So time flew by quicker than planned, as usual. We had a very constructive weekend. We decided to take advantage of two clear days of no boots stomping around and lay the floor on the welcome level. I had a blitz on the terrace and shoved all the workmens stuff into a corner and cleaned the terraces, so at least we look quite smart from the outside. Then finished off the painting around the staircases, and am now painting a protective varnish onto the paintwork to protect it from greasy hands.

Amazingly we had several more visits from peple coming by to introduce themselves and find out when we are opening, so that is great! There is a general air of impatience. Saturday was a bit of a dangerous day for me - some days, it's like I have a death wish! First of all I dropped a long metal piece of trim from a height onto the top of my foot. It was so painful I could hardly catch my breath. I thought initially I had broken a bone, but it's fine. Then, later, on our way to see the chambre d'hotes, I fell over at the bottom of our drive and tore my trousers and gashed my knee. What an idiot. My foot turned on some loose stones. This kind of accident makes me really break out in a sweat as this happened to me whilst in Brazil - I got of a bus, my ankle turned and I heard it snap. 6 weeks in a cast. However, just blood and a HUGE bruise this time - and a husband who wonders if I'm becoming a bit infirm! Anyone else have days like that?!

I think you'll agree, things are getting there!

In the absence of electricians yesterday (grrr) we went to Perpignan and ordered the tables and chairs. They will look fantastic. We also picked up the bargain bar fridges which we got in a promotion with 200 euros off. Still no electricians today, so they got an irate phone call. Apparently they are coming this afternoon to connect the electrics and bring the final bit of equipment that should be arriving from Italy and the custom made table to hold the ovens. If we get electricity this afternoon, I shall eat my hat. But I can hope! Watch this space!

Goodness, I had been trying to write that last post all week, but it's got quite busy round here suddenly. Kitchen stuff has been arriving, we now have all the inox tables and sinks, the 'pizza unit' which is a very handsome long low fridge with a marble top and a higher fridge unit where you have little pots of ingredients to put on salads, pizzas, etc. I realise this is a completely inadequate description, but I shall post a pic to make up for my inability to describe it! The freezer and pizza oven are here, plaque induction there. It sounds as if we are going to be doing pizzas, but the oven is to heat the hot stones - only pizza ovens heat to the heat required. One of the lads is off now making us a unit to fit my 'normal' oven with the pizza oven underneath. Who knows how that will turn out!

Olivier bade us farewell yesterday evening. I spoke to him further about his problems, it turns out he has Hepatitus B, poor thing, and they want to try to treat him with interferon which has similar effects to Chemo. The risk is that if he doesn't, he could end up getting Cirrhosis, and then it's game over, really. So it doesn't look as if he has much choice. I hope he will keep in touch - he says he will, but we shall see. His work ended up costing 11,000 euros once we claim back the VAT, which I think is a bargain for all the work he has done. This means we can add painting and fitting out the reserve to our list of stuff to do.

A lady came around yesterday and introduced herself as a neighbour who lives across the road in a lovely 19C villa, called Villa Delphine. She started doing chambres D'hotes this year - nutter - as she has 9 bedrooms and was full all summer. She wanted to know when we would be open a) so she could come and b) for her clients as she could not recommend a restaurant here in Vernet. She is a lovely lady and we showed her round and she was most appreciative of the colour scheme, so of-course got straight into my good books. We are invited around tomorrow at 6pm to see her rooms and a return visit. This will pander to my nosy nature as I have been trying to see in since we got here! We also had the owners of a local hotel, called Le Mas Fleurie come round to see when we are opening, and Dave heard a conversation of some French people who were passing who evidently were looking to see how we are doing. I get a feeling of a bit of impatience, people waiting for us to open - I know the feeling! Which is good, wouldn't you say?

We have been showing the Steakstones to our collaborators - the electricians etc. I also showed them to a potential supplier who visited on Tuesday. They have all expressed an interest in buying a set. I spoke to the supplier yesterday as it happens, who called to see if they had arrived OK, and put it his way that if he ever wanted to expand into France, perhaps we could do a deal. But I won't be selling them within a 50km radius!

