How these things ought to be done:
Last year an old farmer turned up on the doorstep, cap in hand. Please would I come and translate for him with a local English couple, as he wanted to sell them a "bit of land". This turned out to be well over an acre of beautiful flat meadow hedged in with cherry trees and old oaks alongside their existing house. The old boy wanted 200,000 [ancient] franks, which is about US$3500 dollars. There are two barns on it, piped water and an electricity pole. They bought it of course! When I went with them to the Mairie to translate about planning permission for a new house on the plot, M. le Maire bloody near jumped over his desk at them in sheer happiness! "Oui! Quelle bon idée! Gerard!! [assistant] le Calvados [local rocket fuel], tout suite!!"
Planning granted in just 8 weeks with some pics and drawings for the prefecture and a design for the sewage system from an engineer.
There is no Building Control or Inspectors; as on old Maire told me many years ago-
"You build a house and it falls over- What's that got to do with me?!"
It will be only the second house built in our commune since the 1830'S.
Alan
