Last Thursday we visited the established ruling order of Vaux-sur-Sûre. Or rather.., we visited the local “urbanism” office to see if our design would pass the scrutiny of said government.
We also visited our small piece of the Earth, chatted with our neighbours and visited a gathering of Dutch Wallons.
Oh.., and we put our house in Rotterdam on the market. So if you want it.., or know anybody…
Local Scrutiny
This is the second time I visit the local government to ask for advice on the design of the house. Last time I was joined by Lotte.., this time I was accompanied by our Belgium architect Marc Steffens (Architects Team in Hergenrath).
For the most part we ignored all the regulations the locals had put on designing a house. Lotte came up with a great design (and we’ll share that in detail when we have a permit), but she did so while taking a few liberties.., which were all very well justified and explainable.
After 10 months we went back with pretty much the finished design and a Belgium, French speaking architect.
Details
The proverbial Devil did raise it’s ugly head.., we do need to change a few things on the house. But, the main design of it stays intact and that’s a big win.
It appears that it does not need to adhere to all the rules.., just enough to be able to get permit. And it turns out that our contact in Vaux-sur-Sûre is kinda the authority when it comes to urbanism in that region. When she gives a Go, it is pretty much a done deal.
Finishing Touches
Lotte is putting the final hand to the drawings.., Marc is getting the information requested and as it seems now.., we are pretty darn close to actually applying for a permit. When this happens we will reach another milestone in our adventure. When the permit is actually granted we celebrate, but only then.
Neighbours
We visited our lot to take a few photo’s (look above) for the permit.., our architect needs them.., the Belgium one that is.
Laila boldly went to our neighbours and started chatting with the misses right away. Later joined by the mister and she did quite well. Her French is already so good that she can have a conversation.., granted.., her grammar and pronunciation needs work.., but when you can understand and make yourself understood.., that is just awesome.
We are visiting our neighbours more extensively during Easter. They didn’t much time.., and we want to ask some questions (more on that later).
Dutch Wallons
There are a lot of Dutch people moving to Wallon.., to Belgium in general.., living is just better there. For some it’s the money, or the people, or the status, or the piece and quite, or the food, or the beer.., or any of the above.
This meeting (gathering) seemed to have a high average age.., well.., higher than ours anyway. We were the youngest (believe it). We didn’t get the idea a lot lived in the area of Bastogne.., too far away I guess. All in all, we didn’t really felt we’d belong there.., although the host is one to know.
Ah well, it’s been quite a week for us.., busy to no end and exciting. We are getting close.., reality is sneaking up on us.
I love it…
