les Davey de France

This is the house we rented. The agency (email me and I'll gladly recommend them to you by name) took a chance and said we could view two houses. Well, one had gone by the time we got there, but the one we saw was 150 sq. m. and 1020 euros/month (seriously over budget!) However, it's in good shape. It has a garden. It's on the right side of town, fairly near the schools. It has three reasonable sized bedrooms and it has a garage with a window (where I reckon I could have the back as a study and the front as storage). It's quite a bit smaller than our house in Shotton, but it's big enough for us and to have people to visit. And it will be ok. I took lots of pictures for Pat to see, and she's already happy with it. The agent said to the landlords "Now, what do you want to do about this insurance?" They said "Insurance? I don't think we need to bother with the insurance, do we.." Agent - "Are you sure - it's your decision..." L...

This was great fun. Again we queued behind another prospective tenant who chatted happily with us. This house was 85 sq. m. and 750 euros per month (about 100 euros over budget). Well. The bedrooms were ok, and it had a really nice staircase. Sort of spiral. But downstairs was .. really small. It had one living room about the size of our dining room at present, with the kitchen in one corner (and the kitchen was not fitted - it only had a sink unit) At the back was a small yard - perhaps 14'x10', with only awkward access through a narrow doorway. It would mean no bikes for us or for the kids - but they could have guinea pigs. It was near their school and ours. But they'd have to play in the street. We could have made it work. I didn't take any pictures of the inside, partly because it was so cluttered, and partly because if we were going to live there I didn't want Pat to see it beforehand. Anyway, the owner asked us what we thought of it. I said I thought the bedro...

We went to see this house in Cenon. We spent a happy hour chatting with the other prospective tenant who was in the queue before us. The owner didn't show up. The house was already let. I can't remember what size it was or what price it was. It seemed sort of ok from the outside, and it was in quite a convenient place - very near a main road into central Bordeaux and overlooking the main railway line (where the TGV runs)

Have just been to Bordeaux to rent a house. It went like this! I arrived and Carol said "Do you want to hear the bad news?". She had been working really hard, scouring the papers, surfing the websites and phoning agencies. The bad news is that the agencies did not want to deal with us at all. Why? Here's why (it's a long story....) 1. France has a law that forbids evictions between October and March. You can't make someone homeless in the winter, apparently. 2. This makes landlords nervous, especially in student towns. After all, what's to stop a student from paying his deposit, then living in your place scot-free until April, when you evict him and he goes to doss on someone's floor for a month till his course ends! 3. So landlords take out an insurance policy against non-payment of rent, and the insurance companies pursue your family, employer, whatever to recover the rent. 4. The insurance companies cannot recover the rent from people who are paid from ...

One little snagette. Seven years ago when our garage was converted into a study the builder didn't get building regulations approval. Hmmm. So we need to get that sorted out before we complete the sale. It could be worse - at least we never needed planning permission! That takes a council committee to sort out. I think that all we will need is for the buildings inspector to come and look at the room and (I hope!) approve it. Please pray someone will be able to come and see it mid-August and approve it forthwith!

was today. This morning in John 10 / Eze 34 - the shepherds and THE SHEPHERD. Not brilliantly with it when preaching. Too aware of it being the last Sunday. This evening went better on Daniel 7. Hard doing final benediction, but then it is not meant to be easy! Some people scuttled past rather than say goodbye. I know exactly how they feel! Thanks all for praying.

This was Pat's last day at work at the Hospice Day Ward. They cast off their uniforms and had a French theme day. Here the accordionist (!) is leading a rousing chorus of "Frere Jacques". Sorry.