Eichhoffen Monday 3 October

The Flymobile had close to zero petrol in it when they handed it over. Also only 11klms on the clock.   So the first task today was to find fuel.  There are not a lot of service stations to be seen. I consulted the GPS and the Voice dutifully led me to a village 5 klms away, Barr, right to the petrol place.  It was unstaffed, but instructions said to insert your card.  Which I did.  Payment refused, it said. Tried another card – same outcome.  Watched the man on the other side of the bowser, and saw he had a particular type of card, so I asked him how to deal.  He gesticulated wildly, said something about sur la route, and then drove off, leaving me none the wiser.  Eventually I realised that the insignia on the petrol place was the same as that on the supermarket over the way, so over there I went, and found a very helpful woman.  Yes you have to buy a card at the checkout, for 2 euros, and then have value added to it. Just like the photocopy cards at Uni.  But a new concept for petrol, for the fly at any rate.  Soon the car had a full tummy and fly was more relaxed.  BTW, petrol is expensive 1.59 euros per litre. It took 60 euros to fill the little Peugeot.  Also did some shopping at the supermarket and now feel quite domesticated here.

Eichhoffen, Alsace 1

Finally here in my gite in Eichhoffen.  Well, not actually the gite I booked.  I cannot go into it until Thursday for some reason, but I am in a bigger one in the meantime.  (There are several on the property).  A Saturday of negotiating trains and platforms and stations, with luggage, ended well.  Peggy  and her son Louis hurtled up to the station at Eichhoffen to pick me up, in an open jeep buggy.  They are very friendly, Louis is a high school student, and carried my bag, so obviously a very nice boy.

Eichhoffen is really tiny – only one boulangerie, and one restaurant, which was not open on Saturday evening.  I will have to watch out and see when it is open!  Apparently it is owned by an Englishman. But Andlau is 2 klms that way and Barr is 4 klms the other way, and they have supermarkets!  Tomorrow I will go shopping.

I am luxuriating in having a washing machine – first time to wash in one for 8 weeks, and an iron, which my clothes have not seen at all since home.  (You can get by without ironing, and No 1 son has been telling me for years).

And now, Fly has wheels!  A major hurdle has been tackled OK.  Back to the train station this morning, train to Entzheim Aeroport station, to pick up the car.  I was at the Eichhoffen station early, and got chatting with the one other person waiting, a young French-Algerian man.  I think he told me his life story, but I missed most of it.  Later, he said he did not usually say that sort of thing, so I said, Don’t worry, I have not understood much of it!  By the time we got to Entzheim we were good friends and had a hug before I got off the train.

There was some problem with the car.  I don’t know what.  I just smiled and nodded and looked confident, and eventually the young man produced a car for me.  I did have to sit around and read my Kindle for a while, but that was OK.  The paperwork was all in order, but I think someone had forgotten to actually deliver the car to the airport to be picked up.  But they got cracking, and now I have a new Peugeot 207, in a silver grey colour. I drove round the airport parking area a couple of times, and found, as Maleny Girl had assured me, that sitting in the left of the car and using the gear stick with the right hand does just happen naturally.  Then, to get out on the road and drive on the right.  Well, there was no other choice.  So just drifted along with the traffic, - they did all pass me – and eventually I was back at Eichhoffen. Whew!  But it was lovely driving through vineyards, in perfect weather,  with the Vosges on my right and passing the many villages which I will explore over the coming weeks. 

Amboise - last days

The time here has gone quickly, but I feel as though I belong here.  Perhaps some year soon, I will come for three months or so of classes– I need that long to get my French under control. It is somewhat errant at the moment, and my facial muscles do not want to do the extravagant contortions that Les Profs demand of us to get the variations between three ways of saying “e”. Nevertheless, after a test yesterday, they gave me a certificate today, saying I am at Level B1 of the classification table for European languages. (B1 =  Long way to go).

There have been Government inspectors at the School the last three days; two of them, dropping in on classes and having meetings with students.  I think the students are very happy with what they are getting.  Apparently most of the young German students are here on German Government funding.  They expressed great contentment not only with the classes but at being able to have long picnic lunches by the Loire and spend weekends at Chateaux etc.  Everyone has long lunches – all the businesses close from 12 until 3pm, even the Post Office and Banks.  It is a big gap in the day, as the PO closes again at 5pm.

