Monthly Archives: January 2013

Out The Door We Go!

There have been quite a few up-close-and-personal moments with these objects below over the last 2 weeks. And frankly, I am exhausted! But the movers arrived today, everything went out the door smoothly, and we are tucked up in a hotel for the night with just the final cleaning to do tomorrow and turning in my wifi box before we can hand in the keys and hit the road.

 

Tape dispenser and packing tape in France


 

We’ve been very lucky. The previous movers who evaporated into thin air were replaced by what seems like a rather nice company. The car sold, the excess items sold, and last night the cooking stove sold. So we are taking absolutely NO superfluous things with us to England!

Tomorrow we’ll drive toward Paris and stop for the night up there. Then there is a museum we specifically want to see north of Paris and I’ll be reporting on that as soon as possible. On Saturday we take the ferry from Calais to Dover, on Sunday we rest at Mark’s parents’ house, and on Monday we meet the movers at the storage unit and put everything safely away for awhile.

Then in about a week after that, we’re off on an adventure to see parts of the UK that we have never visited. And hopefully within a few weeks of departure, we’ll know where we’d like to stop, settle, and buy another house. And you can be sure that I’ll be posting along the way whenever I have a stable internet connection.

Wish us luck — we’re off on the road again!

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Leaving France In A Week. Yikes!

We’ve had some amazing blessings in the last few days and (Universe, are you listening?) they are VERY much appreciated and acknowledged. Now if we could just sell the 3 piece bathroom suite that we got in anticipation of renovating a house here in France (small sigh!) and sell the 6 month old gas cooking stove, we’d really be laughing!

After the dastardly movers cancelled with 9 days before the scheduled pick-up, I put the move back up on the AnyVan website in the UK and started taking bids again. I don’t know if they offer this sort of service in Australia, the USA, or Asia — but it’s a godsend for those of us living in Europe.

You put the details of your move online, list what you have, and then different moving companies compete for your job by submitting bids. They are dealing with the AnyVan website and you are quite safe because all they have is your user name — no address details and so forth.

Within 24 hours, new bids starting rolling in and many of them were quite a lot higher than our previous contract. But through some frank discussions of what we could and could not afford, we managed to get a proper registered moving company (not just a man and a van!) that is sending a full size moving truck down here with 2 drivers to pick up all of our things on the 30th — NEXT WEDNESDAY!

I sold my Peugeot last week to a couple from England who are still over there and they won’t be back in France until February. But we arranged to deliver the car to their village near Mirepoix and hand the paperwork and keys over to their charming neighbour Aidan. He was a simply wonderful surprise on an on-and-off sunny then overcast Sunday and we had several hours of stimulating conversation at his kitchen table. It’s a shame we didn’t meet before we were getting ready to leave the country — but I feel like we will stay in touch.

I’ve just secured a storage unit for us in Norfolk in an insured, clean, indoor building and not a damp and cold outdoor shipping container style lock-up. So we will feel very peaceful about leaving our things safely tucked up there whilst we visit Mark’s parents in Norfolk for a wee bit and then get on the road to the Midlands, Yorkshire, and perhaps on up to Scotland to decide where we would like to live and work next. It’s another adventure and you just know there will be lots of stories and photos along the way!

I have dozens of photos to share from our 3 day trip to Toulouse a week ago, but there is simply no time to do that right now. Photo editing is out — packing dozens of boxes is in — simple as that. And in between the sessions of packing, we are squeezing in last minute dinners, lunches, and drinks with our friends here in France that we will miss quite a lot.

All for now. The packing tape and rolls of bubble-wrap are singing to me!

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Chaos and Crunch Time!

Here we are, 9 days away from our move out date, and last night we got an email from our mover stating that they were CANCELLING our job.

We were meant to have a 4 man, 2 truck move that was booked through AnyVan in the UK, and the sub-contractor company cancelled because ONE of the men is in the hospital thus leaving us totally in the lurch!

When I asked why the other 3 men couldn’t continue on and do the job that we had booked, we were informed that they had never worked in Europe before, only the man in the hospital had. What??? Why did they even accept the quote???

We have given notice on our apartment and our garage, set the cut-off date for the utilities, and we HAVE to be out of here on the 30th of the month. So much for being organised and orderly when someone ELSE can throw your whole life into chaos by cancelling a scheduled international move.

Can’t wait to hear from AnyVan on Monday since (a) they have our pre-paid deposit and (b) their feedback form is RIGGED to never allow negative feedback! Yes, I will certainly keep all of my readers posted.

I’m typing this in the middle of the night because I can’t sleep. (sigh!) Wonder why…

Send us some happy-shiny thoughts because we certainly need them right now whilst we try to find another mover to step in with 9 days notice.

Life Changes, Life Planning, & Leaving France

Saying goodbye to France was something that we had not considered when we moved here last year, settled in, bought furniture and appliances, and began to make friends. But recent changes in the taxation structure since the election of Francois Hollande as President of France, the bureaucratic quagmire that all of us who move to France are forced to endure, pension issues, and several other boulders in the road that frequent readers of this site will already be acquainted with, have made this a place where we no longer wish to invest our emotional energy or our money. We are moving on after 10 months here in the South of France — with regret — but the decision has now been made and we are in the process of sorting out our last few weeks here in St. Girons.

And where are we going next? Well, to be truthful, we aren’t certain! We are flinging ourselves into the arms of the angels again, waiting to see where feels right, and then trusting that our choice is a good one. Our furniture and 100-plus boxes are being picked up in 2 and 1/2 weeks and taken to England to go back into storage. But then the fun begins as we go back on the road for awhile and we look for someplace to settle down. Living out of a suitcase wore us out after a year the last time and after spending almost 9 months in Normandy, we stopped moving in St. Girons. Who knows where we will be when we send for the household goods the next time!

 

A quiet moment between two women visitors at MACBA, the contemporary art & design museum in Barcelona, Spain.


 

The next few months should be very ‘interesting’ and we’ll need to be flexible. There is an unfolding book about life in France as an expat and I’ve even written the introduction chapter — but we’ll discuss that in another article.

Right now we are making lists of things to do, notifying the utility company, and packing-packing-packing. (again!)

Stay tuned as we find our feet on shifting sands!

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Free-Range Eggs in France This Time!

The weekend markets here in the South of France are always a visual pleasure and the one in St. Girons never fails to please. Last Saturday this charming little woman in her bright red hat and her black beret-wearing husband sold us our free-range eggs for the week.
 

Free range egg and poultry sellers at a weekly market in the South of France.


 

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Wintery Bareness in Black & White

This is why — this is exactly why when the skies are clear, no matter what the temperature, I carry my camera with me. Two days ago we walked across the footbridge to post a letter and all of this unfolded before my eyes.

Hope you enjoy it!

 

Over the stone bridge in St. Girons on a wintery day in France


 

People enjoying a sunny winter day at a riverside park in the South of France.


 

A man walks beneath the bare branches of a row of trees on a sunny but wintery day in the South of France.


 

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Thoughtful Words & Contemporary Art in Barcelona

Something to ponder perhaps???

Some Objects Of Desire — a work of art by Lawrence Weiner which is seen high on the wall of the white-on-white lobby of MACBA — the museum of contemporary art and design in Barcelona, Spain.

 

Some Things by Lawrence Weiner at MACBA in Barcelona, Spain


 

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©Deborah Harmes and ©A Wanderful Life
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