We had a great sleep in our nice comfy bed. Lovely to be in our own home again.
We spent a couple of hours unpacking our Ceret clothes and personal gear that we tuck away each year before we leave. As we unpacked we sorted into 3 categories - things we will use over the next 6 weeks and therefore to be put back on our shelves, things to be given away to a charity shop, and things to be thrown away. We were doing it all with our total 64kg baggage allowance in mind - two 25kg checked bags, two 7kg carry-on bags, and whatever is left over in our pockets! We keep looking around the apartment thinking what we should take, and what we are prepared to leave. There's still an option to send back a parcel of things by freight if we find there's more than 64kg of good stuff!
We've also been thinking about our paintings. We had thought we might have to peel off the canvases and wrap them around a tube, to be restored to a new frame when we return, however I had the thought that our checked allowance is 50kg, and can be as many bags as we like, as long as each bag's dimensions add up to less than 300cm. We could pack the paintings back to back, wrap them in a sturdy box like a bike box, and thus get them back without the risks of dismantling them. Lots to think about.
The weather remains grim, and being trapped inside we gave the apartment a bit of a clean after our guests.
We got some terrible news from friends Jon & Jude. The baker under the arch has closed up permanently! So that means our chief and favourite source of jesuites, croissants, croissants amandes, tartelettes myrtilles, amourettes and religieuses is no more. It is barely worth staying here now, but I imagine we can tough it out. So disappointing. We were forced to try an alternative, Maison Duclos, only to find that while their patisseries are still available, their bread baker is no longer baking. The saint-honore was excellent.
Next morning we did some weighing of things we'd like to bring back to NZ. It looks like it will be worth our while to send back a box by post. It's expensive, but still worth it for what we can pack in.
We are more or less decided on the agent we will use to sell with. Tomorrow we will try to sort our notaire so we can sell while we are in New Zealand if necessary, and we will also get the required termites/asbestos/lead/plumbing report started off.
The weather remains damp and cold, though a few minutes bright sunshine showed promise. It should be sunny from Friday onwards.
We met up for a coffee with Norwegian/Swedish friends of ours. Marianne has just sold her house on the outskirts of Ceret and is looking for a small apartment in Ceret central. She wants an old-style place, so ours doesn't suit, but she and Mats provided some great information about the local real estate market and local agents. Mats is also planning to sell his place soon so he can spend more time in Gothenburg with his grandchildren. Marianne will spend more time in Norway with her family, and they will still have a pad together in Ceret.
The day before we'd spent an hour with some great friends here - an English couple who chose to live here permanently and avoid the chaos of Brexit. Jon (an artist) is our age and Jude is a few years older. They are great fun. It's interesting to hear that they are seriously considering relocating to England in a few more years, when they are slightly older and health care becomes a real issue.
When we were in Ceret last year we were assailed with stories of deteriorating health affecting a significant number of our expat friends. A number have or are in the process of relocating homeward. In the last two days we have heard of two more who have been diagnosed with cancer in recent months, and we will see neither of them this year. It's somewhat depressing.
Added to the fact that two restaurants in Ceret have closed (one was top-end and one was low-end), plus our favoured boulangerie has closed and another has ceased baking bread, life here has taken on a different look. Plus, one of the local Catalan restaurants is now selling burgers too.
There's more - the owner of the garage in a neighbouring town where we store our car over winter has died and his heirs are likely to sell the garage. That's the end of our car storage for 25 Euro/mth. It's a seriously good rate because it costs 70-80E/mth in Ceret.
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| Snow on Canigou; it's not summer yet! |
We caught the bus to Le Boulou at 10am on Thursday and called in to the hotel to pay the garage owner. It's the last time we will be paying for car storage, so the fact the garage is likely to be sold doesn't really affect us. We opened up the garage and there sat our trusty Hyundai Matrix, looking very dusty and fairly forlorn with a double mattress perched on its roof.
We cleared the detritus away, connected up the battery and, as consistent as ever, the engine fired into life instantly. Our first stop was the industrial area on the outskirts of Ceret where there is a carwash, vacuum cleaner and air hose for use. For just 3 Euro we gave the car a good going over and she came out gleaming. A quick vacuum and check of the tyre pressure and it was good to go.
Just over the road was a cycle shop where we'd hope to pick up a bike box for packing our painting in for the trip back to NZ. Unfortunately, it was 10 seconds past midday, and the shop had already closed up for the 12-2pm lunch hour. There was nothing for it but to head home.
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| Stinky sticky Maroilles cheese for lunch |
After our typical lunch of bread, cheese, tomato, ham etc we walked around to a local technician's office. It is a legal requirement that everyone selling a property in France must obtain a diagnostic report for any prospective buyer to view. The report provides a detailed assessment of any risk in the property associated with asbestos, lead, termites, energy conservation, and the state of electricity and plumbing. The very helpful young women on the front desk organised a visit by a technician next Monday. It is great to have this underway in preparation for selling.
We also sent an email to the real estate agent we have chosen. She only works online so has no physical office to visit, but she has worked as an agent in Ceret for decades and has many contacts. We met her when we were selling our first apartment at Place de l'Eglise. She also offers a lower agent's fee than the standard 6-8%!
Later in the afternoon we decided to go to Le Comptoir to enjoy a glass of wine, and perhaps catch up with some of our friends. However, very few of our friends are currently in Ceret, though some will be arriving in time for the cherry festival on 18th May. The quiet of French people compared to the Spanish was glaringly obvious. Had we been in Spain the volume of 20 people around us would have been deafening, as it was we could talk softly and hear each other fine.
John and I are both feeling some effects of stress at the moment. There is so much going on, both here and back in NZ. We're hoping things will settle down over the next week or so, but in the meantime we are very much looking forward to a change in the predicted weather tomorrow. With forecast blue skies and sunny weather we'd love to get out on some walks around about and enjoy the sun on our backs.
