20th May - To Amsterdam

We slept very well even though the bed was rather creaky. Breakfast was an apple pastry we'd bought the afternoon before, and we were out the door to walk the 5 minutes to the airport terminal. KLM Airways let us check in for the flight the day before but wouldn't email the boarding passes. It turned out that the flight was full and they were asking as many passengers as possible to put their baggage into the hold instead of as carry-on bags. However, the guy we got on the desk was absolutely wonderful - very cheerful and when he saw how small our bags were said we could just take them onto the plane and stow them under our seats. It meant we didn't have to wait at the baggage carousel at the end of the flight.

Proceeding through to security, again the guy ensuring everyone put their bags and jackets etc on the scanning belt was incredibly cheerful. It was very pleasant being 'processed' in such a friendly manner. In the end our flight left 20 minutes late but the overall flight time was only 1 hour 40 minutes instead of 2 hours. 

We exited the plane as quickly as possible. Alastair and Sophie had flown in from Milan a few hours before us and had elected to wait at the airport for us rather than go ahead to our booked accommodation. We met up at the railway station in the terminal and it was fantastic to have those big hugs we have been hanging out for. It was pretty easy to then jump on a train to Amsterdam's central train station and then transfer for a quick link trip to Muiderpoort where we would be staying. 

Our check-in was at 3pm, and we thought we might be able to get in at 2.30pm, but the lock on the door wasn't accepting our code. We wandered around a little looking for a cafe to sit down in briefly, but couldn't find anything. Because it was Whit-Monday, most of the shops were closed. We ended up back at our door at 3pm and, hey presto, the door opened for us. 

The stairs were very step. Two flights up and with a near vertical handrail, it was a bit of a haul for A&S's bags (including heavy daypacks and a suit hanger). 

Once we were inside we very soon reminded that we'd booked a one-bedroom apartment with a sofa-bed. I was thinking we'd booked a two-bedroom apartment. However, we remembered we'd opted for a great location rather than a 2-bed place further out in the city. The reviews for the apartment said the sofa-bed was very comfortable. It was no problem for A&S. They were super-tired after having just 3 hours sleep the night before (late night pre-wedding event plus a 5.30am start to get to the airport). They were quite sure they'd sleep very well on anything, for all three nights we are here.

We literally just dumped our bags and headed out for a wander to find some canals and a beer. We found the perfect combination - a beer right beside a canal. It was really nice to just sit down and have a decent chat. We had a lot of news to catch up on. The last time we'd seen them was when we visited San Francisco last September.

Some canal scenes

After a beer and snacks we wandered around some more to get a bit of a feel for the place before sitting down at a small Indonesian restaurant only a few doors down from our apartment. The meal was just what we wanted. Good honest food and plenty of vegetables. 

Home to a cup of tea and a major discussion about A&S potentially buying a place in Berkeley, the neighbourhood they currently rent in. They have spied half a duplex that very much appealed. However, with a great many factors to weigh up, it's not an easy decision. We didn't get to bed until 10pm, and I really don't know how the young ones managed to stay awake.

19th May - Toulouse

The band entertaining the open air dinner last night played until after midnight. We could hear the music even with the window closed, and it was rather nice going to sleep listening to it.

On Sunday morning we were on the road by 9am for the trip to Toulouse. Even though we have lived on and off in Ceret for a dozen years, we have never managed to get to Toulouse, which is only a little over two hours drive away. It was one of the reasons we decided to choose our flight to Amsterdam to be from Toulouse. 

The Toulouse/Carcassonne region is famous for its cassoulet dish, mostly beans

We made good time on the road and arrived before lunchtime. John had found a carpark on the outskirts of town where parking was free and with tram and bus stops very close by. It was pretty easy to jump on the tram for the 20 minute ride to the centre of the city. Instead of connecting with a bus we opted to walk the few kilometres over the Neuf Pont bridge and into the central area. It was Sunday, and therefore all the shops were closed and it was incredibly quiet with very little traffic. People were strolling or cycling around, perhaps having lunch in a restaurant, but it seemed far quieter than even Perpignan on a Sunday.

Toulouse is a very old city, with one of the oldest universities in Europe (founded in the early 1200s). Very old buildings are everywhere in the central area, some with very bowed floor beams which have progressively warped during the centuries. We were surprised to find many of the inner streets were quite wide, and much of the central area had quite an open and spacious feel to it. We grabbed a pastry and kept walking because the weather forecast was for heavy rain later in the afternoon and we weren't keen to get caught in it. 

Inside a small local market we came across.
People were stopping to have a drink while they selected their cuts of meat, fish or cheese

Note the drooping first floor beam on the orange building

A change in the wind and drop in temperatures around 3pm ensured we walked faster, completed the walking tour that had taken us past a number of the inner city sights, and then hotfooted to the closest bus stop. The public transport network is highly efficient, and we were soon set down at the curbside virtually beside where we had parked the car. 

Cathedral Saint-Etienne - a joining of two separate churches. A major column sits right in the middle.

Place du Capitole - the main square in Toulouse

Our attempt to buy a few things to have for dinner back in our hotel room was thwarted by the superette nearby being closed. There was no choice but to visit the patisserie opposite where we could buy some bread rolls. We are starting to feel a bit breaded out. Our hotel room is basic in the extreme, with just a bed, bathroom and tiny TV. We chose it only because it's located within easy walking distance to the airport terminal, is cheap, and also allows us to park the car here for four days for free. Parking in an airport carpark would cost around 40 Euros and it wouldn't be as secure. Having said that, if somebody stole our car it would be very convenient!

