27th March 2011

The pitfalls of selling your house - I suppose the same wherever you live, but in France the agony is much prolonged because there are no buyers!  First, I made a herculean effort to spruce up the place for the 'glossy' estate agent photos.. (I pictured in my mind the continuous annoyance of seeing washing-up permanently in the sink)...not realising that I would need to keep up this impossible perfection for ever in case that elusive buyer walks up the drive.  Every day I seem to notice something that makes me panic, ordering Him indoors to quickly fetch that brush to put a fresh coat of paint over everything bar the dogs; (he says he'll gloss over that, and anyway they already have distemper!).  I've tried to think of everything, should that longed-for phone call announce an imminent arrival.  Action-stations will include fresh coffee on the perk and dogs out of the way in the car. But, above all, I've got to realise that the French do things differently.  Let the agent do the showing around.  Make yourself scarce; hide in the garage if necessary. But first I need to find a buyer.  Take a look if you're curious. It's on http://www.agencedisc.fr/  (ref. 0211 8208). For a holiday home with pool in the sunny S.W. of France, it's a snip - no reasonable offers refused!