Conversion

Sunny today but cool breeze blowing. Still no cell phone. We did order one though. This is funny. We found a phone in the phone store that is exactly like what I already have. What I have has the wrong type of ‘card’ in it and won’t work here. But this new one will work everywhere. We decided to go with this phone because I already have all the accessories for it so there’ll be no extra expenses. The batteries, chargers, covers and instructions are all the same and the charger has a transformer on it so either phone will charge in either country. They had to order it from another store though, so it won’t arrive until Thursday.

An idea whose time has come: The intersections that don’t have a circle, do have a traffic light. Unlike the monster light posts, with lights you can see from every direction, in the US, the ones here are small and unobtrusive. The one big charm of these lights is that they discourage those annoying people who creep forward anticipating the light change. You see, the light post that faces you is on the right hand curb on your side of the street. You have to look out your right side window to watch it and if you move forward beyond the limit line you can no longer see the light. I’ve done this out of habit several times and then all you can do is wait for the guy behind you to start honking obscenely to let you know the light is green or take your chances when the cross traffic appears to have stopped.

Baking banana muffins, but oven is Celsius. What’s the conversion again? F - 32 x 5/9 or F - 32 x 9/16…

The Office

Slept through the night for the first time! Feel pretty good this morning except that it’s raining and windy and cold. Hmm, must be fall already. This house really does hold the cold in very well. Time for more hot chocolate. Nothing to do today except Blog, read, oh yeah, and organize that office. Funny how the whole unpacking project was not as daunting as this office organization is. Oh well, I’ve got nothing but time.

I found a schedule of events from the American’s in Toulouse. There was to be a “Back from Summer” event today. Too cold and rainy to walk up to the bus stop, and besides aren’t these the kind of days just made for snuggling up with a good book. Lord knows I brought enough of those with me. I’ll go find one now. S is coming home early today (at 17hr instead of 19hr, real early) so we can get over to the ‘Carrefour’ and get me a cell phone in relative peace.

More Unpacking

Air Shipment arrives today. That means the vacuum cleaner, power transformers and FOOD. Comfort food. Of course it’s raining and it’s cold. Unpacking will warm me up.

Moving truck arrived with all the branch breaking ruckus of its previous arrival (see Sean’s Blog of August 24th). If the driver would but turn that steering wheel thingy just a bit to the left he could avoid the trees altogether, but what fun would that be.

Unpacked the 12 boxes of the air shipment in a hurried frenzy. I hate the disorder of moving. Still have the upstairs bedrooms (guest rooms) to organize but since I don’t have to look at them daily I can take my time. Besides, our first guests aren’t scheduled to arrive until the week after Christmas.

Going to sit have a nice cup of Mexican hot chocolate from my personal stores.

Sunday

The weather is fall like. Cold, highs in the 60’s and rain on and off. I’m still unpacking the few remaining boxes. You know those last few boxes that are full of ‘why did I bring this’, ‘what was I thinking’ and ‘this goes right to the garbage’.

All the odds and ends are ending up in the office which will take weeks to sort through. Did some laundry and, ::gulps:: hung it up to dry in the garage. You’d think that with as cold as it is the clothes won’t dry, but we’ll see. The appliances take forever, almost two hours to wash one load of laundry; a load of laundry so small that we’ll have to wash every other day to keep up. I’ll take a picture of the washing machine, you won’t believe it. It is also a dryer but since it has no vent to circulate fresh air in, all it really accomplishes is cooking of your fine washables. The dishwasher is worse it takes over 2 hours to run, at least it’s very quiet.

Drove into downtown today with S just to try to get lost. There’s nothing to do since it’s Sunday and everything is closed. The sun did come out before we left so we took the wet linens out to dry on the outside lines. Of course 30 minutes from home it started to pour down rain again. Typical.

Even on Sunday, with everything closed, it’s hard to find a place to park. Some of the downtown streets are only wide enough for one small car to drive down. The problem is that it’s difficult to tell which way the street runs, signage is scarce and even then, difficult to decipher. But it was an adventure. Some things look familiar, but not familiar enough to be landmarks. The one big recognizable thing is the ‘Grand Round’ it’s a road way that circles a park with 8 arteries feeding into it. It’s difficult to know where to get off (signage) it’s best to look for a landmark. I can see me venturing into town alone and driving in circles for hours, though after today I know to look for the signs that point me to Montpellier. That generally means east and will eventually get me to something I’ll recognize.

