Problems, problems

Considering my husband's whole life revolves round cars, we've not done as well as might be expected lately on that front.  Our trusty old Opel Astra estate packed up towards the end of our last visit and had to be scrapped so we drove out here in a LH drive Opel van bought in England and under English plates. Jon asked when we bought it if the headlights were adjustable, so they would be acceptable in France and was told they were. He also noted that it had non-original wheels, but thought it would not matter. Wrong twice over!

So we submitted it for MOT to find it needs four new tyres, as they are not the "correct" size, and two new headlights, as well as a new transmission seal ? (a Soufflet Cardan) and new brake discs and pads. A potential bill of €1,000!  We've nearly got over the shock now, having sourced two headlights through a helpful scrap dealer - brand-new but a third of the price, and cheap parts for the rest.  It's being done right now but it's still going to cost us over €500.

On top of that, someone who shall remain nameless only brought out half of the log book, the bit you have to send up when you export a vehicle permanently, so we can't register it this time. One can only hope that she will be better organized next time!

And then there's the matter of the stair carpet.  Before we left we had agreed a price for fitting, and that we would order it from England to be ready when we got out here. Made the phone call, emailed the order, posted the cheque. Went to the carpet shop on arrival - no cheque received, carpet not ordered. We cancelled the cheque (€16), issued another and the carpet arrived in time for the agreed start date of Monday 16th. No word from the fitter, however, so I rang only to find that he was in New York on holiday and probably not coming back. Furthermore, the quote was only pending on the system, not accepted. We reckon he was going to do it "on the black" as he had undercut his original quote considerably.  Anyway, we had someone else from the firm round to see the job.  He was to give us two quotes by the end of the week but we've not heard from him yet. Meanwhile our cheque arrived yesterday - nearly 4 weeks in transit!  Thanks a lot Royal Mail/La Poste.

However, it has given me time to finish decorating around the stairwell and it looks great. (The carpet will be on the treads only)
(For those of you who haven't been here, what appears to be a door halfway up the wall is just a window)