Well famous last words yesterday – we were banged out last night, refusing people. Hurrah!! Mostly second home owner Brits who had come over to ski, so the atmosphere was definitely snowy as people arrived in their ski gear with their lift passes dangling. It was snowing as they left the resorts yesterday evening, so I don’t know if the resorts will be accessible without snow chains for our days off. It was great to do some work!! However, we didn’t get home until 00.'45 – phew, that was some clearing up!

The original owners came to lunch today. The ones that converted it from a restaurant to a stable 30 years ago. They are real characters, particularly Mrs. They like what we have done with the place, but can’t help but comment when they notice something they don’t like, like the velux window Dave put in the house – they asked why we had done it and when Dave said it was because it was dark, they poo pooed it!! Move on, chaps!

So days off from tomorrow, off to Perpignan to do some shopping is one of the projects – I don’t think skiing is on, it’s a bit too cold and snowy, but we’ll see for Tuesday.

Oh my word it is quiet. Il n’y a pas un seul chat dehors, as the French say – not so much as a cat outside. Still, that’s January for you, and I think that we shall seriously consider whether to open or not this time next year. Dave has been studying properties on the internet and reckons we should do a renovation next winter. Of-course, we do have a renovation going – the house! It is proceeding bit by bit. We chose really tiny tiles for the bathroom walls which are being tiled from top to toe and to make things even more difficult, they are marble, so really porous. Dave has had to coat them with protective stuff and now he’s grouting, but it’s taking a long time.

The accountant has finalised the first set of fully operational accounts, and rather to my surprise, we have managed to make a profit. Yay. Not bad since we continued reinvesting at least up to summer . So it’s nice to know we are on the right track. We are able to write off last year’s loss against it and take out a few other expenses so our tax liability has been reduced to zero. Yay again. This would be a problem if we wanted to borrow money of-course, but fortunately we don’t.

I am clearing up a few jobs that were ‘pending’ due to lack of time. I have sourced and ordered some rather swish menu covers – from the UK as it turns out. I found this great company where you can completely design your own menu covers on line. So we shall be getting mahogany leather menu covers with a metallic orange binder (orange being our company colour) with our logo engraved onto a metal plate and fixed to the front. They are really the finishing touch. We have been using generic plastic ones up until now, but it takes some days of sourcing and choosing to sort it all out. They will have transparent plastic pockets inside so we can print and reprint our menus at will, so it gives us complete flexibility. Oddly, I couldn’t find anything like the same sort of product in France, perhaps there’s another opportunity there….

In these quiet times I have also done a complete deep clean of the kitchen, walls, ceiling et al, and I am studying vegetarian cookery with the stunning new book at the top right hand corner and Dave is still trying to choose a new car….so I’m not bored!!

  We went skiing today. Before we went the webcam showed blue skies albeit a bit cold. By the time we got there it had become a bit overcast and windy and -bejesus! - did it get cold!! By the time we got back to the car, about 4.30, it was -4° at the car - who knows what at the top of the chairlift, or what the windchill was. We were frozen!! Still ,it was exhilarating all the same, but I must say that it was too cold for me at the end, also the sky was the same colour as the snow, and I couldn't really see any detail of the snow and kept hitting icy patches. Even Dave was cold, he had almost changed colour - particularly as he doesn't wear gloves or scarves. Brrr. Still, we've got that self-righteous glow or fresh-air skin, and slightly aching legs, so that's good....

I must say, though, at 26€ + insurance each for an afternoon pass, 12€ each for ski hire, 2.80€ coffee, and 12€ lunch each, it's well over 100€ for the afternoon skiing - dead pricey, I think. And don't say 'take a picnic' - having a cosy lunch in a chalet is all part of the ski experience! At least we didn't have boot hire - my feet have never been so comfy...although a bit like blocks of ice at the end!

We have just had the quietest week of the year, mirroring the same week last year. However, we still managed to beat last year's turnover for the same week, even though we're closed for an extra day, so the trend is going in the right direction.

Set to snow again tonight, so batten the hatches.....

I have recently discovered the symbiosis of a camera phone and bluetooth, so have been playing!

A very happy new year to everyone who reads this. I have a tentative new year resolution to get more exercise, but I'm not committing to it....it depends how the ski season goes!! Santa brought us our own pair of ski boots this xmas, hooray! The last pair I had was when I was 10 and they were leather and your feet got wet and ever so cold. These new ones are like strait jackets for the feet with lovely furry inners, new technology, we love you.  We have also cracked the what - to- get- for - each-other connundrum by each setting up an Amazon wish list with a goodly assortment of wished-for items on it. Before the last posting date, we go into each others list and order two items (dvds count as 1/2 an item),  gift-wrapped. Job done!! So now we are bunced up with the books we want and my collection of yoga dvds has gently expanded.

Freddy our little FIV puss was our xmas miracle. He had been declining rapidly to the point where he wouldn't get out of his basket anymore. I was convinced that he had painful arthritis and that the vet wouldn't be able to do anything for him; so it was with dread that we bundled him up and took him to the vet, convinced that it would be the last. I cried all the way there, and, embarrassingly, all the way through the appointment, all the while the vet muttering about cardiac and renal failure and anaemia. He had 3 injections, honestly, he's like a pin cushion, poor fella, which really upset poor old Fred and more tablets for him to take. Rather to my surprise I got to take him home where upon next morning we discovered a Fred almost as good as new - it was astonishing. It truly was like a miracle. Bless his little soul, I'm not letting him go without a fight!

