Will got an email from Thierry, one of the sellers. He has been in town since last weekend getting things in order. We went over this morning and met him and his wife, as well as his uncle and friend who were there cleaning the place. The place was all but cleaned out although they did leave a few bits and pieces. We had asked them to leave behind any furniture if they weren’t going to use it but they found homes for all of it. They did leave kitchen stuff, some wood and roof tiles, cleaning products and light bulbs so it was more than they had to. They weren’t under any obligation to leave us anything and from what we hear, the French usually strip the places down to the bare bones so it was good of them to leave what they did.
Thierry showed us around, took us through how things worked, maintenance, people to call etc. We were there for an hour and a half and got loads of helpful info. We mentioned wanting to bring Will’s family around to see the place so he left us with a set of keys, which was very nice of him. The house looked quite different devoid of furnishings. For some reason, it made it seem smaller than I remembered. It’s going to be fairly empty in there for awhile so I’m sure I’ll adjust. The first thing we did when we got home was to order a bed, the main criteria being the delivery date. We found one that should be delivered in a week so that’s a relief.
Will has taken steps towards getting all the utilities etc switched over to us. The gas contract is done but they can’t fill the tank until next week so the place may go unheated for a few days since the tank was all but empty. Thierry was calling water and electric today so we can move on those tomorrow. We’ve mostly got the phone/ADSL sorted although it will take a few days for them to set up the line and there’s a question about whether we’re keeping the old number or not. We need to get the chimney swept before we can use the fireplace so we’ll have to get on that quickly. Those are the main ones anyway.
Apart from house/moving stuff, we’re preparing for xmas and the arrival of our visitors. I’ve already been to the shop twice to get all the non-perishables so only those left to get tomorrow and the turkey from the butcher on Friday. We decided to use the same one since it turns out that he’s not much more expensive than anywhere else and it was a lovely bird. So far, Luton airport hasn’t been badly affected by the snow so hopefully there won’t be a problem with flights. We’ve got our fingers crossed for good travel karma.
I will sign off by wishing a Happy Birthday to my mom.