There’s not a whole lot to report but it’s been a week since the last entry so it’s time for an update. December has largely been about preparation, mostly for the move but also for Xmas and other things too.
We just got a letter from the notaire asking if the afternoon of the 27th works for the closing. It’s great for us but the sellers have already indicated they may want to do it later in the week so we’ll see if they agree. I’ve been transferring money, both from the UK and the US so I’ve had to step that up the past few weeks. Thankfully, the exchange rates mostly have been moving in our favour so we’ll end up with a wee bit more than anticipated.
There are all the things related to moving as well. We’re waiting to hear from the sellers what, if anything, they will be leaving at the house for us. They’re cleaning the place out this weekend so we’ll know more next week. We plan to buy a new bed for ourselves, even if they leave us one so we’ve done a bit of shopping around for one of those. Our friends Mike & Jean have an old sofa + 2 chairs in storage and have offered it to us so we’re going to see them tomorrow to see if they’re suitable. Apart from furniture, we’re also looking into switching utilities and phone into our names.
Will has also been doing prep for taking the driving theory test. He’s going back to the UK at the end of Jan to take some lessons and then the driving test. It’s much more expensive and there are minimum hour requirements before you can take the test here so it’s quicker and cheaper to do it in the UK where it will also be more familiar to him.
I’ve been doing some work for eLeaf. I found a few bugs in the demo version that we sent to the first publisher a week or so ago. I corrected all but one and I spent about a week trying to work it out. In the end, I’ve had to send it to Apple for them to see if they can figure out what’s wrong. I get two freebies as part of my annual developer contract so I’ve got one more silver bullet after this to last through April. I really hope they manage to find out what’s going on because it’s been driving me nuts.
Apart from that, we’re doing another demo for a different publisher as well as doing a proposal for some service work for the first one. Business isn’t coming as fast as we’d hoped but at least we’re getting some interest. If things haven’t picked up by the spring, I’ll have to start looking for contract work back in London and commute on the weekends or something awful like that. I really hope it doesn’t come to that but I’ve got to prepare myself mentally for the fact that it may come to that, worst case.
The cats are generally fine, with Louis’ paws healing up nicely. He still limps a little and holds one in the air but he’s been much friskier and even went outside for a few hours the past few days. It warmed up earlier in the week and was 16C (62F) today but it turns colder again tomorrow. They got 11cm of snow in Paris today which is strange considering it’s only a few hundred K away. The cats found a mouse in the kitchen a few days ago. The got it cornered under the cooker and it when it finally made a break for it, they pounced. It ended up hiding in the lining of the arm chair which Will and I carried outside and eventually coaxed it back into the wild. They’ve caught a number of mice outside but this was their first indoor catch, well, except for the dormouse that is.
This actually happened a number of weeks ago but we forgot to mention it. We’ve often heard the sound of scurrying around in the ceiling in the barn and in some of the walls. Sharon told us that little furry creatures often spend the winter in the roofs here so we weren’t really bothered about it. One morning, we heard a ruckus upstairs and went up to see the cats in our room, staring up at the ceiling. Up in the corner was a small furry thing that we later determined must have been a dormouse. Anyway, we got the cats out and then spent close to an hour trying to get the thing into the pool net and then a bag to take outside. At one point, Will got it by the tail and pulled, only to end up with a bit of fur in his hand and he was mortified (Will that is, but I suppose the squirrel was too). Eventually, it ran into the crawl space in the corner of the room. We went back the next day and didn’t see or hear anything so we think he managed to escape.
And that’s what amounts for excitement around these parts. With that, I shall bid you goodnight.