Knit Your Square to Give Your Share - PART 4

Hi, everyone. I hope you are all keeping well; I suspect that most of you are knee deep in preparations for Christmas. I will try and get the update done today or tomorrow. I've been trying to get on here all week, but the time is flying by. I've been looking after a house belonging to our friends who are in Australia for the winter. They have done a house swap, so I have been busy getting the house ready for the guests who arrived yesterday. Today I am trying to turn our house into the most saleable one in France because, after months with no viewings at all, we have one tomorrow, and another one on Saturday, so we are keeping it all crossed that the house will tick someone's boxes! A friend here was on the verge of taking her house off the market for the winter, but she had a viewing out of the blue a couple of weeks ago, an offer the following day, and she did the first signing yesterday, so people are definitely buying! Even if our house does not grab someone, at least we can see that the market is moving, so it's encouraging. I so want this to be the last Christmas and New Year that we spend here! France has gone into its usual state of winter hibernation and is, according to a survey I read the other day, the nation in Europe looking forward to Christmas the least!

Anyway, the only woolly stuff I've had time for is to finish the little Christmas wreath I have made for my mum. I keep looking at my wool basket and wondering if I'll ever again get enough time just to sit and crochet. I'm hoping it will happen soon!

Jean - I hope you are keeping well, and that DH is well on the road to recovery now.

Chalky - have a lovely time with William; I bet you can hardly wait until Friday. Friday is a good day for my youngest two granddaughters because they are moving into a new house and, as they have been telling me breathlessly on Skype, it has a secret garden! They decorated their Christmas tree a couple of weeks ago because they were desperate to get it done, but they will have to take it down today, and re-decorate it in their new home, something else they are looking forward to.

I hope none of you has had that awful bug that is doing the rounds. My sister has had it and has been really unwell with it, so much so that she couldn't go and visit my mum in the retirement home for ten days because she was so worried about spreading it. My mum is now really settled into her life in the home but, sadly, is getting more and more vague every time we speak. At least we know that she is safe and warm and, apart from the Alzheimer's, she is keeping healthy. At this stage, we can't ask for more, but she's another reason I am so desperate to get back home.

I don't know if I mentioned the trouble we had been having with our car. We couldn't find the right place here to deal with - well, we could have gone to the main dealer here, but they have let us down twice in the past, so we were reluctant to do that. We phoned a main dealer in the UK and they diagnosed the problem over the phone, asked us to send the ECU (part of the computer system) to them, they tested and repaired it, sent it back and, for the grand sum of £65 plus VAT and postage, it worked. Having had the runaround by mechanics here, one of which said he had fixed the problem but hadn't because it kept recurring despite all the money he charged us, we are relieved to say the least.

Well, I am off to get some soup going in the slow cooker, and some bread going in the bread maker- we have friends coming for lunch after our first viewing tomorrow, so I thought I'd get everything prepared for that today.

Please wish us luck with our viewings!

Lots of hugs to you all, and I hope you have a great day! Make sure you all try and take a breather now and again at this busy time!

KathyXX