Renovation Project - It’s all over

Renovation Project - It’s all over

This has been such a hectic week; we have so much to do and so little time to do it in. Have you ever noticed that when you know what needs doing there seems to be so much time but actually trying to get it done is a totally different matter.

Cleaning the house is no problem, but then you don’t want to use the room you cleaned, but have to, so it needs cleaning again so it becomes a never ending cycle.

The last tip run is completed and we say our goodbyes, this was far more emotional than should be expected, what had my life become? But seriously we had actually got to know the guy there quite well, it was like my second home for quite some time, again, seriously, what had my life become?

Then we need to get everything booked for our trip to Portugal, this may be the last time that we make this drive, simply because flights are so inexpensive. So trying to ensure that we visit the right places on the way down are important.

We complete the final signing of our sale at 11 am tomorrow morning (the blog is a little bit behind as you may have guessed, we are not signing on New Year’s Day) and will be driving to Portugal as soon as we leave the notaires office. So we can’t go as far as Bordeaux which is normally our first stop, so we are going to stay in La Rochelle. I have wanted to visit this town so much and somehow we have never managed it. But the trip is planned with 4 stops; we really are going to enjoy this trip with time for lunch in Bordeaux one day and San Sebastian the next.

The car is taken to the garage to have its wheels balanced as John noticed a slight wobble, this takes almost a full day as we go in the morning to be told to come back at 2, then at 2 we are told to come back at 3, then at 3 we are told to come back at 4. This is not a problem as they are the main garage in this area for recovery of cars, so we know they can be very busy and called out on emergencies. But they are good and trustworthy so the payoff is worth it, plus now we just give a Gaelic shrug and say, oh well its France (I think I may miss this attitude to life the most when we leave).

But now all our goodbyes are said, our house is empty of us, all the furniture is being left and once again we pack the new trusty Volvo with all our worldly belongings, and we must be getting better as we do not even have a roof box for this journey.

It’s a final night at Le Crepuscule, actually this restaurant maybe what I will miss the most and then the night is spent at our friends house, no its definitely my friends I will miss the most and then it really is goodbye Huelgoat in the morning.

Oh God what are we doing I love this place; I am going to miss it all so much

But tomorrow is a new day

TO BE CONTINUED.................................

picture courtesy of http://forever-run-blog.blogspot.pt/

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

I know its a little late but we were without internet. 

So apologies but from both of us we wish you a very Merry Christmas

Enjoy and have fun

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Renovation project - Goodbye Rex

Renovation project - Goodbye Rex

We have had such a hectic time trying to say all of our goodbyes, but there is one that has a special place. Before we moved to France we had a large old dog called Rex, he was supposed to retire to France with us, but unfortunately he didn’t make it, he was too old and life couldn’t keep up. It was only a short time before we left for France that he died,

But it was too short an amount of time for me to be ready to say good bye in the UK and leave him in a strange place alone (yes I now he was a dog, but he had been my loyal companion for over 12 years) so we made the decision to take his ashes to France and bury him there, this never happened on our first time in France, certainly couldn’t leave him in Spain and our new French house has no garden, this is where my wonderful friend stepped in.

We met when she was first moving to France, when I was an estate agent and became firm friends, well this person is a dog lover and has rescued many dogs since coming to France, many of whom were very old or inform and there is a small section of her garden, under the shade of a tree where her dogs ashes are sprinkled and she kindly offered to let Rex rest there.

Although we will not be coming back to this bit of France anytime soon, it will always hold a piece of my heart, with so many happy memories and so many good friends and I know he will be kept company by the new dogs that arrive.

We lay his ashes and sit in the garden enjoying our last glass of wine.

Goodbye Rex, the first and hardest of our goodbyes and thank you Suzy

Renovation project - The end is near

Renovation project - The end is near

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Apologies for the delay but we have just been so busy and to be honest we really needed a bit of a break, but the final installments of our life in France are coming.

Ok the French sale is now going ahead at full steam. We will be exchanging next week.

I am on face book and having a chat with one of my very good friends and as I am about to say I’ll pop round next week, it suddenly hits me like a steam roller, and I am floored.

I look at John and say do you mind if I pop up to Suzy’s and he says no problem is everything OK and at this moment I explain there will be no next week to pop up, this is it we are actually leaving next week.

So I call up and sit on the terrace thinking this is probably the last afternoon we will be doing this.

When I return home it is time to try to arrange all of our goodbyes, we should probably have done this earlier, but you can’t guarantee anything until the paperwork is signed, but now it is.

We have such a bitter sweet week, eating out and visiting people saying our final goodbyes. There is so much I am going to miss about this little village, we have made such good friends and have so many happy memories. But it is time to plan the next stage and hopefully that will be just as good, at least the sun will shine on the next stage.

So for now it’s cleaning and clearing and getting up to date on the blog.

And luckily getting Johns teeth fixed, we finally managed to get an appointment at the dentist (after all it is September now) we have a last lot of anti biotics and hopefully John will finally be back to his normal self.