This was a serious project, we were actually buying a hotel! we kept in constant contact with our Notaire, (lawyer), who was going to handle the sale/purchase for us, and everything appeared to be going just fine. We signed the Compromis de Vente, (the first contract and deposit), which had two clauses in; 1. that we get the bank loan, and 2. that all the notaire's checks were OK. Everything seemed in order until 2 weeks before the final contract signature date. Our notaire visited the hotel and noted that the ceilings were covered in polystyrene, which is a fire hazard, so he called in the pompiers, (firemen), to do a safety check, something which the seller is obliged to do.......normally!! To cut a long storey short, one week later the pompiers shut the hotel down as it wasn't up to safety standards, and not just the dodgy ceilings there was a whole list of things! No wonder the seller didn't want to get the safety check done! Fortunately we were able to pull out of the contract and get our deposit back because of the clauses the notaire had put in the compromis, thank you lovely notaire. Unfortunately we were back where we had started, at plan B, back to the drawing board, and money was running out fast. We had just wasted 4 months of time and money and were feeling very deflated. The twins were getting bigger every day, and eating more and more, and the eldest desperately needed to get into school and make some new friends. He was so bored trudging round after us from office to office trying to get it all sorted, he needed to be learning and interacting with other children.
Then one day I saw it. You know what it's like, just when your not expecting it the answer just jumps out at you. I was reading the paper about a month later, just a local free paper, when I saw an advert for a shop. Not just a shop but a shop with living accommodation attached. We got straight in the car and went to see it, didn't even make an appointment. We wandered around at first, pretending to buy something, well we did buy a baguette, (french loaf). It was more a mini market than shop, it was huge! I liked the thought of working from home, even though I had no experience in retail whatsoever, unless you call working weekends in the local shop when I was a kid experience. So I took the bull by the horns, marched up to the counter and said, "Is it your shop I saw up for sale in the paper? Can we have a look around?". The guy was a little shocked, but agreed and took us on a whirlwind tour.....
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