16 May - Across the border, and French hassles

I'm writing this thinking that France is doing its best to make sure we leave with no regrets. France is great at so many things, but there's some aspects to life here that are impossibly frustrating.

The day began very well with a trip across the border to La Jonquera for our haircuts. We arrived with a bit of time to spare for a coffee at the amazing Artigas cafe. It is very eclectic, and the coffee is served with panache.

Sweet coffee cups, with a tiny bottle containing hot milk for Karen's cortado

Our haircuts with Carmen were as good as ever. Karen finds it very difficult to get good haircuts despite trying many hairdressers, but Carmen at La Jonquera has been consistently good and only half the cost of those back on the French side of the border. And just as important, just up the road is Restaurant de Angeli. We've been there after each haircut for the last few years, and have never been disappointed. We are not sure if we will get back down to the Costa Brava, perhaps for ever, and took the opportunity to have some Catalan seafood. Jolly good! My chipirones were as good as they get - crunchy, juicy, salty and fishy. It was a lovely last Spanish meal, if indeed that's what it is.

Entree (chaperones for J, anchovies for K)

Main course (seiche for J)

Main course (rouget for K)

The meal was simply delicious. The cost for three courses, including wine and bread, was 19 Euros (NZ$33), i.e. ridiculously cheap by NZ standards.

We had decided to go back to the car yard that had offered to buy our car, just to check all was well and to sort out payment methods and so on. What a mess! The place was closed despite it being working hours, yet there were people inside. There was also a for sale sign outside. We started feeling that things were looking dodgy. They had been very quick, perhaps too quick, to offer what we thought was a decent price. Three different phone numbers were not being answered either. We gave up. On heading back past the site again I saw somebody else trying to raise them without success, then spotted a man coming out of the office. I raced across the road to catch him. The place was closed for stocktaking apparently. He suggested we come back next week.

We will indeed do that on Thursday when we come back from Toulouse Airport on our way home from meeting Alastair and Sophie in Amsterdam. We think if we can, we will just sell the car there and then to make sure we have time to receive the money, or find alternative sale arrangements if it doesn't work out.

Back to find a bunch of emails from the notaire's office asking for various documents. One big win among the emails - we don't need to appoint a formal independent tax assessor (at NZD1500) to work out our capital gains tax (CGT). It's something we could do ourselves with an official online calculator in 5 minutes. The limit at which the formal assessor is required applies to each of the owners, so the overall sale value can be split between Karen and me and thankfully when split it comes under the limit. I'm not sure why this only came to be discovered so late in the piece. The difference it makes could have cost thousands of euros for us.

We managed to assemble the required documents and went down to the notaire's office to give them to the assistant. She was really nice, but insisted that our sales price (on which we pay CGT) must be the full price in the sales agreement that we signed yesterday. We were always concerned that this might happen, and that our agent had misled us. We wanted the agreed amount for chattels cut out of the sale price altogether, so we wouldn't pay CGT on it. Our buyers had already agreed this with us, as it means they will pay less overall tax too. After a bit of arguing back and forth (in French) with the assistant, the notaire happened to come downstairs and she called him in. He initially sided with her in that the full agreed sale price must be put in the agreement, but after another 5 minutes of polite arguing he agreed that yes, it was possible to put the non-chattels price in the agreement, and that we could reach a private and separate agreement with the buyers to pay for the chattels. This was what he had told us last week when we had a meeting with him to determine how the sales process could proceed. Finally. What a nightmare it's been. We figure the notaire will receive a lesser sum for his work if the sale price is reduced, hence he has a vested interest to keep the furnishings included in the sale of the apartment.

I had printed out a spreadsheet of how the CGT should work, as I simply want to make sure we get all our legal deductions. At one point the assistant said we can't take out our agent's fee, then put it back in the deductions list.

The difference between what might have happened, and where we should get to now, is tens of thousands of dollars. If we were not persistent, argumentative and well-prepared we could easily have had to pay extra. It is so frustrating. Just as well the sale is happening while we are in France. I dread to think what would have happened if we tried to question things remotely by email. We have no doubt we would have lost out enormously.

One thing has to be said. Everybody we have dealt with has been very pleasant and helpful, even when what they are saying things that don't help us. We have found this throughout the decade we've been here.

There's been one huge benefit of all the extra stress and hassles of the last week or so. We will be so glad to be rid of all the difficulties caused by French bureaucracy. France does many things well, but doing things quickly, simply and without stress isn't one of them. It will be a relief to be shot of it and to spend time in Nelson and Hanmer Springs, where everything is way more clear, simple and efficient!

