Chateau Keyboard

Friday, June 13: Now that is a problem.

So the Mairie in the town where we've been planning to build our first house want, it turns out, to build a roundabout on the plot of land where we'd intended to put it. And as they're the Mairie and we're nobody, they get first choice. Bum. So now we have to start over and find another piece of land.
Luckily we'd been delayed in actually paying for the house plans and a planning permit ourselves because our builder's been off work sick, so we haven't lost any money at all. Even luckier, Jerome has another plot of land available. It's former vineyard divided up into four, double-sized plots on the outskirts of a village a few kilometres south of the first place we were looking at. We can divide one plot into two, each of which will be a bit bigger than the first place we were looking at, so we can put up two houses just like he original one we'd intended to build. Would we like to go see it? Jerome wonders, so we head up to have a look.
Mrs K goes with Jerome and I follow on behind in second gear. Jerome may be French and he may drive a Twin Spark Alfa Romeo, but he drives like a little old lady who's forgotten her spectacles and who's also left the handbrake on. Good grief.
So three days later we arrive and the plot is excellent. Nice and flat, open, good views in all directions, quiet, peaceful. The surrounding plots will, eventually, be built upon but not for a good few years. So our homebuyers will be getting views over fields of wheat and vines when they buy our house. Excellent.
Not such a bad Friday 13th in the end after all.