I saw a bird to today that looked like a blue jay on steroids. About twice as big as a jay and much darker blue. Couldn’t find it in my “Birds of North America” book. Hmm?

Today

Day was devoted to driving. Have to learn path to airport as I will be taking S on the 15th. It’s only about 20 minutes away so S made me drive it over and back twice. It’ll be a bit tricky. There are no street signs in France. None. And those damned circles will be the death of me.

Need to do some more in depth grocery shopping and need to get a cell phone so off to shopping.

Now picture this, a super Wal-Mart times 3, ok got that, now stick a mall onto the front of it. I kid you not. Mall and then the other half is this ungodly huge store. 60 check out registers across the front of it (alright perhaps that's a slight exaggeration there are probably only 30 check outs). 3 security check points to enter through. (In case you shopped in the mall they check and tag your packages before you enter). It’s like a super Wal-Mart plus a Best Buy plus a Home Depot plus Office Max. You can buy groceries, clothes line, light bulbs, door stops, printer, cell phone, and DVD’s. We visited two such places today ‘Carrefour’ which is closer to our house and ‘E.leclerc’ which is near the airport. Craziness I tell you, craziness! Because everyone works M-F 8hr til 18 or 19hr (They get 2 hours for lunch – everything closes between 12hr and 14hr except the restaurants and some stores), they all have to shop on Saturday (closed Sunday) the crowds are insane.

An idea who’s time has come: When you go these mega stores, or any market for that matter, you will only see carts neatly parked in the cart corral. Why? Because each cart is fitted with a lock and chain that attaches it to the cart in front of it. When you need a cart you put a 1 Euro coin in the slot to release it from the others. When you return the cart to the cart corral and lock it up you get your Euro back. A Euro is currently worth a little over a dollar. Let’s picture the parking lots of Super Wal-Mart or target with no free roving carts.

Didn’t get cell phone because despite finding several places to purchase one, the crowds were huge and we would need someone’s undivided attention to get past the language barrier. Hopefully next Saturday.

Did, however, hook up phone service and order DSL. Phoned the phone company (S’s cell phone) the call was handed off several times when it was discovered that my French was, well, not good. They finally found one nice English speaking lady to help me. When I gave her our address, she told me that that address didn’t exist. I assured her that it did as we have received mail here from our banks and UPS delivered to us here. She asked me if I knew the name of the previous tenant. Luckily I remember the Canadians names and was able to give her the info. She found it immediately and said that in fact the name of our street is ‘Avenue Louie Delherm’ not ‘Rue du Doctuer Delherm’. Ok, but the landlord told us our address and mail gets here so what gives? There are no street signs so there is no way to clear this up. Am not, however, going to change anything as, as previously mentioned, mail is arriving. (Maybe not all of it?) Who knows! DSL will take a week. They are sending modem and service will be hooked up by Friday (9/12) Two weeks without internet access! The mind reels.

Where did I put the...?

Today I’m re-arranging furniture, because, as predicted by S, nothing is as I want it. It appears that the walls of each room were lined with boxes and furniture until they were covered and then on to the next room. So I’m trying to strategically place furniture so that it’s aesthetically pleasing and functional, oh, and it fits in its room of requirement. (Huh?)

That partner desk has to weigh over 200 lbs. Damn thing is heavy. And those two IKEA kitchen counters are so big they don’t fit in the kitchen. (Swear they didn’t look that large in the store) That’s ok though; they fit nicely in the office and will provide me with tons of work space for crafting. Moved wardrobes into bedroom and arranged all the living room furniture. I’ll tell you, I will be so sore tomorrow, but I’ll try not to think about that now. The good thing is that there is no carpet. Everything slides nicely over beautiful floors. Got to find that broom!

Began unpacking and storing clothing. Looks like everything will fit in bedroom space without having to put things in upstairs closets.

Note to self: Re-evaluate clothing collection. Beyond ridiculous! (Do they do yard sales in France?)

P.S. Bowels still unhappy. Water? Or milk? Still not king.

What is this? Did I bring it? Is it mine? What's it doing here?

Where did I put Wednesday? I’m sure I was entitled to one this week but seem to have misplaced it. Oh well, no big deal, I’ve got loads more of them coming up.