Some customers of ours from The Dordogne visited yesterday - the 3rd, I think to look us up! Amazing, considering that's more than any family who have bothered to come out - hint hint! They're all too afraid of being given a paintbrush. So we had lunch here and then they treated us to dinner at a charming small hotel in the next village called Casteil. It was a fixed menu of Mussels and rabbit, neither of which I eat!! Talk about fussy for a chef, but I am a bit squeamish where it comes to meat. However, the chef was very sweet and did me melon and ham, and then duck, so all was not lost. However, I think they are daring choices for a menu with no choice. So that episode was a naughty distraction from our works. It was lovely to see them and catch up on their news.

Well, today is Friday, so once the leccies have taken themselves off this evening, I shall do a photographic round-up of the advances made this week and post them tomorrow, all going well.

It's Olivier's last day tomorrow, after 3 months working here. Ahh. He needs us to accompany him round and sign off on everything, and, no doubt, write him a cheque. Some sad news for him, though, the doctors treating his liver condition want to give him a course of treatment which is very like chemotherapy, and it could lay him off work for a year. Each time he has an 'episode' of whatever he has, the episodes get worse, and future episodes could result in cirrhosis. He is waiting on the outcome of other tests before he makes a decision, but I feel for him. I always find it odd how really sick people can look really well - he looks quite well now. I hope he stays in touch.

And before you ask, yes, the leccies ARE still here. They didn't turn up on Monday at all, so we phoned J-P in the afternoon to have a moan, and they have been in force since. J-P appears to have taken over the wiring of the famous fusebox, and the two guys are putting up emergency exit signs and plugs and sockets and alarm boxes etc. Unbelievably, new stuff is STILL appearing. After some consultation with the company overseeing our conformity to regulations, it was decided that I needed another emergency button to push right by the door to the kitchen which activates the extractor fan to full blast. The idea is, that if there's a fire in the kitchen, I wack the button in the kitchen which cuts off all the hot stuff and on my way out, I wack the button activating the extractor, thus not being overcome by smoke. This is an extra button, and lots of white plastic cable covering is now snaking up the wall, to try and act as camouflage. There is not a chocolate teapots' chance that I will die in a fire! Our customers, neither. An alarm has been fitted discretely behind a beam in the dining room and a red box 'break glass in case of fire' has appeared behind the bar along with another white box which has lights on it that light up if something malfunctions on the fusebox. All very high-tech. And time consuming. Sigh.

However, kitchen equipment has started arriving and the kitchen has started shrinking! A special mention here has to be made of Nisbets France - which is actually a UK company supplying kitchen equipment at great prices from Paris. They deliver so fast, it is unbelievable. We ordered our washing up sinks and stainless steel tables from them, and had some reservations, since the prices were so reasonable. However, I am really pleased with them - they are robust and perfect!

I spent b****y hours yesterday uploading pics, converting them to smaller jpegs and then creating a slideshow, and then Explorer kept crashing, so I couldn't get any words out! Grrr. Still, Perhaps you have got the gist that we have been making quite a lot of progress despite the fact that the electricians are still at it (gnashing of teeth). However, emergency lights and cut-off switches are going up, so actual visible progress is happening, and please let them finish this week! It would also be quite exciting to have electricity!! There is only one plug socket that works which is in the reserve, and this has loads of extension cables coming out of it as people power their tools and lights. We are nearly at the stage where we (well, Dave) can start the flooring, so we have been to Perps to choose it. We have ordered walnut floorboards, they are a mixture of black and normal walnut and have a really velvety dark sheen to them. They will look fab. They will arrive on Tues, so we shall be off to pick them up then. As you see from the photos, the Steakstones finally arrived. I have to mention DHL here - they picked them up from the supplier in the UK on the 1st Sept. and they finally got here after constant phone calls from us on the 26th. Good job it wasn't urgent. I am very happy with them, (the Steakstones, not DHL, and I wouldn't recommend them) I think they are handsome sets. They were also very well packaged. We have a handsome silver shovel with them as well, to manipulate the stones out of the oven.

