Saturday 4th August
Received an email from the estate agent, very apologetic
about the water and will have it turned on as soon as possible, this is going
to be Monday morning.
We’re in the house and have permission to start work, but
where do you start, thank goodness for John, as looking around it is very
overwhelming, hell overwhelming is an understatement SHIT, SHIT SHIT what have we done, is more realistic.
First thing was to start making a plan once we knew that
there was no electric throughout the house, time to start planning how to
rewire, French wiring s quite different to English as we will discover over the
next few days.
We also know that we have a chimney but no fire place in the
living room, I am desperate to start stripping the wall for the possibility of
a large stone fireplace, can you just imagine it?
Monday 6th August
Received a phone call, the missing money has been found,
unfortunately it had been transferred to the wrong Notaire, the currency
company sorted this out as soon as the error had been realised and as
compensation paid for accommodation at the B&B, thank you Foremost
Currency, if I was still delivering Customer Service and Complaints Training
this company would now be my example of excellent service and I would recommend
them to anybody looking to transfer large amounts of cash internationally
unlike Santander Bank which made life hell for a number of days!!!!!
We also set up our French bank account, a very easy and
straightforward process, we will get 2 bank cards a visa and a MasterCard, a
cheque book (yes cheques are still in use) and a quote for the house insurance
(this is a must, as the insurance must be ready as soon as you sign for the
house). We also received a pile of direct debit slips, you give one of these to
any organisation that you need to pay by direct debit, they then send them back
and you take them to the bank, simples.
Today we met the neighbours, a French man on one side and an
old French lady on the other, both were very pleased to have neighbours as the
house had sat empty for a long time, thank goodness for Andy and his French
language skills, as mine are very basic 2 years at school a long time ago and
holidays travelling through France and Johns are almost non-existent, this will
be changing soon!
So John and Andy set off for the shops with a major list and
I am left behind to strip walls, I’m on the top floor and suddenly realise that
the house is very eerie when you are alone, when the window slams my
imagination goes into overdrive, the stripping is stopped and I spend the next
couple of hours pottering around stripping the lower floor. We had originally
planned to buy an isolated farm house, thank goodness we didn’t as I now
realise there is no way I would cope being on my own in an isolated derelict
house.
The men are back so it’s time to book into Laura’s. Laura
herself is a big character (one of the loveliest, friendliest and most helpful
people you could wish to meet) and will play a big role in our first week at
the house. If you do visit I would
recommend that you stay here.
We had a shower in a real bathroom tonight, I think I’ve
died and gone to heaven.
Time to go out for dinner, Le Crepuscule is fantastic, lots
of local and tourist French so time to learn some more French, Henri, the mad
waiter is a blast and Micki the owner is lovely, found out the day after she is
from the north of England and when not talking in French sounds (and looks)
like Sarah Cox (from radio 1). Learnt loads of French and improved my accent,
unfortunately when I woke up, the language had gone and had been replaced by a
hangover.
Top tips
1.
Before leaving England set up internet banking
as the banks can make life very hard including telling us we need to come into
the branch to do a transfer!!!!!! As the system we set up before leaving had
not been used, so was not valid, numerous phone calls and talking to numerous
departments we were able to transfer the money but not without a lot of
stress!!!!!
2.
Set up a French bank account.
3.
Have your house insurance in place for when you
sign.
4.
Learn the language, or at the very least try to
use some French, it will go a long way to helping you settle in and be accepted.
5.
When choosing a property think carefully, could
you be on your own in an old derelict house with no neighbours or electricity,
houses make lots of creaks and groans which do not mix well with an over active
imagination!
6.
If you learn French whilst drinking copious
amounts of wine you make friends but do not learn the language or you become a
fluent drunk
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