Of course we are greatly looking forward to tomorrow and seeing Alastair and Sophie. They fly into Amsterdam about midday and we arrive at 1.30pm. Chatting with them online, they are pretty exhausted from a very busy few weeks in San Francisco. They have just spent the weekend in Milan, where Sophie had been charged with organising bachelorette activities for a friend's upcoming wedding. The wedding itself is scheduled for next weekend in Portofino. They are stuffed and are very keen to have a quietly paced few days in Amsterdam. That is why they elected to book four days there between the wedding events. John and I are very keen to do the same. Instead of rushing around to see swarms of tourist sights, all four of us would much prefer to just spend a lot of time catching up with each other over a few meals, drinks, coffees and so on. A boat cruise on one of the canals and the odd museum are likely to be thrown into the mix but will be weather dependent. The forecast is for sun on Tuesday but rain all Wednesday.

17 to 18th May - Fete de la Cerise and Dolmen Walk

Today we definitely wanted time-out after yesterday's hassles. It all turned out well in the end after the notaire confirmed this morning that it was an acceptable option to separate out the furnishings from the house sale. He will have all the papers ready for signing on Friday week.

We were keen to get out on a decent walk and opted for one beginning in the small town only 10 minutes drive away. The walk heads up into the hills, past a mediaeval watch tower, through cork forests, up to a Neolithic dolmen which is 4000+ years old, and back down beside an arrossage (water canal). It was a delightful walk and we had a picnic on the way. It cleared our heads and gave us a grand view up the valley at the same time. The recent rains have taken all the dust haze out of the air. During the last two afternoon we've had incredibly torrential rain - we got caught in it when we were in La Jonquera in Spain, and again yesterday walking back from the notaire's office. 

Stone watchtower. A fire was lit to signal incoming enemies to surrounding settlements.

Spring flowers

Cork oats. When the trunks are newly cropped they are a rich red colour

The 4000 year old dolmen

Track beside the arrossage

A very large cork oak recently cropped

The organisers of this weekend's cherry festival have apparently been agonising over whether to postpone the festival because the forecast is so bad for the weekend. However, they have decided to run with it. It was probably too difficult to put everything and everyone on hold so late in the day anyway. Fingers crossed the forecast rain doesn't eventuate, or at least is only light rain if it does.

In the early evening we wandered down to Le Comptoir in the hope of meeting up with Australian friends (originally from Zimbabwe) who had just arrived in town today. They bought a place in Ceret just a year after us, and are also selling up this year. It was really nice to spend an hour with them. Their place is lined up to be sold to Swedes later in the year, allowing them to return to Ceret for a final visit in August. They now have three grandchildren living with their daughter in Auckland, with the rest of their family in England/Australia. They are at a very similar stage in their lives as us.

We woke on Saturday to the sound of light rain but the gods have smiled to bring clearing blue skies and sun. What a relief for those involved in the festival. The stall owners would have been setting up in the rain at 8am, but the crowds didn't really start to roll in until perhaps 9am. The festival brings around 10,000 into Ceret over the weekend. The forecast is for torrential rain between 4-6pm, but hopefully it doesn't eventuate. The weather forecast for tomorrow is for a completely sunny day, which is perfect. 

It was a lot of fun to wander through the crowd of people this morning, taking in the rows of stalls selling cherries and listening to the various bands playing French and Catalan songs that we now know so well. The music really adds immensely to the festival. The band players clearly love playing and the audience sometimes slips into an impromptu dance on the street. Everyone has fun. The cafe and restaurant owners have put all their sun umbrellas up to shelter their patrons from rain, but that it came out sunny by lunchtime was wonderful for everyone. 

Our square at lunchtime, with the sun shining bright

By good luck we managed to find a free table at one of the cafes and ordered a coffee just as one of the bands started up nearby. We love the music - it's very upbeat and the French and Catalan songs are played at every festival held throughout the year in Ceret, and indeed our region. John spotted one of our French friends. This is a couple who bought the apartment on the floor below our first one in Place de l'Eglise. They have become good friends and invited us to stay at their other holiday house in the Lot. We did so perhaps five years ago and had a ball. They'd had a cup of coffee already but sat down to join us and catch up on news. When we told them we were selling up, they got quite emotional. Philippe even teared up a little when he gave me a big hug. They are heading back to Paris tomorrow, where they live most of the time, so we were extremely lucky to bump into them and be able to say farewell. There may be a chance they might come out and visit us in NZ. One of their sons stayed with us for a while when he was touring through NZ a few years ago. 

We timed out trip back here to sell the apartment to coincide with the Cherry Festival. It brings so many visitors to Ceret, which would have made for great exposure for our For Sale sign on our apartment. In the end, we've sold even before the festival weekend, but it's really great to be able to experience our last Ceret festival.

Unfortunately the rain did descend during the afternoon, though it did stop for a few hours and allow the parade of bands to play their music through the streets again. It then bucketed, to clear once and for all at 7.30pm. The large outdoor meal was due to take place at 8pm in one of the squares. The meal usually seats a number of hundred people. We have been many times and opted to flag it this time. However, the music from the bands entertaining the diners echoed through town, and we knew all was well!

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!