So the final details are now being put into place. I ordered the kitchen tables and sinks etc last week, and they are on their way, so we shall start fitting out the kitchen when they arrive, which should be any day now. The only thing I am waiting for is a low fridge unit with a grill, deep fat fryer and bain mairie which has been ordered from Italy. We were told that it would arrive in September....not much of that left! Actually, I can't really believe where this month has gone - it all seems a bit of a blur.

Our banker came round the other day to see the progress - probably to find out for himself why it is taking so long!! He normally lunches here, so hopefully will be a keen customer once we do open. He seemed quite enthusiastic.

The downside of everyone finishing is that they will all want paying - watch that bank balance plummet! Gulp. Still, when we look close to opening, I shall blast everywhere with a poster. Oh, good news, and aparthotel is opening just down the road, about a 10 min walk here (uphill) and a 5 min walk back. 72 furnished apartments for rent, short or long stay. They will be getting a poster!! They are www.atriumtourismgroup.com and the new residence is called 'Les Balcons du Canigou'.  I am so excited about opening, I can't tell you!

Well, better go, but before I do, I would just like to note how sad I am to hear of the death of Paul Newman. He truly was an icon, and hot stuff! May he Rest in Peace.

Just a quickie to let you know I haven't forgotten to post, but I've been painting the big kitchen wall (entrance side of-course!)and I had to use an undercoat that required topcoating within 2 days, so I've been painting like a fury! Today we nipped out to sort out the flooring and I had to do more painting...but hopefully tomorrow I shall get myself sorted out and take some end of week photos. Despite the fact the two boys are still here *sob*, there is quite a lot of progress, even though they seem to still be cabling, rather unbelievably! Olivier is going great guns and has nearly finished the reserve, just about 3 days left to go, and most of that is mainly doing the joints and plastering. He has done a great job boxing in the main electricity cable in 1/2 hour fire proof board and then he has done the whole wall over that in 1/2 hour fire proof board, so all the main cables are protected. Or, rather, we are protected from them!

However, I have to go shopping for his lordship's pressie tomorrow - birthday boy on Saturday. What to get the man who has all he needs, and who wants for nothing? Nearly 50!! Old geezer!

 Hopefully will post some photos tomorrow.

Night!

This week has seen me at the end of my tether as regards the MESS that the two lads (electricians) make when they are supposed to be finishing stuff neatly. They have made such a mess of a junction box, they broke the wall and then fitted the box crookedly and then mixed up the plaster on our new terrace tiles and generally made a horrendous bodge job of it all. Consequently they have been banned from even trying to finish anything off and under no circumstances to mix any more plaster: Dave will do it. They have now fitted the box straight. I was getting so upset about it, it seemed to me that we were making everything shiny and new and these two were following behind and destroying stuff. So from now on any holes that need making or filling will be done by Dave. We just want them to finish wiring the box and b****r off. Of-course my stress = Daves' stress and I let him deal with them because I would have ripped their heads off. Dave went to see their boss mid-week and he is up to speed on their limitations. They are nice lads, but real bodgits, and won't do J-P any favours in the long run. So Now am calm....er. Zen.......

 Dave and I got to grips with the kitchen floor and is now fitted.It definitely wasn't worth €1000 of fitting fees. I shall post a piccie of it tomorrow. Olivier, the Anaemic-one-who-is-no-longer-so-anaemic, is working away in the reserve: he has another job to get to, so hopefully, that'll spur him on, but the rails are about up, so the end is in sight! We'll miss him! And we are about ready to start decorating downstairs in the dining rooms. I have finished one blind, and have two more to go. I ordered the tables and sinks for the kitchen today...we can start putting the stuff in now!

We went on a mission to one of the cash n carries during the week. One of them has a promotion on for bar fridges which will save us €200. Nice one! Whilst there I treated myself to a new toy, inspired by Heston Blumenthal. A syphon:

And I think this will go on the dessert menu as a result:

It's a lemon syllabub with lemonade. Recipe and technique courtesy of Heston. Looks yummy, doesn't it, and light as a feather.

On that note, must go and get dinner!

Hey guys, look at this:

and:

You don't need to go ooh and ahh right now - you can do that when it's all wired up. This little baby is €9,500 when wired. Still, it is a work-of-art in progress. Who would have thought such a little place would have such a humungeous fuse box!!

Also here is a pic of the kitchen floor 'reposing' letting the kinks fall out - hopefully. I think Dave is fitting it today. Gulp.

It's not the prettiest flooring, but it is industrial quality and anti-bacterial. You can't have it all. My hot stones sets have gone missing - I have tracked the delivery number on-line (they were sent DHL) and apparently they are languishing in a warehouse, as they are confused as to our address. The company who sent them has furnished them with our tel number, so they can ring us to clarify, but we haven't heard anything. I am not impressed - what are they going to do,just leave them there? I have asked the supplier to phone them, as the number is an 08 UK number, which we can't call from France. I hope they get their act together soon.

Have a nice day, y'all!

The electricians are here today, fitting the fusebox, and Dave is going to start fitting the kitchn floor....so I may post more photos later!! Very exciting!

Yeah, well I found the cable, I just have to figure out how not to have a humungous picture taking up the whole screen. I have figured out how to reduce the size of the files, now how to reduce the actual picture. I'll get there!

It must have been about night 3, I thought I'd have a go at roast chicken in the built-in oven that the old owners thoughtfully left for us. A few years ago we voted roast chicken, roast potatoes, stuffing, yorkies and veg and gravy the BEST MEAL EVER.  It is the official Smith family favorite meal (French branch). Using a new oven, when you are a cook for a living and by instinct is probably a bit like a surgeon using someone else's knife. Anyway, the chicken was in and browning nicely, quite quickly, but normally. I popped in a tin of oil to get hot to put in the parboiled potatoes to roast. The next thing I know, the pan is actually on fire in the oven. I grab the tea towel and whisk it out and put it on the hob which is not on, of-course. I soak the tea towel in water and throw it over the tin, all the time calling for Dave. The flames appear to go out and Dave appears on the run. He takes the tea towel off, thinking the flames have gone out. They flare up again wildly and he jerks and the whole thing gets knocked onto the floor. Flaming oil everywhere. Luckily the floor is tiled and Dave missed spilling it on himself - thank god, thank god - I run off and grab a bath mat and soak it and run back and throw it on, by which time Dave has got it out.Jeeeez, it is one of my worst nightmares, having a fire, and I think it should be against the law leaving an electrical device as dangerous as that in a house you have just sold without mentioning it. It turns out the thermostat doesn't work, and it just stays on top heat. My other nightmare, by the way is drowning and becoming fish food. YUK. I just know that that is going to happen.

Anyway, we got lucky and our time is obviously not up.Today.  I do, however, have to get quicker with the photo taking. Dave is like a dynamo. The restaurant is nearly stripped already. I have sorted the cutlery (bin), crockery (bin), tupperware storage containers (bin) etc . You get the gist. Here's an interesting thing: I contacted the electricity people, EDF, and told them we would be moving on the 23rd Nov, back in Oct. I phoned them today and said that actually we had been 2 months late and only vacated the 21st Jan. and here are my meter readings. They said that, no thanks, they had terminated our contract on the 21st Nov and sent our last bill 2 months ago. All they needed was for the new owner to contact them with their details. So who pays, says I, for the 2 months elec? It is lost, say they. Tant pis. That's life. So here's a good ruse. Phone up the elec people and say you're moving and then get free elec!!!! Yessir, a good deal! We had 2 months free elec at the coldest time of year. Hurrah.

So here's a little summary of here we are: we have bought a fridge, new oven (!), washing machine (posh steam version), dryer, Freddy is under veterinary care and looking a little better. We have had one quote for central heating. Tomorrow we sort out the bank, a professionnel kitchen co is coming to have a look, we have made contact with the hygiene people and they will look at and approve or not our plans. Things are moving at full tilt. Tomorrow the yellow pages are phoning for our requirements. Luckiliy we haven't missed this years print. It is probably one of the most important marketing tool we can do. A carpenter has been round to measure up for a door to completely close in the bottom terrace, complete with push bar, so that it serves as an emergency exit. It's amazing how much we can get done in a day. And that's with me spending most of the pm shopping to fill our new lovely fridge. Well, we're going to eat well, anyway!

