What's next?

What indeed?

Oh I don't know, do you?

I think I wrote about finding a new dream, probably a year or so ago? However, It's clear that we held on to France a little longer than was good for us and as we are unable to easily resolve the mad tax issues, I guess we are going to have to accept that it's all over bar the shouting.

Like all fractured relationships that go on too long, we are finally done!

She needs to be sold.

We've run out of options and whilst we should be able to hold the French tax office to account, we would just tie ourselves in a legal wrangle for life, costing every penny earned from here in the meantime. It's not worth it.

The veil of kidding ourselves is lifted and we need to be realistic.

For the first time in over a year, we've decided to have a short period of grief, followed by giving ourselves a good shake and then start changing the narrative, by talking about a new future something or other. What that something is? Not a clue! All we do know is that, we want to be mortgage free going forward and that could take a few years to come to fruition. Another wreck it certainly will be!

It's time to fully bury the French dream, not that it was ever my dream. Still, I got involved and gave it a good go! I'd say we'd stay in the UK forever but I'm still keen to travel through Italy and see if retirement there could be a possibility? That said, retirement is further away than ever right now.

I can wait.

We are on this planet for such a short time, in my humble opinion it's important to live out whatever dreams we have or at least try. No one ever faced dying thinking they did right not bothering!

We only fail if we don't try eh?

So it's important to remain positive from this point and also hopeful that something will make sense at some point in the next few years?

We've gone through all the emotions since leaving France. It's been a veritable rollercoaster but I believe no matter what we've said previously, we really had hoped to resolve it all, enough for it to be an option down the line. I don't think that’s possible now sadly.

Anyway, we've just reduced Maison Maurice to euros 250k! Thats 217,450 in GBP! She was valued at 330k earlier this year ffs! A lot of house for the money, and there's still scope to add value! Listen flower pot, you can't get a decent terraced two up two down for that here!

Someone will certainly get a lucky start when they buy her!

Grrrrrr.

What's also clear is that we won't make a bean or a French fry from the sale.

We took the risks and we lost.

That’s life eh!

It has left me wondering what it was all about?

Sigh.

Maybe some adventures are actually lessons!

The one thing that worries me greatly, is that when we bought 'The French Wreck' in 2017 we were younger, nearly a decade younger. We are now late 50's and in many ways we are less likely to take risks from this point.

If anything the whole debacle, will have cost us greatly in far too many areas of our lives.

I suppose it's a warning for those 40 somethings, heading abroad thinking they have time and as romantic as moving aboard seems, it can also be an absolute horror story!

There's no doubt that Brexit changed a lot for us Brits in France and now the only real way to make it work long term, is to arrive with a pot of gold to last into old age.

It does hurt a little, mainly because I put so much of myself into the interiors. I often think of my French kitchen or that beautiful dressing room with the freestanding bath. This has made it harder to settle here in the cranky farm rental. It's understandable I suppose?

I have to reset now, we both do and fully commit to leaving it all behind.

No going back.

Love and gumption

D x