Moving to France and learning

the pleasures & pitfalls of teleworking

The letter...

HR have come back to me and asked for a formal letter with our move date - so they can set up a meeting for me in France - so we've spent the last couple of days trying to decide exactly what date we want to move. The lease is up on our rented house at the end of January - so we've set the date as the 25th January - I'll have a couple of weeks holiday to carry over - so will actually start work in France around Feb 12th. Gosh setting the date was actually a bit scary - kind of like finally stepping off the top board at the swiiming pool after standing up there for a while because it suddenly looked much higher than you thought.

We're in the process of arranging to visit some schools to see about where our son will feel most at home on the Monday / Tuesday of half-term as the UK and French one are slightly adrift - so we can spend that week in France and get a few things sorted.

We also have finally managed to get a quote for moving - pretty much everyone simply told me I was looking too far ahead and they'd contact me "nearer the time". But as I kept explaining - we were trying to decide what to sell and what to keep - so I'll be busy on ebay for a while and probably by Christmas our clothes will be on racks and we'll be sleeping on mattresses on the floor as the bedsteads and wardrobes will be going. We'll also have to take a tape measure with us in October because we have a huge dining room table - that will look fabulous in the barn kitchen - when it's done - but won't fit in our current kitchen - so if that goes in the living room - then my big bookcase won't have a home - so we'll be looking to seewhere else in the house a 12 foot long and 9 foot high book case can go, it does split in 2 a bit like a dresses - but as it holds my 4500ish books - it will be coming with us, no matter what. Still wondering about the electric cooker though - it's nearly new and we bought it before we had finally decided that we were going NOW rather than in about 7 years time - and although there isn't an oven in France we do have a bottled gas hob - and were going to put in a gas oven - and I know that electric stoves are expensive to run in France and we'd also need to make some changes to the kitchen, but part of me is very loathe to consider selling it.... but that may be the sensible thing to do. Or maybe one of our older sons will be able to use it. So may decisions - and suddenly January 25th seems so close