We are busy getting ready for our next trip to France France
Our apartment in Thollon-les-Memises was about the size of the guest apartment we currently have in the sous sol at Le Petit Pressigny. Our buyers were very insistent that we also sell them our furniture, which was of typical chalet style. After a millisecond of deliberation we agreed! It would have been the worst kind of nightmare to even contemplate moving the furniture down in the lift from the third floor, let alone half way across France. UK
Our trusty old Discovery (220,000 miles on the same engine and gear box) towed out the contents of our house with the help of a hired trailer, through the course of five return journeys. In retrospect a removal van from the UK
Our current car is smaller and whenever we travel we are packed to the gunnels – whatever they are! Packing usually stresses Tim, so my preferred stress-buster is to pile up everything I think we need and a bit more besides. I then set off for work, leaving Tim to pack the car in my absence!
Watch this space for more news of our loading for the coming holiday ...
Watch this space for more news of our loading for the coming holiday ...
Hmmm...another one with sole rights to the correct way of packing a car. At least you are allowed to escape while he gets on with it...
ReplyDeleteIt is a man-thing, Susan, especially for us people called Tim!
DeleteI am not going to use the word stressed-out when it comes to me packing the car... I think bordering on the edge of a breakdown would just about cover my stress levels... but we did it so many times that I did discover a method that meant that there was still some hair left up top... I packed the front room... arranged everything on the carpet. It worked wonders for my health!
If packing the car is a nightmare you should have seen Tim (my Tim) with the trailer. I'm sure he drew a CAD model first!
DeleteSusan,
Deletebesides it being a 'man thing' it's also about getting a quart into a pint pot!
As only a beer drinker knows how!! That's why it is a man thing... lady beer drinkers are more refined... aren't they? ouch... I just hit the keyboard as I ducked!!
DeleteWe've only had our place in France since last September and already, I recognise all that you say here. We did get a company to move our furniture from England....but are always finding things that "we should have put on the truck". We had the idea that our flights back and forth would be hand luggage only, as both Engliah and French houses would be so organised......well that is never going to be ! Good luck with your packing. I will start mine next week. Janice
ReplyDeleteThanks! I wish you the same kind of luck, but we are only out for 2 weeks.
DeleteWhen we had our apartment we often flew out to Geneva, but never with only hand luggage!
Hello Gaynor:
ReplyDeleteOh what excitement to be thinking of your next holiday in France. Easter is such a wonderful time and we are sure that you will be looking forward to a well deserved break from the chalkface!!
Perhaps if you really wish to be stressed out with removals you should try moving to Budapest......the paperwork alone is a true nightmare!!!!!
Hi Jane and Lance,
DeleteI hope you are enjoying some of the excellent weather we are getting in the UK at the moment in Budapest. Perhaps to visit another of the historic houses on your list?
Gaynor... Pauline will doubtless agree with Susan about sole rights to car loading... my method did leave me with hair... but then came the drive... fortunately I've got a very good satnav... it took me a few years to cotton on, but Pauline has the homing instinct of a racing pigeon... and has never sent us up a blind alley.
ReplyDeleteAnd "gunnels" are the wooden top edge of a barge hull... packed to the aforesaid "gunnels" means that a barge couldn't take any more loading without shipping water.
"Gunnels awash" is a sailing term meaning that you are canted over so far that water is coming aboard over the aforesaid gunnels... fine in an enclosed hull boat or one of the modern one piece hulls... in an old boat like an Enterprise or similar... it is the time to tack the other way, if you can, and do some rapid bailing!! Spinnaker runs often lead to "gunnels awash" too... as does driving a fully loaded car through a ford!
Thanks for the info Tim.
DeleteLucky you having a Pauline. It's precisely because my Tim doesn't have a Pauline that he now has a Tom Tom!
Packing a car is always a fraught business! It sounds as if you have the ideal solution :-) gunnels ho!
ReplyDeleteYes!
DeleteWhatever will we do when I retire...
You could downsize... then the calculations would be about taking stuff to the tip... how much can be loaded in one go to save on petrol!
DeleteAs Tim is a hoarder we'd need Eddie Stobart's whole fleet of lorries to get us to the tip ...
DeleteI can imagine them now, lining up whilst Tim decides whether he should bin an article on band saws from the 1970's!!!!!!
