| |
Our
adventures in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus continue....
  
Final arrangements are now being made for the start of the new adventure. First, before Steini & Sigga go back to Iceland, we took them up over the mountain road so that they could see Girne from the top of the castle area. They had never seen The Castle before despite the number of years they have been coming to the island.
The weather was kind to us so we were able to stop often and get a good view of the towns and villages below.
A most enjoyable experience for them and a sort of sad day for us as they will have gone back home and we have no idea when our paths will cross again, but having said that, Joan and I have made a firm commitment to visit them in Iceland once we have settled in the Dordogne.
Today was spent going to the bank for euros, in Joan's case the last minute washing and then the packing for us both. We are trying to take over one suitcase that will not be coming back and two carry on bags that will not offend Ryan air on our return journey.
Having done all that it was early to bed for us all as tomorrow we need to get up about 4.30 to go to the airport.
After a delay in Istanbul, due to the loading of what looked like about 400 cases of mushrooms, we finally arrived at Stansted 30 minutes late. The problem then was that they had to off load all the mushrooms before they could get to the cases, so that meant almost an hour standing around waiting for our baggage.
Our friend Bob had arranged to come and collect us all the way from Sonning in Berkshire, but his excuse was that his brother only lives about 15 minutes from Stansted airport. This lift was very welcome as our alternative was to travel by train in to London and then out of London to Reading.
When we arrived there we met up with Gitta, Bob's wife, again and then their lovely golden coloured Alsation called Meisha. Once she had realised that we were one of the friendly ones, she started posing and showing off. Joan just fell in love with here and kept calling her my friend.
After a leisurely breakfast at Bob & Gitta's, cooked by the masterchef, we set off for Basingstoke and the LHD Place. Some time ago we had bought a car from them on the internet, after Bob had been over to inspect and report. So here it is the Saab. A 1998 model with only 54k miles on the clock and a full service history. A brilliant and lucky buy which drove very well back to New Romney, where we are to stay with our friends Jill & Les for a few days until final notification of container arrival.
All the best laid plans of mice and men. Together with Stewart & Barbara we had so carefully planned our arrival in Ferrensac to be there when the container arrived and to supervise the off loading for us all. Well, low and behold, it has all been cocked up. It seems that somebody screwed up the paperwork and our container didn't leave on 24th October as planned, but on the next ship leaving on 28th. This means that it will now not arrive in Antwerp until 14th November, a Saturday of course, so now clearance will take place, we hope on Monday 16th and delivery on Tuesday 17th, a whole bl***y week late.
As Joan and I have a long standing friend, seriously ill in Amsterdam, we have decided to travel over there on Monday next, spend two nights staying with her husband so that we can visit her. We will then drive down to Ferrensac on Wednesday 11th, which is in fact Armistice day, so the roads will be quiet. We estimate that the drive will take us about 12 hours and then after 1 night in a B&B, we will blow up a couple of air beds and rough it until the container arrives. At least we will be able to do whatever cleaning etc is needed and we know we need to visit Ikea, for some wardrobes to go in our dressing room, so can have those delivered and ready.
You just have to work round these set backs.
What did I say about setbacks. Yesterday morning we got up at 0630 to get ready to travel to Dover for the 0915 ferry to then drive up to Amsterdam. Overnight it had become very very damp and low and behold the super Saab would not start.
Les and I spent a good hour with Jill's hairdryer as we believed that the damp must be the cause of the problem, but to no avail. we then called out a local mobile repair guy, who has a superb reputation round here and he could not get us going either. His hand held diagnostic machine would not register the vehicle so that was not much use. He finally thought that the problem must be fuel related.
By this time the ferry had long gone so I called The Left Hand Drive Place in Basingstoke. They listened to all our efforts and then said OK we will send a man with a trailer up to you now, he will be about 2 hours. The guy arrived at 2.30 prompt, I stepped in to the car to show him what the problem was and the thing started first time. Anyway he felt that as the problem had been there before he should still take it back.
