Expansion

This afternoon, in the company of M Gayraud, the seller, and Brigitte, my translator, I got the opportunity to view the studio apartment that is for sale on the second floor here at 42rvh.

It was disappointing from every aspect - both the physical structure and the possible negotiation.

The layout and the decoration were just as I had imagined - a small bathroom by the front door, a tiny kitchen tucked in the corner of the living room, a mezzanine floor with restricted headroom and a water heater and 'crepi', the spray-on shite that we spent weeks removing from our own apartments, covering every surface.

But also there were extra supporting girders and pillars that aren't a feature of Denis' or Brigitte's apartments on the same floor. I think it must be right under the main supporting structure for the roof, hence the pillar and the extra iron girders - but what I can't understand is why they didn't make the dividing wall in line with the supporting structures so that they were hidden, instead of the wall and supports being half a metre apart and thus being in the living space. The extra supports seriously affect the useability of the bathroom, kitchen and mezzanine.

In addition to that the price appears to have gone up from the price quoted personally by M.Gayraud to me less than a month ago and is significantly more than the price he quoted to Brigitte - we were both a bit shocked. Clearly, having seen the inside of my apartment at the co=proprietors meeting recently, he thinks I have a lot more money than I do - and even if I did, I wouldn't be paying over the odds for his place anyway. The cheek of the man.

We will see what comes of it, if anything.