31) The removals men arrive

Our stuff from England arrived as a "part load" (it's cheaper that way) on a 16 metre, 24 ton truck.  This presented a bit of a challenge, as there is quite a tight turn from the rather narrow road into our drive.  It looked as though, at one point, we might have to organise a second vehicle to ferry things between the enormous (marooned) truck and our house.  Luckily the driver was quite plucky and, with a certain amount of encouragement, agreed to try my suggested route across the field.  I don't know what a 24 ton, 16 metre long truck costs, but we were all quite relieved to get it to the house without it tipping onto its side, collapsing into a hidden underground limestone crevasse  or even bursting a tyre and simply getting stuck.

Sixteen metres in English is fifty two feet - which is a hell of a long vehicle. The two blokes worked incredibly hard though and, by the end of the afternoon, all our things were safely in the house.

We had no idea how much stuff we had.  What the hell was/is it all??  There was also the problem of how much of it to unpack.

We knew that at some stage (we hope) builders will arrive in force to start knocking down walls, moving staircases and such like.  At that point it would be better to have as much stuff in boxes as possible - indeed, we even may have to move out for a few weeks.  However, if we were to make a claim on the insurance for breakages, it had to be done within two weeks - which meant unpacking everything to check if anything was broken.  It soon became obvious, though, that we were not as good as them at packing.  As we unpacked each box, we found it was quite impossible to get all the contents ( plus packing materials) back into the same box. All our things had been beautifully and carefully packed and there was a real danger that our amateurish interfering was quite like to damage things either now or in the future.

In the end, we decided to leave things alone.  This did present the additional problem of how to find the things we actually needed for now.  It would have been relatively easy IF each box had been marked as to its contents.  Although they are marked, the detail tends to be rather vague - "kitchenware", "books", "attic".  As a consequence, it has been rather pot luck what we have managed to find, and certain key items are still hidden somewhere in boxes (we hope) - such as all my drill bits for instance.  I have all three electric drills, but no bits for them.  We have also been unable to find any side plates (we know the French tend not to use them, but we do).

We are, however, grateful for small mercies and it is, for instance WONDERFUL to have a proper bed again (and pillows not made from a sort of foam rubberised asbestos which heats up your head in the night).

And it's still a great view to wake up to in the mornings..................................