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)

Mixed reactions

A steady stream of people are visiting to view number 82. Today a family stayed for an hour and a half. They were so nice and I could really imagine them living here, daft really as it won't make any difference to us when we've gone but somehow it seems better to think of nice people moving in. Earlier in the week TC was moved to take the car number of one visitor who seemed so odd as to be somewhat suspicious!




We've had lots of positive feedback but so far no offers. We suspect that most of the people who have looked so far have not got their house on the market yet but are interested because our house is a bit individual and has such a great garden. Many of them are living on a nearby modern housing estate and profess that they have "always wanted to live in one of these houses", some recount having visited each one in the road that has come onto the market in the last five years ! Still its good to be getting interest and an offer too early would have caused us some stress anyway.




As more of our friends discover our plans their reactions are interesting. For the most part they are pleased for us, if surprised, and will I am sure be making plans to take advantage of our hospitality in the future- hope so anyway. Both of the children are relaxed about the sale of the family home and are convinced that we will be happy in France, even my parents seem to have come to terms with the idea a little more although it has understandably been difficult for them. Those few friends who continue to express their doubts I am sure do so with the best of intentions but as things progress we are increasingly secure in our decision and are so looking forward to the adventures the next decade holds in store for us.

It would be nice to get some sort of offer before we go back to France at half term so that we could do some more househunting of our own, I have a few potential properties eyed up already but I am trying not to get too attached to anything yet.