Isolation has increased productivity.

I finally got around to restoring the George I st chest that we found in Castres. If you recall, it was in a dubious state (see below) – which meant it ended up in the attic.

300 years of accumulated wood stains and varnish, and even wax on top of it all

I bought it because they wanted very little for it and I knew that once done up it was very much in the family of the good stuff. I mean the very, very good stuff. Like this:

So here it is after some serious refinishing and help from Alan at Devon Metal Crafts who was wonderfully patient with me as I changed my mind three times on what would work as the most fitting replacement fittings for the four mismatched brasses (top centre handle and 3 escutcheons.)

 

We’ve also finally got around to the dining room floors. After the carpet was lifted it took forever to scrape away the glue by hand. Anyway, this year was our 5th Mazaverssary and the floors are nearly ready to be waxed at last.

 

Speaking of Mazamet, our mayor has just launched a campaign called “Déconfinez vous pour toujours à Mazamet”, meaning Deconfine Yourself Permanently in Mazamet.

 

After seeing that this came up which has some beautiful images of the area.

 

The town is promoting the fact that we have pretty amazing quality of life. Gorgeous nature and real estate is exceptionally good value. For the price of a 2 bedroom apartment in a town like Toulouse, you can get a cute little townhouse with a pool like this one for 160,000€.

In other news all is well. We remain confined until further notice. Maya continues to be her difficult self, but there are little improvements here and there. Any little surprise still causes her distress but overall she seems to be happy. She took the loss of Rudy much harder than we expected. The week he was gone she reverted to her permanent run/hide response, but we’re finally moving past that again now.