Don’t you love the feeling of riding a bike. The wind in your hair the sense of speed, the landscape flying by. Heck in the time it took me to walk from one bridge to the next I could ride the distance 3 times. The thing is that yesterday when I went riding (for the third day in a row [go me!]) I was finally starting to feel comfortable with being on a bike again and was just zipping circles around S who was walking because he doesn’t have a bike. Well, then I had to share the bike with him and walk for a bit. Let me just say right now that walking lacks a certain grace and…well speed…after you’ve been riding. I mean, I’m walking as fast as I can and the trees just aren’t zipping past like they should be. It was a little disorienting at first to have my feet back on the ground. I’m just saying, it’s just not the same.
…………………………………….
Had to go into town today to get my ATM card fixed. You see, when you are making a debit purchase (everyone uses their debit card here, I rarely see anyone write checks) and you are required to enter your PIN, and you enter it wrong three times in a row, your debit card is then ‘blocked’. This means it cannot be used anymore until you contact the bank. This is for your protection but that makes it no less annoying. So learn from my mistake, the lessons here would be to a) remember your PIN correctly and b) if you enter it wrong twice, pull your card out of the machine and pay another way.
Anyway, I think I knew better than to get it wrong three times in a row, but I was sure I was typing in the correct code (I am always right!). Well I was apparently slightly confused, I was typing in my PIN for my US ATM card. Ooops. So today I had to go to my local bank branch and tell the boy behind the counter that ‘Mon Carte Bleu n’ marche plus, j'ai fait le code personnel faux trois fois.’ The boy then informed me that he could not help me, that I would need to go to the main branch down town where they have a machine that could fix my card. Of course there couldn’t just be an easy fix could there, oh no, not in the life of Missy.
So I went back home and I got on-line (god bless the internet) and was in the process of getting a map from Mappy when Mags called and asked me to come have a salad with her. (She’s on a diet) We ate, we chatted, she quizzed me on what I would say in French at the bank and we had a pretty good time. She tried to convince me not to drive into town but to take the bus, you know, public transportation, and I told her she was dead crazy. (Control freaks DO NOT ride the bus!) She did provide me with an important tidbit of info though. The queen (of England) will be in town tomorrow so I needed to take care of stuff today to avoid a repeat of the Arial Sharon incident. No putting it off, into town I went.
Of course as I drive into town it’s not a real good omen to see signs that say ‘Evitez Blvd. de Strasbourg. Travaux.’ especially when Boulevard de Strasbourg is where I was planning on parking. You see, most of downtown Toulouse is a giant construction area, they are adding to the metro lines and there are giant cranes, cavernous holes, roads closed and detours all over town. The best part is that when you finally get the hang of one set of detours and road closings, the construction moves on and they re-configure the roadways again. Keeps you on your toes but it really sucks when you’re trying to get some place quickly. I drove around for about an hour in the, on again, off again, rain until I found a place to park, and not just any place to park mind, but a miraculous place one block from the bank. That never happens; I usually have to walk for blocks and blocks. Thank you to whomever the patron saint of parkers is.
I take a brief walk and go into the bank and at the ‘accueille’, the reception desk, I explain my problem to the cheery young woman and ‘voila’ she has me fixed up in no time and I’m on my way.
Woo and Hoo, another positive France experience.