 I have been there (PO) several times over the past few days, trying to get my phone working. Following the instructions on the new phone proved to be beyond B1 level competency, so back to my friends at the PO.  Then I was supposed to receive an SMS with the number of my new phone, but no SMS.  This time, everyone in the PO said Bonjour with a big smile.  They know me now! And they made sure I got a number for my phone.

I have just managed my first call, to the owner of the gite I am going to in Eichhoffen tomorrow afternoon.  She will meet me at the station there, which is a relief. As the Eichhoffen site online says there are no taxis there.  (In fact, it is very difficult to get one in Amboise).

 Today, wandering along the river for the last time, an interesting spectacle – a Japanese Bridal Bus.  The Gold Coast is not the only place the Japanese visit for a Western Wedding.  There were eleven couples, fully attired in frothy white for the brides, and various suit styles for the men, and they were being driven to various points of interest in Amboise at which to be photographed.  It was very hot, and I felt for them.  One bride had a bottle of water dangling from her bouquet, while her husband carried her shoes.  But the pics will surely be lovely.

My last dinner with Madame and the students was lovely, and not just the food.  They have given me a pair of earrings to remember them all by – well chosen by Elena.  And then Madame produced her “book”, in which all her students write something, and she took a photo for the book also.  She has seventeen books, the record of all the students she has hosted in her home over twenty years.  I asked if she would be giving the set of books, in the future, to the Library, as they are a wonderful record of international relations at grass-roots level.  Probably more important than much of what goes on  under the guise of international relations in its official capacity. 

I will really miss these people and this place.

Amboise Wednesday 2

Still hot.  Wishing I had a cool cotton summer skirt such as many of the women are drifting around in, instead of only jeans and slacks.  It is hottest from about 3 – 6pm, which is why they don’t eat until well after 7pm. 

At the PO yesterday, bought a sim card for my phone and a recharge voucher – only to find that my phone was blocked by Optus, and I cannot use it with another sim card.  So today bought another phone with new sim card etc.  This has been and still is a challenge.  I am not sure at this point if I am going to get myself on the air.  At the moment, the phone has the sim card in it, and is charging.  Next step might be easy, but the printed instructions in the manual are so small I am having trouble reading them.  Visit to the optometrist needed when I get home. 

Amboise Tuesday 2

Perhaps the French Railways should send their staff to the same Customer Service Training that the Post Office uses.  Today fly had a very pleasant encounter with the French postal system.  Did I mention I bought some tapestries?  Well, I did.  I have just the spot for them in the house at the Hummock.  Too heavy to cart around, so had to be sent home.  The staff at the PO – all women - were extremely helpful.  The place is well-staffed, with at least one person always out on the floor helping people, not behind a counter.  They helped me find the right box for overseas consignments, and explained, in slow French, what I had to do.  When I wrote patisseries instead of tapisseries on the document, we all had a good giggle. Imagine a box of the former arriving in Oz in a few weeks’ time! The tapisseries are on the way now, the only unresolved matter is whether the tax will be reimbursed.  Que sera!

Last night we dined out in the garden – it is so warm, the nights balmy and light until 9pm.  We were accompanied again by grandchildren Lucie and Mathius.  On Sunday, Mathius had been baptised, and was the centre of une grande fete.  He nodded solemnly in acknowledgement of this when asked about it, and then proceeded to demolish a plateful of lapin (rabbit) and enough lettuce to feed a legion of rabbits.  (They are so good at eating their salad and vegies, these kids).  He is a very beautiful child, and chirrups away in perfectly enunciated French.  We students around the table are jealous. He then climbed out of the high chair and took to his “voiture” to run down some chooks. His sister Lucie is serious behind fashionable glasses – she is five years old – and acts as though she is his mother.  We do not see much of the four poodles.  They and the chooks do not get along, so they are often confined to quarters at the back of the house.  The chooks on the other hand have the run of the whole place, and generously fertilize everything.