So today is like, day four or five or something. I am coping well without carbs. I have resisted the call of the refined carbohydrate and even had to get a 'Baguette de Campagne" (beautiful wholemeal, floured crusty baguette) from the boulangerie, which Tyla then passed to me saying, "Aaah, Mum, feel it, it's still warm." Nice.

No, eating is not a problem. I have felt a little icky in my stomach yesterday and today, but I think it's just the richness of the food being a little too much for me that early, plus being a woman, we have monthly occurrences which can throw you a little off, too. I have been sticking to tea with almond milk for brekkie and maybe a banana or a grapefruit, with a handful of nuts.

We went with Ed this morning, so we could take the car after we dropped him off and went to the new house. The electrician was there, as arranged, finishing off the sockets and lights. He had a generator going and the floor was covered with screws, tools, dust - just a building site really. So I am now not sure what to do. I load Nina in the buggy to go for a walk, but realise that if we go for a walk, once she's asleep we wont be able to come back to the house with generator blaring. I get her out of the buggy and put her back in the car. I decide to go straight to CAF in Pessac; I get the address from my iPhone and punch it into the sat nav. A 7 minute drive away. perfect.

We find it and park a few hundred metres down the road. I check that the parking bay for any "No parking" signs, find none, unload with the help of Tyla, check we have all our documents and head up to CAF. It is in a social housing building.  Makes sense. We go into the building. it looks quiet. It's closed. of course it is. This is France after all, where everything is always bloody shut. This CAF is closed Wednesday (to stop all and sundry being there with there kids I suppose), Friday and for this week especially, it is closed everyday. Perfect.

We walk back to the car. Load up and I have a text from Ed telling me that the Orange Internet Box is ready for collection from a bar in Eysine, with the address. Now, I am not sure I can think of anywhere more random to pick up my Internet modem. Perhaps maybe a swimming pool or a strip club? But so long as it's there, I'm not really too fussed what kind of establishment it is. I call Ed to let him know my plans, but he tells me I need to go back to the house as there is another electric guy from ERDF installing the electricity boxes outside the two houses at 10. It's 10:05. I get going, arrive and the nice man is done. He gives me some paperwork and it all seems to have gone to plan.

Wrong again!

It turns out that now we need to wait up to 5 working days for an electricity provider to connect us from the street to the house. Once this is done, we need the home electrician to connect the box to house. Now this all seems like madness. I'm no electrician, but seeing as they've rigged the electrics up the front of the house, it would seem only logical that just a flick of a switch or two (I really don't know anything about electrics) and 'Voila!', we should be switched on?

Inevitably, I am left pretty frustrated and helpless to assist with resolving this due to the language barrier. Ed comes to the rescue and in between working, he badgers everyone possible until we finally get word that we will have electricity Saturday morning. This is good news, because our friends are coming to visit Sunday night and we were just beginning to work out the logistics of 'glamping' in the house!

I am struggling a little with the new diet and not being near a functional kitchen at all times. The heat is also wearing and all my snacks have to be eaten pretty quickly before they turn to mush or just plain yuk. I am grateful that I have Tyla with me and Ed on the end of a phone whenever I need him. Nothing is easy, but for now I am happy I have made it through another day without losing my sanity (completely).