One of these days when everything comes easily. Weather fine and got some overnight laundry dried and chopped some wood for tonight's fire (going to be cold). Then got stuck into the nasty job of taking up more flooring in loft that I'd been avoiding. Properly organised now, and it took lot less time than expected - all done in two hours.

Lunch, then on to putting up the steel wall frames, all done in another couple of hours and ready to start ceiling. Run out of insulation though, so trip to town before I start tomorrow. Meantime looking at building fantastic living area and bedroom in loft as part of doing the roof in June. Going to be great, just wonder where I'll find the money.

Lovely calm still but a little cloudy day - air filled with sounds of birds chirping and distant crackle of chainsaws. Finished stripping second bedroom ready for frames to up tomorrow and sealed up chimney, should be boarded by end of week. Put off the nasty job of lifting boards in loft to insulate the ceiling but need to do it tomorrow as cabling needs doing by that route too. Yuk.

Later decided to do bit of gardening as such a nice day, noticed buds opening on apple trees, blossom shortly. Spent an hour or two pruning couple of previously pollarded trees and gathering branches for the woodpile, its slowly growing but pathetic compared to the ones some neighbours have got. Still, every bit cut now, is one less I'll need to buy next winter.

Talking of buying, heard that JP Morgan Chase "flew in to the rescue" to buy Bear Stearns Bank for $236m, about 1% of its perceived value. Swooped in like a vulture more like. If only I'd known it was for sale I reckong with a few friends we could have rustled up that much!.

Another nice day and feeling fine. Did a bit of building filling in a nasty hole in a wall made years ago by stove installers, used spare cement to level floor in fron of fireplace. Then, fixed nasty plumbing on the taps (doing dishes in kitchen seems such a luxury!).

In afternoon did a bit more wood cutting and later sorted brothers seized chainsaw, stripped it down freed it off and good as new. Not bad for a Sunday, tommorrow plan to really get stuck into renovating room two.

Thought storms over but woken by thunderstorm, cleared quickly but few furious showers through the day. Feeling lot better today 80% recovered from Donna's cooking! Did some more woodcutting in the morning and after lunch went to Carhaix for some building materials, will try to catch up my lost day over weekend.

Plumbing in kitchen been irritating me so decided to replace the mixer tap with a new posh bargain one I bought in Lidls ages ago. Was going well until realised that some soldering needed to connect different types of fittings - ah well, washing dishes in bath this evening. Be fixed tomorrow.

Beautiful day, storms in the past hopefully. Made last minute preparations for Donna and Juke's trip home. All went well and they left very, very, early to make sure no problems with getting lost etc and give Donna chance to take some photos in picturesque Roscoff.

Not well today (too much rich food in recent days I expect) so decided not to venture out or do any heavy work. Instead, did some laundry, tidied up and cut up a fallen tree in orchard. Off to bed early tonight I think - and its a Friday night, I can't believe it!

Weather not too bad but still bit cloudy. Decided to start work on second bedroom stripping out old fireplace, radiator etc. Donna had great fun throwing rubble out of the window!

Later did some last minute shopping for her return home, nice meal tonight maybe go down to pub later.

Working on premise that something constructive needs to be done every day, decided to prune a few more trees and gather firewood for next winter. Dogs not much much help dragging major branches all over orchard.

After lunch went to Brico Depot to look at skirting boards and the French interpretation of architrave. Don't like any of it and maybe need to import some or perhaps even make it. Went to Bruyeres Restaurant in Spezet (finally Donna's birthday dinner) I had piece of beef cooked with fois gras - Yum, looks like great venue for her xxth birthday next March! Lads, you will LOVE the way the waitress pronounces fois gras (promise).

Weather a bit better and had quiet day pottering around with Donna, got some nice food for dinner, Paul coming round. How come fantastic freshly cooked chilled prawns/crevettes only about 7 euros a kilo here when they are about 6 or 7 times that in England? Did a bit of filling in preparation for decorating and had a bit of a tidy up, just to make sure I did something constructive for the day.

Talking of constructive, dug out my new Spots and Stripes pool balls and used them for the first time. I could go on about the Phenolic Aramith Resin, with homogenous density and ultimate performance and perfect rebound, but I think I'd get boring. Suffice to say, they are excellent and whitewashed brother in first game played!

Storm arrived and seems to be persisting for a few days now. Bit rough overnight with couple of leaks in roof - really need new roof this summer. Didn't do great deal except some shopping with Donna.

Decided to get portable gas heater up and running to assist the woodburners as it really is a bit nippy at night. Needed to get regulator for bottle as I'd swapped other one over on to cooker, but amazed to find you can now get plastic (fibre glass) bottles, full of gas and a free regulator for 25 euros with a refil just 10 euros. That's got to be bargain of month, well done Antargaz and Calypso! Hope it doesn't go wrong, but house toasty now.