Guess what? Ever since they have had the car it just starts without problems. However thay have been in touch with the local Saab specialist who said that the only thing it could be was some sensor. So now they have replaced this and are trying the car on a regular basis and it seems absolutely fine.
At 5 p.m. tonight one of their guys is driving back up with the car to deliver it back to us, so we have now rebooked our ferry for tomorrow morning, but of course we are now going direct to France. Shame that we are missing out the Amsterdam loop, but these things happen, just have to get up again at 0630 tomorrow morning.
I have to say the experience of service from The LHD Place is second to non and I would have no hesitation in recommending them to anybody who is wanting to change to a car with the steering wheel on the left. www.lhdplace.co.uk
Well we arrived safely at the farmhouse on Thursday morning. On Wednesday we caught the ferry and drove down in shifts, arriving at a super B&B in Eymet. Russ and Maria made us very welcome and then served a lovely continental breakfast the next morning. After a little supermarket and market shopping we headed off to the farmhouse.
We unpacked the car and started to get out the essentials, one of these was our inflatable mattresses which we had bought when we found that there was going to be a delay on our container delivery. we then found out that there was a special pump needed so we couldn't use our car pump. Luckily for us Gerry and Sarah had put in one of their settees which folded out to a bed. Very useful and equally comfortable.
Gerry and Sarah served us dinner the first evening which was very nice of them and very welcoming.
We have really settled in now but are looking forward to the arrival of the container. One of our problems is the lack of a fridge, among other things. Today was a glorious day with lots of sunshine and quite mild. We watched the cats chase a mouse around the field, just playing as they do, but being closely watched by the donkeys. As soon as they went near the paddock the young donkey came to see what they were and the cats legged it quickly.
There are in fact three donkeys on the land around our farmhouse, mother and daughter are really lovely, but Gerry feels that there might be another on the way. Apparantly dad jumped the fence on the night before he was seen to. A sort of last fling, maybe he knew what was to happen.
Spoke to Stewart today and he arrived safely with two of the cats and tells me that Barbara is on the way and on schedule. Guess we will have a reunion lunch someplace tomorrow.
Got a late text from Stewart the all ahd arrived safely at their new home so guess we will meet up tomorrow and get the news of the journey.
At midday we went down to the town of Eymet which is quite near where Stewart and Barbara are going to live. It is about 20 minutes away from us here. We met them in the town square and found a couple of restaurants open to have Sunday lunch, not the old roast and yorkshires, but a very nice "menu de jours", consisting of a waldorf salad and a main course of duck, washed down of course with a carafe of white.
Apparently, apart from the length of the journey, all including the four cats have arrived without a hitch.
After lunch we went up the hill to La Rouquette, were Stewart and Barbara have their new home. They have in fact a very large converted farmhouse and a huge garden area which goes down the hill on quite a steep slope, plenty of room for Stewart to start his veggie patch. He also bought a nice cheap Renault Megane from the owner so that means they have immediate transport.
Guess only time will tell as to whether this is their ideal home, but comfortable and large it certainly is and they have time to see how they enjoy the living here in France.
We are still struggling with the shipping agents and the documentation, so it does not look as if our container will in fact arrive tommorrow. It appears that one of the forms required to clear French customs is now incorrect. We received some instruction on how to fill in this form from a lady in TRNC, who speaks French and because of our situation she suggested that we termed this new home as our secondary home. The French are now saying that if this is the case VAT and duty on the entire shipment would be liable.
We are now desperately trying to get hold of a new version of this form to fill in differently and send off again so that the Antwerp agent can renegotiate with the French customs. This is all hampered by the fact that the Fench don't really work on Mondays. They are even more laid back than the Turkish Cypriots. So far today I have done 15 e-mails, between here and the shipping agent in Antwerp, the agent in TRNC and our landlord, Gerry, who is trying to help out also. Frustrating is not exactly the right word to use.
