Signing our Life Away!

Today is Wednesday. This is significant because what we did today would have otherwise been done at 4pm Tuesday, if not for my physical state. I needed a day off yesterday, after a day spent at Emergency on Monday.
Two nights of pain-wracked sleep have not been helpful in the scheme of things.
I have resorted to Extra-strength Tylenol...two. I cant tolerate Ibuprofen, which would have been better perhaps, but prolonged previous use prior to my hip replacement, has left me with an ulcer.
I can only describe the pain as a searing heat...burn, baby, burn! Of course it doesn't help that I'm flat on my back, with pillow support behind the shoulder at night, but being a right side sleeper, this is completely foreign to my sleep pattern...sigh!
Awake at 3-something, painkillers administered...I have to wake Waz in order to get out of bed....and then again at 6.40. The alarm is going off at 7am anyway. I managed to scootch myself off the bed by myself at that hour, while Waz snored on:)
You really dont realize how much you use every muscle in your body to do all the things you take for granted each day.

Up at 7am, breakfast and out the door by 8.30. We wanted to get to the house a little early than the appointed time of 10. What we really needed to do the most, was have a coffee at the Village Restaurant and Bar, that we knew was newly opened for the Spring season.
It is hard for me to take photos, and because it was still -6C outside, I had my gloves on, and therefore not able to take photos.
Our hosts in the Bar were Celine and Benjamin. The latter spoke a little English, and we enjoyed a Franglais conversation, not mentioning rugby at all. (Some of you will get this joke). We told them that we were their new neighbors and were moving into the village, albeit a Km up the road. Celine said her Uncle lives on the same road. We have no doubt that the news will spread quickly!:)
We finished our hot Grand Crème and made our way up the road to the house. We get a buzz from seeing her standing out from the ridge above the vines, as we drive along the main road towards our turn-off. You can get a really good idea of the view from down below.

We agreed to meet our realtor at our new house for a final inspection after the current owner took her personal belongings out over the weekend, and before we signed the Compris de Vente, the agreement of sale, already signed by the seller before she departed for places in the southern hemisphere, we are told. Her Attorney has power of Attorney, so nothing will be held up in the process of completing this sale.


Matthew was slightly late arriving, but  we exited the car anyway. WOW! Freezing cold wind!!! Sheesh...-6C but with the wind chill it must have been -15. Time to get out of that wind, so we walked down the vines side of the hedge in the sunshine.

The  hedge had been trimmed prior to our first visit, and good thing too. We might take the one on this side, out, and plant a different and less obtrusive one in it's stead.
So, this is the back side of the house. You can see the terrace out there, which I predict will become our very favorite place to be. Those far reaching views will be hard to beat.

The doors onto the outside terrace are the only light into that end room. Strange! It is our plan, with permission from the Mairie, to put a large window of two in the blank wall above the lower windows that you see on the far bottom left. This being the view wall, why not? Makes good sense.

 What a pretty and clear view we had today, down the valley.

The difference in terrain as we pass from the northern Dordogne area where we are staying, into the Cognac growing Charente, is from the wide open field of crops, and gentle undulations, to more hills that are closer together, covered in vines. Currently we see vehicles everywhere amongst the vines as the vintners are out pruning their vines. Fires in the vine fields are also happening, to burn the trimmings.

Matthew duly arrived and unlocked the house which was colder than a witches tit, as the saying goes.

Today we just wanted to measure up the bathroom on the first floor and to take a look at the boiler and cooker. The Rangemaster isn't very clean, but that will have to wait until I'm more physically able, obviously.
We have been trying to find out more information on this dual fuel cooker. The oven is electric.

 Matthew was extremely cold inside the house and his complaining didn't encourage us to spend as much time there as we might have.  We did take the photos we wanted, and Waz measured the bathroom, among other things. We also needed a better idea of what was left in the house after the owner left. All we really need to do is move in and turn the boiler on to heat it and get rid of the smell.

Having accomplished that, and swiftly back in the car, we set off after Matthew to his office in Jarnac where we were to sign the Compris de Vente. This is the first signing of two that are needed to complete the purchase. I wont go into it further right now, as I'm typing left handed,

By 1pm we had signed everything, had it all translated and explained to us by Matthew, and were on our way to the restaurant across the way where we enjoyed a Roasted Camembert with garlic and home fries. We were also given a basket full off baguette, which we shared while scooping up the hot camembert...Delicious. 13.50eurs, thanks.


Back on the road with heating blasting but not really heating us very fast, we headed on in the direction of Barbezieux St Hilaire to visit our local Lidl. We needed a few thing, and this is our closest Lidl. The prices are always amazing to us. Today a large cauliflower was just .59 eu. 4 croissants were 1.16 eu or .29 eu each. A pack of 20 double sheet toilet rolls were just 2.99eu.
The pistachios weren't on sale today, so we paid 3.39eu for a bag of 325 grams. We do like them as a snack while cooking dinner.
My favorite brand of ganache filled chocolate is only 1.65 eu each, so of course I bought 2...as you do! lol.
I had pretty much had enough of everything by this stage, but we had one more stop. The E.Leclerc supermarche espace Culturel has a great book shop where we had previously spied a topo map of the town we will inhabit. Of course we should have purchased it when we saw it, because it wasn't there today. We needed another Grand Crème by this stage, being 3pm, so we stopped in at the Bistrot in the complex that is the supermarket, and sat at the bar while we enjoyed a moment of peace on this busy and significant day.
Letting the import of what we had just done, sink in,  brought smiles to our faces. No regrets. This is what we wanted to do, and now we just had to complete the whole process that will be our immigration to France. We aren't going to become Citizens in the near future, but we do want to live here and be as 'local' as is possible with a kiwi/US twang.

In the book shop I was very amused to see this stack of books.

The Fire and the Fury, Trump at the White House...among the others. i asked if I would photograph the books, and the answer was produced along with a healthy laugh at the person who inhabits the White House. As I have said in previous posts....Im not a fan, and I dont want to hear from you if you are! Thanks!

 Homebound....It is significant at this stage to tell you that I am sitting in the back right seat of the car. This way I feel a bit safer and more cocooned than if i was sitting in the front passenger seat. I am a bad enough back seat driver without being in the front seat and reacting to every little thing. Waz doesn't deserve that. He is getting used to driving this rental car, and the weird feeling gear changes...it took me a wee time...just a wee time, mind you, so I will forgive him. What I dont like about sitting in the back is the swaying around that I do. Stressful! Body is sore enough without having that as well.

We stopped at the SuperU petrol station at Villebois Lavalette for a fill up, and made it home by 4pm. A cup of tea, put away the Lidl shopping and time to light the fire. Its cold!

It snowed all the way home, which was rather fun, but it didn't settle on the road, despite the 1C temperature.

Well, its time for more painkillers, and a shower. I need Waz 's help for everything so I have to somewhat fit into his schedule...did I say we have a schedule?? ha!

Night, night for now.