May 18th 2016

Sent 18^th May 2016

A Day In the (French)Life

0800 A persistant paw at my bedside reminds me 'Dad, it's THAT time'. After a wee and tea,pull on T-shirt and trainers and over the steep footbridge spanning the river Yonne to the multi lane promenade on the opposite bank. Stopping to pull a free poo bag from the Toutounet dispenser kindly provided by the Auxerre municipality we switch from the cycle lane to the adjacent walking lane by the riverside as a man on a skateboard whizzes by pulled by a dog on a lead. How about that Laddie? He sniffs disdainfully.

Over  at the lights to the award-winning Roy Boulangerie. The orderly queue tails out of the shop across the pavement and to the roadside. The beggar outside says bonjour to me as usual and I give his dog a treat and one for Laddie as I tie him to the railing outside the cafe next door and join the queue. Everybody watches as they wait. Quest-ce qu'il est beau! What a beauriful dog- she is so 'gentil'. Oui I say, but it's not a fifi its a toutou. Oh il est male. Quel age? etc. This happens at least 4 times on the way to the bakery and back.

Once inside , the serious business of ordering from the vast array of all types of bread, not to mention 20 perfect rows of immaculately designed tarts and buns arranged in soldier-like order not a raspberry, strawberry or chocolate one millimetre out of place.

I order 2 baguettes. I have to specify bien cuit, moyenne or past trop cuit otherwise they may try and unload some of the overcooked ones on me. Moyenne is OK. And a croissant for which I have to specify croissant beurre so I can put the jam straight on without it breaking up under the stress of a hard butter application back on the boat.

On the way back Laddie chases 2 unimpressed ducks off the slipway so he can have a drink out of the river. Back over the footbridge with poos and wees completed and hot coffee and jam awaiting.

After breakfast the gas runs out so I fit the spare cube in the almost inaccessible locker on the outside passageway and take the empty one in the car and drive to the nearby Leclerc supermarket garage (did I mention diesel is only 85 p a litre here?) Past the pumps a woman sits in a little wooden hut which takes the payments from all cash buyers, peering out through a little slot in her protective screen. I request a replacement cube and get my wallet out, having previously checked with JP that my original contract document would not be required to carry out this transaction. Votre carte d'Identite s'il vous plait?

I don't have one- I'm British - we didn't have Napoleon to organise us, and we're free. Identite or no gaz!!. I swore and zoomed off for my passport. What the purpose of this is, no-one seems to know.  The lady in the wooden hut was not pleased and gave me a rollocking for swearing at her so I had to eat humble pie to get my gas.This is typical bureaucracy which the French take for granted from birth. I won't bore you  with the details but to buy a SIM card for a mobile phone you need to produce a copy of your French bank account as well as Passport, otherwise they will only give you a one month contract.

Happily the floods have subsided now, but the current is still strong. The ducks have mastered it now, and sometimes  pass sideways,at 20mph showing off and pirouetting in the eddy round the base of the bridge support. 

BUT the canals are closed until the debris of logs and trees have been cleared.

The Fete Gastronomique at the weekend claimed 25000 visitors in 3 days and was interesting but no duck hot dogs or apple fritters this year.just the usual snail farmers and every variety of sausage and ham. I had a 3 Euro lemon and sugar crepe.

As we're moored near the passerelle foot bridge carrying the foot traffick and lots of gongoozlers peered down at us .This is a boater word for people who stand on bridges and stare at boats and boaters.

It's just started raining again after two warm days but we're redecorating the interior and can't move anyway so no worries.

Photo of boat was useless so I'll do another one next time.

Blue Moon crew.