I know the feeling well!! I carted pretty much the whole house hold over here in a second hand Mondeo estate that we bought for the purpose. I brought over fridge/freezers, double beds settees and you name it, somehow they all fitted in. Only the final trip in October did we get a Man with a Van who lives in France to bring over the final load and what a great job he did. Diane
ReplyDeleteI remember reading your post. If we ever sell we will try to include the furniture, again!
DeleteGood luck with the packing, I can relate in part to what you are saying. Whether packing a car or trying to pack in carry on luggage one never knows what to take exactly. At any rate have a great spring break in France.
ReplyDeleteThanks, you too wherever that might be.
DeleteI think being a Libran and a woman doesn't help. What's packing light?
Ho! Ho! Ho! I so relate to this post. After 14 years with a French house in the Lot, my husband still talks about flying down with a bit of hand luggage -- instead of pack the Volvo to the 'gunnels' and most years a trailer as well! The first trip we hired a big trailer for sofas, beds, bureaus, tables, chairs, and other household paraphernalia. I learned early though never to interfere with the man doing the packing. We have a system -- his!!
ReplyDeleteIt's probably best to stick to that tried and tested system. Why change it if it works?
DeleteAlso, men are easily confused ...... aren't they? ;0))
Yes, we are.... we cannot multitask!! I can do two things at the same time... read a book and drink [alco or non-alco]. truly we haven't evolved beyond the Stone Age... women look after the children, cook, gather food, make clothes, teach... most of those at the same time... men evolved to hunt [a focused activity]... that is why, if you send us to the shops, we will always come back with a bargain!!
DeleteSame here. Four years ago we hired the largest transit van we could drive on an ordinary licence and filled every bit of space with furtniture and other stuff, but we STILL have a car full every trip. We have even bought a roof rack - that was to transport our new cupboard.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I pile everything in the living room and let Nick get on with the packing - he believes he is the expert so there's no chance of me getting it right - it's definitely a man thing !!
I remember reading all about it, Jean.
DeleteWe had intended to buy our furniture in France but found that we couldn't really get what we wanted there. It was also very expensive.
Most people (read women) agree that it is definitely a 'man thing'.
I remember us doing a 'dummy run' with the packing before we came to live here. It worked out so well that we were loath to unpack again but we were days off actually travelling. A solution came by way of a series of photos taken systematically as we unpacked... Using these photos we were able to repack when the time came...
ReplyDeleteBut by then, I'd added more to the mix.................. Yes; it's a man thing!
Tim's even gone as far as suggesting that I pack in the same sized boxes to make the bulk easier to layer ...
DeleteI think it's easier to do away with boxes completely and pile it all in. We have to do this if ever we travel in Tim's 'mid-life crisis'.
I hate packing. I invariably end up stressed and in tears deciding what needs to be taken. I think I am missing something. I am not sure that I understand why there is so much to pack. Are you going for a long time? What are you taking apart from clothing?
ReplyDeleteWe are still taking small items of furniture. A friend has asked us to take a couple of bedside cabinets. When we came back in October we brought a lot of bedding back. Also when we go back out in May we may travel in Tim's small sports car so need to transport anything of any size now as very little can be taken then.
ReplyDeleteThen we have a couple of laptops etc, etc,etc!!
I understand much better now. Have a wonderful time in France. I arrive 1 May for 3 months so very excited. Have a great break.
DeleteIf you in in France for three months perhaps you'll be in out little bit at the same time as we are June 1st - 9th.
DeleteLibrans of the world unite if we can decided when or where!!
Fraussie, from Aussie in France blog, and I are planning on being in Blois from 11 to 17 June so unfortunately we will just miss you. She has mentioned cycling! That's the thing with the 2 wheels isn't it? She also said that nowadays they have gears and handbrakes. Imagine that.
DeleteIt sounds too much like moving house to me, although I do realise that you are not. We have moved house too often for my liking and I am the one that has to be organised. My husband just muddles along. I am also a Libran so maybe that has something to do with it. I hope that it all goes to plan.
ReplyDeleteI am Libran too! Love to be organised yet find it hard to make a decision such as choosing a restaurant. I think it relates to being a perfectionist.
DeleteI certainly recognise the Libran traits in my Libran friends, but then believe it to be bunkum - except Woman and Home promises us a very good April, financially!! In 32 years have only moved home base once, and you can see why!
DeleteMy husband also says we take far too much with us when we go on a road trip back to the UK, we also seem to return with just as much if not more!
ReplyDelete