After a mammoth week I am finally in France. Looking back now I am amazed that it has actually happened!
This time last week I was pretty drunk to be honest. I decided to have my Video Networks leaving party the day before I actually left, which was wise in retrospect because it meant I got no work done at Vn on Friday (you’re not meant to work on your last day are you!?) instead of getting nothing done on Saturday which would have been disastrous because there was so much to do.
I must say another thank you to everyone at Vn who signed my card, contributed to my fantastic presents and came out and gave me a great send off. Special thanks go to Jane, Pauline and Emily for organising the presents and the people! But I have to single him out – Dave was brilliant, he gave a really great and emotional speech and personally picked out all of my presents which I am so grateful for. I will miss seeing my x boss everyday – he’s the best friend I have got!
The rest of the weekend went to plan and Em and I got everything packed up ready for the removal men on Monday. They turned up late with what looked like a lorry that already had too much in it (I was meant to have 6/7ths of the lorry and it looked at least a 1/3 full to me). The removal men were great though and amazingly fitted nearly everything in leaving me just enough to fill the horse trailer. We had a lovely last meal with Mike and Lucie at Fontley and borrowed a mattress from them because I had stupidly forgotten to grab the blow up mattress before it was loaded onto the lorry earlier on in the day.
Tuesday was a complete disaster. I was meant to pick up the trailer first thing after it had been serviced but the garage hadn’t even started the job and I didn’t get it back until the afternoon. This set me back massively and I had to forget about visiting my Dad in London to take stuff out for him and for me (sorry Dad!).
I didn’t finish packing the trailer till 8pm and it all only just fitted. We then went out for my final meal in England with Dave in Hertford – we ate Thai! I was shattered and was almost falling asleep at the table (sorry Dave and Sian!).
Wednesday started at 6.15am. We loaded all of the last bits and pieces into the Land Rover then Joe, Vichy P, Daaviid, Padama, Fontley’s child and I set off for Dover at around 8.15am. Em and I said our goodbyes and that was it – “no going back” as they say on the TV programme that didn’t want us – fools!
Saying “Bonjour” to France
The chickens and ducks enjoyed their pit stop on the eurotunnel as I stuffed food and water into their cage. I got a lot of strange looks from everyone else on the carriage!
About 1 hour into my journey from Calais I was exhausted and was having to stop every 30mins to recover which Joe was pleased about because he got lots of walks. I finally made it to Paris after what seemed an age. However, it was now 5pm and the traffic was terrible. It took me 2 ½ hours to get round it whereas it normally takes under an hour.
Things started going well then. We had our final chicken and duck refuelling pitstop before nightfall then al the traffic cleared up and I was on an empty straight autoroute and feeling wide awake. At around 10pm the tiredness hit me like a wave and I couldn’t shrug it off. I had to stop every 30mins again to prevent myself from falling asleep at the wheel. Finally, 16hours after I set off in Stevenage, I arrived in Savennes at 2am. Of course I was wide awake again then and couldn’t wait to see the chateau. I got the chickens and ducks off to bed, got some heating on and after a quick sneaky look at Suite 1 I went to bed exhausted but happy.
Saying “Wow” to the Chateau
Today has been full on. I got up soon after 7. I was so excited about the day ahead that my tiredness didn’t affect me. I won’t talk about the work that has already been done to the suites till tomorrow (give you something to look forward to!). Needless to say it is all looking really good and you won’t be disappointed when you see some photos tomorrow.
Joe and I went to see how the chickens were getting on. They were scared stiff of me after what I put them through yesterday but they seemed to like their new home. I was about to make it a whole lot better.
The plumbers are really nice and because they keep coming down to the bar where I have set up my office I chat to them (very poorly!). They normally eat lunch in the kitchen because they don’t like eating out and were really humble this morning when they asked if it was alright to sit there today. Of course I said it was fine and that they should make themselves feel at home (or at least I would have like to have said that but I think they got the idea).
The removal men turned up late having struggled to get up Auvergne’s mountain motorways. With 150 tonnes of our stuff in the back they could only get into 3rd gear on the inclines. They were brilliant fun again and, like everyone who has come here so far, totally blown away by the Chateau and what we are doing. Later that day they were meant to drop off the rest of their load somewhere else in France before getting to Barcelona at 5pm. They didn’t leave Savennes till 3pm! I helped them with the unloading which may have ended up costing more time – I had really bad verbal diarrhoea having spent the morning struggling to remember any French when talking to Monsieur Laine and the Plumbers. Speaking English was light relief and they were keen to know our plans for the place and offer their advice.
When they left Joe was already in the front garden and was racing around in circles as they drove off. He had a mad five minutes when he was doing that crouching thing, watching you for a second and then sprinting towards you. I tried to encourage him to hurdle the little box hedges on the front lawn but he kept refusing like a horse. Then we both ran at them together and when he saw me jump over them ahead of him he followed. It was brilliant! (for those of you that don’t know Joe, he is the opposite to a collie in that it is virtually impossible to teach him to do anything – to put it into perspective I was awarded a cup at the Hitchin dog training club just for getting him to sit!!). I said hello to Boris who was watching from afar. He was all smiley and very pleased to hear I was staying for good this time.
It was a lovely day here and really warmed up as it went on. The outdoor temperature was reading 20 degrees! at one point though it was a chilly 6 degrees first thing this morning. It was clear and sunny and you could see the mountains. I have got all the doors open everywhere so Joe can come in and out as he pleases wherever he is. He absolutely loves it here.
Going through all of our plans with the removal men got me so excited about finally being here that by the time they left I was keen to do something constructive. Ok, it perhaps wasn’t the best idea seeing as I not only had a chateau full of workmen’s rubbish but also full of boxes that needed unpacking. After responding to another enquiry that we received today (from someone I don’t know!) I decided to go and construct the chicken run.
Saying “Cluck Cluck” to the chickens
I didn’t really say that but I was probably going a little mad at this point due to lack of sleep. I had unceremoniously dumped the chickens in the concrete shed at the back of the chateau and by this time I thought they might be a bit bored of the inside which was full of junk. So I fixed up the fence around the outdoor run and let them out.
The run is covered in about a foot of leaves and so they were in heaven when they started scratching down to the surface to find loads of little shoots from plants that were about to come out for the spring. I then cleared out the shed so that it looked like this: 
I then constructed a perch using an old palette and put the rabbit hutch on top for a nesting hideaway. As you can see from the photo below that they haven’t quite worked out how to get up onto the perch yet so I will make a ladder for them tomorrow. 
Saying “Je l’aime ici” to my new life
As you can tell I am loving it here and even though it is now midnight French time I still don’t feel like sleeping. I have set up a really cool office in the bar in the Napoleon wing with all of my new toys that I bought from PC World just before I left. I have got my music playing and am connected to my blog and could probably go on for another hour but I won’t bore you any longer.
I haven’t really had time to take in what I have done and where I am. In a way I hope it stays this way for a while because the energy I have at the moment is massive and really positive. Thinking negatively or being sad about people I miss isn’t allowed at the moment. More to follow tomorrow evening with news about how the renovation is going i.e. I might actually get to the point!
Feel free to post any comments you have. I would especially like a new name for the female duck who is currently called Fontley's child (cos she was born at our old house, Fontley Lodge). Something to do with or sounding like Fontley would be good or she could just be another little britain character.
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