Old friends of ours from California arrived on Sunday. They are buying a house about 10 miles south of ours. Yesterday we went to the notaire's office down that way for the closing. So our friends are now officially property owners in France. They'll be here the rest of the week, and then they'll be back in July. The house is a big place way out in the country. It's 150 to 200 years old -- different parts were built at different times.
More as things develop. Busy week. Don't know how much blogging I will do before Dec. 28 or so.
Ken,
ReplyDeleteI know you are busy but what you said about going to the notaire reminded me of a funny story. My friends Mike Hinden and Betsy Draine wrote and published a book about buying a house in France called A Castle in the Backyard, published by U. Wisconsin Press.Mike wanted to buy every house they looked at--he was ga-ga. No plumbing or electricity-no problem. No roof--no problem. Betsy had her feet firmly on the ground, until, that is, they saw the house in Castlenau they eventually bought. Mike was really wired up. When they went to the Notaire's office, they sat down to fill out the paper work and gradually realized that Mike could not seem to understand anything anyone was saying. He completely lost every bit of knowledge of French that he had. Couldn't utter or understand a word. Betsy had to do it all. The minute they walked out of the office, it all suddenly came back to him and he could speak and understand French perfectly. The story's theirs; it's in their book. They are, by the way, the ones who helped us get interested in buying a house in the Dordogne. Hope your friends had a somewhat more normal experience, though I do think the amounts of money one has to part with at the notaire's can be pretty shocking. I think in Mike's case it was just that he was totally in love with the idea of buying a house and found the transition to the reality of doing it too much.
Dennism
wishing all you blogger's a Merry Christmas.
ReplyDeleteDennism, I'm reading "deadly Slipper."
a novel of death in the Dordogne.
Th slipper is an orchid. This rare one of the title grows in the Perigueux noir.
Ken,
ReplyDeleteThe happiest of holidays to you, Walt, and Collette. Thanks for the enjoyable reading on your blog!
xo,
Ginny