Vide grenier

The first offer on the house has spurred us on. It's too low to accept at this stage but would still give us enough to be able to continue so it's all systems go! We now feel we know the bottom line price and we can search for our French house on that basis. The possible buyers are now considering whether they will increase their offer, they have indicated they do not have a place to sell and would be willing to delay if necessary.

Having had an offer which we would be able to accept if nothing better turns up has given us a new incentive to continue the clearout. Dinner last night was delayed for us to clear out the small kitchen attic. We haven't yet uncovered any forgotten antiques but spent a nostalgic few hours sorting through our assorted (mostly) rubbish. Although it's difficult to get rid of things(being hardened hoarders) it is also a cathartic exercise to throw away what is clearly rubbish (who needs two broken kenwood chefs, minus bowls?). I have no intention of taking up camping again so our collection of old fashioned ( and probably leaky) tiny ridge tents really has to go but TC insists we must keep the big tent for now- I do hope we don't end up living in it!

The heap waiting to go to the dump is definitely bigger than the heap which needs to find a home which is a good start. We definitely need to have a toy sale - train set , farm, playpeople, games , jigsaws, soft toys- and Christmas is not far off.

We also have a collection of old violins and several other old, and for the most part worthless, musical instruments - and what the hell do we do with great grandads sousaphone( minus mouthpiece) which lurks in the back corner of the garage.

The task of clearing out still seems mindboggling, there is so much to do. We're off to Norfolk to see our daughter this weekend. She has tiny house but it does have an attic so time for her to store her own treasured memorabilia ( eg all of her school exercise books!) or make the decision to let them go. She will also be getting a supply of empty jam jars (don't say I'm not generous) so there's another empty cupboard.

We will give ourselves a small pat on the back for the job so far but we can't forget there's another attic and it's bigger!

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.

Nervous tension

Now the house is officially on the market our nerves are stretched as we veer from " OMG we might get an offer we can't refuse and have to sell and get out before Christmas HELP!" and "OMG we'll never sell and we'll still be here this time next year with the price at rock bottom HELP!"

The house has scrubbed up nicely and the photos on the estate agents website look great with my beloved garden stealing the show. We've had two viewings so far and they seemed to go quite well but I suspect neither will lead to a sale which is probably just as well at this stage (see above). We are both wondering how long we can keep everywhere this tidy!

TC has "come clean" at work and announced his intention to leave at the end of the year - not quite the same as putting in his resignation but a start.

So things are under way. It is a strange feeling to be selling the home we have lived in for 23years but we are convinced that this is a good time for us to do something new and exciting. There is a new "home" out there just waiting to be discovered and a new garden just begging to be created I just want to get on with it.

As I sit here wearing thick socks and a jumper (and trousers of course- don't panic) in the middle of August I dream of next year when my summer will last for longer than two weeks! Our cases are packed and ready for another trip south to seek the sun this week. This time we will be taking my elderley parents with us for their annual holiday at Pavillon.

There won't be any house hunting this trip - I couldn't cope with finding the perfect house and losing it although I admit it is hard trying not to get fixated on properties spotted on the immobiliers websites. We will be looking at locations with a view to their living potential as we travel around though as our last visit widened our search area to new towns and villages we had not previously considered.

Tarn et Garonne here we come!

Carry on dancing

Well things are now under way - the valuation on the house was better than we feared and the estate agent seemed optimistic that we will sell at a good price. ( Timing is really tricky though as selling too quickly would be complicated as TC doesn't leave work until December and I would like a last family Christmas here before we leave). We shall just have to see what happens.

We have just returned from a wonderful holiday in Tarn et Garonne . We had no major traumas this time and everything was working. The sun shone for the whole holiday and we made the most of our little pool. The new generator arrived while we were there and was delivered to the door with the help of some good friends having taken only two days after despatch from Crewe.




As we contemplate leaving England it is of course family and friends we will miss. Our circle of friends is largely made up of fellow folk music and dance lovers. TC will have to leave his celidh band but hopes to be able to carry on playing so we have been pleased to be able to find out about the local traditional music and dance scene in Quercy. We enjoyed two "Bals Occitans" during our latest trip and saw traditional dancing displays. We were pleased to see that the enthusiasts were a friendly and mixed age bunch who would not have looked out of place at our local folk club. It was great to be able to join in with the dancing and seeing the same faces at each event made us feel we were getting to know people already. We will certainly be making contact in the future.

There's always something you hadn't thought of!

So there we were, hoping against hope that we could enjoy a couple of weeks of hard but enthusiastic work getting the place all set up for summer. So much for that idea when we arrived at the end of our 820 mile trip to find some b.......s had stolen the generator - all 350 kgs of it! It made clearing out the layer of mud left by the winter flood, at 40 cms the water had been much higher than usual, a totally depressing task. The new boiler hadn't been fitted either. Is it all worth it ?

The plumber arrived full of apologies and fitted the boiler promptly and once more we spent the first day of the holiday acquiring the vocabulary required and gaining first hand experience of a visit to the local gendarmerie.

Our small back up generator did mean we at least had lighting and could charge the batteries for the gas fridge but its not big enough for the washing machine and it now feels a stage nearer camping. We have identified a great replacement - quiet, movable so we can put it inside when we go and able to run on gas the only problem is it's out of stock everywhere in this country and will cost over £1000 more in France so the story continues......

Suffice to say we were pleased that we had arranged visits to 10 properties to check out the market and find out what sort of place is available in our price range. The weather was dreadful and certainly saw places at their worst which no doubt is a good idea. We did not find the dream property which is just as well as we are not yet in a position to make an offer but we did see some interesting places and have been able to fine tune details of what we are looking for. It certainly seems to be a buyers market at the moment and prices in France are still falling, it seems that this may have slowed a bit here and the exchange rate has improved from its worst level.

We returned to France at the start of June determined to enjoy a more relaxing time - after cutting the two foot high grass we kept jobs to the minimum and went out and about. We spent a few days exploring Aveyron (Dept12) and did like the area around Villefranche de Rouergue - will I need to change the title of my blog I wonder?

So back home again we carry on dreaming. TC is determined to work until the end of the year so we have 6 months left. The house has had a touch of love and attention ( well some windows, pointing and painting) and we are ready to organise getting the HIP with our chosen estate agent now all we need is someone who recognises what a lovely house it is (it can't help being in Stoke on Trent) and makes us an offer we can't refuse.

What next?!?!

For the last 3 years, since we bought our little holiday house in south west France, Easter has seen us driving down armed with new paintbrushes and the power washer to get the house spruced up after the ravages of a winter of neglect.

Arrival is always an anxious time as we never know what we will find and what problems we will have to deal with. The anxiety seems to be getting worse with the passing years as three years have taught us there is always something else you haven't thought of to go wrong! The last visit was dominated by finding the shed had been broken into and we had lost every tool, the lawn mower, bikes and the gas bottles - not to mention the decaying bodies of the two loirs trapped in the bath. we did have to work quite hard to persuade ourselves that it was all worth it!

This time we have our fingers crossed that the boiler has been repaired so we will have hot water (unlike our previous stay) and the generator works after the flooding in January.

Whatever else awaits us preparations this year have an extra measure of excitement as we have three days of serious househunting planned. We have three estate agents lined up and a total of 10 properties to visit. Although it is unlikely that any house we see on this trip will still be on the market when we are in a position to buy this will be our opportunity to think really seriously about the type of house and location that will suit us. It will also hopefully galvanise us in to action regarding getting our current house on the market.

So Tarn et Garonne here we come again, full of hope that all our problems will be little ones, that the weather will be kind and we are inspired by the property opportunites within our grasp.

'snow use worrying

It's been a bad week all round but not without little glimmers of relief.

The bad weather meant every plan for the week had to be cancelled so I spent far too much time in front of the computer searching the internet sites of immobilier for likely properties.

Normally here we have snow each winter with one heavy fall which causes major disruption for a day. This year we haven't really had any chaos ( despite neighbouring counties suffering) but the snow is continuing to fall and it is causing just enough problems to keep people in. First of all on Monday my French class was cancelled as the tutor's daughter's school shut, I couldn't get to a planned lunch with friends on Thursday and we had to postpone a visit to my parents in Bristol and our plans to take them to London to go on the London Eye. It's snowing heavily again now and we have been promised blizzards tomorrow night - so it goes on.

Our local supermarket shelves are pretty low and there is no salt to be had even for ready money. I have visions of everyone out there sprinkling their salt cellars on the drive!

But it wasn't all bad news - we heard from our neighbour in France that the flood level a few weeks back had been very high and had very likely breached the floodgates! Panic! We searched for a flight and were making plans for an emergency trip ( snow permitting of course), this weekend. Then to our great relief we managed to get hold of the plumber who has the keys to the house and he was able to reassure us that he has visited the house and been inside and although there is some mud on the floor the level of the water did not get high inside the house and has not caused any damage and most of all there was not a swimming pool trapped behind the floodgates.

Then amongst the continuing news coverage of the "downturn" and pages of reports about returning expat pensioners I was pleased to hear Halifax reporting a 1%INCREASE in house prices last month and the euro returning below 90p for the first time in ages to 87p. Perhaps this is a sign that things are at least going to stabilise a bit over the next few months and we 'll able to start our househunting with a better idea of what's possible.