On the day of the arrival of our fist guests in 2008 the continuing saga of our unreliable central heating boiler took a turn for the worse. After the second plumber had given up on fixing it (without giving us a bill) he recommended we call the depenage, or emergency callout service, which we did, and after finally getting hold of them after the usual 3 or 4 tries talking to an answer phone, we got an appointment with the engineer for the morning of the same day the guests were arriving, so it was fingers crossed. It started well enough as finally someone who appeared to know what he was doing got stuck into our boiler and after 3 hours work concluded that the boiler was ok but the electronics controlling it had a life of its own (as we have already discovered), so he needed parts, nearly 300€ worth of parts. The problem is if you want anything doing in France between Christmas and Epiphany you are likely to encounter the reply, but everyone is on holiday, or sorry all the offices are closed for the winter holidays, and so as I write we are still waiting for our parts a week after the return to work, because the other thing about the French way of doing things is that nothing is ever in stock. One good thing to come out the engineers visit was that our hot water system which also had a life of its own now appears to be 100% reliable, which means our guests could shower without us having to sit next to the hot water cylinder the whole time. I dashed off to the DIY shop to buy a couple of electric radiators just to make sure we had enough warmth for the guest rooms.
Our guests, who turned out to be 2 sets of very nice parents, finally arrived at 10:00pm after a long journey driving a large van from Kent. They were bringing furniture for the newest residents of Sigogne, members of their respective families. So after giving them a glass of wine to wind down a bit after the journey they went off to bed exhausted. They then spent most of the rest of the weekend unpacking cleaning and tiding for thier children.
Unlike the last time we had guests everything went as smoothly as could be, and it finally gave us the feeling that all the work had been worth it, and we even had time to enjoy the experience ourselves. It was a small glimpse of our future lives but one that, at least for the moment means that the light we can see at the end of the tunnel does not look like an on coming train……
Other good news is that we have our first firm summer booking for 2008 which is three rooms for a week, as well as promises of guests coming in February and May, so things are certainly making us feel much happier as we enter 2008. We have of course just about run out of money again but the good news is that room 3 has come in just about on time and in budget, and we now need to start saving for the next big job, which will probably start in April, to complete the roof re furbishment and get rooms 4 & 5 ready for guests. Room 3 now has a name, because of its southern views and having the sun for most of the day it is going to be called Tournesol, sunflower, or literally turning with the sun, as sunflowers do, so the accent colour will probably be..... you guessed it yellow.
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