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this was the pronunciation of SAFER. No wonder I'd been confused the day before. With
Ellie latched onto my breast and Sophia jammed into the high chair, I rolled out my 'please
speak very slowly' again and tried to concentrate. After spelling his name three times and
repeating his phone number ad infinitum, I could tell his patience was wearing thin. A five-
minute discussion about what quinze heures meant drained what little of it remained but I
had a rendezvous between him and Sean at what I hoped was 3 p.m. the following day at
the vineyard.
Sean left for Bordeaux. While on the outside I calmly went through my daily routine, in-
side, my mind was racing. At last, the phone rang.
'C'est Jean.' He had already changed his name to the French version.
'Tell all.' I was so excited I couldn't keep still. I paced and Sophia toddled round the room
after me while Ellie, lying in a bouncy chair on the floor, looked on bemused.
'It's been some afternoon,' said Sean. 'When Monsieur Dupont arrived, the sellers looked
rattled, then he announced that the place is in liquidation. The French agent didn't even
know. Sweet divine. Lucky you phoned SAFER. But bellissima , it's beautiful, Carolinus.'
Beautiful was one thing, liquidation was another. The French agent was from the local
property agency that had the property on their topics. Patrick was a go-between for us, of-
fering help and advice, particularly on the legal aspects of the transaction. It was looking
like we were really going to need him.
'We don't want to get into a complicated transaction. We've seen how badly things can go
wrong buying property in France,' I said. We had been avid viewers of No Going Back and
similar shows.
'We won't make an offer until we've done our homework,' he said reassuringly. 'The house
is in bad shape. We'll have to learn to renovate.'
Liquidation, a ruin of a house; perhaps this wasn't it after all. We had never done more
than a coat of paint between us. Part of me was in denial and another part desperately
wanted this property to be the one. We had been dreaming of this for so long.
'Patrick gave me the name this morning: Château Haut Garrigue. It's near Bergerac in the
Dordogne, an hour east of Bordeaux.'
I had never been to the Dordogne.
'The house has incredible views,' continued Sean. 'You can see Bergerac cathedral, twenty
kilometres away. Saussignac village is five minutes' walk through the vineyards. It has a
primary school and a restaurant.'
'The girls could walk to school,' I said. 'We wouldn't even have to commute for the school
run.' This property was looking more attractive. 'What about the land?'
'Apart from the vineyards it has peach, hazelnut, cherry and fig trees.'
'It was made for us, SF!' I shouted. I love figs.
'Calm down, Carolinus! The place is totally rundown. The figs are nice to have for per-
sonal consumption. I don't know… it needs a lot of investment.'
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