11 December 2015
4 rising to 14 degrees - sunny
Almost all of the leaves are down from the trees now and the sunlight flickered on my windscreen and striped the road as, yet again, I went to show the big chateau with the massive amounts of work. Like the Madonna with the Big Boobies from 'Allo Allo', it fascinates but no one wants to take (or call it) home.
The tree in the central square had been erected and one group of men were trying to straighten it up whilst, simultaneously, another group were spraying it silver. Lots of abuse was being shouted and quite a few members of the team had become prematurely shiny. A mini fairground had been set up, consisting of covered over marquees and a dodgem ride, the cars all lined up at one end, ready for the start of racing. I do love dodgems. No need for restraint. You can drive into as many people as you like, shout and shriek and generally be a menace. Strangely, the French become quite restrained behind the wheel of a dodgem. It is on the roads where you have to watch out of them. Grabbed a quick coffee and the bar owner asked me if I would be interested in taking on a flat in a ski resort to the south east of where we were sitting. I gave him the name of a colleague and my phone rang and it was the client.
He was swarthy skinned and wild haired and would have made an ideal pocket Pirate. Also far shyer and more pleasant than he had come across by email. We bowled off into the bright late morning sunshine and the owner was waiting for us. Both the owner and the client work in building so I let the owner do the visit and listened carefully for information and also new vocabulary. The owner showed a loft area that he had never shown before and also told the client about two areas of the house which had been closed off by his parents and were no longer accessible. The client took lots of photos and wandered off into the grounds so I had a chat with the owner in the dining room. He was setting out his collection of brass candle sticks on the tall mantelpiece and drinking a cup of coffee. He didn't offer me one. The only source of heat in the house comes from an ancient Godin wood burning stove. He had been burning sticks covered in moss and lichen which had fallen from the trees and the room was full of fine filigree smoke which danced in the sunlight slanting in through the patio windows. He said if the house didn't sell, he would buy it himself and renovate it. I do hope not - especially after all the effort I have put in to sell the bloody thing. Also, the renovation he has done includes ripping up original oak flooring and putting down pine. Not sympathetic to the building, the foundations of which are 15th century.
The client finally reappeared and we got in the cars and back to town and had a quick drink and I ran him through the French buying process. The large Christmas tree was now dripping in baubles and large gift wrapped packages. Was surprised to see how low the sun was in the sky and, unbelievably, it was nearly 4 pm. Back home to find OH had offered low offer on house in Windermere which has been on sale for the enormous time span of four months. Hopefully Mrs Noddi will go and have a look at it for us. However Cumbria is currently under water and she said she is having problems getting out of her drive in the normal car so we will have to wait.
Slapped some more resin on my ginkgo leaves. The whole flower pendants are still looking thin and sticky. I am going to have to tell the lady that it is just not going to be ready for Christmas. Delighted to find I have a button order for lots of buttons!!
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