Tap water is ‘potable’ but hard, so hard in fact that I don’t think my hair actually gets wet and I had to use so much conditioner in it this morning that I’ll run out soon. Good thing I’ll be making one more trip back. Will start a list of things to buy upon return.

The yard and cherry grove show the signs of a very harsh summer. Hope they recover. And contrary to what I believed, the elementary school is not ‘in the neighborhood’ it is in fact directly across the street. It appears to start at 8hr and end at 16hr. There also appears to be a constant stream of kids coming and going all day long. They’re noisy and it sounds nice to hear their voices, even if I can’t understand them. They’re so far off and the babble sounds like kid babble anywhere.

Had some bacon (?) and eggs for breakfast. The bacon is well not so much Oscar Meyer-ish as extremely thin slices of well marbled actual ham. Would not crisp up, but was delicious none the less.

Ok, the unpacking begins or continues. Set Precious up in the large kitchen and put in a movie. What movie doesn’t matter as it’s just for background noise really.

So far the unpacking is like working a puzzle. You know those square ones made of a bunch of little squares where one square is empty and you move the pieces to their appropriate place by judicious use of the blank one. What are those called, I know they have a name. Anyway, that’s what the unpacking is like. I’m trying to start in the kitchen, unpacking dishes, linens, etc. but running out of places to put things, no cabinets to speak of here. So then move on to dining room to make room but need to move some boxes out of there into the living room (the living room will be last.) trying not to trip over open suitcases that have no hope of being emptied for a few days anyway. And so it goes move this out so I can put that there, so this will fit here, on and on. Either that or my ADD is kicking in and I’m just not able to focus on any one project. Too close to tell.

I have many companions though, there seems to be a wide variety of eight legged creatures. I’ve seen them in every size and color. Spider webs in every corner of every room. They can stay for now, but only because I haven’t unpacked the broom yet and the vacuum cleaner won’t arrive until Monday.

Now, here’s a funny thing, the front door has three dead bolt locks on it, however, the windows in each room are large enough to walk an elephant through and they have no screens. Quite secure, yes?

It’s true though, that all the windows have stout working shutters but if I close the shutters no breeze comes in. (And neither do the flies, and that would starve my spider friends) I thank god I didn’t have to be here during the hot summer when it would have been necessary to keep the shutters closed. Though the shutters in concert with the thick walls keep the darkened rooms quite cool I need light. I worry that my cat acquaintance could just hop right in through one of the windows to explore. There are actually leaves blowing in through my bedroom window, leaves! I’ve got to find that broom. (I wonder if I could train the spiders to weave across the windows?)

The day is overcast though and every once in a while the breeze brings in the smell of slightly, grudgingly dampened earth. Not enough moisture to be called rain but enough to remind us that it still knows how.

By the end of the day have managed to unpack 8 big kitchen boxes and have stacked the resulting paper mountain and empty boxes in the garage for removal by the moving company who will be delivering the air shipment on Monday.

A new cat friend has visited me on bedroom window sill. He ran when I spoke to him about his bandaged friend and asked after his own health. Oh well, have to wonder how much further he’d have come if it weren’t for my intrusion.

Will sleep like a log (til about 1hr when I will spring out of bed as if I had sense. Time adjustment will be tough without a schedule to pin me down) Have soreness where previously muscles were, maybe they’ll return. (Muscles, not soreness)

Note to self: Re-evaluate book collection. Reaching point of ridiculous.

P.S. Ditto movie and CD collections.

P.P.S. Bowels very unhappy, still not king.

Honey I'm Home!

Arrived around 1:00 pm France time. I lost Tuesday somewhere over the Atlantic (damn I hate that). We visited a local grocery store before heading home so that I could ascertain its location and availability of goods and also there’s no food in the house. (Unless you count spaghetti fixings as food) Also S is off to work tomorrow and that leaves me alone from 6hr til almost 21hr M-F. (When giving opening and closing times we use the 24hr clock for accuracy and none of this foolish American am, pm nonsense that is too long and confusing) I did recognize some brands. I bought Pepsi and Nesquick and some super chunk Skippy. It’s true the milk and eggs are not in a refrigerated section. The eggs are all brown (is that why they don’t need to be refrigerated) (kidding of course) The milk is, well, very thick and creamy with just a very, very miniscule hint of that sour milk taste. I notice it because it’s exactly that hint of taste that makes me dump a one day overdue unfinished carton milk down the drain. Thank god for Nesquick. Also bought some bacon (?) and of course bread.

