Now that the dust has settled, it seems about time to bring the blog up to date.

Our beautiful, dream home in Caupenne now has new owners and I’ve moved into my new home, an apartment in St Paul les Dax, nearer to Kieran.

I’d been preparing for the move for so long that the “déménagement” itself ran like clockwork.

My brother, Peter,  and his partner came over for a few days in the week before moving day. They hired a big car at my request, so that we could fill it and my car with boxes, which we took to the garage of the apartment. On the Saturday of their visit, friends joined us, to make up a group of eight, with 3 cars, a van and a trailer, all of which we packed with the furniture I was taking and as many boxes as we could squeeze in. The apartment owners had given me permission to put stuff in the bedrooms that day, which was great; I was delighted to see that my furniture fitted easily into the two small bedrooms. When I’d looked around the apartment initially, it was absolutely crammed with tables, chairs, cupboards, even a piano, to the extent that you could hardly move. Not my style at all.

Peter and Penny left the following day, the same day as a constant stream of buyers came to collect various purchases they’d made through a selling page I found on Facebook (yes, it does have some uses!). When everyone had left, the house looked and felt so sad and empty, it was just a shell, no longer my home. I have to admit to shedding a few tears before I phoned my friend Mart, to take up her offer of a bed at hers for my last few nights in Caupenne.

I continued to box up last bits and pieces, and clean through until the morning of Thursday 16th February, when my buyers arrived. I was inconsolable when the moment arrived that I’d been anticipating and dreading in equal measure for months, when I had to say my final goodbyes to the house in which we’d invested so much time, energy and love and called home for the last 11 years, but life moves on and so must I.

Kieran and I went out to lunch with the buyers, then spent the afternoon at the notaire’s; first we had to sign off probate, then the sale of my house and finally the purchase of the apartment; we were both exhausted by the end of the day.

Kieran took the trailer back to his garage that night and I met him at the apartment the next day, when we moved furniture, installed the washing machine and assembled a bed for me to sleep in.

My friend Adrian came over on the Saturday; we spent the day moving boxes upstairs from the garage (thank goodness there’s a lift). Ade also insisted on removing the large mirror that graced the wall behind the toilet cistern, it seems it was extremely disconcerting for blokes! It’s now in the pile of items left by the previous owners, destined for the charity shop or the tip.

I’d asked the estate agent what to do about the electrics; he told me I just had to call EDF a few days after moving. I hadn’t had time Friday or Saturday, so was planning to ring them on Monday; unfortunately they cut me off on Sunday morning! As the shutters are electric, I couldn’t even open them to let some light in, and it was very cold. I sent Kieran a message and set off for a walk around the local lake, to warm up; I got horribly lost and had to cross a little river on a bridge that was no more than 12 inches wide, with no handrails – I was shaking like a leaf! Eventually I found my way home, Kieran called and invited me to his, where, having fed me, he contacted EDF and got the electrics reconnected for me. What a star!

I think I’ll be comfortable here, there are a few jobs to do and a lot of decorating, but nothing too major.