The Bank Saga - Chapter 483, Section 37, Paragraph 94.82

Remember the overdraft idea? I suspect it was nothing other than a way for the banker to get the estate agent to stop calling him. Nothing came of it. It was never again mentioned. but while we were still believers, we met with the notaire, signed all the necessary papers, just as if we were actually at the closing. But with no money passing hands, the deal was not yet final. When the money appears, the notarie will finalize the deal by signing for the sellers, registering the deed and letting us know that we own the house. We figured this would be in a day or two.

Ahh, but it's that "when the money appears" that is the continuing problem. Yesterday we stopped by the bank, just to let the banker know we were still there, still waiting for the money thay had agreed to lend us a full four weeks ago. Alors! He had some news! The dossier that had been sent out from Montpelier had surfaced once more, back in Montpelier. It had been sent to our Espéraza address, where of course we no longer lived, having sold that house. (Were you paying attention, monsier le banker?) Instead of forwarding it to our new address, La Poste saw fit to return it to the sender. The banker said we were lucky that it wasn't just thrown away - a disturbing comment on the reliability of the postal service, eh?)

So he sent email to the Montpelier bank, directing them to send it directly to him, personally, at the bank in Espéraza. So we are again - still - waiting, but this time with a new and different story. Stay tuned; we'll see what they come up with next.

Now, I think if I were a banker, and I had clients who were selling one house, moving to a second one temporarily, and buying a third one, the very last place I would have chosen to send the dossier would be to the house being sold and moved out of. It's not like this was not known to him, since documents outlining the date of the sale of that house, the amount of money to be realized, etc, had been provided and talked of in detail.

On the brighter side, spring is here to stay, the orchards in and around Nojals are now clouds of white blossoms. Oh, another little thing. I was a bit sad thinking that when we left Espéraza we would no longer be living in an AOC wine region. But not true! Nojals is in fact in the Nergerac AOC wine region. We learned this at the notaire's office, it being mentioned as part of the description of the location of the house. So we're moving not just from the Aude to the Dordogne, not just from the Languedoc-Roussillon Region to the Aquitaine Region, but from the Blanquette de Limoux AOC wine region to the Bergerac AOC wine region.

Salut!