Finished reading “The Spy” – great read, with lots of twists. Eyes a bit wonky after so many hours of iPad reading - must remember to read in smaller batches in future. Still cold, windy and overcast. Went up to house to check mail, and found letters from Credit Agricole and the insurers. Seems like our bank account has been approved, while the house insurers will only accept direct debit monthly payments from our account (and sent a refund cheque for the amount we had already transferred to their account??). Checked with Iain about inspecting car – he seemed OK with the idea and will let me know when he can do it. Also talked about a Blue Flag ad for the Training School - will send him a draft today. Got Credit Agricole online banking up and running (through my skilful understanding of the French language in their letter - thanks Mr Google), and then transferred some Aussie money to the account (in light of the falling Aussie dollar).

We have been using OzForex (now called OFX) to transfer money to France (and other overseas destinations for friends) because of the much better exchange rates and lower fees than doing it via a bank. They also have MUCH better customer service than a bank. For example, on the above transfer, I received an email about 15 minutes later saying they had tried to ring me to confirm the transfer, but could not contact me on my Taggerty number. This was their normal procedure on my early transfers, but after establishing a bona fide record of transfers with them, they do away with the confirmation phone call. Before I had left Australia, I had contacted them to let them know that I would be overseas and uncontactable by phone anyway. But this time, they tried because they noticed that it was the first time I had tried to transfer to this account (which was our newly-opened Credit Agricole account). After a couple of email exchanges in the next hour (and it was after 11pm at night in Australia), they confirmed the deal. They also found that I had made a typo when entering the account IBAN and BIC numbers, and corrected it for me for future transfers. Now that's what I call SERVICE, and also cheaper than a bank. I estimate that in transferring the money for the purchase of the house, we saved at least $10,000 compared to doing the transfer via our Australian bank.

With my handyman hat on, I silicon-sealed around the corners of the shower enclosure. Unfortunately, the shower enclosure is not a one-piece sealed unit, and has a waterproof surface laid over the top of (what I assume is) plywood walls, and silicone sealed at the corners. The continual movement and flexing of the boat opens up these joints over time, requiring them to be re-sealed. We may need to replace the shower walls in the next few years if the silicon seal keeps breaking and the wall covering keeps warping. May even replace it with a one-piece plastic enclosure, if I can find the right size, since this may also solve the problem with the mildew on the wooden ceiling above the shower. May also install a battery-powered exhaust fan in the bathroom to minimise the humidity problem that is causing the mildew.

Started reading “The 4th Protocol”, a classic spy novel by Frederick Forsyth. You may have detected a trend here with the sampling of various spy story authors.