Summer in Paradise

A typical ???? day in the life of expats in France 

Tuesday, ELECTION DAY:  2 a.m. - Tom to bed after working on drafting job.  6 a.m. - Shirley wakes and goes downstairs to check email.  9 a.m. - telephone ? rings and Shirley answers...it is the electrician asking if he can come this morning to install new satellite...afternoon ?, no morning, but can't understand when (we were told Lundi apres midi, but no he never came).  10 a.m. - electrician arrives, Tom awake.  Mr. Le Gros installs new satellite and takes John's satellite down...it was not strong enough for our Orange cable package.  Cost:  100 euros.  He does not remove the stand, but uses John's.  He does not want $ now, he will send invoice.  He almost forgets to take satellite which he arranged with John on phone to install at John's, we all assume directly after leaving us.  John was involved when we could not understand what Mr. Le Gros was saying when he redirected John's satellite...why didn't it work?  Not strong enough...now TV works...after a week of not having new package and losing John's British TV stations..oh well, we'll have to see what happened on Downton Abbey another day...new package has only French stations, but luckily CNN and BBC news in English (in order to see Sandy damage and preparations for election).  We did not have time to vote due to our frantic packing, etc. even though Lois gave us the information to do early voting (OMG first time to NOT vote).  10:30 a.m. - Tom calls John to tell him Mr. Le Gros leaving our house with satellite dish.  Phone goes dead mid-conversation....all power to TV, internet, etc.....out.  Tom checks and circuit breaker tripped...fixed...10:45 a.m. - Tom on phone with US client and notices computer power about to go....ends call and computer goes dead...what is wrong with the charger?  Panic and Shirley calls Lynne to ask if she can look up Apple dealers in France and to tell her we now have power back...phone, etc.  She says Expert in Concarneau has Apple products.  11:30 a.m. - we dash to Expert just in time for it to close - shortly after noon, reopens 2 p.m.  Oh well, let's eat lunch..McDonald's to check email?  No, we see La Pataterie, http://www.lapataterie.com/fr/ nearby, but decide we'll try Buffalo Grille nearby,  http://www.buffalo-grill.fr/restaurants/concarneau, which we have seen before.  Free WiFi if you agree to receive emailed ads...ok, but alas it does not work..restaurant very busy...lots of families and was there school today???or another Saint's holiday???  Tom orders "Pony" menu which is chopped steak.  I get hamburger (same thing with bun).  We also got a salad as soon as we sat down before ordering...I got local red wine (no I don't want the California wine) and Tom mineral water (same price).  Instead of frites we get "jacket potatoes" with creme fraiche.  YUM..we'll do that again!  Beef ok, but not great.....2 p.m. - go to store where they only have fridges and fake Christmas trees.  But, guy looks on computer for us and says we need to go to Quimper to the Darty store......another one we've never tried.  2:30 p.m. - No Apple products at Darty, except I Pads.  They say go to E. LeClerc Espace.....just across the street....VOILA!  Yes, jackpot!!!!  Also get other Apple items useful later.....phone charger, etc. Then to the E. LeClerc grocery store down the hill to use the W.C. - only one around...they hide them!  Typical no toilet seat, but at least it has paper, soap and Dyson hand dryer.  Then notice firewood on way out of store in parking lot (3 stories outside) and remember we don't have cash...back to grocery store for ATM...then look in furniture store before we leave the shopping center...expensive!  3:30 p.m. - head home to use John's printer to print out paperwork for Calla to sell our Subaru Forester (sad) as it is too big for France! We can't find an automatic used car...pray for us!  We have no printer yet, but we leave John's for the bank in Pont Aven to wire money to shipping customs agent in Le Havre as they don't take Pay Pal or Xoom....(this has all taken almost a week to get to this point after paperwork, etc. and we think goods arrived Saturday)  5 p.m. - arrive at bank and it closed at 4 p.m.!  So home to try the bottle of beaujolais we see in the US...good.  Shirley puts clothes in dryer...washed during the 1/3 cheaper electricity from 2 - 5 p.m. and a.m. - set the circuit breaker and then stops the wash cycle and it comes on automatically at 2....dryer takes over an hour....still not dry, so set for another 30 min. at 2 a.m.  Tom happily hooks up computer and everything works!  Eat spaghetti, endive with walnuts, goat cheese and honey, and white asparagus in glass jar.  Yum.  Then watch TV for election news...not exciting...so off to bed at 9 p.m.  Tom works until 2:30 a.m.  It's now 4 a.m. and I'm too awake to sleep...not sure about who is next President....still too early to tell..so off to bed where it is warm!  Bonne nuit.....ya'll!