OUR KIDS LIFE IN FRANCE, AND OURS, from dream to disaster

We liked it. We liked everything about it, the apartment was a little small, but we'd cope with that. We shook on a deal and got the ball rolling immediately. Within 2 months it was ours, leasehold, but ours, and we moved in on the day of signing. Our eldest son was so excited, he just ran round and round the shop, sneaking the odd sweety into his pocket on the way. That was something I hadn't considered, and it became a bit of an issue later on. The twins were too young to start school yet and had to wait a few months before starting toddler school, but the eldest was registered almost immediately, and settled in quite nicely. It was a bit daunting for him as he already spoke fluent English and couldn't understand anything, but children are so flexible and it wasn't long before he was speaking like a native. When I say native I mean it, he even had that southern France twangy accent. The twins followed in his footsteps a few months later but found the language easier to contend with as, at 3, their English was not so well established. And they too settled in very nicely.

The village was great, more of a small town really, with restaurants, bars, bakers, chemists etc. But the best part was schools. All within walking distance, and for all ages from 3 to 17 years, perfect. There was always something going on...village fetes & carnivals, outdoor evening concerts, travelling funfairs & circus, very animated. It was all great fun at first, learning how to run a business, doing the accounts, learning the tricks of the trade, working out margins for prices there was so much to keep us occupied. But the down sides of it soon became apparent, getting up at 5am to go to the cash & carry, not closing until 8pm, being open 7/7 and 365 days a year, bar Christmas Day I drew the line at that! I guess things were good for about a year, custom was good, takings were good, the children were happy and we were happy being our own bosses. We were also happy living near to my parents, we saw them frequently, which was good for the children. When we lived in England we were lucky if we saw them once a year, and the kids missed them desperately, well, at least the eldest did, the twins were too young.

Disaster struck after the first year. A new supermarket opened up on the outskirts of the town...bigger, posher, cheaper than our modest little shop! Takings began to drop, and customers became fewer. Our best days were Sundays & Bank Holidays when the other was shut, and we began to focus on those days to draw in more custom, but things were getting tougher. The following year another disaster struck. My dad died suddenly. This completely shattered my whole life, goodness only knows what it must have felt like for mum. I was very close to my dad and was broken inside, much the same as our eldest although I didn't see it at the time, probably too wrapped up in my own grief, but it became apparent about 2 years later. Two months after the death of my dad, our eldest son suddenly became very ill, and we discovered that he had an enlarged kidney that simply wasn't working. My whole world collapsed right at that moment. My dad had died, my mum was still grieving, and now our son was seriously ill. Suddenly, the shop wasn't very important anymore. Surely things couldn't get any worse...??