The property
I can’t deny that I was disappointed when Vincent replied that he didn’t want to pursue the house purchase. We drove up to Vence with the intention of finding an alternative estate agent. Last time we sold our property in Vence we had a similar issue. With one agent for over a year and nothing happening. We then changed to agency Puccetti and the house sold in 3 months.
We hope the same thing will happen again. We walked into the office of Puccetti and the woman immediately said I recognise you, and amazingly said you are Mr and Mrs Reid. She still had a record of the house we had sold through them and my phone number. The agent Solange agreed to come to our house on Thursday afternoon.
Maggi and I walked through to the town centre and bought a small present for Madeline for her birthday on Friday. We then settled down at Henry’s Bar to enjoy a coffee. An ideal spot for people watching, the busy bar sits at the entrance to Vence old town. I guess we sat there for almost 1 hour nursing our drinks and undisturbed by the waiter.
Lunch
I drove slowly to Gréolières which took about 40 minutes along the windy roads through the spectacular gorge of the River Loup and up to the village at 840m. We parked at the village edge and walked down to the restaurant La Barricade in the centre of the village. We didn’t have to wait long before Madeleine and Tom arrived and we went through the usual greetings.
We chatted easily about nothing in particular. Of course old and mutual friends were always a part of the conversation, but I can’t recall anything is worth recording in the diary. As far as the food is concerned, Maggi was deeply disappointed, I didn’t have such a low opinion. I chose the tomato tartare, which consisted of finely chopped tomato, basil and thinly cut and grilled prosciutto ham. It tasted pretty good and I looked forward to my ext course of beef steak. A big lump of steak with vegetables. The beef had plenty of sinews, but I could cut these out and the vegetables had been cooked nicely.
After the meal the four of us and a short walk around the village looking out on the panoramic views surrounding us. We said goodbye in the middle of a mini-roundabout and we walked back to our car. I look forward to seeing them again on the 12th.