Overcast, not warm.
Yesterday was spent emtpying the van and tidying the house. I had to rid the house of rat poo and clean every surface. I did a couple of washing cycles which meant I had clean towels and linen which made me feel happier. The van stuff was emptied into various locations – my tools went into the old van which is quite useful because it is lockable and betwixt house & barn; the cupboards went upstairs to the main room and then I had places to pack all the junk … and it does semm to be junk now; and my clothes and personals have ben dumped in the spare bedroom for the moment.
Sebastian came round when I was eating my lunch – well cheese sandwich (alien to a Frenchman je pense!). He bought me a punnet of the juiciest ripest strawberries you have probably seen, and elicited some more information from me about my plans. He didn’t want to stay for a drink (he never does which I find decidedly strange, although he’s always got work to do – such a busy retired man he seems to be).
Then I cut the grass which was very tall, and the weather was kind enough to be dry until I stopped. In the evening I cooked and wondered what the hell I should do with all the mess around me. God was kind enough to offer a suggestion when I cut my finger washing up a sharp knife in characteristically brusqe fashion. Now where was the first aid kit? This set off a chain of events that meant that I had to unpack the first-aid kit and all the other boxes that lay around me. In each box I came across stuff that needed categorising and putting away properly and I didn’t just want to stuff things willy-nilly so I ended-up spending the evening carefully putting stuff where it jolly well will be easy to find. This also invovled things like hanging pictures on the wall and moving furniture around so that it was in the best placement for the next few weeks or so. Only then could I sit down and relax and AT LAST the house was beginning to feel like a liveable home.
And I discovered MUSIC again. The hifi was wired-in and turned on and it was brilliant to have a decent quality sound filling the house for the first time. None of the rubblish 30 euro CD/radio that I’ve been putting-up with all these years here. It’s amazing how much difference it makes, but it made my day .. which was needed.
Last night I went to bed around midnight and in the total deprevation that is no sound or light of the bedroom I managed to struggle to get to sleep once again. I mean I was tired and relaxed but there is still a million things running round my head. And just as I feel I’m dropping-off theres a thump and a scampering and other noises that can only be the rats and mice and snakes and lizards and insects and who-knows-what – but my brain tries to tell me that that is only to be expected in a house that is infested with these things. There’s no way I’m going to get up to investigate because I’m too tired and anyway what am I going to find? It might frighten me to never sleep ever again. Best to sleep it off and resolve to beat the bloody rats tomorrow.
Which is today.
Went into town first thing (i.e. 11 o’clock), in order to see the Notaire and to open a bank account and get some shopping. Did all of these things, but the bank account opening was stifled with red tape. The Banque Populaire couldn’t arrange to open an account until the 30th May!. THE 30TH MAY!!!! That was the next available rendezvous I could have with the manager. Fuck that for a laugh!
At first I thought it was my bad French and I kept repeating the girl “I just want to OPEN a bank account … you know .. to give this popular bank some business” … but she kept insisting that I’d have to wait until 30th May. So I told her I was off the Credit Agricole instead, at which point she seemed to make some more effort, but couldn’t improve on her non-service. So I went off the Credit Agricole (the farmers bank) and saw the manager immediatement. However, it was there that I was hit with some inevitable beaurocracy.
– some form of identity? Yes my passport
– Proof of where I live? Well yes, but I need to register at my parents address in Burgess Hill because I don’t know how long I’ll be staying in the country.
– Proof of that address? Not really, all my addresses have got Leylands Road in them and I don’t live there anymore.
– What about bills .. EDF, French Tax, Water? Well they are a mixed bag. The French tax seems to still think Jenny owns the property and all my electricty and water bills have still got Leylands Road written on them.
It goes on, but in essence I couldn’t open a account until my mother comes over with a solicitor and some attested DNA from a blood sample that I had given at birth and I had ALL the legal papers saying that Jenny really was dead and I wasn’t just making it up for a laugh, and that promised I wasn’t domiciled in France permanently, and the photo in my passport actually LOOKED like me.
However, in the end we came to a compromise that if I went and registered myself at the Public Tresurary and they then sent a letter to the house in France then I could show that as proof. Yeah alright, what should I expect – I haven’t even got a driving licence at the moment ‘cos that’s in the post.
Came home and decided to take my woe’s out on the rats. I donned all the protective gear I could muster and started hacking down the ceiling downstairs where I have been hearing them scampering. Started cautiously, but quickly realised that it needed far more subtelty so I ended up wading in with the pick axe. tres satisfatiant,
Could see a few places where the little buggers had been scampering (and pooing of course) and after clearing-up I dosed it all with a good lick of poison tea bags (well that’s what they look like). So when it comes to rats pooing and peeing and interrupting my nights sleep that’s when my animal welfare ethics can go to hell. Along with the rats of course. Although I’d just be happy if they just buggered off next door, ‘cos the old lady there doesn’t seem too bothered by them. Maybe that is hell, but I haven’t been round there yet to check her place out. Definitely want to do that soon, just in case I have to open up a heaven portal-type place round my place to counter-balance the universe back out again.
Anyway, had a quick chat with the neighbours, and they gave me another sackload of walnuts that they’d collected for me last year. I think they are looking forward to another of Ilka’s walnut cakes that she made for them last August. I suppose it might pass some time in the evening if I just crack nuts for the next few nights. As if I have the time! It’s 9.30 now and I’ve got to have a bath to wash any trace of rodent off me before planning my tomorrow. I think I need to go down the internet cafe to check my emails and other stuff. We’ll see.
