...at last a picture........

For those of you who have been wondering what has been happening in regard to the satellite I have news! After all that Joe had been through, and considering we had had help and advice from three other friends, we felt that we should try to find a solution - no a signal -  to be truthful! When we had been to Cluny a few weeks back, not long after the post about Joe's awful struggle with the satellite, we noticed a sign in the electrical shop where we had first bought our white goods and 2 years ago our wonderful Italian (Sauter) cooker. It said satellite erection, repairs, - and we thought about going in but to be honest I was afraid that it would be far too expensive...
On Saturday we paid a quick visit to the weekly market and when we got back to the car we noticed a sign tucked under our windscreen. This is quite normal, it is a great way to advertise all sorts of things - flea markets, antique fairs, lottos, plant sales etc, and on Saturday it was an advert for the electrical shop and the satellite erection! I suggested we might pursue this and Joe agreed!
So on Tuesday afternoon, taking a deep breath we entered the shop - I say I took a deep breath as they speak no English. Could I make myself understood and explain that we had a satellite dish (parabole), we had a satellite box, we had cable, we had tried for 5 days (no, Joe had tried for 5 days) and had no signal, could the technician please help. Amazing - immediately understood - would tomorrow afternoon after 3pm be convenient?  - oh most certainly it would. Could I pay the technician by cheque? - most certainly I could.    Well that was easy!
We had promised to put up our Union flag to show the technician where we were - with no street name and house number it is very hard to find us - we know this as 2 parcels of letters have already gone astray or been returned to England.
Around about 4pm a white van with ladders on it drew up outside - he was here! Instantly my delight was dashed by the need to speak in French. I am always daunted by this because I want to get understood but not make any gaffs considered to be offensive. To our delight, the technician spoke a few words of English and soon understood our problem and why he had been called in. He had all the right equipment to find a signal - and the ladders to get on to the roof! He began by standing in the middle of the road seeking the illusive signal. It takes a while! (I have to say that this made me feel better for Joe - it certainly was not the straightforward task we had first imagined it would be!) Next the technician came to explain that he was going to put up the parabole on the chimney and use a double cable, connecting to the existing antenna on the roof for the French television, and also to the parabole for the satellite box. He made it sound so easy although I know it wasn't! 

ladders up and the parabole goes on the roof!



Soon the cable was being pulled through the walls and connected to the socket, and then the TV was turned on and at last a picture! French connected, English connected!
We wrote the cheque with delight. It was expensive but below what I had budgeted in my head and moreover we can watch and learn! And what did we watch tonight?  Grand Designs revisited about a couple who built a house in the Lot region of France!