Sorry guys – no travel this month. Just blah, blah, blah. Next month will be busier.
It was yet another month of a few days of sun and warm temperatures followed by twice as many cold, blustery and rainy days. So aggravating. We bought flowers for our space, to keep our spirits up. I complain that I am DONE with winter but G reminds me that whining isn’t an admirable quality. Screw that. I am going to whine. I’m good at it. Stick to what you do best.
On the nice days, we dashed outside photographing budding plants, walking, window shopping and sitting in the outdoor cafes. Come summer, I’ll probably only see the inside of the apartment in the evenings. We stuck to our 4 day a week, an hour each of the tutor sessions. We can pass the A1 exams and are working on the A2 level. Numbers are a bitch. It’s absolutely insane. I told some French friends I was sure that back when the powers that be came up with the numbering system here, that they were surely smoking the funny stuff. When you get up into the higher numbers you have a longer and longer amount of words you need to use. For example; 83 isn’t eighty three…. it’s twenty times four plus three. 73 isn’t seventy three….it’s sixty plus thirteen – if they were going to stick to insanity, why isn’t it sixty plus ten plus three? So when a cashier tells me the amount of the sale I just nod and put in my card. If I had to process it on the spot, I would look like I’d stuck my finger into an electric socket, completely paralyzed for easily three minutes. THEN I would nod and put in my card. Better to just cut to the chase, nodding like I completely understand and quickly sticking in the card. I don’t want to alarm anyone.
Our tutor did give us an insight as to why the French language is so convoluted. She said that back in the day of switching royal realms which happened frequently over the centuries in Europe, the French powers were desperate to separate the language as much as possible from the Italian language, which it was deemed to be too scandalously close. Hence this silly-billy approach. She points out that the French will make fun of it but it’s like a sibling relationship. I can make fun of my siblings but anyone outside of my family doesn’t get to. SO, anyone outside of French making fun of the language, is wrong. Duly noted but I still think unkind thoughts when I choke on numbers.
When we first arrived, we followed some advice on the internet and printed up business cards with our names and phone numbers. Trust me – every receptionist at every professional office deeply appreciated being handed a card with the information rather than having to wait ten minutes while I stuttered my way through my damn telephone number. The telephone number has gotten easier but absorbing the cost of items on the spot when the numbers have been spoken? Nah. Not there yet. Come back to me in another 5 years. Make that 10.
We worked on a couple of projects this month – put up screening material on the windows to keep out the mosquitoes and we put a custom-made wooden counter top on our new washer/dryer. Both projects came out well, if I do say so myself.
The American Expat’s in Lille club held their annual book sale and it was actually tough for us to find it. I didn’t think we could get lost on a street in Lille but by golly we did. Fortunately as late as we were (you will note that NO ONE is in the pictures) there was still a bounty to be had. We bought a ton of English novels because even though we do a lot of reading on Kindle, it just feels good to turn off the electronics and read from a physical book before turning in.
Besides our continuing dental trips (our dentist kept her old chair and set it up in the waiting area) with our thorough dentist, we spent time researching a new shower set up. The current shower is over 12 inches up to step into and is the size of a postage stamp. You have to use a long handled brush if you’re going to clean your feet without banging your head into the walls. For the visitors we’ve had, we’ve given a tutorial on how to get into and get out of the shower because it’s easy to trip and slip. We’d been wanting to enlarge the shower from a square to a rectangle for some time, but encountered a problem in getting a plumber to even come and look.
Getting a professional plumber or electrician involves three very distinct difficulties. The first being that because we’re downtown, street parking is scarce. Then, what underground parking there is doesn’t allow for the height of the vans which carry their rolling tool cabinets. Lastly, the buildings are old and the current codes are incredibly tricky to adhere to given the variety of old configurations they encounter. No professional would pick working downtown over working in the suburbs. You either have to throw an insane amount of money at them or you have some blackmail leverage.
After discussing this over the last two years with our wonderful handy guy, Giovanni, he was able to come up with a solution for us. Basically he pulled the ‘FATHER-IN-LAW’ card on his licensed plumber son-in-law. Poor hapless guy caved and will spend a couple of days of his holiday time to come in and re-plumb the shower. He won’t know how much he can lower the platform until he takes the current one apart but just having the stall elongated and the shower door made easily accessible will make us grateful. In addition to the cost, we’ll make sure to send him home with some very nice wine and some homemade breads and cookies. And G, being the consummate American, will also tip.
Once we had a plumber anchored, we went to the large hardware outfit here at Giovanni’s suggestion; Leroy Merlin. No one knew what we were talking about after we went until our tutor instructed us on the correct pronunciation. Luh-Rah Murla(n). We perused cabinets, sinks and shower heads. After meeting with Giovanni to look over all of the possibilities, we finished and had the date of construction. His son-in-law will do all of the plumbing and Giovanni will do everything else. Damn near did a polka in the apartment. G on the other hand, jumped on the internet and booked us a hotel room for the duration of the work. Forget about dancing – no way was he going to skip a shower. Certainly not for three days.
It will be done by May 5th and certainly in time for some incoming guests staying for our June party. We decided to celebrate our 50th anniversary by taking a cruise down the Nile but since June (the actual date) is too hot for an Egypt trip, we booked it for the end of October. Trying to figure out how to celebrate the real date in June, our niece asked why we didn’t throw a party. We chomped on that idea for a while and approached our friends who own a small bar in Lille called ‘FOOL’. They’re closed on Sundays but agreed to open it for us for a three hour private party during the day.
Our upstairs neighbor and friend, Audrey, is an exceptional graphic designer so I went up with our idea for an invitation design for cards. We wanted the look of a vintage travel poster – which she whipped up in easily under an hour, for the fee of a good bottle of wine. A printer in town took care of the production and we are set. You’ll have to wait until June’s blog to see it but although I was ambivalent before, it has grabbed my imagination. The cost of the party was so reasonable that we can treat everyone to hamburgers and fries too !!
As the month wound down, we had another set of dental appointments (I can brag that my sessions going forward are now down to just biannual cleanings !!) and we got our annual Covid booster. Walking to get the shot, it was below 60 with a biting wind. I am so over winter and really very happy not to live where it’s colder. If G thought I was good at whining at the mildish winters here, he’s be shocked to see I could totally step up to a professional level of whining in a place like Buffalo, NY.
We came across these lovely stairs in our walk to the dentist just beyond normally closed doors.
And just a couple of Gās photos of a typical day in Lille right below our windows on rue Faidherbe. Enough said. See you next month!
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