Our two dogs are an integral part of our every day lives. Taking them to France was a must. It’s a costly business and another bureaucratic process. Taking two dogs across the Channel from post Brexit Britain requires the same documentation as for a herd of cattle, although it proved to be nothing compared to the tortuous business of getting a visa. The important thing is to get the important vaccinations in the strict time limits required plus making sure that every ‘i’ is dotted and ‘t’ crossed. Ensuring all the official stamps are in place on the required documents is another pitfall to avoid. Luckily our vet is very familiar with the process and sorted us out. On departure day we sailed through the various checks without any hiccups.
Then there was the little matter of our house and what to do with it while we were away. The options were to leave it empty, let it out for the duration or find a ‘Trusted House Sitter’. After much head scratching, and not helped by our unhelpful insurers who would not contemplate the last two options, we decided that neither letting nor Trusted House Sitters would work. We opted for the third option of leaving the house empty with suitable management and security arrangements in hand.
It was at this moment that things started to go awry!
We live in what was once a row of three workmen’s cottages. We have knocked two together for ourselves and the third cottage is let, the rent being an important element of our pension plan. The present tenants have lived there happily for over fifteen years and we were shocked and saddened when on 12th October, not long after the dramas with our elderly neighbour, our tenant came to tell us that he and his wife had been having difficulties and had decided to separate. Coincidentally he was financially in trouble having lost a major client. He wanted to stay but could not meet the current rent commitment until things had been sorted out. We took the news on the chin and after a bit of head scratching came up with a solution. Nick could manage Lilac Cottage (our cottage) whilst we were in France, look after the garden, carry out regular inspections, take care of Richard’s beloved Mazda and so forth. In exchange the level of rent would be reduced to an amount he could afford. Not ideal, but a pretty good arrangement. We would review the situation on our return from France. He was most grateful and readily accepted the suggestion. So that problem was done and dusted.
Or was it?!
One month later on 16th November, a couple of months before our planned departure date, We had a call from our tenant’s wife. She had found him collapsed in the cottage by his front door, where he had been lying for about twelve hours. He had had a very severe stroke, was paralysed down one side of his body and in the ICU in hospital. The prognosis was not at all good. Despite the separation, she realised this changed everything and she would now be looking after him in the future. At the risk of sounding dispassionate about this awful situation for hem, so far as plans for France were concerned this was a major blow. In order to ensure our finances were kept afloat, we agreed the same discount of the rent until we returned from France. By then any long term disabilities and requirements would likely be clearer, and we could then face together what this meant for the tenancy and future occupation of their cottage.
So we were still left with what to do with Lilac Cottage in our absence. Enter Yvonne, a knight in shining armour, our immediate neighbour and good friend. Learning of our dilemma, she came to our rescue. She and husband Tim would manage the house and would brook no argument. Pay back, they said, for the many times we have looked after their house and garden when they have been away in their cottage in Devon. I have to admit that this ‘pay back’ is hardly on level terms, as they leave us helping ourselves to the bounty of their extremely productive vegetable and fruit garden, and we are leaving them with …………some wild garlic at best!
Then there was the little matter of our house and what to do with it while we were away. The options were to leave it empty, let it out for the duration or find a ‘Trusted House Sitter’. After much head scratching, and not helped by our unhelpful insurers who would not contemplate the last two options, we decided that neither letting nor Trusted House Sitters would work. We opted for the third option of leaving the house empty with suitable management and security arrangements in hand.
It was at this moment that things started to go awry!
We are good friends with our widowed neighbour, in her mid 90s, who lives alone across the road from us. She is fiercely independent and of a generation that does not readily call for help! Recently life had become more challenging for her, her mobility being badly impaired due to painful arthritis in her knees, and struggling with deafness. (One day someone will design a hearing aid that arthritic fingers can manage!). She needed more input from her friends and neighbours and had a way of looking one directly in the eye and saying fiercely, “…but I am NOT going into a Home!” Then, in October, she had a couple of falls one night. Although not badly hurt and managing to avoid being whipped away into hospital, she was badly shaken and bruised. However these incidents led to further complications and she was very poorly for a time. Fortunately most of our neighbours are medics or ex-medics and together with her one relative, a niece who lives a 2-3 hour journey by car away, near Oxford, there was a rush to get appropriate formal care in place. Coming so soon before we were about to leave the country for 4 months, we felt guilty that we might be seen to be abandoning her at her time of need. However, with the reassurance of the excellent framework of care in place, meaning she could remain in her own home safely, and other neighbours more than ready to help, we continued with preparations for our departure.
We live in what was once a row of three workmen’s cottages. We have knocked two together for ourselves and the third cottage is let, the rent being an important element of our pension plan. The present tenants have lived there happily for over fifteen years and we were shocked and saddened when on 12th October, not long after the dramas with our elderly neighbour, our tenant came to tell us that he and his wife had been having difficulties and had decided to separate. Coincidentally he was financially in trouble having lost a major client. He wanted to stay but could not meet the current rent commitment until things had been sorted out. We took the news on the chin and after a bit of head scratching came up with a solution. Nick could manage Lilac Cottage (our cottage) whilst we were in France, look after the garden, carry out regular inspections, take care of Richard’s beloved Mazda and so forth. In exchange the level of rent would be reduced to an amount he could afford. Not ideal, but a pretty good arrangement. We would review the situation on our return from France. He was most grateful and readily accepted the suggestion. So that problem was done and dusted.