14th & 15th May - SOLD!

Not a great night's sleep. Both of us had the possible sale going round in our heads. 

We had planned to go to La Jonquera in Spain for haircuts and lunch, but when we finally got hold of Tentacion we were told we'd have to wait until Thursday. Nor could we do the contra-visite for the Control Technique which the car had failed last week. We'd fixed what we need to, but will have to wait until tomorrow for the recheck.

After a quiet coffee at Le Pablo to fill in the time while our purchasers were checking out the apartment again, we wandered back through the square only to bump into them. They looked very cheerful, and said to us "see you tomorrow with Valerie". We had a quick and inconclusive chat while wondering what they meant. It was pouring with rain so we decided to duck into Quattrocento and have an easy 'menu de jour'  and came back to an email from Valerie saying "The apartment is SOLD!". They'd offered full price with no strings. We couldn't believe it. It had all happened far too quickly to comprehend it.

Valerie came and saw us in the early afternoon. They'd apparently loved it from the moment they saw it online. Even before they viewed it Valerie had two other buyers who were keen, so the American couple wanted to seal the deal asap, and thus offered full price. We are very happy. All we have to do now is to negotiate the building/contents split, and how we get paid for both. We want the price for selling the apartment itself as low as possible, and the chattels as high as possible. The way it is sorted potentially makes thousands of dollars of difference to the capital gains tax we will pay, also potentially the agent's fees.

We slept better, though many things were going round in our heads! At 10:30 in the morning Valerie, Patrick and Lucy came up to our apartment to sign the offer. We spent quite some time making sure that we could separate the contents from the apartment, but it turns out that today is merely the offer, and not yet the first of the 2 main legal documents - the Compromis de Vente.  So we signed up and that was that. A great relief, though we are somewhat unconvinced that Valerie has got everything right yet. We all kept talking for quite some time, and after Valerie finally stopped talking we invited Patrick and Lucy to apero later so we could take them through the apartment in more detail.

Next step was to turn round Valerie's sign from A Vendre to Vendu!

VENDU

Around lunchtime we headed out to view the Paris Olympic Torch Relay, which is currently touring in our region. It was quite a spectacle. The torch itself was a bit of a fizzer with a pathetic little flame, but the entourage was spectacular. There were 9 large blue tinted-out police vans full of gendarmes, countless motorcycle riders and other security, and a number of sponsors' floats. The torch bearer was surrounded by over a dozen security "runners" without visible weapons, but with bulletproof vests, comms gear, dark glasses and some with funny little backpacks that presumably held guns or tasers. The security in Paris must be a total nightmare for the police.

The torch bearer. Note the guards in grey, with bulletproof vests

In the evening we had Patrick and Lucy round for apero. We spent two hours chatting away, and then did a tour of the apartment pointing out things that might be useful to know. They obviously love our place, as of course do we. They've bought for the long term, as they have no plans to come out until perhaps Xmas.

11th to 13th May - Ceret

Saturday. Market day. We don't have many more markets up our sleeve so we want to make the most of them. We enjoyed cruising our usual stalls e.g. olives, meaty tomatoes etc, but strawberries, melons and cherries have also come into season. The prices are still a little high but they will come down. Cherries are currently around 9 Euro/kg, but will reduce to perhaps 6-7E/kg. 

John keen to experiment with some new cheese

While sitting at Le Comptoir supping our habitual coffee we were joined by an English couple who have just arrived in town from England. They've become good friends over the years and were very disappointed to hear that we've put our apartment on the market. We ended up chatting for ages and didn't make it home for lunch until 1.30pm. 

The afternoon was given over to chores - John worked on the bike box packaging for our paintings. He managed to put on some secure handles which will allow us to more easily transport it between here and Barcelona airport, let alone help the baggage handlers chucking it between planes. I spent the afternoon sweeping and then mopping the stairwell. The English couple who own the apartment immediately below us have two dogs. They've very recently returned home, but I'm sure they don't realise they left half a dog behind. Or at least that's how it seems given the amount of dog hair that had accumulated on the stairs. 

At 6pm it was time for drinks at Le Comptoir. It's the first time we've been since we arrived over a week ago. The gathering was mostly of English, and it was nice to catch up with some faces we haven't seen since last year. 

