18 March 2016

It started in Montrichard

In a way, this whole life started in Montrichard. We had heard of it earlier, but we had been there only once, or maybe twice.  In 2000, and again, probably, in 2001. It's hard to remember. But we knew where it was.


In October 2002, I had quit my job in Silicon Valley. I just couldn't stand the long commute from San Francisco any more, and I got tired of having to put up with my company's weird workplace environment. I didn't know what would happen next, but I found myself at home with a lot of free time on my hands. We had a decent internet connection. In autumn, a man's mind turns to France. I must say bread had something to do with that, along with cheese and wine. You know, the regular stuff that people like about France.


I just occurred to me, writing this, that the movers came and emptied our San Francisco house of all our belongings 13 years ago today — March 18, 2003. We had sold it in February, after finding a house to buy in France, with the help of a real estate agent in Montrichard. We had decided to get the heck out of California, and we couldn't think of a place in America that attracted us a much as France did.


Why Montrichard? Well, we had recently spent a couple of vacations in the area, in Vouvray. So in 2002 I contacted a couple of real estate agents in the bigger town of Amboise to see if somebody would show us, for real, some of the houses I'd seen for sale on their internet sites. An agent who had offices in both Amboise and Montrichard answered my mail. He set up an appointment in Montrichard for early December. Away we went. No, I haven't forgotten about lunch.

6 comments:

  1. And, the rest is history... and a good story :)

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  2. Oooooh I love stories like this .....

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  3. it's funny cause I had researched houses in the same area online too....the stuff on the internet then wasnt nearly as good as it is now so it wasnt easy to find things as I recall....just finding a realtor willing to help you was a coup in itself...the one who eventually took us around I got the feeling thought we weren't really serious....but we could have been it we'd found the right place....glad you did.....so I can live vicariously

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  4. I'm sure that commute is only worse now....lots of new residential construcion in SF.

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  5. Montrichard is a town I really like. We seem to have spent a bit of time there over the years and various trips. I'm enjoying the story and also placing some of your pictures into my mind's map. Sue

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  6. We started following your blog about 2 1/2 years ago ...... then bought a house 10km from St A 18 months ago. We love reading your blog!

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