Other than that, we have had a good start to the new year, and I really hope our waitress will be working next year! My goodness, it is hard work when it's just the two of us. New Year day was a blinder, full at lunch and full at dinner, although we have closed down half the dining room and do about 18-20 covers between us, tops. Still, we get home around half past midnight on nights like that, and then have the books to do, showers etc to have. Still, schools are back now and I expect that's it, now until Easter. Time to get the ski boots out...

We are researching new cars at the moment. Our poor old Zafira isn't quite cut out for the mountains, and we've really boshed it on the steep slope outside our house. We really need a proper 4x4 that is quite high off the ground. Current faves are the HYundai Tucson - great value, really well equipped as standard, the renault Koleos which is very stylish and well equipped, and the VW Tiguan, although I think that will be considerably more money for the same sort of thing. There is a website here in France, called Aramis that is offering 35% off the price of the Tucson and the Koleos - brand new, which drops their price by about 10,000€ and makes them look like a real bargain. However, to get finance we need to produce a set of accounts, so not yet, then....

Keep warm, you Brits, looks pretty parky over there!!

I should probably balance the last post by recounting the story of the table we had at lunchtime yesterday. We had a small wedding party of 11 people. The bride works at the Mairie (townhall) and looked funky and fabulous and the groom is a sweetie. They ate well and spent well, but most of all it is an immense privilege when people choose to celebrate one of the most important days of their lives chez lil ol' us.

So I suppose it was inevitable that the evening should prove to be the 'yang' to lunch's 'yin' - payback!!

Well, they were quite pleasant, if a bit pikey (and I don't apologise if anyone finds that term politically incorrect!) but 5 adults of a pikey persuasion and 5 small, very small, kids .....a TiffnDave nightmare *shudder* .Dave had to confiscate the cute gourds I'd decorated the dining room with in a fit of autumnal enthusiasm, and the constant jangling of the cow and goat bells I'd bought even clearly audible in the kitchen, and the constant high-pitched screaming and parents shouting.....Ugh. A big clean-up operation is scheduled tomorow morning to get the fingerprints off everything and the food off glass etc.

They're barred! Parents, please note - it's probaly only you in the whole world that thinks the sound of your child's scream is music to your ears. Arghhhhh.

So nose to the old grindstone again. We've been open a couple of weeks now with one important operational difference - we close for 2 days a week now for the winter season. And what a difference it makes to have another day off to actually do something non-work related!! Yay. Business is ticking over with spurts at various times - Sunday lunches, for example. One lunch was unexpectedly busy - and pretty stressful with complicated orders that it brought on the back pain that I get if things get stressful. Normally I do a bit of yoga and it eases the tension and it passes, but we had the workmen in changing the windows - not the ideal scenario for chilling out and stretching! So I called our new English GP who has opened a practice at the Spa, and asked if would be possible for an appointment that afternoon, just to get some painkillers to see me through until the builders had gone. Well, it turned out that he had to close his surgery for that afternoon for some maintenance, and after an explanation he dropped by the restaurant with a prescription - and didn't even charge!! So, eat your heart out you Brits in Britland - you don't get service like that there!!! Marvellous.

As it turns out I had to go back for a second visit on the spread of a lurgy caused by an expensive facial at the spa I went to back in the UK. It turns out I was allergic to the products they used on my face. Arghhhhh!!! Last time I have a facial, I'll stick to Nivea! So while business has been ticking over, our spanky new windows have been put in, giving us the green light to start on the house decorations. They were done just in time as the cold weather has hit and the surrounding mountains are sporting a sprinkling of the white stuff. The Canigou (the largest mountain in Catalogne at which we are at the foot of) is looking particularly fetching. So, I'm very pleased, I just want it to rain now, so I can check we are watertight at last.  We shall be the toasty macgraws this winter with our new wood burner, windows and heating yay!! Almost the best bit is the government paying significant portions of the cost of the material,  of-course.

Of-course, it's really about time it snowed, start getting the ski slopes in condition....

One of the downsides of being less busy, AND, coincidentally having a portable little computer on the wifi network, is the increased opportunity for shopping on the internet . We've refined our search for a new car and decided on a Nissan Quashqai top of  the range, natch, with tow bar and trailer. We have decided on that as it is a relatively short wheel base 4x4, and we can't really get a long car round the corner of our lane, but it also needs to have enough room to get restaurant shopping in, but diy stuff will be banned as we keep trashing the interiors of the cars we get, hence the trailer. However, it's all academic, as we need to produce a set of accounts before anyone will give us any money to buy one....dream on....and better get down the accountants...

On more serious subjects, I need to do some work on festive menus. I have a policy of not inflicting a set menu on people (except on xmas day) but there wil be an extra special menu on option. We have decided to keep the same opening times as last year - open lunch and dinner xmas eve, lunch xmas day and just lunch new years eve. We used to do New years eve in the Dordogne, but last year lunch worked really well on New year day, and we couldn't do both, as we finish at 3 or 4 in the morning new years eve. So lunch it is. In the meantime, whilst I ponder menus and paperwork, Dave has started tiling our little shower room - we went out and chose and bought what seems and extraordinary amount of tiles. We are doing it in ivory marble and black metallic sounds great huh?!! Pictures shall be forthcoming!

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!