Mick really really wanted to visit Normandy during our time in France this year. He also really really wants to visit Brittany (which might happen in November before our visas run out).

So, when a house sit was advertised for 10 days in Normandy, I applied. But, only after Mick and I had talked it through. The (Canadian) owner sounded very nice, and her home looked gorgeous and very well situated in the La Manche Département, the hitch was that she had five cats to care for. [NB: La Manche is the name the French call The English Channel].

Normally, cats are easier to care for than dogs. It is possible to leave them for longer periods on their own while we go off exploring the surrounding area. Mick and I thought we were up for the challenge.

When we arrived, the owner explained that there had been a few changes since we agreed to sit. Firstly being that her departure was delayed for a few days, there were local celebrations she had been invited to and she wanted to attend. No problems. She has two gites (self-contained appartments) attached to her main home, and she had set Mick and I up in one of those.

But as she was showing us through our gite, there was a problem with the electricity – not all power points were working. This really puzzled the owner as everything was perfect the previous day, just before we arrived.

The issue was sorted with a few extensions cords and power boards – all bypassing the power points that were not working.

Done.

Meanwhile, during the connection of the cords etc., we met 3 of her 5 cats (four girls and one boy).

Firstly, we met the one with three legs – absolutely gorgeous – a Norwegian Forest cat – called Lulu. She is not well and receives regular steroid injections to help her with her pain. She is underweight and our instructions are to feed her whenever she wants or asks for food.

We then met her sister (Tia), who has all four legs but no teeth, so she has difficulty with eating. She seems very friendly and likes to make a lot of noise. Check out her beautiful tail!

And then we met a very timid, much younger female called Dink, who did not like the look of even Mick. Mick usually wins over any cat, and I am sure he will before we leave. Dink is in the front of this photo and her brother is the big black cat near the car.

One of the two we didn’t meet until the next day, was Dink’s brother who we will call FatCat, because he weights about 10kg. He reminded Mick and me of Mr D who we cared for in Montpellier earlier this year, but FatCat has his claws, and almost total run of the house. But not all.

That is because the fourth female, a beautiful black cat called Lila, lives in part of the house hiding in fear of her life from mainly FatCat but also from his sister Dink.

The feeding regime is a little tricky because we have to ensure we keep Lila safe by feeding her in a separate part of the house.

Oh boy!!

On our second morning, after a wonderful rest and a hot shower and after hanging out a load of washing in the sunshine, our host broke the news that she thought the pump for her septic was the cause of the power issues.

With Mick’s deductive skills, and with me being the most flexible of the three of us, I was able to get down to turn the immersible pump off and back on again (while wishing I could also hold my nose at the same time because the tank was holding quite a lot of waste!!). This confirmed the worst. It definitely was the pump causing the shortage and therefore we could no longer flush the toilets or use the shower or washing machine.

The last two were not a problem, but the first one was!!

At this point, Mick and I were very happy our host had delayed her holiday. She spent the next two days trying to get on to her ‘pump’ man, without success.

We came up with a solution to one of our problems – and thank goodness we had a car. We had spotted this sign in the tiny commune nearby on our first day.

So…

Off we went for a three minute drive in order to use the toilet. We had no idea how long this arrangement was going to have to last, but we assumed at least a few days because it was the weekend and the plombier was not answering the phone.

Day 3 (Sunday) morning – we were able to get the pump to work for a few seconds before it ‘shorted out’ again. That bought us a little more flexibility. But, basically we continued using buckets to throw away washing up water and still not flushing the toilet, and still using the local public toilet. That afternoon Mick thought he had solved the puzzle. The power cord had become wet and that had ‘shorted’ out the power. The owner then realised she had turned off all the power in the gite we were in, and never before had she done that. What that meant was the water had filled up the holding tank well above where it normally would, and the power cord had been submerged. So, all we had to do, was cross our fingers and let the cords dry out.

Day 4 (Monday) I drove the owner to Carentan in order to catch her 8.00am train, and we then returned to try out Mick’s theory. And, ‘voila!’ – it looks like Mick was right. The pump worked and the power did not short out.

Mick and I have plotted out a few day trips we really want to take during our short time here and we are pleased now we don’t have to spend some of them waiting for a plombier.

The only other complication to this house sit is that we will hand over to a new pair of (English) house sitters the day before our departure. So it will be our job to explain the quirks of the cats and the sit, and perhaps the septic. A first time for us.