Carrelage hydraulique

Taking a load of real rubbish and rubble from the renovations to the déchetterie this morning, I was horrified to see that someone had torn up and dumped these tiles. The hydraulique method of making patterned tiles which were then placed together in different ways to make a patterned floor is traditional in Catalunya and the Languedoc and common in houses that haven't been unsympathetically renovated. There's more about them here, but only in French, Spanish and Catalan, I'm afraid. We salvaged three or four whole ones from the broken pile, as we always do when we see them. One day we'll be able to make a real patchwork floor! There are some of these old tiles in the little house we're renovating, covered with more modern lino tiles which we'll carefully remove to reveal the originals after the rougher work has been done. I have some in my study too, and blipped their meeting with the slightly more modern tiles of our sitting room just over a year ago.

It was 18°C and very springlike when I was out this morning, but I have reluctantly returned to my desk to work.