It’s all in a week’s work for France-based Neil Vesma
MONDAY
Villeréal, the village of a thousand souls where I live and work, is a typical pretty bastide with a rectangular grid of streets and alleys, and a small market square and its lofty church dominating the centre of the old town. One thing it lacks though is a green open space to stroll of an evening, or to briskly walk the dog. In short, it lacks a park.
This has been bugging me since my election to the Conseil Municipal in the spring, and I think I’ve come up with a solution. I’ve identified a parcel of land behind the pétanque club, about two hundred metres by fifty, with views across open fields to the little River Dropt beyond. It belongs to one of the local bakers and forms part of a larger field whose only current inhabitant is a donkey called Caramel.
I had put this idea to JeanJacques, the mayor, who was all for it and had promised to speak to the baker and his wife over the weekend. I ring him to see how he got on.
He tells me that the baker was given the land by his dad Emile, who is now in his nineties, and wouldn’t want to dispose of it while he’s still alive. At first I’m disappointed but then I say “c’est encourageant, non?” because the baker has said yes, just not yet. Had Jean-Jacques said we only wanted part of his land? No he hadn’t, so I offer to prepare a plan showing what we would like to do and where we would like to do it. He gives me the green light and says he’ll invite them to the mairie later this week.
TUESDAY
Off out to a potential job this morning for an American in Italy and his disabled wife who have bought a country house just 15km from my office. She needs daily exercise in a pool, so they’ve asked me to see if I can adapt the indoor pool on site into an indoor-outdoor one that is also a convivial family space for them and their three daughters.
When I get there I’m disappointed to find out that the clients haven’t been able to fly in due to health problems, so I am actually meeting two Italian project managers and a builder from Nice. I’m somewhat taken aback as a builder who is eight hours away is useless when snags occur,
and (polite version follows) if I’m managing a project, I don’t need two other people’s input. I’m a big boy now and building work needs a clear, simple chain of command: client, architect, builder.
I am a very polite architect and we spend not a little time before I leave discussing the technical problems an indooroutdoor pool raises, especially how can you close off the indoor part both above and below water when the outdoor temperature is –10 degrees.
I’m fuming about the waste o
