It still feels very surreal to have bought a new house and not be living in it. Debrah hasn't even seen it since the completion as she headed straight back to London on the lunchtime flight out of Carcassonne - not that the money won't come in handy!
It was a beautiful Languedoc Autumn day after the initial chill in the air and, after dropping Debrah at the airport, I motored off to Moux with a car full of stuff and the roof down on the Audi.
Moux is the name of the village where our new house is located. The village lies halfway between Carcassonne and Narbonne; a 25/30 minute drive back to 42rvh. Moux is one of those 'exceptions to the rule' of the french language: it does not not have a silent x as you might expect and is pronounced Moooksss.
Apart from taking a bit of stuff over, the purpose of my visit was to meet the vendor, who is our new neighbour, and be given a crash course in pool maintenance. I have never owned a swimming pool and know (knew) nothing about looking after them.
The vendor greeted me with a broad smile, a warm handshake and a "welcome neighbour" comment, which was all very heartening. A couple of hours later it became very clear that he wanted nothing to do with pool maintenance ever again and was more than happy to hand over the responsibility to me! I have since typed up my four pages of scribbled notes and am steeling myself for my first visit tomorrow since my lesson; my first visit in the absence of the vendor who has now cheerfully pissed off on holiday for 2 weeks on the back of our purchase money. ( I don't blame them really - I'd have done the same).
Anyway, I need to be able to cope on my own with all this new responsibility and the enormity of that task, alongside the day to day running of the apartments at 42rvh, was rapidly dawning on me as the afternoon went on and I wandered the vast emptiness of our new home, taking note of all that needs doing, both the one-off fixing and the ongoing everyday .
As I write this the weather has turned full circle and it is raining steadily. I am worrying about the roof, knowing that there are a couple of gaps, and water flowing under the front gate into the cave and the random break-ins that were casually dropped into the conversation yesterday between the PH readings and the backwash setting!! I have already noted several places that need a bit of enhanced security and although the house is empty it still needs sorting out as soon as possible.
What have we let ourselves in for!