We declared Sunday a rest day. John was very keen to repeat the walk we'd done with our friends from Montpellier on Wednesday, aiming to find a new return link which avoided the bush-bashing. He'd done his research online and had a few options to try out. In the end we didn't get away until 11am because a friend emailed us at 9am to say he had an American friend who would be interested in buying my bike. She was departing for home the next day so we needed to retrieve my bike from its storage spot in the cellar of another friend. It has been there for the past eight years or so. Remarkably it had only the odd patch of fungus clinging to it, however we spent a good while giving it a good clean. Thankfully the tyres pumped up from zero to full, and everything seemed to work fine when I took the bike for a short spin. We'd arranged for a viewing of it after lunch.

Being nearly lunchtime, and with perhaps an 8km walk ahead of us, we popped into a nearby patisserie for a pastry to munch en route. It was also Mother's Day, so a decadent treat was obligatory. Lovely Mother's Day wishes had arrived from Bella and Alastair by the time I woke up in the morning, so that was the best start to the day. 

My Mother's Day treat

We both thoroughly enjoyed our walk. John was chuffed to find a new link track, and we found ourselves walking through a very picturesque rural area on the outskirts of Ceret and also through the fancy residential area of Haut de Ceret (Heights of Ceret). It really was a very attractive area to walk through and we're keen to do it again before we leave. It's a pity we haven't known about it for the last 12 years!

At 2pm an older American couple range our bell. They have a holiday home in a nearby town and fly out twice a year from New York. The guy already has a bike while the woman preferred to run, however she has recently decided that a bike might be a good idea. She was immediately taken by my bright yellow bike, and gave it the thumbs up virtually straight away. She is much the same height as me so it was the perfect size. They also bought the pannier bags and were keen on the hatchback-mounted bike rack too but unfortunately it didn't quite fit their car. It was a little sad to see my bike go, but I haven't used it much in recent years because our preference has been to go hiking in the hills. There is also no way I can take the bike back to NZ. Another friend has been using John's bike for years and he's keen to now buy it so that it all sorted too. We are definitely getting things ticked off our To Do list. It's heartening because we've been feeling under the pump for the fortnight we have been here.

Monday was an important day. Our real estate agent had an American couple (different from the ones who had bought my bike) lined up to view our apartment at 3pm. The mezzanine area needed tidying up after all our work on the bike box, plus we had the big storage cabinet to go through. All manner of tools, accessories and bits and pieces are tucked away in the various shelves and drawers. We sifted through them to decide which things to leave with the apartment, those to give away to friends and stuff for the rubbish. It took a while!

A coffee break late morning saw us catch up with yet another English couple. If you site at Le Comptoir long enough there will always be someone you know who similarly turns up for a refreshment. This pair have been coming to Ceret for 38 years. At 90 and 83 years, they're determined to keep coming for as long was possible and will pass on their holiday home to their children rather than sell it when the time comes. Another friend also joined us for coffee. We've known her for a number of years, part of which when she moved to Wellington to live nearer to one of her sons. She has been back living in Ceret for a few years now and is unfortunately struggling with the onset of dementia. It was a little difficult to hold a conversation with her but she was thrilled to see us, and clearly remembered who we were. It was very nice to see her too. She says she's toying with the idea of relocating back to NZ but it's not going to happen. Thankfully she has a son who lives here in Ceret and he is keeping a close eye on her.

With a final once-over of the apartment after lunch, it was looking in very good order for the viewing at 3pm. When the American couple arrived with Valerie, our real estate agent, we were a little bemused to find they were all speaking fluent French with each other. We soon found out that the husband was born in France and his wife is from French Guiana. They were very nice and we chatted for quite a while. After they'd left John and I had no real idea how they felt about the apartment. They are in fact renting for a week or so on the opposite side of Place des Neuf Jets! I guess we will receive some feedback from Valerie some time soon. They are travelling around the region during the next week and are then returning to Ceret. 

Not much later we received an email  from Valerie, our agent, telling us that they were "very keen", and would like to come back for a second viewing in the morning. So off we went to bed hoping things had gone really well.

9th and 10th May - Ceret

After a 'play day' yesterday, it was back to work today. It was our first perfect day here - sunny, blue skies, no wind, a warm temperature of 25 degrees and noticeably more people wandering around and enjoying the town. Yesterday and today are public holidays in France, and many people take the 'pont', i.e. bridge, and take Friday as a holiday as well, meaning they have five days to go on holiday. All of a sudden, compared to last week, there are many tourists, both French and foreigners, filling up the cafes and restaurant tables. It is really nice to see.

