Jusqu'ici tout va bien!

Well, we have started Our French Life.  All of us arrived safely at Samois by car, and that does include all three pets none of whom travelled on the roof of the car in a crate. No way!  I think I must have given the wrong impression. We tightly hugged our furry Chubs in the car all the way to Holly and Philippe’s country house, so pleased were we all to see each other. 

We had a wonderful country weekend in a wonderful house in a wonderful place. Log fires, walks alongside the Seine, wandering through the Fontainbleu market, crêpes in the local bistrôt, red wine and raclette, ordering new phones on line, digging Holly’s  old car out of the garden with a view to giving it a second lease on life au Sud, Simon teaching Alex French (‘quoi de neuf’), Alex teaching Simon to throw boomerang – really special memories and a really special welcome.

Then down to the nitty gritty. A train ride to Paris with horrified pets who have never even seen a train never mind taken a journey on one (n.b. pet tranquillisers to be recommended, thank you Holly), all our cumbersome luggage weighing us down and no luggage trolleys to be had, arriving in Montpellier in the middle of a storm only to find the agent had left our rental apartment a whole FOUR MINUTES after we were due to arrive. Apparently we were late. Hmmph.  No option but to wait. So wait we did - in a nearby McDonald’s and it turns out McDonald’s France not only serve beer but are happy to accept dogs and cats too!  How fab is that?  Never thought I’d put McDonald’s and fab in the same paragraph

but they saved our skin that day.

So now we are in the lovely flat, slap bang in the middle of Montpellier, how do we feel? Well, we are just thrilled to have French bank accounts and credit cards, a French mobile and hopefully soon a French car as these things are the basics of life which are both impossible to do without and difficult to sort out from afar - or even whilst in the country. We are pleased we fixed up a bank account with HSBC in advance of our arrival and thank you Jessica for your help with all the PIN numbers etc. sent to your home!! Anyone thinking of relocating should definitely do this first, where possible – makes us feel like proper residents. 

It’s still difficult to remember that things close for lunch and everything closes on Sunday but fabulous to have great cafés on every corner all of whom welcome dogs and still serve rubbish coffee.  We realise we have replaced coffee with wine or beer which could prove a problem long term...

It’s amazing to stumble across parts of the town that are still new to us and find they are the old stamping grounds of Nostradamus, Rabelais or Valéry. We get a thrill when we hear the trains departing from the Gare Saint Roch for cities such as Venice, Madrid or Geneva.

We are still a bit shocked by the dog poo everywhere and are fastidiously cleaning up after Roly and Pepper to set a good example.  Seeing graffiti on grand old buildings causes some disappointment but taking a tram to new destinations is uplifting. We have found our boulangerie of choice and go every morning for fresh baguettes. Speaking the language well presents our biggest hurdle and we are researching local schools for intensive courses.  Overall, it’s truly exciting and quite exhilarating to feel we are actually here embalking upon something new and challenging and that it’s for real, not just an extended holiday.  It feels good to be doing it and not just talking about it.