Sanded, Sealed, Delivered

I'm determined to be more upbeat than yesterday's litany of misery. So let's start on a positive: here's my new bedroom. Yesterday this had a filthy grey-brown floor, today it is beautifully restored pine (?) parquet. It is looking rather shinier than it will when it is dry - this was taken mere seconds after I finished the second coat and rollered myself out of the door (happily - thanks to Mr B's reminder - having closed the windows first and retrieved everything of importance from the room). This is probably the first time I've been entrusted with a 'proper' DIY job - so if it looks rubbish tomorrow, it's all my fault.

But I know you really want to know what happened with M. Penible. By 11.20am I was hoping he was not coming, but he arrived - with a couple of men from a 'brocante' (antique/junk shop) to clear the place. Despite him insisting that he only wanted to take his books and other personal items, he first made a beeline for a fancy mirror firmly screwed onto the wall downstairs. Mr B was right onto him saying no (who wants to fill huge holes in an old wall if it's not necessary?) He insisted it was his grandmother's and was all he had left of her... I'm sure if that were true his granny would be delighted that he was handing it over to the local brocante for sale.

So, he was firmly ejected from the house, though he was unwilling to go and only left after a further chat with our estate agent, a threat of our calling the police and - finally and critically - some firm direction from Mr B.

We barricaded the door behind him. Literally. I hate things like this and was shaking.

Soon our notaire (lawyer) called. Though I wasn't entirely happy with her responsiveness during our purchase, she has been great over this current difficulty. I emailed her and her assistant late last night, and heard back from the assistant at 8.30 am with advice and the lawyer before 9.30am. Their advice was clear and firm: we own it all; if we want to be kind and let him have some things - we can. But that's our choice. M. Penible spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon outside our door on the phone to our lawyer (who was of course *delighted* to speak to him). But he finally left. Hopefully it is over with.... but probably not.

But for now, I'm sticking with positivity - right? So I learned some new French today: de bonne foi = in good faith. And the bedroom's done (so the plumber can start work on our en suite soon). And the man at the tip now waves and recognises me and doesn't ask to see my local tip user card (which is handy as I still don't have one). And it was a beautifully hot sunny day from start to finish, even though I didn't see much of it. And no more plants have been eaten during the day.

It's not all bad.