C’est Cassée

It’s Monday and I’m thinking of doing laundry, but first I want to sweep the kitchen floor because it’s very crumby. It must be the croissants that I’m slightly addicted to. They’re very flakey and when you bite into one of them crumbs fly everywhere. Not at all like the soggy croissants in the plastic bags at Safeway. These are wonderful and a real eating experience. Yum!!!!! Today I tried a palmier as well. Double yum, and double crumb explosion!

This morning’s baguette was cheaper than usual and larger than usual. They put it directly into my bag and until now they’ve wrapped them. I might be becoming a regular! The larger size is a bit of a problem because it doesn’t fit in the microwave, which is what I’ve been using as my breadbox. Is anyone else old enough to remember the breadbox?

It’s been raining (as you may remember from the previous post) and the river level is up a bit. The current is definitely stronger. The building I’m staying in straddles the River Indre and it has flooded the town in past Springs (1910, 1982, 2009) but so far I think we’re safe. I’m waiting for a forecast of good weather to head to the coast. Maybe next week.

This reminds me a little of Venice.

There was a lack of water in my apartment first thing this morning. The toilet wouldn’t flush and there was obviously no water in the tank. In my own world I could have fixed it, but this toilet has the tank lid firmly attached. After I’d made myself presentable I was heading to the office, when I luckily came across one of the Housekeeping ladies in the hallway. Both ladies are very friendly so I gave it a shot.

Mes toilettes est cassées. (I know les toilettes is plural but is it sont cassées or est cassée – too late to correct myself now – I continued) Il semble qu’elle n’a pas de l’eau dans le réservoir. Pouvez-vous m’aider?

Well she was right on it. She came in and rattled the handle like a pro. Not having any luck she said she’d phone and after her call, which I understood none of, she said he’d be right here. Which he was. And everything is wonderful again. There is a really dedicated group of good people here. I hope the owners appreciate them. They show up for work every day, they are always cheerful and helpful, and they know what they’re doing.

There seems to be a spate of broken things in my world. Mes lunettes sont cassées et mon clavier est tombé par terre. There were pieces broken off, some of which I was able to stick back on, but some are mysteries to me. I will try to get things fixed but it’s Monday so everything is closed. The universe just keeps giving me opportunities to interact in French! It seems to be having some effect. I’ve started making notes to myself in French and I think that given enough time I could actually master the language. You CAN teach an old dog new tricks! Now if I could just master the pronunciation of sans viande so I didn’t have to repeat it so often.

Another addiction I’ve developed since arriving here is to that of macarons. I have my favourite bakery for them. I have tried several and even tried some in Tours when passing through, but they just didn’t have the perfect fat to sugar ratio in their filling. This is the bakery that does them best. Les Macarons de Martine. There’s an apartment for sale above DH!

The weather was dry while I was out and it wasn’t too cold so I headed in a direction, at random, and came across La Cimetière des Montains. It’s not mountains in French so have no idea what it means, but it was old (in parts) beautiful (in parts) and moving. Here are some pics.

2There are rules, many ceramic flowers, and it was nice and quiet.

A little further up the road (and it really was up, so maybe it does mean mountain) was another cemetery. This one much less elaborate and quite a bit newer.

Just around the corner and I was in the suburbs. See how the weather has changed.

I decided I’d better head for city centre in as straight a line as I could, and found myself on a really interesting narrow road. Both sides had old structures and all were abandoned. There were cave and stone homes with collapsed roofs, stone walls with arrow type slits, caves with doors. It was really interesting. In one of these pics you can see an old fireplace and some furniture. There was a sweater and a beer can in one. And one has a tree growing in it.

I could have hung around taking pictures for hours.

So many cool places all down one street – about 2 blocks of it. You could turn each one into a spot for different artists and have a really spectacular Medieval Artists Row!

But that’s for someone younger, with lots of money, who actually lives here.

Love to you all.