Being the L-plate french speaker I have been the mysterious silent creature (at least I like to think so) listening in attentively while serious and intense property talk has been flying around me. Without Sebastien, a native speaker, I don't think we would have taken on such an undertaking of refurbishing the house. I totally take my hat off to Cathy and Dave who have bought property without fully knowing what was happening. Even for Sebastien, some of the documents have been hard to decipher, as with any legal document, the legalese can be hard to unravel and turn into every day language. We kept marveling at how brave they were by taking the plunge.
When we finally came to sign the deeds in December it was felt quite Victorian in its arrangement. You all trot off to the Notaires little office. He sits at his desk while all the others are arranged in a semi-circle in front of him then the papers are read out so that all know what they have agreed to. Apart from Sebastien and I there was one of the agents (not the one Papa had called a crook, thankfully), the Area Manager for the Agency, the Lady Mayoress and a representative from the local Treasury ( there to ensure that the filthy luca was dealt with properly as it was a sale from the commune). We had met the Mayor on one other previous occasion when she had kicked the house to show us how sturdy it was. I feared more for her leg than the house. Being a lady of some years (it would would impolite to guess her age) she has great character and we warmed to her very quickly especially when she joked that she was in charge of the water supply in the area and if anyone narked her off she would turn off their supply. Totally appealed to my dark side.
While we stood in the hall waiting to go into the office I got chatting to the Area Manager. I had heard him chipping in with a bit of French earlier and so asked him how long he had been in France, I'm always interested to see what level of French people have after having lived in the country a while. It's an obvious concern as I don't want to end up being the English village idiot who is always sitting there smiling and with the odd 'oui ou non'. I had already made my first faux pas to a 8 year old when I meant to say that I am burping and had actually told him was shitting, which made us both laugh hysterically, for a good while.
When he told me 20 years my eyes must have gogged a little. TWENTY YEARS! I was a little ashamed that a fellow countryman had been there so long and still just had a smattering to get by in a job that was about to rob us of a sizeable chunk of cash that was disproportionate to the work they had actually performed for us (hence the 'crook' comment). There also seemed to be a hint of self-defence about him too which later emerged as a whiny comment during the 2 hour long process in the office. I have to say I enjoyed all the formality and of the reading out of the papers, the general chitter chatter, smiles, jokes and ambiance of being welcomed into a community. Very different from the British system where you chuck the money at each other, grab the keys and move in. Half way through while there was a pause while we waited for a document or during the long signing periods (which you have to do about a million times) everyone was back to friendly chat and Mr Twenty Years said, in a raised voice, across to me 'You're well in there'. Firstly I thought what a rude goof, but could only pity someone who said he lived in the 'Door-doyne', so cloaked myself back in my mysterious silence and pretended to understand everything that was going on around me. After all the formalities the Mayor said that she hoped that we would make the village 'lively and gay'. Careful what you wish for we chuckled.
None of that detracted from the sheer joy were experiencing when we drove back to the house to have one last look before we had to drive back across country to stay with our friends before going back to London, groaning all the way. But we had done it!! Bought our dream home, now we only had to make it habitable, eek!!!
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