So, dear folks, maybe tomorrow I will have figured out the photos. If not, it will be more drivel. Hurrah! Lunch in the sun, by the way. 18° today. Mmmm. It was a good move.

We had a local chap round to give us a quote for central heating, M. Pascal, who's wife is running for Mayor - current Mayor is rubbish, running the town into the ground, you see. Yes, we're straght into the town politics even though we can't vote here. Anyway, we commented on the length and frequency and variety, but mostly the frequency, of the town bells. We notice particularly well, since we are right behind the clock tower. They chime every 15 mins, getting longer each time, and then chime not just once, in case you weren't concentrating, but twice. There is a particular flourish for the 7 O'Clock bells, am and pm. They are called the...um...verger bells or something. I'm sure the Catholics among us will know them. Well, on commenting on them to M. Pascal, he immediately took up the point by saying how proud the Vernet people are of their bells, so that was the end of that conversation. In addition, we became slightly alarmed when a siren went off shortly after the twice played midday chimes. Having raced out to the car to check that the alarm wasn't the cause and draining the battery, M. Pascal, our new-found source into the local knowledge, assured us that this happens everytime the 'pompiers' - firemen- are called out. He said it can happen 2-3 times a day. The alarm goes off at the Mairie, and they hear it at the 'caserne' - firestation- and off they go. Why the phone call can't just go through to the firestation and 'voila!' I do not know. But may be a French person amongst us can shed some light on that.

Anyway, I don't really want to make out that actually we are in the middle of a bell and siren hell-hole, we barely notice them, even after a couple of days (I think they turn the volume down at night), but I find it a little strange to be in the middle of a rather picturescque landscape and find it to be rather less than absolutely silent.

 We Vernet people are very proud of our bells. Tomorrow: the house-fire, and not even owners, yet!! Arghhhh

Well hi everyone, here we are and it's official, we're mountain people! And the fluffies are adjusting to being mountain fluffies. We arrived safely Monday evening as planned and our stuff arrived Weds night and Thurs morn and we signed this morning at 9am. So we are the owners!!!

Monday as exceedingly stressful as you can imagine: trying to keep the fluffies in one place and calm, the new owners, their parents arriving stomping all over the place, the removals people doing their thing etc. Arghh. In the end I drugged the cats early and hid them in the reserve. Well, that is to say 2 of them, one of them got loose, but we later trapped her in the reserve and had to put on the tough gloves and shove her in the panier. 2 hours at the notaire - not bad! - whizzed back to the Tref and said our goodbyes and shot off. It as all a bit wierd, we left the notaire without a penny and without any proof we had sold anything. Today we left the notaire with 5 copies of attestations of all we'd bought plus a reimboursement of notaire fees.

About a half hour into the drive (Dave was driving) he looked in the rear view mirror and said 'hello', and there was Mittens treading carefully over the duvet! We saw later that she had undone the zip -who says cats are stupid?! She was very sweet and just sat on my knee admiring the view. However, we put her back on our first motorway stop, as we had to keep winding the window down to pay the tolls and didn't want to risk it!

Well I will go into more detail tomorrow, but I was so excited about everything I woke up at 5am, and I'm bushed! Thanks to Kylie and Soniak and Kommerse for their comments, it's nice to know there is someone reading this! Thanks also for the link to the other foodie site. More tomorrow, snoreeeeeeeeeeeeeee xx

Well here we are, it all kicks off in just over 12 hours. It kind of hit home today when the Young Ones put up a very nice sign on the door announcing a 'changement de proprietaire' (change of ownership). I have actually done my last hotel room, it's official!!!! Never again...

The kitchen has been cleared out and emptied, the inventory done, most stuff is packed, the cats are nervous. Freddy will have to go straight to the vet when we get there, on close examination his excema is much worse than I thought, poor little thing.  People who see him will think we don't look after him. I hope there's a Yellow Pages in the new house. The owner of the New House has phoned to tell us where he has left the keys, so what could go wrong? I shall tell you in a few days! It really is a bit complicated selling a business. There's so much to do. For example, the new owners are obliged to buy what stock we have up to a value of €3000, but we hardly have anything left, but there are some wines. We have to produce the original facture to justify the price they are paying, some of which have gone to the accountant as it is the end of the financial year, some of which have been packed and are in a box somewhere. Aghhh. Still, what we can't find, I shall just have to drink. It's a tough call, but I guess I shall just have to grit my teeth.

