A Normal Working Day

Today was nothing more than a mundane working day. I spent the morning ironing, making a breakfast, shopping and cleaning - I say morning, but I didn't stop until 2pm to have some lunch which is bound to get the French 'garde le midi pour dejeuner' lobby up in arms.

I started by ironing the bedding and towels for the appartment and then went down to town to buy the viennoisserie for the guests breakfast. To my surprise I met Chris at 8.15am on his way up to Denis' apartment to start work - that bed of his at Susan's must be very uncomfortable.

I was also surprised to find the Thursday market, because it was Wednesday - and then I remembered that tomorrow is yet another 'ferié' and the French world as we know it will come to another grinding halt. Actually, the French world had only just got back into first gear from the last holiday last week, so a grinding halt was a bit of an exaggeration - more like knocking it back into neutral and coasting for a bit longer. Some places in town didn't just make a bridge last Friday, but cantilevered all the way into this week's holiday - well it wasn't really worth opening for the three days in between - I mean, they might have made some money but then they would have actually had to do some work!

So I had to rework my plans for the week (heh - planning is important) and so after sorting the breakfast for my guests I went back down to the market to ensure that the Thursday shopping list was covered off.

The cleaning was in the Apartment and in my bedroom. I have new guests arriving tomorrow, so the Apartment needed to be spotless and my bedroom had been neglected somewhat, inevitably when all my focus is on guests, but I wanted to make it a lovely clean spot for Debrah this weekend - aahh.

Then this afternoon turned into one of those frustrating tours around various DIY shops with Chris, looking for stuff that we need for the renovation that was there last week but seems to have disappeared this week and just elicits 'I don't care' shrugs from the staff at these places when you ask when are they going to get more stock - it is payback for being a bit lucky with the toilet last weekend.

We were so frustrated that we had to go and sit in the square and have a couple of beers. It was really windy today - we didn't really notice until we were sat out in the open enjoying a cold one, even after driving around with the top down in the car. It was actually quite a nice day, very warm and mostly sunny but just a bit windy - so it was a bit of a surprise as we sat there in our short-sleeved T-shirts to see the bloke sit down at the next table in full raincoat apparel fully buttoned up to his chin - the chance of rain today was less than zero. He didn't look mad, he just looked stupid - but then they are still many French people who haven't yet put their coats away because, let's face it, 25 degrees isn't all that!

This land is all so bizarre and all so charming at the same time.