Its the 19th January, and finally I have put fingers to keyboard to attempt to record our journey from Dorset to Languedoc Roussillon. This is not a journey in the same way as the others described in here. Horatio and Thor will play their parts, but this is a life journey too, as we are moving, going to live in France.
It has always been my dream to experience life in another country. I can remember finding out that Thursday’s Child Has Far to Go, and thinking how much more like me that felt that the home loving crab of my star sign. Don’t get me wrong, I love my home, as I have (with one exception) loved all of the homes I have lived in. Interestingly the longest I have lived in any one has been 10 years, and that is what I have clocked up here, so change is definitely in the air.
I feel I should try to document what we have to do to get there, that is if, even at this stage, I can remember it all. The trigger came last summer when I lost one of my work contracts. Not the biggest, but enough to mean I could no longer afford my assistant and therefore would no longer need my rented office space either. However, we had to take the time to work out what to do and how it might work – principally how I might work.
It all came together in November when we discussed the situation in detail with my French boss. He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse which involved working nearly full time for his company, and being based there in order to be truly effective in that position. He also thought there could be some opportunities for B too.
So we are taking the plunge, the die is cast as we now set things in motion, sink or swim – to coin some overused but appropriate phrases. Moving swiftly on…..
…to the lists -we are now both working to the sort of To Do Lists which never, ever end. As fast as we tick some boxes, more are added to the bottom. Mine involves a lot of financial reorganisation – for me, the business, my parents and my aunt. What happened to simplicity? Seems nobody, least of all myself, can get by with just one bank account these days.
My other biggie is to find out about the tax implications of our move, and that is a more knotty problem. All the advisors I have identified on line are large, international concerns which immediately tells me their charges will be too high. This was confirmed when I contacted one which immediately sent back an email listing of all their fees, including for answering emails! Others seem to target the non-doms, and any company with “wealth management” in the name or description sends me running a mile in the opposite direction before they use me to augment their own wealth management.
At the same time B is handling getting our house into good enough order to be let as a holiday cottage. Even though we don’t plan to leave until mid-May, they need to take the photos this week. We have to answer questions about whether we can allow children (urgh) or dogs (mmm, more urgh) and if so how many and what we will provide, or not. Then there is an inventory of crockery, glassware, cutlery, kitchen implements, dissecting tools (not really, but feels like it), mirrors, (yes, mirrors), pillows, duvets etc etc. How many teaspoons? soup bowls and cereal bowls? oven pans, casserole dishes (one is not enough apparently). How many guests? Well only 5 actually, but you provide for a veritable horde.
And then there are the certificates – fire safety, electrical goods, boiler and heating, electrical system, public liability insurance, fairies in the garden.
OK time to stop for now, seems I might just be losing the plot…..