Back to Blighty

Well, I've been away for a while, so I suppose I ought to catch you up on things. Although most of you will know we are moving back to Blighty. Lots of reasons which I won't go into. Looking forward to it actually, which is not something I thought I'd ever say, but I went back for a day/two nights a couple of weeks ago and actually quite enjoyed it. Hubby says I sould do a 'relocating back to Blighty' blog now, but there's a real danger it would just end up being 'Tescos - wow! Sunday opening - wow! The choice in the shops - wow!' etc etc......

So, I've been having a think and made a few lists, first of all:

Things I won't miss:

The gaelic shoulder-shrug attitude to customer service
Dealing with the social security folk
Enormous bills
Arrogant middle-aged English folk
Weird parents of the friends of my eldest daughter
Appalling driving standards of the French
Unbelieveable amounts of paperwork for anything and everything
R*&@$%t (see below)
The new woman who works in our local post office.  Not sure what her name is in French, but I know that it translates in English into 'Jobsworth'.
French TV.  French radio.  French music.  French sense of humour.
French bars full of men drinking Pastis at 10am
Living in a freezing cold house with a knackered heating system
Having to get a fire going first thing in the morning with frozen fingers

Things I will miss:

The 'bonjour' and 'au revoir' whenever you go in or leave a shop/bar/post office/bank etc
The girls being bi-lingual

Things I am looking forward to:

Shops open on Sundays and Bank Holidays (sorry, but when you've been without for six years, it will make a pleasant change, and if you're one of those 'keep Sundays special' folk, then keep it special to yourself and don't go to the bloody shops then, nobody's forcing you.)
People and a bit of life around us
The opportunity to do so many different things
The choice in the shops
Better customer service (well better than a 'gaelic shoulder shrug' anyway and the ability to argue in English if it's not all that good)
Being able to communicate in English generally
Living in a house with mains drainage, mains gas, double glazing, kerbside rubbish collection, fully functioning heating system, and that doesn't get regular frozen pipes in winter and power cuts
Being able to walk to places
A chocamochacoffee in a pleasant little cafe

Things I am not looking forward:

People around me 24/7
Lack of a view from the house we will be renting
Not being able to take our cat with us
The girls losing their French

Anyway, been selling a few things on the small ads again. Yesterday I put the sofa on at a very good price for what it is. Within an hour I had someone on the phone, wanted to come and buy it and take it away that afternoon, but they couldn't pay by cash, because they had another big bill of 800€ to pay and didn't have the money in their account, so would I take a cheque? It would be ok if I waited four days until they would get paid. And if not, I could 'always give them a call and we could sort something out'. A couple of hours later someone else called about it, also wanted to come and buy it and take it away that afternoon, but they also didn't have enough money, so would I accept payment in installments? Later in the evening I received an e-mail offering me one third off the advertised price. Needless to say, it is not yet sold.

Also had fun at our local R*&@$%t garage recently. Had a problem with the car which had to be fixed before we sold it, so we took it into to R*&@$%t. They put it on their diagnostic machine (at a cost of 60€ the theiving bastards) and quoted us 2000€ for the cost of repairs, which would be a metal piece and then some other part. Booked it in for the repair and they offered us a courtesy car for for free, which we accepted. Turned up on the day for the repair and when taking the courtesy car, we were duly advised that it was 'without insurance'. We were told to go home (in the uninsured car) and call our own car insurance company and get them to swap the insurance from our own car to the courtesy car for the day. This, they assured us, was 'the done thing'. Drove home extremely pissed off and concerned. Called insurance company, unsurprisingly, they did not provide 'that type of cover'. Mightly pissed off now, we could have easily borrowed my mother's car instead had we been forwarned. So hubby drove the car straight back and I followed in my mother's car (I was a nervous wreck I might add), handed over keys, accepted the old 'gaelic shoulder shrug' in return and that was that for the morning. That afternoon we received a call to say that the part had not arrived (how did they not know this in the morning?) and they didn't know when it would, possibly sometime the next week, but who knows, there was apparently a problem at the manufacturers. It got more complicated and to cut a long story short, I went into meltdown and my folks ended up going back to R*&@$%t with hubby and my own dear mother 'kicked some butt'. R*&@$%t were insisting, amoungst other things, that the metal part was made of a 'special' metal and could not even be welded, it was a part that had to be replaced. In the end, nothing could be resolved with R*&@$%t, so they towed the car home. Dearest hubby then set to, trying to see if he could fix it. Turned out that the 'special metal' part that was broken was made of what we in English call 're-inforced rubber tubing'. So either our French is really crap or R*&@$%t are lying bastards. Hubby duly went off to car shop and bought the replacement piece for 6,50€. We then had to take it into another garage to go back on their diagnostic machine (cost: 30€, half the price of the theiving, lying bastards) to check all was well and re-set the car's computer. And that was that. It passed the MOT and a few days ago we sold it. (With regret I might add, it was a lovely car).