We kicked off the day with a walk, though rather shorter than yesterday's 14km, and subsequently enjoyed our first coffee at Le Comptoir in the sun. We actually got too hot, but we are NOT complaining. Yesterday, our friends Andrew and Marijke had suggested we put a For Sale sign on our front door, because the A Vendre sign on our balcony is only visible if you look right up high. We only realised this when we were all downstairs in the square below and saw that the sign is not particularly eye-catching. So, John and I took some new photos today, printed them on a piece of paper and taped it to our front door. The contract with our real estate agent allows for us to sell the apartment on our own behalf or with a second agent, so we thought this seemed a good option. Our front door is right next to the menu board for the restaurant on the ground floor of our building, hence, we figure our photos might get a good amount of scrutiny. 

Photos on the front door

If you look up at our apartment from the square, you really have no idea that our apartment is so light, modern and airy, which the photos clearly depict. The apartment looks so good when we can open up the doors and show the view down to the square below - this is why we have loved living here so much. 

Before lunch John had done some work on sanding and plastering some of the ceiling in the mezzanine which was showing the effects of roof leaks in previous years. It wasn't much, but with some more tlc, and a new coat of paint or two, it came up looking much better. It was well worth doing, as was filling and painting a number of holes left in the walls where we had removed paintings etc.

After a full clean and tidy-up we started to tackle cutting down the enormous bike box we had picked up a few days ago. We want to use it to take our paintings back to NZ. John loves a challenge like this. So, with a tape measure, sharp knife, glue and brown tape we set to. It took quite a while, but after we'd managed to get the box cut down to the right size and the paintings tested, heavily protected by our squashable feather duvets, we felt as though we'd done enough work for the day. A glass of wine was in order......

The first incision .....

So there we were having a quiet glass of wine, enjoying the windows being open for the first time, and in flew a pigeon! It's a surprise that it's the first time this has happened, as there is quite a large pigeon population in Ceret, and a woman in nearby apartment throws food down into the square sometimes. Anyway, with some wild flapping and a few wrong choices flying into windows, the pigeon found its way back outside. 

Pigeon sitting on our sheet drying on the mezzanine rail. Thankfully it didn't leave a calling card.

The main task on Friday morning was to get ourselves to Perpignan and get two new tyres put on the car. Over the last 10 years we have often driven to Carter-Cash, where you can buy anything for the car and then the team of mechanics carry out any follow up work, e.g. change the oil, put on new tyres. We arrived in good time at 9.30am and purchased two tyres, but it was an unexpectedly long wait in the queue today. In fact it took two hours to get through the system, most of it waiting in the car in the strong sun. However, we had our e-readers with us, some nut bars and water. 

The tyres were changed very efficiently and we were on our way to another part of Perpignan to visit Decathlon. The latter is a huge sports outlet, much like Rebel Sports but far bigger. The Perpignan store had also just relocated to a brand new purpose-built building. We knew we couldn't really buy much because we don't have the space in our bags to take it back home, but we did manage to find the one small present we were looking for.

By lunchtime the temperature gauge in the car had hit 30 degrees. The weather has changed immensely within just the last few days. The air conditioning in our car doesn't work anymore so we wanted to head straight home. However, en route we pass a second-hand car dealers yard so we decided to pull in and have a chat about potentially selling our car. John had seen that this firm was mentioned on Le Bon Coin and you can drive in and sell up at any time, just taking the price offered. 

It surprised us both when the guy offered John 2000E on the spot. It was more than we thought we'd be able to start with as an asking price. (John had done some background research so had a reasonable idea of what the car is worth). The car dealer gave the car a very casual look over and said he was happy for us to use the car for another three weeks and just swing buy when we were ready to sell it. We immediately shook his hand. 2000E it is, mind you we'd just spent 105E on the two new tyres. What a surprise and a very welcome one. We no longer have to stress about advertising the car privately, we got a price we are very happy with and we don't have to do any of the fettling we'd anticipated. The latter was just as well because John had left the car polish he had bought at the Carter-Cash on their counter! We'll deliver the car in a very clean condition anyway, but are both thrilled that the pressure of trying to dispose of it is now gone. 

By the time we arrived home we were both feeling very knackered. However, later in the afternoon we spent another hour resizing and gluing more sides of the bike box. We're using my weights to give the glue a bit of extra oomph. We now have three sides strongly secured, with one last side to trim down and secure.

Glued, taped and roped up to put pressure on securing the edges

Dinner was a heated up shop-bought pizza!