Lovely day with occasional showers in morning - but lull before storm, literally. Started on decorating before had to get stuck into cleaning and tidying for arrival of Donna and Juke.

All arrived safe and sound and on time, boat early to avoid storm. Donna's got laptop running on Wifi (pronounced wee fee in french) and we are just about to have an imported curry for tea, yum.

Bit of a dreary day after breakfast motivated myself to grapple with a recalcitrant heating duct outlet. Got it done OK, will see if it works tonight. Nipped out to shops and bought some primer, would have got skirting board and architrave but price ridiculous, need to think about that. On return sharpened my chainsaw blade and tested it by slaughtering a tree, start of my woodpile for winter 2010.

Saved some money not buying James Blunt album at Christmas, he's on Local Radio RMN all the time they love him here! If you want to listen to the radio station click here, then click "Bienvenue" , then under the heading "Ecoutez-nous" on the left, select "Haut Debit" then, (probably) "MP3". Good luck.

Can't stop at moment but Happy Birthday Donna! Primroses are out in garden. Busy day tidying, a bit of plastering and some shopping to make sure something in fridge for Donna ariving.

Paul came round and we picked up takeaway pizzas from local and had quick aperatif while waiting. Did my usual and not paid enough attention to the ingredients and got a rather odd pizza with meatballs and sprinkled with a pile of chips ....! Ah well, at least it tastes OK. Going to slaughter him at pool now.

Another dry day so did a bit of work in garden but managed a few hours of construction too. Had to go shopping as run out of few essentials like beer and dog food. While there visited bottle bank, very embarrassing when you've got three boxes of beer bottles and it takes 15 minutes to empty them into the little holes.

As its now only 3 days before Donna comes over decided its time to start tidy up (as that's about how long it will take). Worn out now so going to watch footie on TV and practice my pool playing, was rubbish other night in bar even got beaten by a local ....

Another beatiful day and took opportunty to chop some firewood with Buddy's help. Dipped in and out of building work too and suddenly realised that the day had gone.

Not only is the day gone but I just realised I have run out of beer (Paul visited last night), so probably nip down to the bar. Click today's photo for another high speed video!

Beautiful day, bright sunny dry but with a cold wind, but got my laundry dried. Strangely motivated today and worked relentlessly on electrical things and got them all done.

Watching Arsenal tonight, no score at half time but although they dominated the first half I fear for them. Finally got decent photo of that camelia. Update at 22.39: I take it back, Arsenel superb and won 2 nil, I thought Milan would paste them in second half.

Lovely morning, needed a break from building work got tractor going and did a bit of grass cutting, and prepared some ground to plant some vegetables, still not got the photo I wanted of the camelia tree, try again tomorrow.

As I'd been out back all morning and no sign of postman or my washing machine part I looked inside my postbox in case he'd lefet a card or something. Wow! Imagine my surprise to find it full of parcel. Now there is no way it went in the little letter slot so he must have a key, how cool is that? Turns out opposite happened tp Paul, he always left his open as he had no key. Postie delivered a jumper from mother and locked it!

Occasional showers but not bad at all. Got boards up in a few hours and took a break early (muscles aching after being so busy). Learned a lot from Paul about the techniques and something else. Since retiring I've done patio laying, web design, decking and gardening and enjoyed them all. Plasterboarding on the other hand is just horrid.

Went for long walk in afternoon Buddy had a scrap with one of the local canines. The french started it the British finished it (not for the first time). Can't believe he then lost his second string ball in almost the same spot as the last one, only sticks to chase now. The camelia photo isn't quite right, so here's buddy looking pathetically for a ball.

Lovely day but dogged by hangover for first part of it after visiting a local bar. Shan't say the name of it but there doesn't seem to be a smoking ban in force as even the landlord had a ciggy lit. My kind of people the Bretons, shame I don't smoke or I might have joined them.

Nipped to a builders merchants that Paul recommended to collect some metal rails to hold plasterboard on ceiling of first room and walls and ceilings thereafter. Attached them to the ceiling and started boarding. Nice little day really all things consided, today's snap Paul at work, tommorrow, Camelia in full bloom.

Nice day and feeling great for first time in a while except for twinges in my back. After couple of hours work now waiting for Paul to help me with the plasterboards decided to get on with putting up floodlight above garage. Lot more fun climbing scaffold and fiddling with wires and screws atc.

If you click today's photo you should see my response to people who say I'm not working fast enough! Don't blame me if it doesn't workthough, your PC might need some extra software installed.

Weather a lot better today, bit misty but no real rain. Made good progress on my travails and feeling lot better about progress so far. No sign of washing machine spare part but hopefully it will get here by weekend so I can avoid more handwashing.

Thought I'd lost Buddy for a minute when he leapt into a river and tried to cross it. Unfortunately the bank at other side was not what it seemed, it was a quagmire of silt mud and decomposing leaves and behaved like quicksand. It took the poor chap all his energy to get himself out as I tried to figure out how to rescue hime without getting stuck too. Today's photo doesn't quite show how wet and disgusting he was on return home, as its reduced in scale.

