Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
I grabbed the phone and rang the enquiries number. Fortunately lunch was over in
France and my call was almost immediately answered by a well-spoken young man. I de-
scribed what we were looking for.
“This will be our pleasure, madam,” he replied in hushed tones. “I will need to pass
you to Count de Souter, who will be able to take your search to fruition. Are you able to
please hold whilst I connect you?”
“Oh, er, yes of course,
absolutely
, thank you,” I replied, a little flummoxed, intrigued
and oddly slightly nervous, all at the same time.
Moments later my eardrum was blasted by someone clearing their throat and simul-
taneously shouting “
Hello
?” down the receiver.
“Yes, yes,” I replied, having completely forgotten why I was calling. I then attempted
to recover things by burbling out a couple of random house details.
“Ah
right
, well
of course
we can help. But you
must
call me
Will
. I will take you
through the entire process, lock, stock and barrel. How does that sound?”
Terrifying,
I thought.
But rather nice to have someone take over my pathetic attempts
at finding our dream home.
Will, between larynx-lashings, spent the next half hour dishing out his credentials. He
explained how he and his associate, Lady Jennifer Deramore, had both been brought up
in 'rather grand
châteaux
' and so had
enormous
depths of knowledge in this area. He de-
scribed the buying system in France and patiently listened to my account of our specifica-
tions.
Worryingly though, he seemed to be unable to withstand the temptation to chip in with
the occasional “Oh dear me
no
, you wouldn't want
that
my dear,” and “Oh
no
that simply
won't do at
all,
my dear.”
He ended our conversation with great authority and promised me that he “would sort it
all
out” and that I “mustn't worry a
moment
longer because, after all, situations like this can
be
desperately
tedious and the French can be absolutely
ghastly
to work with sometimes.
And … by the way,” he finally concluded, “do remember to call me Will,
ITSWILL
.” These
final two words were completely joined together so, from that time onwards, he became
known to us as 'ItsWill'.
After we finished our conversation I sent an email to verify that my new saviour
matched up to his website details. It also contained our property specification so there could
be no doubt concerning what
we
really wanted, rather than what he felt we
ought
to have.
Later, this proved to be a vital piece of evidence when we began our viewings.
In the meantime some of my other contacts were coming up trumps and offering new
ideas which we had not previously considered. It was pointed out that if we were really
interested in hunting and living in an area that enjoyed an appropriate climate, then big
chunks of Provence might prove unsuitable. Some of this I had now worked out for myself,
especially 'hurricane alley' and the snowy bits, but I wasn't sure where else to look.
