We have bitten the bullet and commenced the installation of the septic tank for the mobile homes. In true Viv and Mike style we have decided to take responsibility for the shopping list so that we can have all the materials ready on site for our JCB man to come and start digging. We have to wait for a money transfer and that is slowing down the operation but that is part of the colourful pageant of living here, and being paid there. As we now have time on our hands and the money arrives here sometime around the tenth of March to pay for the digging we decided to go to Dennis, our local builders merchant and presented the shopping list for a devit which they very kindly did as we waited. When I stopped long enough to read it though I saw that the septic tank was two hundred euros more expensive than point P our very unuser friendly but closer to home builders merchant. I also noticed to my amazement that we asked for one Regard a Bouclage costing forty euros and she quoted me for ten so you can appreciate how utterly inconsistent their process is that a quote is pushed across the table without a double check or run through to make sure all the pit falls are covered. So there you have it with one builders merchant making mistakes and the other not happy to deal with non builders we were motivated to get in the car and drive to Cherbourg for the Brico Depot experience which reflects more the way we used to DIY shop by feeling the goods, pondering at our leisure and making a slow and calculated decision before putting it in the basket. The mission was accomplished with a trailer loaded with pipe and couplings and elbows , glue and Regards a Bouclage, I quite like the way those word just run off my tongue.
I called two gravel pits for a price to deliver 15 tons of the stuff and the pit in Perier quoted twenty five Euros a ton and the pit in Muneville quoted fourteen Euro a ton. I am always a little worried about getting quotes over the phone and I guess it is only about confidence at hearing the numbers and writing them down. I will never understand why seventy is sixty ten and translating quickly and accurately gives me a head ache. To my credit though I didn’t get it wrong as confirmed when we drove out to both pits to get a written quote and bingo just what I suspected there is a wild difference and there is no contest as to where we order from. The gravel from the Muneville pit is red, and I have discovered since we used it to cover the boule park that I have a connection to red gravel which I have yet to discover where from . On the wall at the main office was a plan of the site and the actual pit was shown hidden behind the mountains of rock all around us. As we drove out Mike caught a glimpse of rock face and low and behold we soon came across a beautifully presented visitors viewing platform with a description of what we were looking at and a run down of the wild life and the geo info they just love to share in pictures and prose. This massive hole in the ground that cannot be seen at road level was stunning and fascinating. We stood there with our chins to the floor just at the immensity and atmosphere of a working open pit. I was even more excited because this connection I have with red gravel made me feel comfortable and happy and as we got off the viewing platform I skipped down the steps like a five year old at the circus and said, I just love this place…..why, I have no idea.
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