We awake Friday to a grey and rainy day. We had a great drive down, wonderful roads all the way. Hardly any traffic on the autoroutes but we did pay about 50 Euros for the privilege. This would have been less in a car though. The first D road (departmental road) we hit was about 9 Kms from Villefagnan so the driving was all on wide roads till then. Even so the road from Ruffec to Villefagnan is a good one.
The Route had taken us around Le Mans, Poitiers, through Tours where the River Loire was in flood and the the N10 down to Ruffec. At Tours I text Di who has a house with Paul not far from there just to say Hi and that I was thinking of her.
We arrived at the agent to collect the keys about 3.45 and were given a marvellous welcome. At last I had the keys to my new home. The plumber couldn't get tones until Monday and this was the Friday so we decided that without mains drainage and only an outside loo (for this read hole in the ground with toilet seat above, hidden behind a curtain and blanket) we would stay in a gite. After a quick look in the house and a lovely reunion with Nadia and Justin and their lovely children we set off for the gite having bought a couple of beers and some wine in the local supermarket. At the house was a lovely card from my old and dear friend Jim; a wonderful card with some British red telephone boxes on. He suggested these would be a reminder of home until we had one installed in the courtyard. There was also a card saying the post office had tried to deliver a parcel. We would have to wait till Monday to pick that up at the Post Office. We planned on food and an early night so we could get up and start the next day a working at the house. This nearly went to plan, except for the power that was on and off all evening and the fact we were drinking wine by torchlight and getting very chatty. Sill it wasn't an overly late night. Neither of us slept brilliantly - we both had too many things whirling through our heads. Something that is still occurring after 4 nights there.
We got up on the Saturday and drove to the house. The day was spent clearing (or rather starting to clear) the house of all of the previous owner's stuff and emptying the van. We are so lucky to have a covered area between the two houses as we can put all our stuff under there and also in the barn. There is a great old workbench and plenty of room to keep tools.
Laden with bin bags I started going through cupboards and looking to see what could be washed that we could use. I found some plated in house 2 that are now washed and in a sideboard in our kitchen. There is stuff all over the place. I found cutlery in house 2' the kitchen and in a 'mais' in the enormous room next to the kitchen which will at some point become part of our kitchen making it a large room with a utility room. A mais is a large coffin like wooden box raised above the ground where flour and suchlike was stored, out of reach of mice etc.
The weather improved as the day went on and at 4pm we we able to sit outside in the sunshine with a mug of Earl Grey.
We had a good day and went back to the gite tired but happy to have finally started. It was Burn's night and Phil had brought a haggis and mushy peas (and chips) all the way from the UK. The haggis was on and chips were in the oven when the power went out. We never had the chips...... But we did have haggis and mushy peas by candlelight.
Sunday,the weather was a different story. We had to clear the attic so we could start building work. This is to be our bedroom with an en suite bathroom. It was full of cases with photos that I will go through at some point. There are letters dated 1937 to I think the parents of the old lady who lived here. More on these finds when I have a chance to look through all the stuff.
There was a great big metal tub with a lid that was chock a block with old Bon Maman jam jars and killer jars, we are thinking we may open the courtyard and set up a load of stuff on tables so people can come and help themselves. If anything can go to a good home so much the better. Even so there is so much stuff to take to the dechetterie (tip) and will be for months to come.
After clearing the attic (well, mostly) I started brushing down the beams and then treating them with Cuprinol 5 star complete wood treatment. It paints on and is like water so lots of dripping all over the place. In the meantime Phil has taken tiles off the roof where water was coming through and fortuitously in the same spot we need to put the Velux for the bathroom, so he has slipped that in. 2 days later after lots of rain there isn't any water coming through which is fantastic.
We returned to the gite tired and filthy, covered in cobwebs and a couple of hundred years of dust!
After a shower we went to L'Etoile D'Or where we were welcomed by Helen and Paul who we met in December when we stayed. Paul cooked a lovely pork in cream and cider for me and a turkey escalope with mushrooms, cream and Madeira sauce for Phil. Phil was persuaded to have cheese - he can never say no........ Then we wet back to the gite for an early night.
