We left England on the 14th November, 2004. First stop, the notaire's office - where we thought we would complete . I was quite looking forward to meeting Maitre Phillippe Magis (the notaire) because he puts at the bottom of his letters,
"avec mes sentiments devotee" (direct goggle translation being - with my devoted feelings!! - ooh err!)
The reason it has taken so long to leave is that we had not received the certificate d'urbanisme(CU) (meaning outline planning permission). When we left England, we were told that it had been issued and was being sent to the notaire so when we arrive we can sign - this wasn't quite the case. Infact it took a further 2 weeks to arrive - oh good. We were given the keys anyway - so we moved in.
The house - Oh my god, what have we done? All I could think on arrival is its really cold, we have no heating, no bed (except army camp beds), no furniture, nothing. First thing we did was a bit of, retail therapy for an electric heater and an oven with 2 rings above. Very sensible shopping,.
We have had to adjust to rural french life - the first night, we tried to go out for dinner, but unfortunately......closed for winter. That first night was so cold. I lay there thinking I have to stay awake incase I go unconscious due to hyperthermia. We had the heater on but only on number 5 (i.e. not full) - the reason for this was that the electrical wiring seemed to be heating up - Dan was sure that shouldn't happen - we decided not to overload it - so in amidst my hyperthermia concerns were fire too and you know I'm not great on that subject. Dan told me to stop being an alarmist.
Anyway - the cold may have been due to the army camp beds so we bought a mattress.
Dan and I decided to further investigate the barns.
Initially Dan was very upbeat and found a new friend Bobby the bat - I humoured him, of course, but then left fairly promptly wondering how to get rid of it. Unfortunately, Dan has rather fallen for Bobby the Bat - and would like a new page on the website called "Bobby the Bat and his amazing adventures with the crazy English people" - well he can write that one!
Monsieur Villars, (the seller) took pity on us and very kindly leant us an old table and 3 chairs (bit a woodworm but frankly when you have nothing anything is a godsend).
Dan took an executive decision.We could not stand another night, never mind a winter, of the cold and the temperature was supposed to be dropping to minus 5 at the weekend, so at vast expense, (leaving me feeling rather sick at the prospect of spending soo much money - just think what I could have bought with that), we bought a wood burning stove. To add to this there was only Dan and I to carry this precious item into the house - backbreaking, it weighs 150kg!
Despite my moaning I was secretly quite pleased after Dan fitted it (very impressive!) and it was working - especially when it froze.- everywhere was white and the sun was shining across the field - v. beautiful:
Even better, we had condensation on the inside of our windows which we found very exciting as it means that it was marginally warmer inside the house than outside - for the first time. I wouldn't go as far as to say it was warm but slightly "off cold" as ivory is to white. - it takes guts to wash your hair.
So French peasant life goes on. After the morning chores of cleaning the fire grate, mopping the floor, sweeping the step and nodding a bonjour to the locals, off we went to obtain the next major items required for survival - a satellite dish and TV (obviously just so that we can see the weather reports). It actually reminded me of the indigenous Indians of San Blas in Panama who lived in mud huts but all had full on satellite and other mod cons - similarly we now have a mattress, a woodburning stove and satellite TV. Interesting which items we believe are required for modern day survival! Bit concerned about the old overload electricity thing. We can't have kettle, cooker and TV on
.Most of November has been taken up with garden clearance (click here for garden and terraces) as we were not able to work on the house until after we complete. A big thank you to John and Caroline for the red leather gardening gloves - they have saved my hands. This garden clearance is tough work - without the gloves I would be having serious problems.
We have been very lucky ast we have met some people of a similar age to us who have invited us for dinner, drinks, pancakes with the mayor and generally introduced us to people in the village and made us feel very welcome. Infact, our social life seems to be pretty good all in all - you will be glad to hear that I am keeping up my usual alcohol intake - shouldn't like to dissapoint Ant and Toby!
Towards the end of the month, whilst we were shopping, I caught myself in the mirror and got quite a shock - god my hair, my skin, my clothes. I was wearing old 501's which I'd been working in - I didn't think they looked that bad but I hadn't seen in the mirror!! At that point Dan collapsed laughing saying, "well, I didn't like to say!". We bought a mirror. Annette was horrified when I told her and immediately bought me another mirror!
Celebrations on the 30th - nous avons telephone le notaire - we have se Certificat d' urbanisme - wowwowowowow
Soooo we bought a chainsaw, a hedgecutter and tried to buy a new toilet seat but by the time we had negotiated un bon prix on the chainsaw and hedgecutter, the shops shut for lunch for 2 hours (at 12pm ).. -We know how to celebrate!!