This winter is turning out a lot like last year’s, without the Siberian cold front (we hope). We got our first snow the other day, about 4 inches of wet, heavy snow that is still on the ground. Right afterwards, the temps dropped to a low of -7C and haven’t climbed above freezing since. It’s meant to warm up a bit and rain, so it should be gone by tomorrow. The cats haven’t really enjoyed winter much but since the arrival of the snow and cold, they’ve been even worse. Smeagol gets so wound up needing a wee that we eventually just throw him out to do his business.
We turned on the heat the other day and even got it working in our bedroom, despite warnings from the previous owners that it never works in there. When we moved in, they said that the system was a bit tricky and it was best leave it alone but after our first winter when we burned through an entire tank of gas, I’ve since gotten up the courage to make changes. The other day, I decided to see if I could get it working in the bedroom and it was so successful that Will and I were too hot the past few nights. I’ve since turned it down a bit and we’re still getting used to not having to walk on tiptoe when getting dressed.
Last week, I had my first run-in with the gendarmes. There is a woman, Sylvie, who swims the same times I do and we’ve started chatting at the pool. We decided to go for a drink after our swim and I had a couple of demis (half litre beer). On my way home, the gendarmes were at the main roundabout in St Pardoux and one flagged me over and asked for my license and carte grise (ownership papers). My UK license is in the process of being renewed so I only had my US license which isn’t valid here. I explained this to him the best I could, and also, that I was told I could drive while they are being renewed. He replied that while that may be the case in England, in France it’s a violation to drive without a license and in effect, I was also driving without insurance since it isn’t valid without a license. He then breathylized me but despite the beers, I was well under the limit. After checking my insurance, he let me go without penalty but under strict instructions to go straight home and then not to drive until my new license arrives.
As Will foretold, we had curry night here last Friday. There is a lady called Nancy who lives nearby and we’ve been talking about joining forces on curry night for some time and it finally happened. Along with her was Bryan and Carol, plus Lee and Richard. We hadn’t seen the boys since before Xmas so we exchanged gifts with them before the others arrived. This was the first month that the curry people were doing the full menu again and in addition, she’s added some monthly specials, Thai food this time around. We all had a main and shared rice, naan and chapati plus samosas, onion bahjees and popadoms. It was quite a feast and we’re very happy the full menu is back. The neighbours all left around 11 and then we and the boys demolished some untold litres of vodka, staying up till around 7am. Lee had a paint delivery in Brantome that morning at 10:30 and to our great surprise, he actually made it there and then came back here and to bed. We all got up around midday and the boys left shortly after. Will and I decided to make a day of it so had a few more drinks throughout the day and evening and passed out sometime around 10 that night.
On Monday, I had a meeting at the Pole Emploi (job centre) in order to sign up for unemployment. The meeting was at 8:30 and since I can’t drive, Will had to chauffeur me. I was glad he was there to help with translation although I only required his services once or twice throughout the hour-long meeting. My ex-boss at BCMD didn’t properly sign/date/stamp the official forms so they couldn’t accept my application right then but I’ve since met up with her so I just need to drop everything off there and then I will officially be “en chomage” (unemployed). I can’t say I’m thrilled with the idea but it gives us some time to get on our feet and we’re not really in a position to turn away money so I’ll swallow my pride.
Will had a meeting with a client on Tuesday morning and he got back around lunchtime. He noticed that the front license plate was about to fall off so tied it on with some string. I tried to rig it up a bit better but had no luck so we found a garage in St Pardoux and they sorted it in no time. We also got in some supplies since it was going to snow the next day, but not enough as it turns out. We’ve nearly run out of vodka and won’t be able to get more until tomorrow but Carol told us she has a spare bottle so we may borrow that.
On Wednesday night, we had dinner at chez Beaufils along with Bryan and Carol. We had an aperitif along with bread spread with either sun-dried tomato, aubergine caviar or tapenade. To start, we had velouté de cèpes, delicious as always. Lucien was cagey about telling us what the main was until we tried it. It was some sort of stuffed meat, sliced crosswise, served with gravy plus roast potatoes and sautéed cèpes. The mystery meat turned out to be rabbit and Will enjoyed it as much as the rest of us. Bryan and Carol used to eat it a lot when they were younger so it was a nice nostalgia trip for them. We then had a cheese course, served with dressed endives and then an apple crumble followed by digestifs. We left around 11:30 and since it had snowed a lot that day, we took our time walking home along the icy road. Bryan and Carol continued on to their place, walking in the snow to avoid the ice.
The last topic concerns Will’s hand. He’s had what looked like a blister since December and since it wasn’t going away, saw our doctor before xmas. The doctor referred him to a local dermatologist to have it removed but with the holiday season and her schedule, he wasn’t able to see her until last week. By this time, the sore has grown so much that she wasn’t able to remove it herself but she prescribed some drops and said to return in two weeks when she would refer him to a different specialist if it wasn’t better. Within a few days, it really swelled up and was causing him a lot of pain so he called her and asked to be referred to the specialist in Perigueux immediately. She agreed but wasn’t able to get him an appointment with the specialist for weeks so she gave him a letter and suggested he go the urgent care where they would treat it.
Will can drive but with difficulty and I am not meant to drive at all but both sets of neighbours offered to drive us to Perigueux. We couldn’t go on Wed due to the snow but the roads were better yesterday so Bryan and Carol took us after lunch. We went the long way around to stay on the main roads but still got there in an hour. We first went to the specialist with the letter but his secretary said he was full and to go to urgent care which we did. It was empty when we arrived around 2 but within an hour, it was very full, mostly with people with broken limbs who had slipped on the ice.
We waited three hours before Will was called back and it was another 1.5 hours before the doctor came to see him. When he did, instead of treating Will, he gave him a bollocking for trying to game the system and jump the queue by coming to urgent care. I suspect he didn’t realise how fast this thing is growing but anyway, he told Will that maybe the specialist could see him in a few hours. This whole time, Bryan and Carol had been waiting for us in the theatre nearby so I called them and told them to go. Only a few minutes later, the doctor came back and told Will that the specialist wouldn’t be able to see him that night but agreed to see him on Monday. I called Bryan and Carol and thankfully, they were still in the area which saved us a very expensive taxi ride home. Much like in the UK, Will seems to have rotten luck when it comes to health care but we’re hoping that this saga has a happy ending come Monday.