7th and 8th May - Ceret

Today dawned with clear blue skies. Woohoo! We were up early to make our appointment with the notaire at 9am. He was very helpful and great to discuss all the ins and outs of selling a property in France via a Power of Attorney. Because our property will be worth over 150,000E, our capital gains tax will be assessed at a tax office in Paris. All our invoices will have to be emailed to them after we've found a buyer. We will need to compile a list itemising all the furnishings we have bought along with the receipts. We have the latter, but to write them off against tax the current value supposedly has to be approved by an auctioneer. The latter seems nuts. Alternatively, we can use the list to agree to a sale price for the furnishings with a buyer and treat it as a totally separate transaction to buying the apartment itself. Nothing is straightforward.....

At any rate, it was very reassuring to hear that the sale process can proceed after we have returned to NZ, and it is just a matter of going through all the hoops. It will take 2-3 months for settlement after the agreement to buy has been signed. 

Later in the morning we jumped in the car and headed to a nearby Lidl. It's a cheap and cheerful supermarket and we bought a good range of groceries. Just a little further up the valley we parked at the town of Amelie-les-Bains. We had arranged to meet English friends here for lunch. The reunion was good fun, with the promise to meet up again before John and I depart in early June. 

Next stop was back in Ceret at one of the local garages. We had booked in for a Control Technique, similar to a WoF. France requires all vehicles to have a Control Technique less than six months old before they can change hands. Our CT is 18 months old so is not due again for another six months. The check took 30 minutes and it was very disappointing to learn that the car had failed. It needs new front tyres because the existing ones are heavily worn on the inside. This is particularly frustrating given we had the tyres realigned last year in Perpignan. We will have to have two new tyres fitted and take the car back to the garage so a now CT can be issued. It's yet another thing to have to chase up. 

View towards the coast from the Devil's Bridge

Last stop for the day was the bike shop in Ceret. We have decided to bring our paintings back to NZ in a large box rather than send them back in an unaccompanied package (and attract GST etc) or take the frames off and roll the canvases up into a cardboard tube. The bike box handed over to us was HUGE, but we didn't want to say no. It did fit inside our car, but only with it draped over the top of my head and with John hunched right over the wheel. Thankfully it was only a short five minute drive home.

A VERY large bike box

Over the next day or so we will work on cutting down the box so our paintings fit snugly into it, with sufficient padding. We'll have to take the weight of the box out of the 50kg (2 x 25kg) allowance we have with Qatar Airways. 

We feel as though we're making headway, albeit slowly. 

We have been looking forward to Wednesday 8th because our friends from Montpellier organised to drive down to visit us. Andrew is a Kiwi and Marijke is Belgian. They've been good friends ever since we met them when they lived in Ceret for a year. They have since stayed with us in Nelson - Andrew's mother lived in Nelson (and his sister still does) and Andrew owns property in Nelson. 

We have a lot in common with Andrew and Marijke and we had a really nice time catching up on lots of news and gossip over a coffee at a cafe, followed by a simple lunch at our place and then a 13km walk on the outskirts of Ceret. They took us along a long track that was new to us, but well known to them until we did a little bush bashing to find the road again at the end! Andrew and Marijke are serious athletes and walk, cycle, row and play tennis to a high standard. It was really fun for John and I to walk along a new trail, much of which was beside one of the water canals. We are very keen to walk it again before we leave here in June. 

Andrew and Marijke left for the two hour drive home with as many things as we could unload on them - power tools, large wall map, weed sprayer, jigsaw, Kiwi beanie and more. There is so much stuff we can't take back to NZ and we were keen for them to have as much as possible. They have a large property at Montpellier so can make good use of tools etc. It's great news they are planning another trip out to NZ in January, when they will walk the Te Araroa trail between Nelson Lakes and Bluff. They plan to tackle it in around 5-day sections. We're planning to link up with them in Hanmer Springs, when they will stay a few nights with us and also enjoy a soak in the hot pools.

Marijke and me

Today was our hottest yet - we climbed to just over 20 degrees. It was very windy (the seasonal tramontane wind) but the blue skies were lovely and it was a joy to be out and about. It seems rather odd but the plane trees in town appear to have flowered twice in a year. This means there is lots of flower pods and fine dust or pollen floating around in the air at the moment. If we have the windows open we need to vacuum the floors every day. We're being very vigilant with our cleaning in case someone knocks on the front door asking to have a look at the apartment. 

In fact, we have our first viewing by a prospective buyer booked for Monday. Our agent Valerie notified us that an American has contacted her and want to come and have a look. It will be interesting to see what their reaction is to the place .......

