I was thinking about Neils post from earlier in the week, a cautionary note to people considering a move to France. Wise words indeed and given Mel and I plan to move to France in the next few years when Project Petrocelli is complete, it comes as welcome advice. Earning money in the UK is relatively easy, even in todays financial climate but its easy to forget that the macro economic picture is diametrically different in rural France.

Its making me think in more detail and forcing me to ask myself questions. How much do we need to make the move? How much do we need in the bank? How much income would our holiday business generate? What else could we do to make ends meet?

Given that we have now taken our UK house off the market due to the credit crunch and and given how far we still have to go to complete our project, these are questions that we can spend some considerable time asking ourselves. My background is in IT and sales but I think I’ve developed good all round business skills. Mels background is in nursing but that’s a career that she would like to leave behind when we finally make the move. We think we can make enough to exist from the holiday business but I know that to truly survive or preferably thrive we’ll have to either do something else in France or occasionally return to the UK to top up the coffers as a number of people do.

I was thinking about the different contributors to this site. Kevins background is in e-commerce and web design, Neil’s background in carpentry and joinery, Helen and Matt in construction and development. There must be enough opportunities for everyone to make a living. Perhaps Kevin could design a web site, Neil and Matt could build it out of wood and stone and I could sell it…….or something.

In the meantime, the world of Corporate IT rumbles on unabated. I was away for three days in Ireland and having worked unbelievably hard for two days (and nights) preparing for a presentation to a client we treated ourselves to a night in Limerick on Tuesday. Its true what they say about Guinness tasting nicer in Ireland and I personally checked this theory several times to make sure. Perhaps its just the context, i.e the lovely pubs that feel like someones front room (and probably are after closing time) or perhaps it’s the lovely views of rugged terrain or the friendly people that inhabit it.  By midnight I’d decided that it was all of those things plus a successful two days of hard work that had made it taste so nice.

Thankfully a last minute change of venue meant that I didn’t have to face the embarrassment of revisiting my Hotel of shame. Instead, we stayed at the Raddison which was also the temporary home of the band Kasabian who were playing various dates in Ireland. They are big favourites in our house so it was really nice to meet them, though the rendition of the theme tune to Scooby Doo that they sang over and again in the bar is not something I shall be investing my money in.

I got back on Wednesday to the horrendous news that a plumber we had contacted through our friend Julie in France had been killed on his motorbike on the way to meet her at our house, where he was due to give us a quote for connecting our new gas tank. Horrible news and our thoughts are definitely with his family and with Julie who is naturally in shock.

Had the original English plumber done his job properly and not done a runner part way through the job, we would never have needed to get anyone else out. The guy (part man, part neanderthal) knows who he is and I should probably leave it at that. (though I doubt he’ll be reading this due to a lack of pictures).