Taking possession

One drawback of signing at 5h30 is that by the time you get to the house it's dark. And of course here in France one removes the light fittings (not just the bulbs) when one leaves. In fact we are removing the light fittings from this house, because we bought them and put them up. It's what you do here.)

So we scuttled round the dark house, opening all the windows and squinting at the floors. It didn't look terribly dirty, except in the kitchen, where it's greasy. The kitchen also has no hob or oven now. That probably suits us because we'll put the fridge where the oven was, the freezer where the fridge was, and buy a hob. We'll have to put up LOTS of shelves because there are not many cupboards. Or maybe put wall cupboards over the freezer? We'll see.

There we are. A couple of bushes to remove in the garden. Some trees to trim. The grass to tame. Shrubs and bamboos to find and plant. The heating system to learn! A spot of redecorating here and there. Some holes to fill. We either have to learn how to paint over roughcast in a room about 14 feet high, or get used to a grey roughcast living room.

We'll get there.

The house is bigger than I remember. Also I thought the shower was downstairs and the bath upstairs. It's the other way round.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Just a tip picked up on life's busy highway, I had used to have a friend with a mobile fish and chip van, (see, I choose my friends carefully and well, it was an ideal stopping-off point on a late/night shift). I popped round to his place one day as he was cleaning it ready for action and he was using a mixture of caustic (washing) soda and bleach in hot water. Magic mate! Even in not-so-hot water. The washing soda is also very effective for cleaning hardwood garden furniture of nature's green deposits.

Hope that helps with the greasy kitchen areas, but do use the mild washing soda not the stronger varieties available. Helpful advice if you wish to retain the skin on your hands! Even so, rubber gloves are advisable.
Anonymous said…
Congratulations. We pray that you will be very happy in your new home and it may become a meeting place with God for many. (And I don't mean in the "Prepare to meet Your God" at death sense!)
Anonymous said…
Further to Ken's comment - I am a fan of the "clean all round the house with flash" brigade. However I don't suppose that you can buy it in France.
Alan said…
We have Flash, but I think it's called something else. We generally buy own brand "multisurface cleaner", which I am fairly sure is the same stuff deep down.

Incidentally we can get great flavours of bleach here - like Jasmine, and Lavender!

Ken - great stuff. Now admit it! This is a Really Useful Blog, don't you think?
Anonymous said…
Yes, a Really Useful Blog, and here comes some more useful advice. Kiddies, don't follow Uncle Alan's example in tasting to see what flavour the bleach is. Ask Mummy to have a little sniff of it herself and TELL you.

Honestly, some people and their spirit of adventure!

Signed:- Even More Confused of Tonbridge Wells.

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