It’s usually my favourite day of the year – the first one where the sun is shining, the temperature is warm, and it at last seems like spring is on the way.
Unfortunately this year I got so excited by the lovely weather that I rushed out and started moving around some oversized plant pots, and promptly pulled a muscle in my back. After about three days I can walk again, but the prospects of cycling or doing anything useful are still several days away.
To make matters worse, Mrs B has ordered a load of new furniture for the gites, and we have hired a van for tomorrow to go and collect it. Since I can barely lift a cup of tea it seems unlikely I wil be good at getting a wardrobe down a flight of stairs. Still, at last I can hold the door open for her and offer moral support while she struggles to carry a chest of drawers on her own. I’m not completely useless, you know.
It never occurred to me before, but it seems there is quite a market in decent quality second-hand furniture that becomes available when expats move back to the UK or when second homes owners sell up, which can be great value and better quality than is often found in holiday properties.
The idea is a good one, and I don’t know how it took us so long to catch on. Furniture lasts less well in the holiday rentals than you might think, given the properties are empty for so much of the year, and we are always on the look out for a decent chair or table at a good price.
Obviously you need to be sensible – filling your gites with chipped plates and mugs from the local junk shop, or buying up settees that have been sat in a musty French barn for the last 30 years, might not be quite the right idea in attracting returning visitors to your holiday rentals, and ancient electrical goods probably won’t meet any kind of safety standards…
…although following on from comments on our last entry about what people want from a French holiday, these might go some way to recreating the authentic French holiday experience that people are perhaps looking for.
Now, anyone know where I can got a decent fondue set – seller delivers?
(Edit: should have mentioned, Mrs B tells me your local version of angloinfo.com is a good place to start looking for bargains.)
I think you need a holiday. Try this http://norfcoast.blogspot.com/ is perfect for cycling. and its near where I live . ( there is always a downside)
Unfortunately a day moving furniture didn’t help my strained back and I won’t be on a bike for at least the next few days. I have already booked a cycling trip for early April – not Norfolk unfortunately, somewhere much closer to here in the Limousin – fingers crossed I am able to get a bit of training in before that.