There is a leak in the roof above CC's bedroom. The water only comes in when the wind is blowing in a certain direction at the same time as its raining cats and dogs so it's not THAT serious. However, it does need fixing.

A couple of months ago the father of a girl I was helping with English had a look and decided that the problem was a 'sick chimney'. He is a builder, rather than a roof specialist, but he said he would do it as soon as it stopped raining long enough.

OK, it stopped raining here on March 26th - for over a month - but he didn't turn up. I asked the girl's mum when she came to collect her daughter if her husband still wanted to do the repair.

"I'll ask him," she said, "and let you know next time we come."

Since then, I haven't seen anything of them. The weather remained dry so I phoned the nearest roofman in the yellow pages. His wife answered, took down the details, and said he'd get in touch.

But he didn't. I rang a few times more but there was no reply - nor answerphone.

The yellow pages is full of 'couvreurs' but it would be nice to have a personal recommendation so I started making enquiries.

At the May 8th ceremony, whilst talking to Felix I happened to ask if he knew any roofers. He said he knew a good chap and that he would send him round.

Sure enough, while I was out yesterday there was a frantic phonecall from the Whale saying a roofman had been. He thought he had been sent by our friends in the next village and he would be coming back at midday.

Later I discovered that the 'roofman' was, in fact Felix who had come to say that he was arranging to come back with his roofman another day. It seemed he had rung the bell but as there was no answer he had tried the door and walked in - giving Whale a bit of a shock.

Between his bad English and Whale's bad French it's little wonder the message was a tad confused. Anyway, the 'couvreur' came back today when Bear and I were in town (for an injection in his knee) and CC had to cope. As far as she could understand, he agrees there's a problem with the chimney: it will have to be dismantled, so he's coming back with a 'macon'.

Sounds as though this job is going to be expensive.