Our Year so far

The year started well. We had signed the “Promise to Sell” for La Colombe on New Year’s Eve followed by a NYE party at Don and Gilly’s good friends in France. Our completion date was 1^st April. We also had to agree to get quotes for replacing the septic tank and we would pay half the cost. We organised quotes which the agent failed to do despite a commitment to. At the very last minute of the cooling off period the buyers agreed one of the quotes.

At the end of January we set off back to Lincoln for a determined house hunt. We had a list of houses from the internet and a shortlist of second visits to houses we had seen in our earlier visit.

We stayed with Catherine and William, Jane’s sister and brother-in-law, in Peterborough and travelled up to Lincoln each day. We did have a day off when we travelled to London with them and went to see “Les Miserables” which was extremely enjoyable and a good break. We had Geoff and Rita, friends from Canterbury, hunting with us for a couple days, Catherine and William came with us to some second viewings and Carey came up and went with us when we stayed in the Lincoln IBIS for a weekend. In the end we found a house and, after some serious negotiations had an offer accepted. However, it was conditional on their moving out on the 8^th April. They had agreed and said that they would move into rented accommodation if necessary. They were very keen not to lose the sale as they had lost a house they were after because they didn’t have a buyer.

So we set off back to Normandy to get organised for the move including notifying changes of address and booking removals. The solicitor started the process and we organised a survey. After a few weeks there was nothing coming from the seller’s solicitor, so ours started to push. Then we got a message saying that they were not prepared to move into rented accommodation until they had found somewhere. Clearly that was unacceptable so we withdrew our offer. We decided that we would not rush into anything else; we would move to England and rent until we found somewhere. Then Catherine and William stepped in and offered that we stay with them instead of renting, we just needed to organise storage. So that is what we did.

While all this was going on, Carey had applied for several jobs and had several interviews. She was offered and accepted a permanent position in a school in Wellingborough. This was extremely good news and much appreciated by us.

In March, back in France, Catherine and William came to stay for a few days and we had a relaxing break with them. We also made the most of the time, going for Sunday Lunches and evening meals with friends and doing our last meals for some of them. During our last couple of weeks we also had the dubious pleasure of watching the front garden being dug up to install the new septic tank and a huge drainage bed.

Packing started on the 30^th and all our belongings left for storage on the 31^st. Apart from the clothes we thought we would need. We stayed with Barry and Gill Makin on the nights of the 31^st and 1^st before setting off to England, now home. The official signing and handover took place on the 1^st of April as planned. It was all very amicable and relatively painless. The buyer was extremely pleasant and had given us a couple of gifts, despite being very hard-nosed about everything on the way. We came away with a cheque and dashed straight down to the bank. There the cheque was paid in and a form filled in to transfer the money to our currency exchange company. So, on the 2^nd of April we set off down the motorway to Calais to get the tunnel to home. It seemed a longer journey than usual as we were in 2 cars so we were on our own and both had to drive all the way. Heading for Broadstairs we stayed with Graham and Jane, Jane’s brother and sister-in-law, for 2 nights before setting off to Peterborough to stay with Catherine and William.

On arriving I logged on and found an email from the French bank. The form we had completed was incorrect and could we drop in and complete another one!!! There was then a mix up between the local Branch who had taken the cheque and the English speaking office I normally dealt with. Eventually it was all sorted and the money made its way into our English account. We were still homeless but at least no longer destitute.

Then started the round of commuting to Lincoln to find a house and to get the cars MOT’ed, reregistered, and insured. With time spent on line we found lots more to look at. Also, now we knew how much we had sitting in the bank, we knew how much we should go to. As an aside, Carey had a new boyfriend and we broke off to meet them for tea in Oundle. We found another house, larger and in a better location than the first one and had an offer accepted. Apart from getting the survey done I didn’t start any other moving process until exchange.

We had Grace to stay for a few days in Peterborough and managed to get out with her, then took her back to Sheffield. On good Friday we picked up Carey and boyfriend Adrian and spent the weekend at Wokefield Park hotel near Reading where we relaxed apart from a day in Windsor.

May saw us back in Sheffield for Grace’s birthday lunch. The girls presented us with our joint birthday gifts which were tickets and tokens. So on the 5^th May we returned to Sheffield to use the token for an Italian meal followed by tickets to see “Midnight Tango”. We had a great time. We met Jeff and Rita in Stamford for lunch as they were on their way back from Lincoln. On the 15^th we set off for a week in Tenerife, flying from Luton. We had a good time but unfortunately the weather was pretty poor. On the weekend of 28/29 we went to Broadstairs for an evening with Emerald Cunard and the Admiral, aka Jane and Graham. An evening in 1940 was the theme. On the 30^th we had a meeting with the current owner of the new house to go over any last minute things, and on the 31^st we exchanged and took possession! Then we found that with all her stuff out, the house was pretty filthy so we (mostly Jane) set to cleaning.

On the first of June we were there again and the removal men arrived, slightly late but it gave us time for a bit more cleaning. Everything was moved in but rather more in the garage than we had hoped. Sadly a few things had been broken and/or bent in transit. We put in a claim which was paid in full after a couple of weeks. Most of the month was spent organising things, sending letters, getting quotes and waiting for deliveries, as well as getting registered with doctor and dentist. We also got our bus passes. Mixed in were visits by the family and going to Sheffield to pick up Grace from school and babysit; something not possible before we moved.

To be continued ……………………….