Moving on

The last 7 days have had us on the edge of our seats & every time the phone has rung during the day it's been answered with a little trepidation & a sigh of relief when it's not been the estate agent. On Friday she did ring with the great news that our buyers money had arrived & they hadn't changed their minds. Whoopee!!!!!!!!!! She was surprised that we'd been on tenterhooks all week as in over 20 years or business they'd only ever had one couple change their mind in the seven day cooling down period, something she could have told us last week!

Although we hadn't wanted to count our poulet before they'd hatched we had started the ball rolling with the visits I'd mentioned last week. M. Hugonnet the window manufacturer (we're hoping he's not related to M. Hugonnet the roofer & working off the same calendar) called on Monday afternoon & has promised the windows & doors will be ready in approximately 3 weeks. We also called into see M. Regourd and arranged for him to visit on Tuesday afternoon to measure up & prepare a devis. We'd asked them to prepare a quote for the plumbing, electrics & heating and when we mentioned that we were considering oil fired central heating Mme. Regourd told us that there had been a spate of thefts locally involving central heating oil and that we should make sure the oil tank was well secured and the local gendarmes were now investigating. M. Regourd was there as promised on Tuesday afternoon & after a little arm twisting he also agreed to return on Wednesday morning & fit the waste pipes. With that job out of the way I could get on and lay the 12 tonnes of stone I'd ordered and which was due for delivery late Wednesday morning. Just as the Regourds were packing up the lorry arrived with the stone so it was a quick lunch & out with the barrow & spade. It was hard work but with intermittent showers throughout the afternoon it kept the dust & perspiration levels under control but on Thursday it hotted up considerably & by the time I'd finished the temperature had crept up to 22ºC. I was definitely ready for a cold beer.

With a distinct improvement in the weather you can probably guess that Barbara has headed back to the UK for a few days, funny how in coincided with that delivery of stone. I'd dropped her off at Rodez on Tuesday & she'd caught the Ryanair flight to Dublin & then had to hang about for 4 hours to catch the flight to Blackpool and although it's not very good for her carbon footprint it is cheap. As always happens when Barbara's away I get phone calls from people wanting to arrange a rendezvous, unfortunately it's always tradesmen! This time it was EDF wanting to come and install the new electric supply & after a few s'il vous plaît répéter I managed to understand the time & date they were coming. At the end of the conversation the lady on the other end of the phone confirmed the details of our conversation in English & apologised for not being able to speak it better. It turned out that she'd not used it since she was at school & felt embarrassed about talking to me in case she made a mistake. She's not the one who should be embarrassed! That was the last major thing we needed ticking off and everything should now be in place for a completion date in late June. I'd have popped the cork on a bottle of Champers to celebrate but it's no fun drinking bubbly on your billy.

Saturday I'd been invited out for a meal by G & S and we headed back to the 'Le Four à Pain'. The menu had changed and we had another great choice of freshly cooked food. I had 'simply pan fried coley' and it tasted all that much better because someone else was paying. Thanks G & S it was a lovely night out & I guess we'll not be bumping in to Boris in the local bar again for a while, well at least not for the next 4 years, as I think he's going to be a little busy elsewhere.

Now a request for sponsorship. Rebecca is doing the Cancer Research UK 'Race For Life' on Sunday 11th May at Crystal Palace and you can sponsor her by clicking here. Thanks.