The end of the tourist season

It's all gone a bit quiet on the house selling front.

I'm not sorry to have ceased the role of tour guide for nosy locals and it's good to be at the stage when we can say we are definitely going to be here till the end of the year when TC leaves work. Now if we get a definite sale we can look to moving in the new year even if we have to rent a place to start with. It is a bit unnerving though having nothing at all happening and I keep meeting people with tales of houses for sale for over a year. Right at the start of the process the estate agent did warn us that the first sign of tinsel drove all thoughts of moving out of peoples minds and sure enough its October, the shops are all baubles and glitter and the phone has stopped ringing.

There has been progress though. He HAS given in his notice and WILL be leaving at the end of December. On the appointed day I was unsure what his reaction might be but he came home in celebratory mood and a bottle of bubbly was opened! I have also given advanced notice that I will not be available for any more tutoring work after this term so we are both on countdown time.

We will be off to France again at the end of this month and maybe we will be able to devote a few days to some serious househunting. We will also be taking a car load of bits and pieces uncovered during the continuing decluttering to store at Pavillon, nothing too precious but we might as well fill the car and make the space here.

Our car boot experiences continue to be somewhat disappointing. Last week a profit of £10 did not seem worth the effort (even though I didn't go) but it was a wet and cold morning so we can use that as an excuse this time. BUT we are making good progress on clearing the attics and we can now see the dust under the beds! ( slight panic this week when the new vacuum cleaner stopped working but it turned out to be just a blockage in the pipe - I have to admit there was a serious amount of dust under the junk)