Feeling lot better today but weather very bad strong wind and rain, decided not to venture out and instead focus on the 1,000 things I need to do indoors. Lit the stove got computer room toasty and set to it.

Worked hard and made some good progress, got first room on target to get the plasterboard up at weekend when Paul comes. Just realised that today first since I came that I didn't actually leave the house to go to shops, Buddy not pleased as no walk but we spent a 30 minutes chasing his ball in orchard in the rain so at least tired him out (but he's still in the huff).

Brother Paul left early this morning without drinking me out of house and home for first time ever. He also failed to wake me before he went and I slept in, felt a bit rubbish and back still hurting, so had a quiet morning. Had a visit from a lovely couple encouraging me to support their candidate (one of 19) in the forthcoming Local Election in the village of Spezet (population approx 50). Explained I didn't think I had the right to vote, but they gave me a flyer and told me to get in touch when I move permanently.

Got myself in gear in the afternoon and worked hard for a few hours on taking bedroom one to completion then took Buddy for a run in the park again.

Still got sore back so no lifting or climbing today. Had a tidy up, went to builders and bought some more materials and took Buddy for long walk in his favourite place Tronjolie Park. Obviously he can't avoid the river and he now stinks.

Brother Paul came round for tea and we made some plans to progress the work. All quiet now, just grappling with Skype which now seems to have switched to some strange eastern European language - Finnish?

Up in time to get to boulangerie for a croissant and baguette, yum, first since I came. Put some (handwashed) washing out in good time for rain to start. Decided to have a quiet day pottering around in loft doing electrical installation, at last something I know how to do.

Made mistake of listening to Radio 5 Live football commentary to hear the commentator say that in the 87th minute at no score between my beloved St Mirrent versus Celtic, the referee awarded a free kick to Celtic at edge of box for no good reason he could see (resulting in a goal).

Erm, hullo? Have you not watched Scottish football before with Rangers and Celtic involved? You don't need to see the offence, you just need to look at the league table and the clock. Ref probably relieved he didn't have to give a penalty or send off the Saints goalkeeper and the entire defence!

Visit from my brother this morning - pursuaded me to buy a laser level and start using metal frames for the plasterboard. Apparently they are now compulsory here presumably something to do with fire hazard, anyway turns out he's an expert at this, been working on it for ages here.

Nipped out and got a level, wow that's a cool toy, seen 'em around before in DIY stores but never seen the point of them. Now I do, no more measurement errors!

Got part ordered for washing machine, needs to be delivered to UK first then sent on. Hand wash until next week. Two fifteen pm, got frustrated with making mistakes on measurements etc, went for walk and exercise with dog. Feeling better now, going to get stuck into it.

Put up some space age insulation really wierd, room seemed to warm up on its own as soon as it was up! Sadly just pulled my back lifting a hammer, how rubbish is that? Expect i'll be a couragous soldier and work though it.

Just one of these days when you need to motivate yourself to do a nasty hot dusty dirty job rather than play with new Broadband connection. Bit late to get a job and pay someone else to do it.

However, making good progress and know a lot more about the best way to do things as the project goes on. Also understand a bit better why my dad used to take about 5 years to renovate a house.

Unexpected flood when switched on washing machine, traced problem to gnawed through sump hose, bloody mice! Still gotta be easy to find here ...... not!

Some ups and downs today. Early start, up at 8.00 for early morning materials delivery and while waiting started putting insulation into first celing. after hour and half wasted decided that it neds to be done from above (taking up floor and dealing with rodents, nasty job)

Good news materials arrived just before midday and its even what I asked for, just not sure how I get 1.2x2.5m sheets of plasterboard upstairs on my own. Wow, another delivery, think its my new Orange.france livebox router. Broadband soon.

Lovely warm day, started knocking down ceilings and things - nasty dusty job but good opportunity for bonfire later to burn the old cladding.

Took a trip to Carhaix to the Brico Marche and supermarket had a couple of Gendarmes in stitches when they saw a funny red van with big black dog in drivers seat. Not only that he wasn't even looking where he was going.

Not such an early start, shame as it has been a BEAUTIFUL day. Warm out in the sun but patches of frost in the shadows until early afternoon.

Got tractors going after a while and did some grass cutting whilst making space for building materials in garage. Dropped into builders merchants and arranged delivery of lots of wooden batons and plasterboard.

Early start and off to Plymouth for the 10.30 ferry, nice surprise to see the Bretagne is today's ferry (obviously didn't read my ticket).

Lovely smooth crossing arrived at Roscoff a bit early in the sunshine (see snap) then spent evening unloading the van and warming up the house. It really is nippy here.

Now that I'm finally retired I can get to work on my 5 year project (started in 1993!) packing van for me and Buddy to catch the morning Ferry to Roscoff. Bit nippy tonight, hope its warmer in France.