After the last few, frantic weeks, a few evenings of being able just to slob out seemed extremely appealing to us, but the best laid plans…….

When a neighbour called in yesterday afternoon, it soon because apparent that this was more than just a social visit. She and her husband own a magnificent country hotel complex, known locally as the chateau. For personal reasons, they need to sell; it’s been on the market for several years already, but with no sign of a sale, she’s trying different forms of marketing. She’s signed up with a company that seems more proactive than most French estate agencies, but they work exclusively in English, the international business language. A friend who was going to translate the description documents had fallen ill and the poor woman was at the end of her tether; this needed doing urgently and please could we help?

We agreed, of course, not realising that the document ran to 17 pages. She’d tried to translate it herself, but I suspect, using Google translate, giving her sentences such as “…guests come to discuss, have glass or a coffee and to slacken after a bathe or a moment of bronzing”, or “they take their collation by appreciating the present moment around present and slackened discussions, for a true moment of happiness”. At least laughing at Google’s suggestions helped keep us awake, as we’d decided to keep working till it was finished. That was 3 o’clock this morning. 

When we did finally surface for breakfast, it was to find a message on the phone; she is utterly delighted with what we’ve done, she says it absolutely captures the spirit of what she wants to portray. I must admit to having allowed myself a little poetic licence in places, but that made it more fun.