Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Off To The French MOT

Yes, a ride to St. Amand Montrond to visit the Automobile Inspection station and fail.  Fail?!  Ma Dieu! Not that?!  Yes, we've been gone 21 months from "The Accident" in which a wayward, out-of-control deer collided with us head-on and just destroyed the front driver's side of the trusty Toyota Avensis.  Not good this.  So it has sat unrepaired for the last 20 months in our barn awaiting repair. Of course there are other issues associated with this, it's never easy is it?  During the time we are away our two year permit to operate the car on the fine roads of France has expired.  That too must be "fixed".  That process begins with the inspection.  Of course the damage to the headlight assembly and related sheet metal will "show up" on the report and something MUST be done before it will be granted "good-to-go" status.  But...it will be given appropriate paperwork that will allow us to operate the car LEGALLY for perhaps 30 days in order to facilitate such repairs.  tHEN WE WILL RETURN TO THE FINE INSPECTOR AND HE WILL REDO THE INSPECTION AND THE FURTHER PAPERWORK WILL BE ALL FILLED OUT AND WE ARE GOOD FOR ANOTHER 2 YEARS AFTER PAYING A FINE ETC. Oops, caps lock again. So fun! Come twice!

Cara caught a MOUSE! Tiny, young but still HER 1st actual live kill of a MAMMAL!  Yes, yes, previously she has successfully stalked and killed flies (like a savory M&M), mosquitos (flying shrimp) and various spiders (oh so spicy!) but never a mammalian creature.  So this is the day.  We left her alone with her capture under the dining table (appropriate locale) to do her "breakfast".  More (many!) to come I suspect.  Where was Mucca during the hunt?  Asleep on my bed as always.  We were at some time in the last 20 months inundated with mice, rats or gerbils (Big poops ???), top to bottom, floor by floor, in and outside of everyplace!  Grrrrrrr  Droppings everywhere and some damage to carpets too (Grrrrrr), even the canned goods left in the larder had their paper labels eaten off completely!  Surprise ingredients thanks to The Horde.  We clean, sleep, eat (ONLY FROM KELLY'S NOW CLEAN KITCHEN!) and repeat.  My kitchen is a total disaster with some local above floor flooding thanks to the leaky roof.  Where I do not know but the water did a magnificent job of ruining any unprotected (in glass) kitchen items, much rust and ruin to knives for instance.  Oh well, cleaning continues hour by hour.

 

Sunday, May 18, 2014

En Lignieres Mem!

OK, SO WE ARE here, NOT there ANYMORE, oops the blessed shift key again! We made it to Lignieres with our Kats in tow. The flight on United UA900 was uneventful, which is very, very good. Went up, up, up north in Canada, across Baffin Bay, over southern Greenland all blue and a rising sun’s red/orange glare, across the Atlantic above thick stratus clouds thousands of feet below. Ireland was invisible, as was England, France had puffy cumulous clouds and a very smooth landing. TSA check in SFO was quick and efficient even with the Kats, no surprises.


In France we had our bags about as quickly as humanly possible, what with the long walk through the tunnel from the satellite Terminal 1 to the Real Terminal 1 Roundhouse, up the ramp to pick up the baggage. I had both bags in my hands within a couple of minutes, amazing! Then to the TAXI stand down, around and out, picked it up in about 2 minutes flat and now had about 45 minutes to make the drive to Gare Austerlitz to catch our train south to St. Amand. The TRAFFIC on the ring road was haltingly crowded, slow and frustrating as we watched our minutes grind away.


Alas, We missed our train by 2 minutes! Damnit! So...find a seat and sort out what we do next. Another train, another journey. So Kelly sat at the café, had a sparking Pelegrino water while I went around the corner to find the ticket agents...which, of course, were MOSTLY at lunch. I was in back of a line (rehearsing my French Train Talk “je vous dre au tran a St. Amand...”) of 49 souls shifting their weight from left to right...I was number 50. Half an hour and 4 train departures later they well fed and now happily at work mavens of the trains returned from Lunch. 40, 39, 38...10, 9, 8...3,2,1 and I was off to get a ticket to somewhere. Asking for a train to St. Amand Montrond brought back “that has 2 train changes...do you want THAT?” in perfect English, “No thank you, ah...what else is there?, how about Verizon?” She replied “Yes, today at 3:52, do you want that?” “Sure”, I said, knowing our friends Sue and Dave were all lined up to meet us at St. Amand Montrond...it would mean the FIRST French phone call from my new Cellularabroad” cell phone. I was worried. I am NOT a friend of telephones, much less the damned cell phone variety. It was going to be a TEST. She printed the ticket, wished me “Bon Voyage” and I went back to Kelly with the news. I then called Sue and Dave just as the train announcer person began babbling ever so loudly so that I could not hear anything coming from the cell phone. Eventually the message got through and we would be met in Verizon instead at 5:16. I had a draft beer and we whiled our way for the ensuing two and a half hours sitting in the café people watching.


The train of our dreams arrived from wherever it came from on Track 5 and we drove our LUGgage (I do mean LUG) to car No.5 and put the bags aboard with the Kats and took a seat near the rear of the car. Within 10 minutes a young couple approached and pointed to our seats and, of course, found out they were THEIRS...so this is 2nd class RESERVED? Hmmmm. So we moved to the center to the car to seats 31A and 31B as indicated. We arrived at Verizon after several naps of varying length, none to exceed 10 minutes. Now, the REAL TEST...Verizon’s tracks are located through a tunnel with 25 steps required down and a similar number up into the main platform. The BIG BAG...50lbs – 1lb was first and I carried down and came back for the next...a light weight at 40 lbs and then the Kats, and another bag so Kelly could not have to try to balance on those narrow and dangerous stairs with too much weight to bear. She still had her backpack and another bag on top of it all. Once down we trundled the 50 feet underground to the stairs and ramp on the end towards the station and I repeated the efforts on that end. Now I was exhausted, done, finished and through. A few minutes of rest and then to the station and our friends faithfully waiting for us, such a joy to see them! They then drove us to Lignieres and our Maison Blanc to find rest, a beer or two and a bed...Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz