27 October

For some reason, we felt a bit deflated... I had plenty of gardening to do (thigh-high crucifers to hack back, for a start & another 125 bulbs to plant; I had wanted to do the patio, but we'd lost the will to live, so no chance), and we still needed to finish cleaning the fireplace, but just couldn't summon sufficient energy.

We had a visit at the house from Sergine (immobilière) - she'd called us to see if she could come round. It seemed a bit odd; we were scheduled to go to her house for dinner the next day. It turns out "Mr Laid-Back" isn't; he'd phoned up CAIG and given a roasting to Isabelle and Sergine. We really weren't happy with that; we hadn't felt we'd 'gelled' with him as well as the other gentlemen, but that sealed the issue. How dare he phone and insult our friends - he's not even working for us?! He had said that Sergine shouldn't have recommended Dominique and why was she letting down her clients, and a load more besides. I hope we managed to convince her that we hadn't wanted him to do this, and apologise enough (although that we should be apologising for a 'professional' didn't sit well). When Sergine recommended Dominique to us, he was doing perfectly good work for her and she had no reason to doubt he would continue to work well. Even when he started working for us, it all seemed OK at first (the enlarged doorway between the kitchen and entrance hall looks just what we'd hoped for), it was just the slow progress that bothered us. Later, everything started to look rushed (and we now know it was done in a hurry; not just looked like it - neighbours in rural France are a fabulous source of information!). It was only after Sergine had told Dominique to stop working for her (for the slow progress/not turning up when he said he would), that his work started to cause us concern.

Well, M. Jacquard has ruled himself out of the selection process. He made a big point of telling us that he is the only ISO 9001 (2?) certified project manager in the Aube. But if he alienates people outside of the work, how would he get on with workmen? We have a (tiny) hope that we may get some refund from Dominique, but if M. Jacquard has spoken to him already, I think he will have ruined that for us!

We went for apéritifs with the Bouzenards; it was nice to just have an evening without thinking about or discussing the house, except in the lightest of detail. Mme Bouzenard is looking a little better, but I'm not sure if that's just the steroids plumping out her face. She says she's feeling a bit better, and is eating again, so we're keeping fingers crossed for her swift recovery.

Going back to the gîte and an open fire reminded us why we are doing this; we did need reminding! I often think you appreciate things more when you've had to wait/struggle to achieve them, so we're going to love it when we have the house how we want it (whenever that will be).