This is nuts. After waiting (more-or-less) patiently for our builder Antoine to start, now we are rushing around in circles trying to keep up with him. He has kept his word this time and is in full swing with the building work. We talk with him on-site each morning and sneak in at lunchtimes and in the evenings to see what progress his 3-4 person team has made. They have now only been on site one week but already have the beams up, all of the walls and doors in place, most of the plasterboard in and are now making a start on laying the flooring to the mezzanine. The plumber and electrician start next week.
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In fact, when we called in last night to have a look around, we couldn't get in because they had the front door in and locked! Wow. We walked down to Antoine's yard to find a key, to learn he had joked with his office person that he had locked us out so we couldn't go and check on his work over the weekend. We arranged for a key, but on retrieving it from his wife at her shop in our building, it didn't work. She rang, and half an hour later Antoine turned up with the correct copy. John spent quarter of an hour with him going over the changes, discussing bits and pieces. Antoine is very professional, and very thoughtful about what might suit us best.
All-in-all the week has been absurdly busy. Visits to the electrician, haggling over the quote, and endless hours of searching on the net for products and prices culminated in a 8-hour day in Perpignan on Thursday, shuttling between building supply shops and trying to decide on what to buy. We ended coming home with a toilet (we had to return the one we had bought the week before and buy a different model), shower set and thermostat mixer, small basin and tap for the toilet, taps for the bathroom and kitchen sink, four bedroom lights, a heater and a large mirror. Our little car is doing great service. I think the scooter might have struggled - certainly with the large mirror! We had also decided on the ceiling fans and have ordered those on-line. This morning we are off to Perpignan again to collect our pre-ordered oven and to buy our bathroom cabinet.
Decisions have also been made on which spotlights and ventilation system (compulsory in France and rather expensive) to organise through the electrician. On our scouting trip this morning we also hope to find a floor tile that we like. Unfortunately the one we chose is no longer available. Once that is sorted the only really major decision/purchase left is the kitchen. Phew!
We really have been chasing our tails and as a result are feeling a little stressed, but in a good way. It's 9am Saturday and we were hoping to go for a short walk and then head to the market for our fruit and veges early this morning before driving into Perpignan but John is still sleeping. We were both awake at 2am talking about the apartment and what the decisions we have left and are both a little short on sleep.
We've also been out many evenings socialising. May is a time when many people come out to Céret, with the big cherry festival on in a week's time. Meals out with friends, 'selling the apartment' drinks at our place, a 66th birthday party last Sunday night, an opening of a gallery exhibition last night and so on. Our French friends have invited us to a seafood meal at their place in Laroque-des-Albères tomorrow so that writes off most of the day. We've also had a few meetings with our house buyer and have an appointment with our notaire to get the sale properly signed up on Wednesday. Our buyer is working out what furniture of ours that she also wants to buy. She's a Swede who will be using the place for short-term holidays, so buying it at least partly furnished works very well for her, as well as us.
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| Drinks to celebrate our sale |
The man who viewed our house last week was sorry to find it a little small for his purposes (he has 500+ books to house) but he seemed very pleasant and he's since invited us to his house further up the valley for drinks on Wednesday evening this week. He also knows a NZ/UK couple who run a vineyard not far away and we think they are coming too.
Apologies to everyone who has emailed us in the last few weeks. We do love getting your emails but sadly we've not always found the spare time to reply. Apart from our longish walk last weekend our 'workouts' have been non existent. I'm hoping that the 54 steps up to our new apartment (which we do 3x/day) plus the 48 steps to our own apartment are doing the trick. Unfortunately, I have to admit that all the eating and drinking is taking its toll - a little more insulation on the body than I would like. The temperatures are warming up too. There have been a few days of 27 - 28 degrees and summer is really starting to kick in.
I must get John up now - things to do, places to go. We are very excited about everything that is happening but would love a little down-time soon. It is rare that we watch any TV but we have barely turned it on at all in the last fortnight. Curling up with a good book is not an option at the moment but we are not complaining. This is what we knew was in store and we chose to do it. Now to get stuck into sanding the windows and shutters sometime soon...
