Spilt Wine

23. Of Money and Value

Thursday 3 April 1986

Catherine and I arrived at the old mill at zero eight forty-eight and pulled next to Jean-Luc's Citroën. "Two minutes early," I said, glancing at my watch.

"Twelve minutes by my watch," she countered.

"No, two minutes; I always plan to arrive ten minutes before an appointment. This gives me a little wiggle room in case there's a delay. I think it rude to keep people waiting. It shows I don't value their time."

"You surely don't do that with everything?" She looked up and smiled as I opened her door and offered my hand.

"No, on longer trips I begin with more spare time and adjust as I get closer. If I'm ahead of time, I'll pause a short distance away to relax and prepare myself."

"And if you're behind schedule? Maybe you never are," she jousted, as we walked toward Jean-Luc and an elderly couple on the grass verge of the canal. "But if you ..."

"Bonjour," Jean-Luc greeted as he spread his arms toward the sky. "You have chosen nice weather for this."

We were introduced to Henc and Maddie and were casually chatting when Jean-Luc motioned to a car slowly bouncing along the two mud tracks through the grass past the mill. "That's the surveyor."

After another round of introductions, I turned to the surveyor. "Jean-Luc tells me the crane is coming at ten thirty. Where would you like to start?"

"I'll begin on deck, forward and work aft, then we can go below and look at the structure and systems. We'll let the crane interrupt us."

The lift went smoothly, Henc and the crane operator devising a set of safe slings with the advice of the surveyor. Maddie and Catherine had stowed everything below for the tilt forward, and Jean-Luc pulled a small painting raft into the space astern the barge. The surveyor lay on it to turn and inspect the propeller and to lever its shaft against the hull to check the bearing clearance. He couldn't see the lower pintle of the rudder, but with a few forceful movements of the rudder and some prying with a lever, he was satisfied with its soundness. He had me turn the helm from lock to lock and back a few times and then shouted, "Good, that's enough."

The remainder of the survey went smoothly, and during the short cruise up through Écluse 73 and along the pound to the first winding hole, the surveyor gave a very positive verbal report. We wound around and headed back down through the lock, Vrouwe Catharina's old DAF running smoothly and quietly, not missing a beat.

"I'll deliver my written report tomorrow to Monsieur Delong's office, probably before noon. I'll recommend you proceed with the sale. The only requirements are fresh fire extinguishers and a new bulb in the starboard running light." Then turning from me to Henc, he said, "I am very impressed with your maintenance."

Friday 4 April 1986

Catherine followed in her car as I drove the rental out of Morey-Saint-Denis, across to the N-74, then northward into Dijon and to the train station, to the Europecar office there. Catherine had asked, "Why do we need two cars?" I returned the rental car, cancelled the remainder of its contract, and we continued to Saint-Jean-de-Losne in hers.

"We could close early, you know," Jean-Luc said, as we sat in his office with the written report on the table in front of us. "I see no reason we can't complete now. Henc has put new fire extinguishers aboard and replaced the running light's bulb from his spares."

"There is one reason." I raised my forefinger. "I have a term deposit in Canada, which will mature on 7 April, on Monday. I've given my bank instructions to have the proceeds exchanged to Francs and wired to my account over here as soon as it's available. It will arrive on Wednesday, Thursday at the latest, in time for our closing on Friday, our agreed date."