So wish us luck and I shall be posting shortly from Vernet - forecast looks lovely! Ciaou!

Well the new owners have arrived all excited to be taking over and now I'm getting excited to be briefly unemployed! How's this for a conundrum. The owner of the house we are buying agreed very kindly to send us the keys as we shall be arriving late at night. In the meantime, I arrange with the post-office to redirect our mail from the 21st. Well, I suppose you can guess....they started right away and the keys have gone right back down to the house! Durr. Poor old owner has now to go to the house to leave us the keys - he moved about an hour away. I expect it'll all be alright on the night.

I have been packing the cats things today. They almost have more than me. I've got their travel boxes ready, Freddie's medicines packed (he's a true French cat with a whole raft of medicines) and they have more beds than is decent. The vet gave me some tranquilisers for them the other day. I am particularly worried about Wilma as she is not very good at being handled. The vet said I should try them out beforehand as the dose can be a little tricky to determine. Last night was Wilma's lucky night on drugs and within about 45mins she'd gone cross eyed and all floppy. Marvellous! She actually seemed a little pathetic, ahhh. Isn't it strange how a human would just think, Mmm, time for a nap, whereas animals try to ignore it and carry on. So we have established that one is enough!

I have had contact with 3 hot stone companies. There is a French one which owns the trademark 'Pierrade', a UK one called Blackrock Grill and another UK one called Steakstones. Blackrock Grill is a nice system, but incredibly expensive; Pierrade is nice, but not as nice as Blackrock Grill, but a third of the price, so pushes into favourite, but looks like it may be pipped to the post by Steakstones which strike a good note with nice presentation combined with reasonable price. Hurrah! I think our guests will have a memorable dining experience. It's great to decide now, as we can plan the kitchen around it. For example, I probably won't have a grill, as any steaks or grills will be taken care of by the hot stone side of the menu. I am making myself hungry writing this!

So anyway, how did we accumulate so much stuff?

So termite-man has been and gone with good news and a promise to get the report to the notaire on time. Phew. And let's face it, I'd feel a little miffed if the woodworm turned their noses up at our choice woody morsels. After spending some time in France it still amuses me when new Brits arrive and talk about surveys-surveys? And talk like damp is the end of the world. It is perfectly normal! Saltpetre? Everyone should have some. I mean these houses are hundreds of years old, still standing and built before damp courses, what do they expect? Anyway, I digress. Webjam upgraded their site yesterday and in the process lost my blog page, lost a friend (sob) and the map won't work. However, all credit to them, they found my blog page in record time. Just my friend to find and the map to fix.

So less than a week to M-day (move). We are pretty much ready to go, the cats have got their tranquilisers at the ready. Just got to stuff everything back in the boxes that we packed in October. It's all pretty much come out again!

The new restaurant is currently called Le Cortal and we're renaming it slightly to Bistrot Le Cortal. This is to indicate a change of ownership and more modern image retaining any recognition of it in the area. We shall have two sides to the menu - hot stone cooking (Pierrade in French) and the bistrot menu. The idea of the hot stones was inspired by a visit when we were looking at properties to a restaurant in Aigues-Morts in the Petit Camargue who did this. Stunning place, by the way, if you get the chance to visit that area. I wanted to go to the restaurant specifically to try it, and thought it was great fun. Not haute cuisine, it is sure, but novel, convivial and delicious. From an operational point of view it is also very practical as all the work on my side is in the preparation, leaving me time to do real cooking during the service. So hopefully this would allow us to have a wide choice of things on the menu without having to have a whole brigade in the kitchen. The one thing you have to avoid in France is having employees. I shall discuss this in a future post.

