A Gardener in France

I would never have thought that it would be such a time-consuming business to get money out to France so that we can start paying bills.

It has taken ages to get bank accounts sorted out but that has finally been achieved. We then transfered a small amount of cash to the cheque account - we've been trying to pay our insurance bill for months now - and the bank held it up at their head office until we could tell them why we were doing it. "Er, we need to pay bills". I wouldn't mind if we were drug dealers or something!

The electricity people are great. They wrote us a letter in English welcoming us as customers. Could you imagine a UK company doing that for the French? I asked the old owner to get the power on for when we go over and the message came back that it is so dangerous they would prefer not to. Funny how we've only just come to hear that! We have an electrician going in to check it over and report back. We dont fancy a week cooking over Camping Gas with candles lighting the way.

We found the French version of Yellow Pages on the internet: great site and again, in English if you want. Used it to find a vet for the dog, tradesmen to help with the house and much more.

We've arranged accommodation for my parents for July in a B&B a few miles away, so that they can also see the place when we go over. We have stayed in the hotel in Chabris and while the people are pleasant and the food fine, I can't see my Mother there somehow. The B&B is in a little Chateaux overlooking the River Cher: now that she will enjoy!

The garden has turned into a jungle, I'm told, so we have a reliable lad going in to mow it back under control again. I am looking forward to planning the garden but the area is not large. By the time a pool has gone in I'm not sure what will be left. A truely huge Redwood dominates the back and I thought we could surround it with a deck and built-in benches like the one at work. My thinking has not got much further because of concerns for the house and the work needed inside.

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