First day waking up alone but it’s not all bad when the sun is shining.

Didn’t hear the doorbell but I am sure I just heard van doors slamming. Yep, there’s a chap on the doorstep. Best throw some clothes on and go to meet him. Hmm, can’t work out how to open the last of the three locks. Side door it is. Nope, left the keys somewhere else. Backdoor, bingo! I have no idea how you collect missed deliveries so time to run around to the front door in bare feet on the freezing ground before he leaves. Great, got it and he duly followed me with the second package, clearly thinking I am crazy.

Lots of proper work to do today, emails, organising meetings, calls etc so not sure I’ll get much done about the house. Ooh, this is exciting though – an email from Lynda at the Tourism Board. Looks like the article on our house has been uploaded: Check it out here.

Blimey, 3pm already. Time for a snack and a cup of tea. Now where did I put those tea bags? Oh yeah, here they are, should be just enough to get through the afternoon.

Best check the list of house jobs that Matt left for me while I have 5 mins.

If I’m going to revert to my alter ego this evening, The Caped Destroyer, I am going to have to tick off that photos job while there’s still some light. Half the rooms up there don’t have any functioning lights so I can’t very well take them when the day job is finished or they’ll just be black.

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Back to work, more meetings to organise and emails to send.

This is my new mate John, he lives in our room and likes to help me work. He’s not very good at typing though as he’s not heavy enough to push the keys down but he did give it a go which was nice.

Not much else happening here but looks like Matt’s been busy back in London.

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6pm and finally finished work for the day. Finally going to empty the first of our boxes, and what is the first order of the day? My jumpers, so that I have something to combat that sudden 5pm drop in temperature before I get the fire up and running. Figured that the hallway was good for this as I won’t have to keep moving them (and they’d fill up the whole draw unit on their own). Was impressed to find that I in fact have at least 4 capes.

Time to have a look at what Amazon dropped off. Apparently some network cables and some sort of thinger. Apparently it’s a ‘thing wot makes grooves in walls’. Well super!

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Actually that reminds me, best call Matt to explain how you actually open the front door so that they can deliver the fridge tomorrow. Starting to get cold though so best hang up and get the fire started. First, remember to clean the door before you light the fire. Good save Chaney, well done.

Definitely a pressure thing in the chimney with the cold air pushing smoke down again. It seemed to clear but has rather dampened the fire., Thankfully I managed to rescue it as didn’t fancy trying to start again when the metal was burning hot.

Next up, dinner. Now I’d been thinking about this for quite a long time today. What does a girl eat when she’s moved to the home of haute cuisine?

Well the front runner for most of that time was… rice with pasta sauce. Not sure it’s been done before but seemed like it might not be awful and would save a trip to Intermarche, which I was particularly keen not to do in anticipation of the fridge tomorrow.

Hallelujah! Dinner is saved.

Went to the living room to grab Monty’s ‘Down to earth’ book (as I couldn’t remember where we’d packed ‘Allotment’ and then I saw it. The thing that dreams are made of (if your dreams are really rubbish), it’s a slab of beans. Time for a British classic with a French twist.

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Yum. It’s like being a single university student again. Macron on in the background providing the update on the next stages of lockdown. Key points: shops to open from Saturday; travel restrictions significantly reduced on 15th for people to see family for Christmas; bars, restaurants and cafes to remain closed until Jan; unlikely that ski resorts will be open before Jan but still under discussion and will be aligned with other countries.

Ugh, guess I am going to have to finally tackle this kitchen. Can’t have the delivery guys thinking I am a complete sloven. Bloody hell, that took much longer than planned but it is now looking respectable and even mopped the floors so it’s sparkling.

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My feet are tired so time for a little sit down, glass of wine, blog update and reminder of the lessons of the amazing Monty Don, if only I could find that blasted Allotment book too.

Another quick call with Matt to check how things are going in London town. Put the boiler on to warm up the bedroom, respond to message from mum and finish the blog. Well it wasn’t a particularly productive day but you could eat your dinner off the kitchen floor which is something. Hopefully a lot more to report tomorrow.

Night all xx Oh, wait, need to put a note on the door with the French phone number so that I don’t risk missing the deliveries tomorrow morning… Ok, now ready for bed.