Settling in

The removal van arrived on the dot at 8am on Friday morning, as agreed, and the two guys and myself unloaded all our belongings in to our new rented house. We had to do a bit of cleaning on the Thursday night but it wasn’t as bad as we had thought, especially as the previous tenant had a dog.

Elliot and Luca spent the day playing with their cousins which Elliot particularly enjoys.

The house has 3 bedrooms, with one downstairs, and is situated in a courtyard area with a number of other houses, about 50 metres down a quiet road that also contains the town hall and the school. Elliot and Luca are sharing one room leaving the other a guest room/study. The village itself is about 20 minutes from the airport and 40 by train from the centre of Paris. It only has three shops - a bakers, a hair dressers and a chemist, along with a Tabac (café) and a Post Office. The bakers does, atleast, sell a few other emergency items for the average French family such as coffee and chocolate!

By 11.30 all are stuff was safely stored inside the house. Vero and Rudolf (issys sister and brother in law) arrived to help with some further cleaning and general help putting together beds etc. Later in the day Issy’s mum arrived with the kids and we ordered pizza, including a particularly nice bolognaise one!

Saturday was spent opening the remaining boxes and attacking the small, but slightly overgrown garden.

Overall, the move has gone well. Elliot and Luca took a day or two to settle in, particularly Elliot who didn’t get to sleep during the day of the move (he normally sleeps two hours every afternoon) so when he arrived at the house was already very tired. Getting him to bed that evening was a bit harder than normal as he spent some time walking around calling out for his “toys?” to check where his prized possessions were. He eventually fell asleep on our bed, which was ok until I realised in had to carry his 21kg tummy up the stairs to his room. Banging his head on the low ceiling as we went, didn’t seem to do much harm though….i think!

p.s. It looks like we might not have internet or phone in the house for 3-4 weeks but I am checking email on my groovy new French mobile phone, so I can receive messages via email or txt. I might also get a ‘pay as you go’ 3G internet dongle thing in the meantime.