Well we still haven't got a completion date. On the upside, after much insistence on my part, the notiaire has now asked the bank to release the funds. No doubt they will have to reply in writing and the letter will have to be written on parchment with a quill and ink and sealed with wax. As it apparently takes three days for the funds to arrive (electronic banking anyone?), I imagine a man from Paris will journey down south, leading a donkey carrying paniers of old francs.
In the meantime, the husband continues to do sterling work on the outbuildings at the new property. The plan was to get these watertight for storage of our goods and chattels. However at this rate we will be moving into the barn at the end of the month as it will be a damm sight better than the house. So much for my carefully planned, slow and stress free move. My blood pressure is increasing in direct proportion to the passing days.
I have managed to get a phone line installed though. This might sound like nothing but was no mean feat. France Telecom started from a position of insisting that the property didn't actually exist. I resisted the temptation to accept that they were right and assume that the events of the last few weeks have been nothing but a bad dream. No, I persevered and surprise, surprise, they eventually 'found' the property. How kind of them! And they are going to let me pay them too!
Now I just need to get the electricity supply changed and switch suppliers. I am sure this will only take a couple of months....
Eldest daughter is 14 today which makes me feel very old. And working on a feature about retirement villages doesn't help. If the purchase process continues at this rate, we might as well move directly to such a development ourselves.
But hey ho, I am never one to be defeated (for long) so I am off to find out about renovation grants. As there is currently no heating system (always fun moving into an unheated property when winter is approaching) and the fosse is beyond description, I think we are going to need all the cash we can get. Feel free to send donations. In fact, that is quite a good idea; I keep hearing about people who request donations on blogs and get them. Maybe I should start a 'Keep me in bacon' fund? Or how about 'Distressed ex-pats need flushing loos - donate now' or 'Save my furniture from becoming firewood'?
On second thoughts, maybe not. Knowing my luck I would probably just get sent a whole pile of badly knitted woolly jumpers and helpful suggestions about composting toilets.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
On the move
Well the hot news from chez nous, is that we are moving. Not only have we managed by some miracle to get a mortgage and find a deposit, we also managed to find the one property in south west France that was within our pathetic budget. I know that most sensible people are not buying at the moment, but hey, when were we ever sensible? And besides, the joy of owing our own home again after several years of renting, is simply indescribable.
However, we don't actually own it yet. Despite the completion date being set for late August, the sale....has still not happened .
We have had to resend the formal acceptance to the bank as the first one simply disappeared. This was despite its being sent recorded. The second attempt reached the bank this morning. Now the notire has to write requesting the money...
In the meantime our lovely vendor has buggered off to Normandy to have his kidney removed and refuses point blank to sign a procuration as he wants to be there in person. I am not even thinking about what could go wrong at this stage. He returns at the end of the month so our nice calm move in stages will become a last minute 'out in two days' job. We are also spending 3 hours a day in the car on the school run. The plan was to drop the girls in the morning, work on the house and then collect them but we can't do this as we don't have the bloody keys
Grrr. Is all that one can say...
And yes we are stressed.
Other stressful events this week included taking the kids to a water park, slipping over and cracking a rib. This just goes to show that you should never, ever take your kids for a day out. Far too dangerous.
The next day we managed to lose control of the Land Rover and end up in a field. Which happened to be on a very steep slope. We ground to a halt in a large bramble thicket. Of course I was wearing shorts and flip flops (not ideal 'climbing out of a Land Rover window into a thorn bush' attire). Young son was quite distraught but as he got a ride in a tractor cab thanks to the the recovery team, thought it good fun at the end of the day.
The girls have changed school in anticipation of our move and seem to be doing ok. The set up seems pretty progressive, special light weight books and folders (supplied free!) and laptops. The head worked in Australia for 4 years so is aware of a life outside duck farms. The eldest has made friends with some boy who was selling dope during the maths class and another who stands on the desks during science. Still she is pretty sensible so I refuse to worry. The younger is hanging out with the one girl in her class, no one else likes (who sounds quite interesting as she wants to be a fighter pilot - rare for these parts where child care and duck farming are the career paths of choice) but I am hopeful Basil (the drug dealer) and her older sister will ensure that she does not get picked on too much by the other girls in her class.
If we ever get to move in, youngest son will be changing school too, so no doubt that will bring its own set of problems. In the meantime, I will carry on stuffing things into cardboard boxes. And refrain from packing the ducks until the last minute. Although if they continue to shit all over the garage, they may well get packed sooner rather than later. And it might be a one way journey...
However, we don't actually own it yet. Despite the completion date being set for late August, the sale....has still not happened .
We have had to resend the formal acceptance to the bank as the first one simply disappeared. This was despite its being sent recorded. The second attempt reached the bank this morning. Now the notire has to write requesting the money...
In the meantime our lovely vendor has buggered off to Normandy to have his kidney removed and refuses point blank to sign a procuration as he wants to be there in person. I am not even thinking about what could go wrong at this stage. He returns at the end of the month so our nice calm move in stages will become a last minute 'out in two days' job. We are also spending 3 hours a day in the car on the school run. The plan was to drop the girls in the morning, work on the house and then collect them but we can't do this as we don't have the bloody keys
Grrr. Is all that one can say...
And yes we are stressed.
Other stressful events this week included taking the kids to a water park, slipping over and cracking a rib. This just goes to show that you should never, ever take your kids for a day out. Far too dangerous.
The next day we managed to lose control of the Land Rover and end up in a field. Which happened to be on a very steep slope. We ground to a halt in a large bramble thicket. Of course I was wearing shorts and flip flops (not ideal 'climbing out of a Land Rover window into a thorn bush' attire). Young son was quite distraught but as he got a ride in a tractor cab thanks to the the recovery team, thought it good fun at the end of the day.
The girls have changed school in anticipation of our move and seem to be doing ok. The set up seems pretty progressive, special light weight books and folders (supplied free!) and laptops. The head worked in Australia for 4 years so is aware of a life outside duck farms. The eldest has made friends with some boy who was selling dope during the maths class and another who stands on the desks during science. Still she is pretty sensible so I refuse to worry. The younger is hanging out with the one girl in her class, no one else likes (who sounds quite interesting as she wants to be a fighter pilot - rare for these parts where child care and duck farming are the career paths of choice) but I am hopeful Basil (the drug dealer) and her older sister will ensure that she does not get picked on too much by the other girls in her class.
If we ever get to move in, youngest son will be changing school too, so no doubt that will bring its own set of problems. In the meantime, I will carry on stuffing things into cardboard boxes. And refrain from packing the ducks until the last minute. Although if they continue to shit all over the garage, they may well get packed sooner rather than later. And it might be a one way journey...
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