Over it!
Too much turmoil and a few good wins. Not so much a balanced year really, more of a rollercoaster with maintenance issues if I'm honest, a few rails, nuts, bolts and wheels were missing but we hung on by a tatty tethered thread, just. Oh, go on then, if we are being brutally Donna honest, it was a fucking crazy bad year, I do not need a repeat of !
It could be worse I suppose, but I really don't think so.
It started as I mentioned in my previous blog with the passing of my 7 year old spaniel, good companion and all round bestie, Bertie. He chased a deer off our property on New Year’s day, headlong into a car, an auspicious start indeed! We really struggled to come to terms with it all, as the rental property should have been fenced and it wasn't.
A few weeks later we reluctantly welcomed Watson pup and it was a good decision in the end. He certainly kept me busy and over time helped us deal with our grief. He's not Bertie and never will be because he wasn't a replacement per say, he was a wonderful, much loved new addition to our family and he's now just over a year old, currently chewing a peg basket, still much adored! Life as they say, goes on.
Today, I'm looking back on the year that was 2024 trying to make some sense of it. Even taking away the death of our beautiful dog, a dear friend and my much missed mum, it's been a year that needs putting to bed or blowing up entirely.
When we realised early in 2024 that Philip didn't need to be the office so much in the UK and the renovation would never get done unless we were on site more, we started thinking about being in France again full time. We had also suffered a burglary the summer before and we had really struggled at the rental property which was typically badly neglected by the estate that owned it and too insecure.
Our camper van had also been trashed by the French recovery company in the September of 2023 and with it our hopes of easy travel back and forth were lost. So what to do? The French wreck wasn't ready and we didn't want to spend yet another fortune on a rental.
Initially we went to live temporarily in our friends' flat in France, but soon realised the back and forth from south west to the north, was a lot too much. The contractor who was supposedly working at the property was definitely billing for no shows and sometimes the bare minimum of work. It didn't add up. He just wouldn't commit at all and it couldn't go on. One, we would never get done, two, we were wasting money by literally being ripped off right under our noses and three, he was gossiping endlessly about us to anyone that listened. I even caught him red handed, absolutely shameful. We were both mortified, disgusted and rather disapointed, but determined to carry the fuck on.
In the end I used our hall way camera to watch him coming and going. What was interesting was how much he was on his phone, considering he never answered us! He told me he was working for the Mayor in his town for free when in fact we were still being billed for zero progress. It was insulting. He also wanted paying in the UK and with no paper trail, and he told folks we didn't pay and honestly, I believe he was the main issue all along sadly. Anyway, this union benefiting one person only had to end, despite the fact he had done a few bits of good work in the 18 months he worked for us, it was a permanent goodbye. I then took charge finding new contractors. It turned out to be a very good decision indeed.
We moved into the wreck after a month of trying to live in a little house a friend of a friend owned, which didn't go well. Finally we went about getting a few rooms ready here best we could and sort of posh camped for a while. It could be difficult with the dogs but we managed somehow. Work went on apace and we were justifiably shocked at how much one person could achieve in a day, given our previous experiences! We finally had some hope, even though too much of the work we'd had already paid for previously had to be redone.
I was sad to leave the south west and had said I would never live in the wreck and by late August I would really come to regret the move, because of one entitled French green grocer! The lorry tales are further back on this blog site, if you wish to regale yourself of all that nonsense. Essentially, we experienced the worst of the local government and police here and it will always colour our view of life in France now. Consequently we are still sitting on the fence, wondering if we will stay or go and that bloody huge lorry is still killing the paths we walk on! It doesn't get the chance to park outside our home and never will because there is no legal right to block our access, end of story.
2025 meanwhile is very much an open book for us right now, we have no idea what’s next but first we need to finish the wreck, we've learnt a lot. The year ended with Philip completing his contract and not having anything else in the pipeline. This was unexpected but a relief in many ways. It had been a tough contract, constantly pulling him back to the UK. He was successful but didn't enjoy the job, so for me I was glad to see it come to an end, no matter how inconvenient to us.
In 2024 we also were tax inspected in France which was quite the negative experience and alerted us to the fact that our 'expert French accountant' really wasn't all that. A friend put us in touch with someone else who shone the spotlight on how to resolve it all and pointed out what the accountant should have done but didn't. This issue has come with us into 2025 but we are hopeful that it will be resolved positively soon.
Christmas 2024 was full of grief of course and then my daughter brought us a unique blend of super London commuter flu to add insult to injury, a four in one if you like, a real doozy. It's been completely awful and totally wiped us out over Christmas and New Year. We still don't feel 100% by any means and are both still coughing hard. My energy is totally sapped. I have no extra to give anyone right now. I'm not morose just processing as we all should. I need to grieve too.
Things have been difficult and we've run out of steam and reno money really. We still need to keep going and I'm so proud of how far we've come, what we've achieved is quite something! This reno has been one of those tht faught back every step of the way! This wolf in sheep's clothing is now a comfortable home and thats worth celebrating when we feel better!
Onwards!
D x
Comments