May, 2015

What a difference a month makes!

Last month, we returned home from our trip and attacked the sale of our house here with a vengeance. We listed it with 11 local real estate agents (they don't have a multiple listing service here, it's every man for himself)  and put our own FOR SALE sign up in the window (an absolute no-no here) after putting an add online. Here, they have rules and taboos to rival Leviticus. Funny thing is, we sold it directly ourselves within days, for our asking price.

We had feared not selling before we left for Canada as we would then have had a return round trip mid summer (if it sold then) or in the fall to empty the house for the new owners. (read expensive and time away from our beloved Bee or time in California) Having sold, we chose to move now because we still had 3 weeks to pack and it would allow us to return directly to our new home in February, giving us a two week head start on the construction that will follow.

Next, we had to line up a mover, as it is forbidden to rent anything larger than a small U-haul truck in France to do it yourself. We packed everything (surprisingly, that is not forbidden) and within a few days, we will move lock, stock and barrel to our new home that we do not actually own yet. (Paperwork is in process) We are as excited as a teenager at his first keg party.

"Honey, what box was my make up in?"

After our stuff is loaded in their 18 wheeler, we will have to drive like maniacs to keep up with them. Their 3 drivers / movers immediately hit the road and drive around the clock to get to our new digs 870 miles (1400 k) away, where we are required to be to sign off on the delivery. Task done, we will drive to Paris and fly to the island for yet another summer of flying, fun and frivolity. Doing the first guarantees that the other two will follow and  is pure dog whistle to the island deprived.

Handling the move from half a world away would have been... well, a [bad word not suitable for a family publication], but what a problem to have! We are not complaining. Saying "see you later" to our village friends was tough but we are hopeful that we will. In the past two weeks, we have felt like rock stars with the treatment we have gotten from our friends here. We have been taken out for so many 'goodbye' dinners Janice has hardly had to cook. Either they are telling us that they will miss us or that they are thrilled to see us go.

Long time friends John and Claire

Catherine and Loic while visiting the castle of Josselin

Philippe and Evelyn while visiting Kergrist castle 

Michelle and Thierry

Carl and Jacqui. Terrific friends who have saved our bacon on a number of occasions

We have enjoyed our seasons here immensely and are very grateful for having had the opportunity to have lived this lifestyle for the past 12 years. We are looking forward to what the next chapter has in store for us, boldly going were many have gone before.

'Kenavo' (goodbye), Brittany.

Hellooooo Riviera!

WOW!  Last months news caused quite a stir. It's OK for us to still be walking on cloud 9 but we were surprised by your reactions. Many asked where our new digs were and what the area was like. Well, I think we covered where it was pretty well, but I have dug up a few new bits to show what the immediate area is like. OK, lets give it a try. 

Below is a video that I chopped, diced, sliced, cut and pasted to assemble a morphodite of sorts. It was originally put together by our local tourist board and chamber of commerce. I deleted all of the town scenes of kids eating ice cream, endless boat shots and all of the more banal aspects and focused on our immediate coastline. 

I edited it so that in the last 10 seconds you can see the beach immediately below our place and in the last 3 seconds you can see our house. If you pause the video, it is the first villa with the red tiled roof on the far right.

 My sorry excuse for a video

The next few pictures are obviously not mine and I have shamefully liberated them from the internet. My bad. The beach seen below is right below our villa. The arrow shows where our place is located, immediately outside the picture frame. This is what we look down at and listen to as the surf crashes against the rocks 15m (45 feet) from our property line. 

 

The one below is the same beach only this time seen from the water looking up towards our place, again, just outside the picture frame. The arrow points to the end of our property line.

Next is an areal view of our two beaches, with the arrow pointing to the house. (Here, they call a large home a villa) Our 'second' beach is the large inlet closest to you in the picture with the '.com' lettering

This is a close up view of our second beach, a full minute walk away from home. Some might not think this is as cool as blowing their budget on a liquor stocked panic room, but it sure will work for us.

This is called 'Roquebrune Sur Argent'. No one can ever accuse the French of having short street or town names. Road signs here cannot have those long names on them so they would only write 'R / Sur A'. Try figuring that one out if your are a tourist looking for directions. Anyway, it is located a few km (miles) inland and is a lovely medieval town.

Hey, I would love to stick around and chat but there are 40 more boxes calling my name....