But I LIVE here

[Iceni]

Hi

I don't know if anyone else suffers from the 'stop what you are doing I am here' or 'you should take more time off, you are in France' when you live here.

We live in one huge room (40/44 sq mt) and sometimes it gets a bit of a mess when John is renovating and I am working to a deadline. I have always worked and my friends know this but when they come here they seem to think that I should or can stop what I am doing (ie earning enough to feed us) and take a day out or - well pander to them.

If I turned up at their work and said, 'OK, drop everything, cancel the meetings, I am here and I take priority' how would they react - with two very short words I would think.

To me John (and the workers when they are here) come first and then work and then everything else but I do think the garden probably comes above everything else. When friends come over I try to take a day or two a week off but if I am lucky enought to have work I do it. I really did not expect retired second home owners here for 8 weeks+ to behave in the same way.

Di
http://www.iceni-it.co.uk

[Teamedup]

My husband works odd hours, so I've always made guests very aware of when they should come and if they can only come when it isn't the most convenient time for us, then we work around it. It has always been fine. Our friends and family must be fine with our 'working' arrangements as they are always happy to come again and again and again.

Think you need to take the bull by the horns and explain to who ever is coming next that you will be working and how it is going to be. You can be jolly and light about it, even make a joke about having to make a crust etc. If every one knows where they are with this and what you are doing, then surely it will go OK.