Well, with THE letter in hand...what letter? The one we got Saturday from EuroPost saying they have a parcel to deliver to us at 10 Rt. St. Amand. Long letter in French that we both understood well enough to figure out that they had something for us and that we we're not there to receive it whenever that was. Some days ago we figured anyway. So we took the letter to the Tourist Board and had our friend there Anna call EuroPost to find out IF they still had them and if they would send them to our new address instead. The result of that call was a statement that they had already returned them to the US! The letter said we had 14 days to retrieve them or notify Europost of where to send them...now they are gone?! Oh boy, stress mounting up. So, not to be held back, we took off for the Europost in Bourges to find our damned shipments(3). The countryside was breathtaking, as always, with whole fields of bright red poppies here and there. Once to the location, no address given, just drove around the Zone Industrial until we saw their signage, we found all windows shaded and all doors closed except one. Walking into the place there was no one at any desk, no sounds except equipment fans and as far as we could see no employees at hand to talk to at all! The place was empty except for us and piles of boxes and a computer system. After a few minutes of shifting our weight from one foot to the other we exited that area and went around front of the building which looked equally closed and deserted, we say Alloooo into the empty spaces with no answer forthcoming. Hmmmmm, what gives here? Should we call the police? Pictures of the purported employees lined the wall but none were to be seen. Sooo we wandered into the room filled with crates and boxes to no ones chagrin at all...a thief could have emptied the place with no notice at all and there we were. Kelly heard some voices, from where? There! In the back room, on a break, the whole crew. Then the papers were out and the lady kindly called the English speaking help line which was no help at all, yes there was a parcel, yes it was sent back at the insistence of the shipper to....to....GERMANY! What?! Why the hell Germany? Maybe it was the tapis (carpets) Kelly bought on eBay and NOT the three long gone parcels we sent from the US back in March. Shit! Who knows, when I talked to the EuroPost person she said that there was 1 parcel, weight unknown, sender unknown. This is nuts! Did the US Postal Service REALLY use these guys for our poor parcels, 1000 pounds of which are now long gone?
Kelly called at 6pm local time, 9am Suisun Time and got to a US Postal Service person...YES, they use Europost, yes, they tried delivery on the 5th and 16th (the letter received Saturday was the first we knew of any delivery attempt), that's all they knew either. Shit! Well Kelly was predictably pissed, as was I, we don't need this news at all. We had so very carefully picked what needed to be shipped and what would come with us on this trip because we knew we were gpoing to move into the big house this time around. We packed it so carefully, evrything just so...in foam, in bubbles, in plastic wrap, inside blankets and comforters and now...where the hell is it? Somewhere between France and the US via Germany for some reason. POE (Port of Entry) perhaps to the EU? How am I to know?
Then off to Brico Depot to buy the ladder of our dreams with a budget of 100 Euros allocated. We found it in the form of a folding ladder that would extend to some 3.5 meters, enough to doi the gutters outside too.
It and 2 smaller companion step stools for Kelly upstairs and downstairs...some plastic angles and covers for the moulier (over the surface channel stuff) for the overhead lamps. The to Mondail Tissues (World Fabric) to check out whatever Kelly needs for the wall covering, curtains etc. project. We went to Carefour to get bread, beer and whatever else. Then home to work on The Mansion!
Oh well, another beautiful, if frustrating, day in Paradise.
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