Well – THAT week soon went! Which week? The one after we moved out of Puivert and parked Harry at Sunejo.Living with only the furniture we had on the campsite: 

lots of shopping, another visit to the lawyer (wills), the Mayor (you have to do that!) and the doctor (just routine), and then on Friday 28^th, clearing the space and waiting for the lorry. 

 

12 noon, jobs done, Carol settles down to a puzzle:

 

While Stephen anxiously searches throughout the panorama for the now long overdue removal men. 

 

As you might expect, a call to head office saying ‘do you know where your lorry is?’ had the effect of the lorry’s arriving while we were still on the phone!                         

 Then – Chaos! We simply have TOO MUCH STUFF!

 

Then our first visitor arrived even before the removal men had gone! Any competition to be first here has been won by many weeks by Mark (Jaques) who arrived, as planned, by motorbike at about 7pm. Well, there was a bed ready for him! 

The removal men stayed till dark and finished unloading the lorry in that time, but had to come back next morning to unpack the boxes marked fragile. 

 

Our intention to eat out was ‘postponed’ by the lateness and general fatigue, so a satisfactory meal of salmon steaks and what goes with was produced from the freezer. Oh, – and that bottle of Blanquette got popped at last! 

 

Saturday started OK, weather wise, and because we had to stay at home for the ‘men’, and the delivery of the washing machine, a new one, not on the lorry, Mark had to go out end explore on his own. An unlucky necessity because by afternoon it was POURING and he got SOAKED on the bike. We are sorry – we came for the sunshine! Another arrival that day was the previous owner, who came to show us a few intricacies of looking after the pool and other things. Kind of him, but we’re only a bit wiser – and the water’s still green! We did go out that evening to a restaurant in Puivert, which we had passed many times but not sampled till now.   We enjoyed a pleasant meal which Mark kindly treated us to – many thanks!

 

Sunday’s weather was a little better, dry at least, and we took a day off to give Mark a bike-free day. We revisited the Galamus Gorge, and now out of season the convoy system – no stopping allowed – isn’t in operation, so we got some better photos.

Mark and Carol visited the Hermitage at the foot of the Gorge, while Sally and I stayed and admired the view. 

Oui – c’était aussi magnifique que la dernière fois! Just as nice as last time! When Carol and the man got back we drove down to St. Paul and through the Defilé – done it many times now, but I love it. Back at Sonnac – home, I should call it – Harry and the man’s bike were waiting patiently, and, of course all that nonsense about putting me in the garage is quite forgotten – it is so full of BOXES, you can’t even see that tractor-thingy, let alone get it out! 

There was a nice smell coming from inside the house! It seems M’sieur had prepared a lamb casserole before they went out and left it in the slow cooker. 

M’sieur? – Makes a nice change from HE. 

OK, M’sieur. Mark left next morning, riding his motorbike.

M’sieur & M’dame began to try to orgainse stuff in the house – 

Then HE – 

M’sieur. 

HE took me over to a Ford Dealer in Lavelanet to see if there were any electronic updates needed before we travelled to Poitiers. The mechanic said it would be a waste of money as they could tell from the engine number that there was nothing to do …. Nice little drive, though. 

Tuesday ( 2^nd October) was spent desperately emptying the bedroom at the front, near the living room. We plan to have some work done to create a second bathroom and an L-shaped kitchen-diner-lounge, and the builder might come while we’re away to remove the wall. There are also two built-in wardrobes which have to go, but the removal men had to fill one of them with fragiles as there was nowhere else and we had to re-locate that lot. We did it, then began packing. Ironically, it was a lovely day; and the day ‘our’ TV programme was shown in the UK. 

 We hooked up the two vehicles in the gateway before dark. There was something like a sunset, but the evening photos didn’t work very well, so I took some more at sunrise (8.15 am).

(Note the ‘Billing’ log on the barbecue wall!)

There was still a lot for THEM to do, so the idea of an early start didn’t work out – it rarely does. But once on the road THEY decided to use motorways most of the way, regardless of cost so travelling was very easy, appart from one section of CONTRAFLOW! Very unusual on French motorways. 

We did a good 300 kms and stopped on a very good ‘aire’ not far from Limoges. On a section of car-park inaccessible to lorries, the night was quite quiet.