Tuesday, july 18, 2006

The House

Yesterday we learned that the transfer of our house will take place as late as the 16th of september (or later). That means we will have to stay in this cursed apartment the whole summer. We have a freedom of movement of about ten square meters, and the hole day long traffic races by, and we have to keep the shutters closed due to the heat. I cannot say this differently, but I reject the idea. At least we’ll go hangout at the local camping for two weeks in august, and after that things won't be so bad.

Yes, yes rejoice ... above the pub with the bars, that’s where we live now. The shutters are closed by day to keep the heat out

At the end of the afternoon we went to the house for a look. For the children it was the first introduction and for me the first time to see it in an unpolished state. The grass in the garden was as much as a meter high, the roof of the garage was covered in crawling weeds and the back garden was inaccessible through a web of bramble bushes.

The driveway to the house

When we closed the gates behind us and walked under a hedgerow of fruit trees over the driveway, I was again overwhelmed by a blissful feeling. The kind of feeling I had as a child on a hot summer day when I walked with my niece half naked through the reed in Brabant, or when we sheltered for the rain in a hut behind the farm. The feeling of sheltered ness and total freedom.

A real jungle

What is it about this place. One cannot capture its soul in a picture. That’s also why I abhorred it at first sight on the internet. I could not understand why Ruud and Jitze had chosen this house in particular. I thought it to be an ugly, new fashioned monster that had everything I didn't want: a house from the fifties, a high slate roof that pointed over the trees like a pointy hat, wide grey joints between the bricks on the outside and a neat driveway. But when I saw it in person I understood what Ruud and Jitze meant.

A house with a soul, build by people who loved it

This house is like a cat, it doesn't require a master, just some love and care. But we still have a long way to go. I think that in September we will have to battle the wasps, because I saw all the fruit hanging from the trees attracted a lot of flying public. And they have to live somewhere, so why not in this house which has been empty for two years.

We don't know how the system works with pest control down here. But without doubt the French must have reinforcements for this, only, one has to find them between all these civil servants waiting there lined up in order to send you from hither to thither. Ah well, first have a nice siesta on the doorstep of an old lady, and for the rest we will see later on.

Everybody does siesta, except for the flies

posted by Ruud at 3:20 PM

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