We were pleasantly surprised on each returning visit to find the house in pretty much the same shape we had left it in. There was always that moment before we entered the house that made me panic, when I wondered if anything or anyone had made our house, their house too ! Apart from bits that had fallen down the chimney in the kitchen, and that depended on what the weather had been like - how windy, in what direction the wind had been, and how much rain they had had, there was never anything other than dust. Sometimes it was colder in the house than it was outside when we arrived, but we soon got over that.
On each visit, we brought things with us that made the house more comfortable - maybe a piece of carpet for the concrete floor, or a chest of drawers, so that we could start to leave clothes here, curtains and blinds for the windows. Everything made a big difference.
The problem with such short visits, was that we were unable to start bigger projects, and this continued over the next three years. Once we arrived, we would unload the van, clear up, try to keep the front of the house looking reasonable, and it would be time to head home again. We also had to remember that this was our 'holiday' from work too, otherwise we would go back to work feeling more tired than we left, instead of relaxed and refreshed.
On one visit, Craig knocked part of the render off the bottom half of the house, to stop it dropping off, and fitted a post box - French houses do not appear to have letter boxes. Each house has a post box on an outer wall at the edge of the property, often with the family name on, which is a good help for the postman.
As you can see, the goods from the van got unloaded onto the front of the house, and THEN had to be moved again to their appropriate home !
We used one of our other buildings for storage, but discovered birds nesting in there at one point, and of course the 'mess' they made was covering our belongings, so Craig made a new door and shutters for the windows out of cedar from the UK. It helped with the security as well though, and of course made the building look a lot better.
It also meant that the birds had to find a new home the next year though.
Although we had the phone connected early on, it didn't work, and it took us a few months to get it sorted, as we had to arrange a time for the engineers when we would be here too ! There were several visits to the 'shops' in Carhaix and Morlaix, before we managed to find them open ! Eventually, however, it was sorted, and the engineers arrived at the pre arranged time, which I was pleasantly surprised about, but discovered that the problem was quite major, and they had to replace the whole cable to the house.
Then once again, time to secure, lock everything up, or down, and leave for the ferry....til the next time !
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