Tuesday 7th August - Staircase renovation and uncovering 80 year old photo's

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Stair case renovation - Tuesday 7^th August

The money is in the right account, and we have signed for the house, it is all ours, Oh My God, we can’t believe it, it’s so exciting, so why am I sat crying????????

Good question and one that is not shown on the TV programs or the magazine articles, the emotion at this point is massive, everyone asked how we’d feel about leaving family behind and we said it would be fine, we’re not far away and can visit each other, but when it actually happens and the realisation sinks in that I am not going to be in the same country, never mind the same town as my daughter when she is having her first baby really hit home and the emotions that you feel at that point are unbelievable, John was a real star, he just hugged me and said we can go and visit whenever and send lots of designer baby clothes, both me and my daughter are happy with that.

The estate agent arranged for electricity and water payments, a good reason to buy through an estate agent as all is sorted out with no effort on our behalf.

Time to start work again. The stairs are all enclosed and there is a hallway, these are the first to come down, how much better do they look? 

We have also found a pile of very old photos that had been tucked away under the stairs, we are going to give them to the local Marie (this is the local town hall).

You can watch the video here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naXTGwRJ0Vk&feature=share

But the most exciting thing of all was the locked door in the barn, we had no key so John forced the door and we found a working toilet!!!!! Life is complete, I don’t think I have ever been so excited, not only was it a working toilet but it and the room were clean, it had been sealed not long after being installed so had remained safe and secure THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

Laura told me there was a local French/English language class called Babble on a Tuesday and gave me the directions, after much stomping around, I gave up and went back to Laura’s, who was nice enough to drive me there, to find out that the classes had been cancelled for the summer break, unfortunately Laura had missed a booking whilst we were out, how guilty do I feel????

We had a visitor today, an older gent called Jean. He was born in our house and we gave him a tour, he pointed out the room he was born in and the room he had as a child, he also explained that the barn at the back of the house was a stable, when we questioned how the horse got up and down the stone steps to the garden he explained that it didn’t, it came through the hallway from the road!

We showed the photo’s and he was gobsmacked, the photos were of his dad, granddad, his sister who had died when she was young, cousins and a photo of him as a baby, he’s now 80! So the photos are going home, he said that he wanted to bring his wife to see them.

When we arrived back at the B&B there were a couple of Laura’s friends sat on the terrace, and we were invited to join them for a drink, we were then invited to join the picnic, which was fabulous, the drink turned into a few bottles and we all went off to listen to the gospel choir in the amphitheatre in the enchanted forest. Walked home and saw a shooting star, I just love this place more each day

Top tips                           

1.       No matter how much you want to do this the emotional turmoil is massive, deal with it sensitively; it will pass or at least be easier to deal with.

2.       If you find something in the property hold onto it, as somebody will be able to find its owner.