Nous sommes ici!

Steve at the pub.

Well it is now Sunday, July 2 at just after 8:00 in the evening, or should I say 20 h et nous sommes ici. Not only are we here, we have prepared the house for our guests who arrive tomorrow, chatted with our friends, Linda and Andrew, who also keep care of the house while we aren't here, had a few pints at the pub, and enjoyed the concert of a duo playing an eclectic mix of music. It doesn't take much to slip back into the life of Bellac. We even had a nap this afternoon, but that might have something to do with the jet lag. 

The jet lag was a result of a Canada Day from hell. I left Port Coquitlam around 10:20 am on Friday and took a bus, sky train, another bus and then Canada Line to get to the airport. Steve left Waterloo about the same time 1:00 pm, with a 2 hour drive on the 401 on an Airways van. His flight was Air France direct to Paris and I was on a KLM flight to Amsterdam and then a connecting flight to Paris. We spent Canada arriving in Europe. While I breezed through


customs and on to my connecting flight, Steve spent 1.5 hours waiting in the customs line in Paris. This cut down on the time waiting for me, but my connecting flight was 20 minutes late. We met at the luggage carrousel through a hole in the security wall as if I was in prison. I gave Steve the details of our rental car, and by the time my bag came around the carrousel and got out to the cars, he had the keys and we were on our way.  Planes, Trains, Cars, Buses, and Vans II. 

So now it is almost 3:00 pm on Saturday, and we  up the GPS, and were on our way for the 5 hour drive to Bellac. You have to remember that Steve had no sleep on his flight, and I think I slept for a few hours, so the prospects of sleep were quite real. We made it out of the airport, and found the A104. By the time we passed the first gas station pull over, we pulled over for a quick nap, well Steve napped and I got a drink and some chips. The next stop, we changed drivers and with a snoring passenger, I set off. Later I started feeling a little sleepy and at one of the many rest stops, aires, we switched drivers again. Further down the toll highway, Steve needed a nap and we both slept for a while. After waking up, surprised that I even fell asleep, I asked the GPS where the closest motel was and programmed the stop. Before setting off, we went into the shops, and realized that Red Bull and a coffee might be the answer to our problems, and what a solution. This took us all the way for the next hour and a half to Bellac. A less expensive choice to a hotel room, and we did get home safely to sleep in our own bed.

Our first day was spent getting the feel for the house again, and waiting for the store to open. We discovered that our washing machine was making all the right noises, but not going through any motions. The towels we heavy with water after several spins. This meant a trip to the laundrette where we meet a nice Scottish woman who showed us how the French run a laundry. We chatted about washing machine repair with her, and this might be an option. We apologize to our guests who might have found the washing machine quite ineffective when they tried to use it. We are presently shopping for a new washer during the summer sales. 

After a nap for a couple of hours in the afternoon.

(Sorry but blogger and my computer are acting up, and so is my back, but I wanted to get something up and running. Keep checking back as I hope I can remaster how it all works very soon....)