The Old Hack

Coming from a small group of islands like Britain to mainland Europe, it is easy to forget the immense difference in size between England and France.  In a little over a week, we have travelled nearly 1,500 kilometres and have appointments galore to fill the next week before returning to our new (temporary) home in Montmarillon.

We  have based ourselves here in Narbonne (plage) for a couple of reasons.  One it is right on the beautiful Mediterranean that we know and love, and two - it is in the middle of a triangle of places we need to visit to keep both business and social appointments while we are in the area.

Yesterday, we set out to visit a British lawyer who works in France.  We had been recommended her by someone who said that her practice was in or near Toulouse.  Toulouse is quite a long drive from here, so we set out in good time, and arrived in Toulouse about half an hour before the arranged meeting time.

Then we discovered that the area she lived in was not in Tolouse, but rather some two hundred kilometres further north!  A glance at the map of France we had seen in Vienne had masked this vast difference in distance.  We got back to Narbonne at about 11.30pm thoroughly exhausted.

A couple of weeks earlier, we had travelled from our (then) home in London to Chesterfield.  We were held up on the M1 mortorway near Luton for over an hour.  We travelled through heavy rain and spray which held us up considerably and the journey took us more than four hours in all. 

In spite of the huge distance covered on yesterday's expedition, we were blessed with clear roads for most of the journey, excellent weather and beautiful scenery.  But next time, we really must concentrate on the scale of the map!

I'm not a big believer in love at first sight.  It's one of those romantic notions which rarely comes to anything.

When we left England last week, we had the offer of a house to rent.  We had about fifteen minutes to view it on the internet before our connection disappeared.  It looked good, and the rental price for the winter was excellent.

"All very well", we thought, "so what's the catch?" As we drove nearer to the village of Persac where we were to meet British estate agent Chris Manning, (whose facilities I am using right now to post this blog) we passed a detour, which took us past the biggest and most scary looking nuclear electricity station I have ever seen.

"Right".  We decided. "Are we going to risk living within a hundred kilometres of this installation?  No we are not."  Decision made.  We will break the news gently, but we won't be taking up the offer of house rental in the nearby mediaeval town of Montmorillon.

The strains of McCartney's 'Long and Winding Road' fill my head today as I take stock of the fact that at the third attempt we have finally managed to sell our house in England.  It most certainly has been a very long and winding road, what with house buyers pulling out, cars getting wrecked and Mrs Old Hack heading for a nervous breakdown.  But here we are.  New car (The Xantia was written off for a paltry sum, which I may blog about later once we have changed insurance companies!) and thanks to a lovely guy called Johnny from North London, we are now in possession of an old but (we hope) reliable Mercedes saloon, which should get us to our destination and may even be saleable in the not too distant future.

We've found a place to rent for about half what we would pay here in London, and we're booked on the Portsmouth to Le Havre overnight ferry this time next week!  Property buying is more straightforward in France, and it is not easy to get out of a deal once it has been agreed.  We shall therefore be looking closely at what's on offer before jumping in with both feet - but I have to say that all the properties we have already lined up to see look fantastic.

I'm hoping I can soon re-name this page 'Moved to France' or something similar.  Meanwhile it's back to the long and winding road. I will keep you posted.

My apologies for the inordinately long time between the last posting in this section and this one.  Those of you who read The First Post will be aware that the Citroen Xantia bought for the journey met with a collision in central London (see Tout est aux Mieux) and because of its age (never mind its stunningly good condition) the insurance company have, as I half expected, written it off with a derisory offer which we are in the process of arguing.

Now under 'normal' circumstances this would not be a sufficient trauma to cause panic stations within the Hack household.  It coincides, however, with an abnormally swiftly progressing house sale deal.  We are told that contracts could be exchanged as early as next week, with a moving out date in just nine days' time!

So our 'to do' list over the next nine days includes:  Settling a disputed insurance claim, getting a car with which to travel to France, finding somewhere to rent once we get to France, co-ordinating our removal company to put the bulk of our possessions into storage....

We've (almost) been here before.  The last time we thought we'd negotiated the sale we arranged dates for termination of gas, water and electricity supply bills - only to have to call everyone back and yell 'STOP'!  So to do it all again is all a bit scary.  Will it all go wrong again at the last minute? 

We have no real choice but to believe that lightning does not strike twice, take the plunge and get organising.  There may, therefore, be another delay until the next post - which I sincerely hope is a more positive one!  Thanks for your patience.

The idea was formed several years ago.  We would reach an age where the last of the kids was grown up and had flown the nest, and then we would fulfill our long-term ambition and move to the South of France. 

We started an online business, advertising French properties for sale and to let, Bed and Breakfast accommodation, gites, activity holidays etc.  Contacts were made in France, publicity and website optimisation was paid for....

Then when we came back from a visit to Languedoc Rousillon in early November last year, I found myself hospitalised for the best part of a fortnight with Legionnaire's Disease which I had contracted from who knows where during our travels.  The recovery time was long, and work on the website ground to a halt, which set us back a long way.  Who wants to visit a website with out-of-date information - or worse still no information where there should be some...

We're over the worst.  In May of this year, we bought a French car in readiness for our journey, put our house on the market and left our day jobs....

Then the house sale fell through!  We've had to re-organise our schedule three times now, with promised visits to various estate agents postponed and friends in France re-appraised constantly of our plans.  But with any luck our current house buyer will soon complete the exchange of contracts and at the beginning of October we'll be off on our long overdue adventure. 

Any ideas, stories or humorous articles about moving welcome on the blog.

We'll keep you posted!