er bagsiden af den skorsten, der egentlig skulle have været revet helt ned. Nu ser det ud til, at vores tømrer, der også er murer, kommer til at påtage sig endnu en opgave.

Why or how we do not know. Alain was allowed to see what was up from the neighbours side of the wall. He saw that at least what is left of the wall between the two houses is completely dry. The missing part of the wall is likely to have disappeared due to an old problem caused by water from the roof. On the picture you see the back of the chimney that was supposed to be put all down. Now instead it seems our carpenter, who is a mason too, will get another job here.

Nye interesser, nye lege

I marts fandt Clement på nye lege. En klar favorit er opvask, hvilket morer de kvindelige medlemmer af den franske familie.

The month of March Clement found new games. One of them is dishwashing much to the fun of the ladies of the French part of the family.


Vand er bare så lækkert, l'eau l'eau som han siger, den bette.

Water is rather cool, l'eau l'eau is what Clement calls it.


Han finder selv interessante objekter at vaske af i skuffen.

He finds interesting objects to wash in the drawer.


Og bærer dem over i vasken.

And carries them to the sink.


En klassiker kommer på mode igen: Læse bog. Kaj er nu in.

A classic is reintroduced: To read books. Kaj is in.


Også følebøger er rigtig sjove.

Books with special pages to feel are fun too.


Clement er meget interesseret i at hjælpe med alt, og han er bestemt ikke bange for støvsugeren.

Clement is very interested helping with anything, and he is certainly not afraid of the vacuum cleaner.

Vild med sne i Frankrig

Det er muligt, at det vil more vore danske læsere, men rent faktisk vælter sneen ned her i Frankrig, og vi undgår så vidt muligt at køre over bjerget bagved huset uden at tjekke vejen grundigt først og da helst i firehjulstrækkeren... Godt nok kan vi ikke prale med 20 centimeter sne natten over ligesom i Åbenrå forleden, men kommunens grønne John Deere (forbrugeroplysning til byboere: vores yndlingstraktormærke) smutter da forbi vore vinduer mindst en gang om dagen. Alain har kørt en gammel mand fri af sne i skoven og hentet sine ski til Verzy.

This may be funny for the Danish readers, but actually snow is falling heavily these days in Champagne. We cross the mountain behind us as few times as possible and when we do, we check the road carefully before and still prefer driving the four wheel drive... Even we can not boast with 20 centimers of snow overnight as in Åbenrå the other day, we still see the green John Deere of the commune (our favourite brand in tractors) at least once per day. Alain has freed the car of an old man from the snow and has also brought his skies here.


Clement har været ude at kælke og er ved at vænne sig til, at sne er vådt og koldt. Montagne de Reims - 200 meter over havets overflade - lever tilsyneladende op til sit navn. Vi har på flere ture mellem Verzy og Soulières kunnet konstatere, at der falder mere sne på bjerget end i dalen, og at den også bliver liggende i længere tid.

Clement has been out trying his sledge and is getting used to the fact that snow is both wet and cold. Montagne de Reims - 200 metres above sea level - seems to match its name of being a mountain. On several trips between Soulières and Verzy we have seen, that more snow falls in the mountain than in the valleys below, and also that the snow stays longer.


Vinen sover stadig, og lider ingen nød sålænge frostgraderne holder sig over minus 15, og det, regner vi bestemt med, vil fortsætte. Allerede nu varmer solen nok til, at nattens sne stort set når at smelte i løbet af dagen. Omkring Vertus - i Côte des Blancs vinområdet - lå sneen tykt og smukt i sidste weekend. Nu er den stort set væk igen.

The wine is still hibernating, and is doing fine as long as the frost stays above minus 15 degrees Celsius, which normally is the case anyway. We are in March and the sun already has enough power to melt more or less all the snow of the night during the day. Last weekend - around Vertus in the Côte des Blancs vineyards - the snow covered the ground with a nice and thick layer. Now it is almost melted away again.


Det er efterhånden et par uger siden, at det på disse kanter forholdsvis sjældne snefænomen begyndte. Vi var på sightseeing Vallée de la Marne rundt. Detter er udsigten fra landsbyen Mutigny på den anden side af bjerget ned over floden Marne i et søndagssnevejr, der først nu lader til at være inde i sidste og afgørende runde. Denne uge skulle blive den sidste, hvor vi stadig kan muntre os med vintervejr.

It is a couple of weeks ago, that this in this area rather rare phenomenon of snow in late February began. We were out sightseeing up and down the Vallée de la Marne. This is the view from the village Mutigny on the other side of the mountain overlooking a rather hazy river Marne deep down. The snow has continued almost every day ever since. However, this week seems to be the final one with snow.