Happy New Year!

Sadly, we're back in England now; no more fires in the woodburning stove, or showering in water from our well, or keeping an eye out for wild boar when we're out in the car...

Seriously, we're not (too) unhappy, and a decent break like that really does make us appreciate our lovely house, AND how easy it is to get to [normally!].

Our journey back last night was pretty good: we were worried about being late in case the Shuttle was experiencing delays like they had on the way out, so David drove at the speed limit [rather than our normal, more economical speed] and we made it in time for the train half an hour earlier...

Only, of course, we didn't - the Shuttle was having some sort of trouble, but we did end up leaving about five minutes before our booked journey. The queueing for the best part of an hour was not-so-much fun; as David remarks it doesn't seem to take much increase in passenger volume for the system to cope not very well; at least yesterday they had all the passport booths open - queueing for over an hour because they only have four windows open, and then shut the one we are aiming for has happened more often than it should have done!

Coming back to London was also problem-free; we think [we never remember to look at the clock to see when we arrive; we get caught up in unloading the car & putting things away] that it took about seven and a quarter hours - far enough that you know you've been away, not too far to put us off going for a long weekend.

We were reading French Property News, and were astonished at the times from ports being quoted: there was one place 45 minutes from Cahors [where you leave the motorway] that the owners said you could get to from Calais in eight hours. We drove from Paris to Cahors and it took over ten hours, and Mick who fitted our windows says he regularly drives to a friend's place in the Lot valley and it takes him 13 or 13½ hours and he does the journey at night, non-stop and going full pelt! I'm guessing that the people who do the journey in five hours fewer must get an awful lot of speeding tickets?! [Can't remember if Mick said he broke the speed limit, but I think it might be likely that he does bend it a bit!]

Not a total non-sequitur talking about properties in the Lot department: we had fallen in love with the area when we visited in 2003, but the immense journeys we experienced persuaded us that unless you fly [and put yourselves at the mercy of the airlines & BAA], there's no way you could enjoy a property for weekends.

Our place is close enough that we can do the nightmare meeting trips that we did (nearly) every fortnight for a year: leave London between 1-2pm, arrive at the hotel just off the motorway [NOW we could stay at our house!] by midnight, get up & have a leisurely breakfast before arriving at the house for a 9am meeting, leave again at midday [when everything grinds to a halt in France], and get home again usually before midnight!

Boy, do we NOT miss those meetings!

Regarding the house: David is waiting for a response to his mail to Jean-Marie pointing out the errors made around where the loo should be. He hasn't yet pointed out that the job is NOT finished - I've posted a photo of the "loo"; we know the French don't seem terribly concerned about where their waste goes after it leaves the toilet pan, but they normally do at least have it connected.

Also posting a picture of the "doorway" to the bedroom; we could use the bedroom, but unlocking a door, putting on a coat/wellies, walking around to unlock another door to get into the rest of the house doesn't seem 'finished' to us!

[If you can't see the "doorway" it's because it is blocked up & plastered over - at the end of the corridor behind the stacks of chairs - not terribly useful just yet!]

Ending on a positive note: both the plumber and the builder are totally happy to work with us to finish this incredibly tiny bit off, and I think are happy that Jean-Marie is being cut out of the loop - it sounded as though they both think he's caused most of the problems/delays and prefer not to work with him - and Mme. Roussey says she is glad that we've confirmed to her not to give out the spare keys; apparently J-M had asked for the keys one day [we knew nothing about that, and hadn't told him he could], so hopefully no-one else can go and do any work wrong!

If all work happens when we are there, we've got a chance of getting it done right.

For a job that should have taken two months, and we kicked off the process in late 2009, it seems that the overrun will probably take us up to a year after work should have been finished. But I feel as though the nightmarish quality will end; David really has had enough of the inefficiency and delays, and I'm getting another opportunity to practise becoming more Zen about things, so it's not all bad!

Have a happy and peaceful new year.