They Came, We're Sore, We've Conked Out - Saturday 13th Sept

Santons - the local handmade dolls which are becoming increasingly valuable if you have one which is signed by a well known maker. We have just unpacked our two and they are in pride of place on the mantelpiece.

You know that feeling when you wake up and you just know that Today is The Day. We were absolutely certain that having spoken to the driver last night, they were within reach of us and the coffee was brewing and the fresh croissants were on the plate by 9am when the phone rang.

"We've just been pulled over by Customs outside Montpellier and we have to sit for an hour until they clear the eight trucks ahead of us".

What can you say? They know it is all just a matter of paperwork and apparently they have to drive through this huge Xray machine, so with a couple of hours to spare, we leapt off to Leroy Merlin and rounded up a few more bits for the garden hose and the curtain rails.

I was just settling down on the terrace to clear my emails when I heard a whistle from Jean who was fiddling about in the garage.

"Wow, here they come".

I ran to the front door, and sure enough, here came the biggest road train that I could have imagined. Horse, trailer and another trailer behind, all emblazoned with the name of the Company who shall remain nameless for a very good reason. I am pretty mad at them, because having offloaded our forty boxes, they realised that the three precious vitally important excess bags which had been combined with the sea freight had been left behind in the warehouse in UK. Nobody to yell at because the office is closed on a Saturday, and the poor driver and his mate weren't responsible because they hadn't packed the truck.

What can you do? No point in getting in a spin but I just hope that they have the decency to send our stuff down by rail if they don't have a truck leaving very soon. They've certainly got a fairly brisk email awaiting them when they get back to work on Monday morning.

It has been an exciting and exhausting day, but we are sitting inside this evening, not only due to the fact that it is getting pretty nippy on the terrace by about 8pm, but it is so lovely to see our paintings up on the walls and some of our bits and pieces starting to appear. We must have opened half the boxes, and tomorrow is going to be a busy morning followed by a quick trip up to visit Mamy and show her the new car.

Bed is calling and the only slight drawback is that the sheets are still packed in a box and the bed is covered with the contents of another three. Hey Ho. I'd better go and try and make some sort of effort or I shall be sleeping in this very comfortable recliner chair, clutching the remnants of a rather nice glass of wine which was very much needed.