Or was it?!
One month later on 16th November, a couple of months before our planned departure date, We had a call from our tenant’s wife. She had found him collapsed in the cottage by his front door, where he had been lying for about twelve hours. He had had a very severe stroke, was paralysed down one side of his body and in the ICU in hospital. The prognosis was not at all good. Despite the separation, she realised this changed everything and she would now be looking after him in the future. At the risk of sounding dispassionate about this awful situation for hem, so far as plans for France were concerned this was a major blow. In order to ensure our finances were kept afloat, we agreed the same discount of the rent until we returned from France. By then any long term disabilities and requirements would likely be clearer, and we could then face together what this meant for the tenancy and future occupation of their cottage.
So we were still left with what to do with Lilac Cottage in our absence. Enter Yvonne, a knight in shining armour, our immediate neighbour and good friend. Learning of our dilemma, she came to our rescue. She and husband Tim would manage the house and would brook no argument. Pay back, they said, for the many times we have looked after their house and garden when they have been away in their cottage in Devon. I have to admit that this ‘pay back’ is hardly on level terms, as they leave us helping ourselves to the bounty of their extremely productive vegetable and fruit garden, and we are leaving them with …………some wild garlic at best!
“Was that it with challenges?” you might ask!
Well, An essential part of our adventure would be the car. We had not given our super-reliable Subaru Forester too much thought. It would be carrying us together with the two dogs and all our luggage for a four month stay down to the South of France. There would also be a lot of driving around France whilst there. Richard had already taken the precaution of servicing the car ready for our trip and getting the garage to sort out a couple of minor issues. More important was ensuring all the insurances, break down cover, and so forth were in place. So, all set for France!
Well, An essential part of our adventure would be the car. We had not given our super-reliable Subaru Forester too much thought. It would be carrying us together with the two dogs and all our luggage for a four month stay down to the South of France. There would also be a lot of driving around France whilst there. Richard had already taken the precaution of servicing the car ready for our trip and getting the garage to sort out a couple of minor issues. More important was ensuring all the insurances, break down cover, and so forth were in place. So, all set for France!
Well, no!
Out of the blue in late October, when Richard was at the wheel driving to Tonbridge on the A21 to catch a train, the reliable Subaru’s Power Steering Warning Light flashed brightly, and immediately the steering stiffened, as though he was driving a ten ton truck. Not knowing how serious this problem was, he nursed the car very tentatively to a car park in Tonbridge where he had to abandon it. Subsequently, the AA , having plugged their computer into the car’s management system, diagnosed an unknown fault in the power steering! (Really?!) Richard drove the car to the Subaru dealer in Robertsbridge, with the AA following him in case of trouble.
Then started a long saga with the Subaru dealer sorting out this problem, which was an intermittent fault - the most difficult to diagnose and cure! To cut a frustratingly long story short, the Subaru garage did various tests, lubricated various parts of the power steering system and returned it in working order. A short while later the fault reoccurred very briefly.
The car went back to Subaru for another session and further work was done. Seemingly the fault was cured and on 5th January, a mere twelve days before setting off for France, the car was handed back with a clean bill of health. We set off to Folkestone on 17th January happy in the knowledge that the car was in fine fettle.
So what else could go wrong? Well, a couple of things literally on the day before we left!
Firstly, Richard had had a streaming cold for a couple of days with very blocked sinuses, and as a consequence his ears blocked too and he was almost totally deaf in one ear. Not only did this make life very difficult for him, but it was making communication very difficult between the two of us, at a time when nerves were a trifle stretched anyway! Despite his best efforts, he was unable to find anyone to help clear his ears as an emergency, so the problem travelled with us and eventually getting his ears sorted became Richard’s first challenge once we’d arrived at our destination.
Secondly, the doors and windows in the house, all with security locks, had worked perfectly since they were installed about ten years ago. Why was it that on the 16th January the locks on the important french doors at the back of the house should decide to seize up? Another emergency call was made, this time with success. Not an hour later a nice young man arrived, took the lock apart, lubricated it, put it together again and….voila! Thank you Mr Locksmith. Despite the fact that it cost £100, it was worth every penny!
Surely that was it, nothing else could go wrong? The only slight concern we were left with as we arrived at Le Shuttle was whether the dogs’ papers were going to be all in order. That part went without a hitch, despite Laddie managing to leave a little sprinkled calling card (among many others!) in the Animal Check-in Office, and we drove confidently on to clear French Customs. Once there, we were asked to stop and turn off the engine. “Is this your car?” “Yes”. “Do you have any firearms?” “No”. A magic wand is waved about over various parts of the car and we are signalled to start up and drive on. I start the car, the Power Steering Warning Light flashes brightly at me and the steering stiffens! Well, nothing was going to stop us now, so with fingers firmly crossed and with teeth grit, we drove, to all appearances confidently, to the queue for boarding. There, we turned off the engine and, as we had experienced before with the problem, when we turned the engine on again the problem had righted itself.
In fact, on the three day drive down to Caunes-Minervois the PSWL (as it is now known) lit up twice more, but each time, having stopped and restarted the engine, the problem righted itself.
We both agreed at the start of this adventure that it is all about challenges, facing up to them, and dealing with them. If the Subaru does permanently let us down while we are on our Sabbatical, I have a secret plan. We will sell it for what we can get, buy a brightly coloured Citroen Deux Chevaux, and the four of us will bounce home triumphantly in that!
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