Monday - the plumber was due to start so we went to the house after breakfast with a plan to pickmup the parcel at La Poste, say hello to the plumber, then to go to look at some cars and leave him to it.The parcel was my LiveBox from Orange to connect to the Internet. Amazingly quick, I only paid for it last Wednesday and within 2 days it had arrived. We would have a go at installing it later.
The plumber is a lovely man and he had a helper so we said hello and goodbye and made a quick exit. Joan, our estate agent had recommended a garage on the way to Chef Bouton at Bouin so we headed there. Unfortunatelybitvwasnshut until 2pm so we had a look around and then went to Ruffec to 3MMM to buy electric cable and switches, I used my French debit card for the first time, but I know it won't be the last by a long shot. We knew of a couple of car dealers in Ruffec and went to have a look. It was lunch time and everywhere closes but we could still wander around, but only a Renault Twingo caught our eye and we thought we could go back and have a look later. Then on to E. LeClerc. This is a large supermarket and we spent a while getting some yummy stuff for the next couple of days. After a quick lunch of soup and baguette we decided to go back to Bouin as it had gone 2pm and the car sales should be open. When we got the we were told that the man who sells cars wasn't there till tomorrow and could we come back Tuesday. The receptionist picked up the phone to find out what time would be good for us to return and put the phone down saying, he will come now as he only lives next door. I don't know the guy's name but he certainly knew what cars he had along with their kilometerage, engine size, price etc just off the top of his head. He wanted to show me a right hand drive Suzuki but I told home I really wanted a left hand drive car. There was also a banana yellow van, similar to our friend James'. I can just imagine the reaction from. My friends if I drove that! There was also a dark green Ford Ka, but Phil wasn't keen. In addition he had a silver Peugeot 206, 2003 diesel with loads of kilometres on the clock but it is a diesel. He asked if I wanted a drive so he handed me the keys and we went for a spin. It was such an easy car to just get in and drive so my mind was made up. 2 litre engine, no wonder she shifted. 3500 euros and I asked him to throw in the carte gripe which he agreed to do. I pick her up Saturday!
After all this I then had to produce some documents. Passport, proof of domicile in France and I need to have insurance by Friday in order for the garage to get the carte grise.
This involved a trip to the notaire's office to get an attestation that I own the house. Then we went to an AXA agent at the endow the village to try and arrange insurance. The lady there was lovely but didn't speak any English so it was a lengthy process. I had to go back this morning with proof of my no claims but today (Tuesday) I have insurance from 1st Feb. After sorting the insurance we had to go back to the garage with passport and proof of domicile so we covered a few miles yesterday. The day off from physical work gave Phil's muscles a chance to recover so it all worked out perfectly. We only had one thing we wanted to do and that was to see if we could get broadband sorted. It wasn't too difficult and we had Internet by 6.15. Sadly it was only 5.15 in the UK and I tried getting hold of several people but no one was online. Oh well, I can at last Update this blog and publish it.
To end the day we cooked sausages and had a beer and a glass of wine. Pattern forming here do you think?
So Tuesday today.
We set the alarm this morning so we could get to the house earlier. On the way we passed the AXA office and I went in to pay and prove my no claims. I came away with all my documentation.
The plumber had already arrived and the courtyard is a big trench with a pipe running through it, great progress. One step closer to having a connected toilet!
I finished the Cuprinol so we will have to go and get some more and Phil has spent the day building framework for the hot water cylinder and the bathroom wall and door.
I have cleared the room we will sleep in almost and set up a bed and bedside tables. There are electric heaters in there and it will be lovely and cosy. I unpacked a topper for the bed and pillows and a down duvet that I used to have in Bradley Stoke. I was so looking forward to getting this out again but when I unwrapped the bag it seems I had mislabelled it and there were 3 pillows inside. Doh! So we will have to have a trip to buy a new duvet before moving in. We are hoping this will be Friday. This is where we will sleep.
More soon.
Love to all my family and friends.
Xx
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