Arrived at house and found it to be a maze of boxes in every room. What was that man doing? Working I suppose. Trying to stay awake for as long as possible to just get on with the time adjustment. Had a dinner of some chocolate milk and some yummy vanilla yogurt (Yoplait).

As luck would have it, UPS arrived, not an hour after we did, with the side rails for the bed. Have assembled my beautiful bed with all new linens in the midst of chaos. It will be my oasis from madness, if only to hide in blissful sleep. S has commented that it will be my best friend during my bouts of depression. (Isn’t he just a laugh riot!) Dying to sleep so I guess I will.

There’s a cat in my front yard with a rather wide bandage around its middle. I asked after its health but it replied in French and I could not understand him. Hope he stops back by.

Adventures in Feminism or Ouch

Since the in-laws are returning tomorrow from their trip I decided to be the good daughter in-law and freshen the house up a bit for them. I bought a couple of loaves of Panera bread for them, one Raisin and the other Rye. I also bought milk and eggs and put them in an iced cooler for the trip into the city. (as things turned out it was a better idea than I thought.)

I figured I’d drive in, turn on the A/C so the house wouldn’t be too stuffy when they got in; stock the fridge with a couple of basics, cut some flowers from the garden for the dinning table and sort the mail. All in all about a four hour project including driving time.

Well you know what they say about the best laid plans… I get into the burbs on the 88, and then take the 355 south. About 4 miles down the road I hit a bad patch of road, or at least that’s what I think it is. But no, as it turns out the loud roaring sound is coming from my right rear tire which is apparently blown, smoking and shredding onto the cars behind me. I take my foot of the gas and coast to the right shoulder. Of course you know I’m swearing like a sailor. I get out of the car and am reminded that I’m on a major freeway, the rigs passing within two feet of me are rocking the car and the noise is horrendous. The tire is shredded. I get back in the car and experience a brief moment of panic when I have trouble locating my cell phone.

Holding the phone in my hand and wondering who to call. I know that the Auto Club membership expired in July and was not renewed because of the move. I look in the glove box where I have a Ford Roadside Assistance Card and find that it expired 30,000 miles ago. Who am I going to call? J is at work. All of my friends are at work except for T who is home with a migraine.

I go out to the back of the truck and proceed to locate the necessary tire changing equipment. (I am woman hear me roar?) The jack is wedged into its hiding place so tightly that I know I’ll break a few nails trying to get it out. I uncover the spare and unscrew the wing nut holding it in place. As it falls from its hook it lands on my thigh where I am now sporting a nice big bruise. I unroll the instruction sheet that tells me that the lug wrench and jack handles are under the hood (why?) I go around to the front of the vehicle and locate those. Ok, I have assembled my tools but now am having visions of me trying to get the spare out of the back of the truck (without further injury) and the blown tire back in. These tires are almost as big as I am and probably just as heavy. I go to the side of the car and stare at the blown tire. Visions of me losing the feminist of the year award drift through my head. Vision of S being disgusted with my ineptness, helplessness and uselessness drift through my head… Fuck it, I don’t care, that’s why God invented credit cards, so I could pay someone else to do the stuff I don’t want to. Feminists be damned I’m a girl and I don’t change tires!

I dial J’s work number.

When I explain the situation to her she immediately drafts her boyfriend to come to my rescue. But no, I’ve hatched a plan, what I want is the 800 number for the Auto Club (I didn’t have my card on me for the previously mentioned reason). I figure I can call them and feign ignorance about the expiration and see what I can get from them. I call and a man named Ryan is very sympathetic as he explains that I can renew my membership with a credit card over the phone and they’ll send someone right out. The cost is twice what it would cost to have a tow truck come out and change my tire. I explain why I don’t want to pay the exorbitant price to renew the membership and ask for the numbers of a few nearby towing places. To my surprise he actually gives me a few numbers.

After 4 phone calls I finally get someone who is available but ½ hour away. No big, I’ll wait.

20 minutes later Muhammad arrives. He’s attractive in a Middle Eastern sort of way and muscular but probably barely 20. He gets right to work and I’m not sure what to do with myself. I go and perch on the back of the truck to watch him work.

