Time spent on reconnaisance is seldom wasted

So all that effort with the papers will come in one day! It certainly brought the vocabulary to the top of my head which is always useful.

The stair man's case largely rests on a signed for letter that wasn't answered, that we didn't receive. Turns out that he sent it to our assessors and they didn't do anything. Our funding seems to rest on the fact that he so pissed them off by not answering them that they will pay the case, when in fact he had answered them and was waiting for a reply!

You might well ask why this was only discovered by our insurance guy when he phoned them to ask if they had received it while we were waiting to go into the solicitor. Surely he hadn't forgotten to do anything about it!!

Anyway..................

We get into Mme's office (she is a tiny size 0 elegant lady) and she and our guy start talking at speed. I can now get most of it - or at least the gist if not the fine detail. It seems that every point that Stair man has raised is irrelevant, just a time waster. Nothing alters the case that we have and she will go ahead with it. She apologised for dragging us into the office but it is always clearer face to face rather than in a letter.

Two scenarios on 3rd Feb (apart from the obvious postponement). One is that the judge will agree and we get the money in 'quinze jours'. (The french equivalent of a fortnight which is always always longer than 14 days.) Or the judge will agree that they need a court assessor (a third one) and he will be sent out to look. They are very booked up and it could be 6 months before he comes..................... The good news is that if they agree to a court assessor it will be revealed that the ash staircase is actually part pine so doesn't even fit the original quote!

Since, whatever happens we have got so used to the staircase that it will stay and we get a cheque I am looking forward to my new balcony which Him Outdoors promises will be built with the proceeds! But mostly I am expecting another postponement.