Two days of nice surprises

You never know what the day has in store! My Internet searches for worktops with a depth of 65cm had thrown up only one source – Leroy Merlin. Their closest store is at Chancelade just to the north-west of Perigueux, so my plan yesterday was to drive over there in the morning to order a couple and return via Brico Depot, which is at Trelissac on the north-east fringe of the city, to pick up a few more items that I need for the kitchen. The price shown on Leroy Merlin’s web site for 3 metre long worktops in the style I wanted was 159€ each so I fully expected to have to bite the bullet and commit myself to an outlay of 318€ plus a bit more for an edge cover and an angle joint.

When I got there I came across two worktops of the correct dimensions in matt dark grey for 95€ each, in stock to take away immediately and I thought about buying them as the more exotic type that I wanted was quoted as being on a lead-time of 12-15 days. However, although this represented a hefty price saving based on my original estimates, I decided it would be a false economy as they looked very plain and bland and I decided that as I’d be looking at them for a long time, I’d end up wishing I’d spent more to get exactly what I wanted. So I then checked out the sample rack and found just what I was looking for with a subtle dark grey pattern, called ‘Metal vieilli’. I waited while the young sales lady finished dealing with a couple who obviously had no intention of buying anything and then asked if that style was in stock or only available to order. The latter turned out to be the case so I said that I’d like to order two of them. Imagine my surprise when as she typed my order into the computer the price came up as only 75€ each! It appears that in the few days since I’d done my Internet searches, Leroy Merlin had not only reduced their list price from 159€ to 92€ but they also had a ‘special offer’ running that had reduced it even further. What a nice surprise! So it turned out that I was able to order everything, including the accessories, for only 167.80€, only just a bit more than I’d been expecting to pay for just one worktop. Now that’s what I call a real result 😀

So after paying a deposit at the ‘caisse’ on the way out, I then made my way over to Brico Depot. I picked up my usual large ‘chariot’ which I began to fill up with a 150 litre ‘Steatite’ water heater, fitting kit, cutlery drawer insert, cooker hood, gas hob and stainless steel sink unit. I had been torn between a 200 litre water heater and the 150 litre. The larger one is actually cheaper because it’s more popular and they sell more of them, but the difference in size is considerable. The 200 litre is recommended for 2-4 people and the 150 litre for 2-3 and I finally decided to go for the latter, mainly because of the size difference. Even so, it’s still pretty big and when it’s hanging up on the wall, it won’t be the most attractive addition to my bathroom 😐

As the young lady who checked me out seemed a little bit clueless, or being rather kinder, permanently distracted, I decided I’d check the bill before I left as I’ve had experiences when lots of items have been scanned together, that some have got scanned more than once. Not only was the total number of items correct, but I was also pleased to find that the water heater had been charged at 187€ rather than its list price of 193€ and the sink unit at 44.50€ rather than 49.00€. So more nice surprises to finish my shopping trip off 🙂

The weather forecast for today hadn’t looked encouraging for flying so I’d more or less written the day off for doing anything very constructive. However, I then received a phone call from Victor who, it turned out had arrived here with Madeleine last night. They kindly invited me over for a spot of lunch, which was lovely, and then Victor and I dashed off to Castillonnes in Victor’s 2CV in case Francis, the instructor who Victor had phoned earlier, could make it to take advantage for either or both of us of a brief weather window that had presented itself. In fact nothing came of it, so after a quick beer after we got back to Victor’s house, we went off to show Victor Galinat, where (eventually…) I’ll be keeping the X-Air. I was surprised to see how beautifully trimmed the grass was, as you can see in the following pics which I took on my mobile phone, which is why they are pretty useless.

The first shot was taken looking over towards the area where I’ll be keeping the X-Air, where there’s an existing hangar. Victor was trying to apprehend a large hornet, of which there are many around these parts, that had infiltrated itself into the 2CV on the journey over. The next two shots are of the runway, which is 450m long on a slight down-slope. There are tall trees behind where I was standing, so as is often the case here in the Dordogne, it’s take off down the slope and land up it, no matter what the wind is doing. But at least at Galinat there’s a fair bit of runway to play with – and as you can see, beautifully manicured as well 😉