Joan and I did find that the supermarket in Villereal, about 7 kilometers from here was open, so managed some shopping for essentials, then later I went with Stewart to Bergerac airport to return his hire car.
In the evening Joan and I just settled down in our warm cosy kitchen for a comfortable dinner.
More fun and games today over the documentation. Now they want proof that we are actually going to live here and would you believe they asked if I had a letter proving that I had finished my work in Mersin, Turkey because this was the route that the container took.
This all meant a further panic to get ourselves registered with the bank so that we could get documentary proof and then a copy of my passport to prove that I am actually beyond pensionable age and the once again a copy of our agreement here with Gerry re the farmhouse.
The problem is that we have no scanner or printer here because they are in the container. Fortunatley there is a lovely French lady in the shop next to Gerry's office who is being so very helpful with the use of her scanner and printer to get the stuff to us.
We also had an appontment at the bank at 4 o'clock to set up our account and so could not have that registration document until after this time. That was another interesting experience, there was even more paperwork than in a TRNC bank and all of it in French of course. We are now the proud owners of a couple of bank accounts and a 15 page document about the bank regulations, which we have signed to say, read and understood.
All these problems with the container could have been avoided if the agents in TRNC had fully understood the regulations and the documentation before arranging the shipment. Vety dissapointing.
We have been promised the container for tommorrow so fingers crossed. Yesterday we had been out and bought some paint, because we didn't like the pure white on part of the main room walls, so today was a first coat day for our new colour, vanilla.
Paint is definitely expensive here, maybe we will put some in the final container. We bought 2.5 litres at a price of around £45.00
Well true to form the container arrived at 9 o'clock together with the unloading team. The driver had time to crawl in to his sleeping compartment as his tacho meter said it was time to have some rest. This gave the boys a full two hours to unload us before they took the last part up the hill to Stewart and Barbara.
The rest of our day and probably a few days to come was spent unpacking the most urgent items first. Frank's first job was to put together the new beds that we had bought from Ronnies, back in TRNC, so at last we will be able to enjoy the comfort of a real bed tonight.
The idea of this bedroom suite is that it will eventually go up one floor, to a guest bedroom, but these singles were so much more comfortable than the bed settee.
Since we have been over here we have been experiencing warm sunshine most days, with temperatures in the 16 to 20 degree region, but there has been some rain at night. This morning was even more lovely with a most magnificent sunrise to wake up to.
We are finding that we are sleeping later because it does not get really light until about 7.30 in the mornings.
More unpacking of course today, but a very pleasant evening with Gerry and Sarah. A quiet chat and a few drinks, wine for the ladies and for Gerry and I, a chance to sample the 12 year old and the 15 year old Glenfidich that I had brought over. Very nice it was too.
Today being Sunday we decided that a little rest from the unpacking was a good idea, so arranged to meet Stewart and Barbara in Eymet again for lunch. We used the same restaurant as we had been to last week as there are many of the local rstaurants closed for the winter period.
Once again a nice meal, a three course fixed manu with a litre carafe of house white came to €35.00 per couple.
Afterwards we went back to Stewart and Barbara's for coffee. Nice to relax, tomorrow is another working day.
Last week we had been over to Ikea in Bordeaux to order some wardrobes for the dressing room and as they would not fit in the car we paid for their delivery service. We had been calling their customer service number but not getting too much success so decided that another trip over was on the cards.
A good job too. We found out that they had actually cancelled the order firstly, but after some panic we were told that they were actually scheduling the delivery from St Etienne. Now this is a bit of a puzzle as they say that this delivery point is nearer to us, very strange because according to our calculations that drive is around 5 hours. Guess we might be chasing this one up again shortly.
Because of these sort of frustrations and the late delivery of the container we have decided to try to extend for one extra week, if we can get flights OK.
This morning Joan and I went to Castilliones, a market town about 10 minutes from us to pay for our car insurance and to make arrangements for some household content cover.
