... because things have been a bit busy at Chateau Angevin!
It's a bit of a long story (what isn't with me?!) but, fingers crossed and touching every piece of wood I can find, it looks as though La Famille Angevin will be living pretty much full time in France from this autumn as we are trying to buy this truly brilliant, wonderful and generally fabulous property.
The reasons for this are, in short:
1. Troll is out of the UK for at least 9 months of the year and has been officially resident in France for years, France having a fully reciprocal arrangement with the country where he works most of the time. Despite all this, the thieving monkeys at HM Customs and Excise sent him a nasty letter last year querying his tax status. Troll's accountant sent a strong response back, and they seem to have gone away... but I have a suspicion they will be back...
So... when this property, which is only about 10 miles from our existing house in Burgundy came up, it looked like a message that we should bite the bullet and get out of the UK now, when we can do it OUR way, rather than wait to be pushed.
2. The grasping monkeys at New College, Oxford, who retained the barn immediately opposite the house I have been renovating for the last 13 years when they sold said house to me, are once again making noises that they want to develop said barn into a residential property. Now, in principal, I don't have a problem with this - I don't mind people living there. However, you only get one crack at a project like that and I just KNOW it will be done badly, with the only consideration being to the financial bottom line rather than to a real love of the building. Which will leave me looking at the cocked-up, aesthetically unpleasing result forever.
The fact this happened to the last house I lavished seven or so years of love upon prior to moving here leaves me little short of despair. At least the place we hope to buy in France has literally miles of open land in front of it which cannot be built upon.
3. I am increasingly distressed by the state the UK is in. Not just the economy, which frankly, we've all seen before and sent the T-shirt to Oxfam, but by the general downtrend I see in the PEOPLE. Everybody seems to be running around at breakneck speed for the best part of every day, with no time for very much other than scraping shekels together or being rude and obnoxious to everybody around them. Nobody has any time for anything I consider worthwhile any more.. and I can't see that situation getting better any time soon, frankly. I've come to the somewhat depressing conclusion that the UK I loved and cared about hasn't existed for 40 years or more... and I don't want to be part of what it's become.
So... the fact we are having to do a fair amount of work on the two houses we have in Burgundy already (because we have to sell them to form the deposit on our new place) wade through the 13 years or so of crap which has accumulated at Chateau Angevin and pack up what isn't being skipped, deal with agents in France both regarding the sale and purchase of everything, find a tenant for Chateau Angevin, get the various animals chipped, jabbed and generally certified for removal over the Channel and probably a million other things I can't be bothered to type about means I haven't been able to blog very much - my rant organ has been totally exhausted in Real Life...
I will attempt to keep you all posted, however...!
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