Taking a Long View

Late September has always been a favourite time of mine. Not only is it my birthday month but each one brings forth memories of cold crispy Autumn weather in England when I was a child. Here in the South of France however, the sun continues to shine, unwilling to let go of the summer and as I write this morning sitting at our garden table watching the morning light softly bathing the Church, a handful of metres away, I know there is nowhere else I would rather be.

Having already transformed our house from a rather sad individual, seemingly craving attention, to a warm and welcoming home over the last 7 months we are able to sit back and take a good view in our minds as to the next stage of renovation. Although we have a very long way to go (we have yet to touch our huge top floor with its views over the rooftops) we have taken the view that it is important to enjoy life and do as the French do: work to live, not live to work. The view of our visitors is interesting too. Having had several members of our family and dear friends to stay over the last few months, Mr. Fix It and I noticed that every one of them seems relaxed and happy here. We don’t have a kitchen yet, no wardrobes to speak of, the garden is yet to be tackled and the sun lights up the dust and dirt but the only comments we have had from our guests have been along the lines of “This is wonderful, I wish we could stay longer.” “The house is fabulous, what a find, I wish we could do something like this.” It is a delight to see our house through the eyes of others.

Last weekend was a celebration of “patrimoine” or heritage. France’s Heritage Days give visitors a chance to peep behind the doors of many historical monuments and thus it was that the Mayor offered guided visits up to the bell tower of our Church. Mr. Fix It climbed the 200 steps to the top with his camera – he had always wanted to inspect the roof of our house. “To have a bird’s eye view for a minute was stunning,” he reported. “What a sight!”



Thanks to a good word from our Mayor, Gaz de France will start the work to connect natural gas to our house on October 11th. An extremely jolly little man turned up on Monday with plans and photographs of the existing gas point and the run through to our house. He told me he had been to see the Mayor who had pretty much told him to “get on with it” since the village will be making improvements to the paving in due course between our house and the Church and the gas connection must of course be carried out in advance. We have 9 cast iron radiators ready to go and now must source a boiler and work out pipe runs under the kitchen floor – easily done at this stage. Although it is hard to imagine needing heating as I write in the sunshine, I think back to early March when we arrived here, lighting 4 log fires each evening to keep warm. What a joy it will be to have central heating this coming winter!

Meanwhile we take great delight in taking a long view, looking at the larger picture and a birthday trip to the Pyrenees this week allowed us to do so in style. There is so very much to be enjoyed in this beautiful country.



Alexis
http://www.francebuyingguide.com/