Muhammad is wearing black jeans, a black t-shirt and black work boots. He has that George Clooney look going with the 3 day beard growing in. His hands are black from grease and there are black smudges on his arms and face. The smudges are almost too perfect, almost artistic, like he’s playing the ‘mechanic role’ in this scene. I’m watching him go from where I’m sitting in the back of the truck to the tire trying to remove the stinking hub cap. (I swear the hub cap removal took more time than all the rest of the project combined) As he comes back to where I’m sitting and leans over to get the jack out of the back I'm suddenly looking at his butt. (Bad, I know) I see no plumbers crack but a glimpse of his red Fruit of the Looms (I know they were fruit of the looms because the tag was on the outside of the waist band) this brings a disturbing thought to mind, 'Do guys were their underwear with the tag on the outside and I never knew that or is the boy getting a second wearing on his?’

I could tell I was making him nervous, probably was scaring the poor kid. So I decided to ‘cop a squat’ (watched pretty woman the other night) on the grass on the side of the road and watch from a bit of a distance.

First of all, that lovely green grass that flies past your window as you drive down the highway is not really that lovely. It must be a special breed of grass, specially bred for discomfort to stranded motorists who dare try to rest on it, a sort of disincentive to linger. It was difficult to squat there and watch the boy when the grass was cutting into my bare legs.

Secondly, people are disgusting they’ll throw anything out a car window. Food wrappers, cups, glass bottles (maybe that’s why the grass was so sharp, it’s been watered by glass for years.) poopy baby diapers, disgusting. After a few minutes of that I opted for the shade of the trucks interior. Relatively cool shade and comfortable seating.

It really was quite a quick process once the hubcap came off. The tire was really truly shredded and I was shocked by the force it must have taken to make it look like that. He stuck the skeleton back into the back of the truck. It must have gotten pretty hot when it blew because the inside of the truck smells like burnt rubber now. I’ll have a time getting that smell out of there.

When he was done I gave Muhammad my credit card to pay for the service and a generous tip. He earned it. It was hot and that hubcap was a real bitch to get off. We thanked each other and he road off into the sunset. Ok, no sunset, he just drove off.

I continued my journey but rather nervously. I actually considered just turning around and going home, but I had already purchased food (and thank goodness ice). I drove on toward the in-laws but slower than before. I think I kept waiting for another tire to blow. I completed my task and headed home. I arrived home at 6:30 pm. My estimated time of completion was blown by two hours. Oh well, at least I learned an important lesson.

'When loosening the wing nut on the spare be sure you are well clear of its landing zone.'

The Law

Ok, I was in California for 2 ½ weeks. In that amount of time did they pass a law I don’t know about. I’m confused.

I went to get gas today. (J drove my truck back and forth to the airport and failed to fill it up. Typical) Anyway, went to get gas today, parked in front of the pump got out and started the pump. Now, because I drive a giant gas guzzling truck I usually start the pump and then get back into my car to listen to 10-15 minutes of my current audio book or some music or I balance my checkbook or eat my lunch… So, ok, yes, that’s what I did today.

As I’m sitting in my car giving myself a pedicure, I see a guy walk up to the pump in front of me with a gallon sized milk jug and start to pump gas into it. Now I read the signs on the pumps and I know that that’s a big no-no. It says on the pump that it is illegal to pump gasoline into anything other than an approved container. So of course I hear the attendant in the mini mart speaking over the loud speaker. I assume that she’s relating this tidbit of info to the guy and I continue my pedicure.

Then I hear the voice from above again, this time I listen a bit and hear “…it’s a fire hazard” Still, figure she’s talking to the guy in front of me who, by the way, is still pumping gas and seems oblivious to the voice from above. So, moving on to coat two of polish on my toes.

Then I hear the voice again, this time the guy looks up but looks at me! I look up at the attendant through the window and lean out to listen to the voice. “Pump 5 please get out of your car, returning to your car while the gas is pumping is a fire hazard” Looking at her I must have looked hostile because she then proceeds to threaten me “If you do not get out of your car I’ll have to turn off your pump.” Ok, was that strictly necessary?

What in the hell, did I miss something? Can I go to jail for that? I get out of my car of course but now I’m standing outside with an unfinished pedicure and 8 minutes of time to kill.

Anyone else been accosted in this way? Can anyone shed light on this for me? What? And what about Milk Jug Guy? Why doesn’t he get harassed?