3rd to 6th May - Ceret

Today, Friday, we managed to get out on our first walk. The rain had stopped, and though it was still fairly cool and cloudy, it was really nice to walk an hour lap of one of our favourite routes. 

Canigou in the distance. There was no snow on it last week.

Spring irises

After a celebratory coffee at Le Comptoir we took ourselves off to the office of one of the notaires in town. A notaire is a neutral government-approved lawyer who sorts all the paperwork associated with buying and selling property. We had used this notaire's office before when buying and selling our first apartment in Place de l'Eglise and also buying in Place des Neuf Jets. They provided a great service then  so we are more than happy to use their services again. We now have an appointment to see Monsieur Frederic Llauze on Tuesday morning.

Most of the afternoon was given over to sorting through all of the paperwork we have accumulated during the last 10 years. Most of it, old invoices etc, could be heaved. The rest we should be able to dispose of once the apartment and car are both sold.

It was most welcome to receive an email this afternoon from the real estate agent we have chosen. She (Valerie) promptly came around at 4.30pm to have a look at the place and we had a good chat. We know her and she seems to know everyone in town, which is a good start. She also works with most other real estate agents in the Ceret and Perpignan and is happy to share fees if she finds a buyer through another agent. We hope to have a copy of her contract to sign soon, closely followed by a 'A Vendre' (For Sale) sign hanging off one of our balconies. 

Soon after Valerie left we trotted down one floor to the English couple who are currently in residence. They'd asked us for apero. It was pleasant to spend an hour chatting away over a bottle of bubbles.

Saturday dawned cloudy but a little warmer. We headed off on another our one hour walking routes, this time out into the countryside a little out of Ceret. 

Poppies in the fields

A few changes are apparent around town, but one of the big ones is that construction is underway on a very large 3-story retirement complex on the edge of town. We've since heard that the outgoing mayor bought the land near it before he left office and it has now been rezoned from agricultural to urban! He will be doing very well out of the changes.

The market was in full swing this morning. It was nice to check out some of our favourite stalls, e.g. for rocket, olives and apple strudel! We managed to find a spare seat at Le Comptoir to enjoy a coffee and watch the crowd. Ceret has won the vote for having the best market in the region and it is now competing for Best Market in France. 

Le Comptoir during the Saturday morning market

Diners are enjoying the intermittent sun in the square below us and the saxophonist is in full flow. It is very welcome to see the town brighter and more busy. Everyone is still dressed up in warm jackets and scarves but I did see someone wearing shorts today.

On Sunday morning we headed off on the Balcons de Ceret walk. It takes in the hills above Ceret, trails through forest, beside one of the water canals and returns to town. Giving us a good 1.5 hour workout, we thoroughly enjoyed it. Sunday afternoon, like Saturday, we opted to take it easy, though I'm enjoying some weights workouts.

View of Ceret from above

Canyoning in a narrow waterway above Ceret

We are keen to build up our fitness again so decided to ignore the threatening rain and do one of our 1 hour walks again this morning (Monday). The weather is proving so different from previous years. In the past it's typically been in the late 20s-mid 30s by now. Our highs have been around 16 degrees so far. The news shows the SE Asia and India currently have serious heatwaves, with temperatures in the mid-40s or higher. That definitely isn't the case here. However, the forecast for later this week is looking much warmer and sunnier, which is great.

At midday our real estate agent Valerie dropped by with our A Vendre sign. It is now soundly attached to one of our balcony railings. Surprisingly, it seems normal here that it you have signed a contract with a real estate agent, it is still an option to sell privately. If someone knocks on our door and wants to see that apartment we can show them through, and sell directly to them. We read this in our contract and our agent confirmed it. 

At 2pm a guy came around and spent the next 1.5 hours checking various things in our apartment, e.g. dimensions, checking all electrical points, paint samples for lead, our air conditioning units and so on. He was a lovely guy, very cheerful and friendly. He filled in all the appropriate papers to satisfy the requirements for a diagnostic report which is required to allow us to sell the property. He is emailing us an invoice for nearly 400Euros.

The rest of the afternoon was given over to finalising all the invoices we paid to the tradesmen who we employed on renovation work,  i.e. builder, plumber, electrician. These expenses, and only these, i.e. none of our own purchases or time spent on the apartment, can be written off against any profit we make selling the apartment. We will hand these documents to the notaire tomorrow morning. 

30 April to 2 May - First Days in Ceret

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.

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.

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.