Back in the UK after our March visit

Bad news

We got back from our March visit and almost immediately had a mail from M. Boyer – Dominique wants to re-do the work himself. That was definitely our least preferred option. We know that M. Boyer won’t want Dominique to do any work until he’s received confirmation that Dominique is adequately insured, but we sent M. Boyer a list of criteria that would need to be met before we would let Dominique resume work. This included: a fixed time scale, (punitive) penalties for over-running, starting immediately we’re agreed, he pays for materials (we’ve already paid for one lot!) & a water-tight contract drawn up either by M. Boyer or our notaire.

I have to admit the main reason for sending this list is hoping M. Boyer will communicate these pre-conditions to Dominique and that will be enough to put him off completely! We’d much rather he changes his mind and offers to pay us back some of the money we paid him!

I don’t play poker, but I have a feeling this is what it’s like…?

Depression vs despair/inertia

I’ve been spending some time (an inordinate amount, it feels) pondering the difference between depression (probably seasonal affective disorder) and despair, coupled with inertia. The only conclusion I came up with is that they feel different, but the effect (i.e. nothing happening) is the same…

Was it worth the thoughts? Have you been helped?

Cormorant

I was coming home on the bus, crossing the Thames on Westminster Bridge, when a cormorant flew overhead. It was lovely to see it, but oddly made me think it ought to be in China; I have a feeling I’ve read (or even seen a television programme?) about Chinese fishermen who use cormorants to catch fish. Am I imagining that?

Snow

We had some snow – not very much, but enough to cause chaos on the roads. I hope that we will have some when we are staying at our house this winter (probably a bit optimistic!); that would give me chance to take some new Christmas card photos!