Hells teeth, had a capital lettered email from the notaire waiting for me this am. Don't you just hate that! I don't know if it's the same in the UK, but when you sell a property here there are now a raft of tests that have to be done on it: termites, lead, asbestos, and energy rating and gaz installations of more than 15 years. The energy rating one is completely useless, by the way, and lasts 10 years, regardless of what you do to it in the meantime. The termite report is only valid for 3 months and our notaire had requested the guy who did the report on our property to print out a report dated recently - standard practise, apparently, so one doesn't have to keep paying for new reports. So here's the the thing: our 'expert' has lost his certification and cannot now do inspections! One week to go and we have to get another termite report done and got to the notaire. Jeez...Amazingly, although it is a Saturday (35hr working week here, you know) we have found someone who can come tuesday. Phew! Panic over.

Dave has been trying to set up a 'bail commercial' which is a rental agreement for our new business. We used a website called statutsonline to set up our new company and saved ourselves about 1000 euros by not doing it through our accountant. So, feeling pretty chuffed with ourselves, we thought we'd do the same thing for the rental agreement, which has to be in force for the day we buy the company. Well, on this website it costs 49 euros but you cant add clauses which we want to do as the rent will be free while we are renovating. Dave did a search on the 'net and found a changeable model one for free!!! I'll have to go shopping, we are saving money here! But then I remembered the termite report....well, you can't have everything. We need a rental agreement because we are buying the restaurant building as private people and renting it to our company. Complicated huh.

We are currently working as registered individual entrepreneurs which effectively means if our business fails all we own can be taken to pay the debt. For the new place, because there are several seperate elements, a house, a (small) piece of real estate, as well as the business, we don't want to be homeless if the business fails. So we have formed an SARL which is a limited company. This means we are only liable for the capital we have put up which can be any amount from €1 upwards. Usually an accountant or notaire does this, but like I've already mentioned, we saved a load of money by taking our accountants advice (already paid for in his fees) and doing the rest over the 'net. This website even put in the required ad in the paper local to our new business. You print out all the forms and send them to the Chamber of Commerce, they register you and send you your all important registration number, et voila!

TTFN

How exciting, I log on today to find we have our first friend, welcome Philip, how lovely to see your name pop up there!!

Well, the move is set for the 21st Jan. The notaire has everything he needs, so, short of sudden death (god forbid!), nothing should go wrong. We are 2 months late moving due to the future owners changing their loan requirements, and French banks are not the most efficient in the world (hollow laugh), but it looks like we are getting there. We shall be very busy: the removal company can only come on the 21st (monday), so they shall arrive at 0830, we sign at 1430 and then it's off to Vernet - a 5 hour drive- with 3 cats in the car. We'll probably get there quite late and tired! I hope we can catch the cats. Well, it makes up for the 2 months we've been kicking our heels.

So the new (old) restaurant is in a Pyrenean spa town at 650m. It is said that no north winds blow there and it has an average of 300 days sunshine a year. If only it were also at a constant temp of 30 °C, then it would be perfect. Still. You can't have everything. As is quite common in France, there has been no reinvestment in the business and no longer conforms to hygiene regulations, if it ever did, and is quite tired and in need of some TLC. I shall be posting pics when we get back on to a broadband connection. We are currently on dial-up Yuk! However, it has the bare bones - natural stone, beams, terraces overlooking the mountains etc. It could be a cosy intimate place.

 We have discovered that, while difficult to make a buck in France, amazingly it is possible to make some with a what's called the 'Fond de Commerce'. this is the price paid for the equipment that supplies the business, ie tables and chairs, kitchen equipment etc and the 'goodwill', existing customers, reputation in the area etc. Quite often the French will buy just that and pay rent for the buildings, the reverse of what the Brits are used to doing. However, we bought our business in the Dordogne when it was in receivership, so we paid a nominal amount for the fonds, and as long as you keep it for 5 years, it is currently exempt from capital gains tax. Quite amazing to find anything here exempt from a tax, but there you are. Sarkozy even plans to tax the internet here. So we have picked up the fond de commerce quite cheaply on the new place -and rightly so - and we hope to make a nice tax free profit on that as well. Of-course, they'll probably close that loophole by the time we sell.

Well, that's probably enough to have sent you off to sleep for today. I hope to see somemore friends tomorrow!