Insurance for the Saab for 1 year works out at €489.00, quite expensive, but you have to also reckon on the fact that there is no car tax here. Tax levied on the petrol and diesel goes towards road tax costs.
Because it was market day also we had a bit of a wander around and ended up buying a spit roast chicken for dinner tonight. It turned out to be very tasty too.
The guys who did our off loading came back today and collected all the boxes and packaging that we had been able to conserve, for them to re-use for somebody else.
So with that all cleared up we are now settled in some warmth and comfort in the evenings. We still only have the big garden type chairs to sit on but they are very comfortable. With a roaring log fire and from tomorrow some Sky TV installed we will be very cosy thank you.
Just have the problem of Ikea to worry about.
Well the guy came to install our Sky TV box this afternoon. A one off payment of €285.00 gives us the freeview channels which is more than enough for us. I guess that the channels are the same as you get for this service in UK.
Didn't get much chance to try out the TV this evening as today is Barbara's special birthday. The big 60th celebration. As soon as the Sky man had left, Joan and I rushed off to Bergerac airport, which is about 30 minutes away. We collected Penny her daughter and her two sons and then took them round to their house in La Rouquette. This had been planned for about two months now and she knew absolutely nothing about it. Joan and I parked near the house and let them ring the bell whilst we hung around outside. The look on Barbara's face was worth every minute of the secret keeping exercise and their arrival made her day totally.
Later in the early evening two other friends, whom Barbara and Stewart have met since their arrival, joined us and then we all went out to a restaurant recommended by their friend Steve. We had a superb meal and a very enjoyable evening and feel sure that Barbara has really enjoyed her special day. Lots of brownie points for Stewart I guess.
Joan and I are still doing things around the house but are getting increasingly worried about the Ikea situation. I have been calling the special service number we were given last Monday, but to no avail. Either they don't answer or the lines are engaged or even worse, you get a long advertising speel followed by a message to hold for an agent and then he or she just pulls the plug on you.
This afternoon, when the shops reopened after their three hour lunch break, we went to Bergerac and looked around at some of the furniture stores there. Now we sort of wished we had found these earlier, they are much nearer and have similar stuff of the same quality, so guess it is time to have a fight with Ikea.
This evening we decided to drive to Villereal, a Bastide town about 9 kilometres from us. As it is winter time, many restuarants are closed in the evenings, but we did find a local pub style place open, which was quite busy. These situations give you an excellent chance to practice your French and we managed to end up with a lovely chicken dish in creamed mushrooms and of course a carafe of the local stuff. Just like the TRNC everything is served with chips, but then I don't suppose they are called French Fries for nothing.
Last day of the month and were better to go than back to Ikea in Bordeaux. This takes us a good two hours and we are getting increasingly frustrated by them and there non service.
There first girl we spoke to at customer service we were struggling with, this is when your inadequate grasp of the language shows up. However they did mange to find a guy who spoke English quite well and between them they had long discussions with the distribution point in St-Etienne. Suddenly thie distribution point, despite them not answering their phones to us etc, would be able to deliver tomorrow. But by this time Joan and I were well fed up with the total lack of service and were demanding a cancellation and full refund. There was a great deal of reluctance on their part to do this but eventually they agreed, but said that the refund would be a cheque in the post. Fingers crossed we wait.
Having achieved this we then went back to Bergerac, which is on our way, to look again at some of the stuff we had seen last week. Here in two different stores we manged to buy firstly a really big four door wardrobe, which will be delivered on Saturday and from a second store, two decent sized chest of drawers, which went in the back of the car. Thank heavens for flat pack stuff these days, just means that over the next couple of days, muggings here, has some more work to do. The service we got in both these stores was absolutely superb, what a refreshing change.
Altogether we seem finally to have solved the problem of storage in what will be our dressing room come computer room. Pics maybe next week, when I have got it all together. The other interesting thing is that we seem to have spent a lot less money than we had originally given to Ikea, but we still await the cheque.
|
|
