16-20 mai

Lundi, 16 mai

Balaie-Supermarché

After Wilf got back from work (factory closed, office open, as yesterday had been a bank holiday) we set off for Auchan, followed a detour on the motorway and got there 40 minutes before they closed. Machine chosen, paid for then collected from somewhere else by Wilf, while I did a sort of Supermarket Sweep in the 15 minutes before they shut: . We finally found each other, paid, got home and unloaded the goods: not great success on “filling the trolley” but worthwhile nevertheless. 

He connected the washer after we’d eaten, only to find there’s a leak behind it. At least we spotted it before we flooded the building.

Mardi, 17 mai

Je recontre des voisins

I am going down the stairs and meet the cleaner, who is mopping on the second floor. We introduce ourselves and are chatting, then are joined by a woman from one of the flats. The latter is rather hard to follow, as she speaks fast and I guess she has a fairly strong local accent. I do, though, understand that she has lived in the building for forty years, moved into a smaller flat when her husband died, and thinks the flats have good views. She gives special mention to the views of the church and the supermarket.  

Valenciennes is a very quiet town.

Mercredi, 18 mai

J’ai de beaux melons

I could easily have been at the market before 9 but thought that seemed a little over-enthusiastic, so meandered up fifteen minutes later, feeling slightly nervous. I wasn’t worried about the language but about having to handle cash. On French holidays, Wilf and I have usually divided labour: I book accommodation, make phone calls, do most of the talking and he looks after the money, so I wasn’t at all familiar with the coins and found it embarrassing to be peering at each one when people were queueing behind me.

It was very quiet and there were very few queues so all was well. The different types of fish are still bewildering but everything we’ve bought from the fishmonger has been great, so I bought some sabre, a very long fillet. It tasted good later but was only in the dictionary as a type of sword so we still don’t know what we were eating. 

I green asparagus to go in a vegetable risotto but only one stall the green variety. The owner offered me two bunches but we’d already got plenty of veg and, tempting as it was, I turned it down. Melons are in season at the moment so he tried to persuade me that I needed one. 

I gave in when he offered buy-one-get-one-free then said I could have a third. BOGTF.

Sunset from the living room

Jeudi, 19 mai

Je vais à la poste

I needed to stamps for letters to England so headed to the post office after lunch. The place seemed to be filled with a long queue of men, facing to the right and reminding me of the giro scene from The Full Monty. It must have been twenty minutes before I was served, with only a few sotto voce mutterings and sighs from the assembled multitude. I got my stamps (round and blue, supporting Les Bleus in Euro 2016), served by a woman who looked familiar and who swore gently when she dropped some coins on the floor. I posted the letter, hoping that I’d put it in the “small letters, all areas” slot and went on my way.

Nobody took their clothes off.

 

Vendredi, 20 mai

Je balaie le plancher

The flat is large and has hard floors throughout, either wood, tiles or laminate, in approximately that order of coverage. I love it. I have a bit of a thing about wood and can spend some time just looking at the grain in different sections, how it varies from one piece to another, the range of colours, how the grain is more open in some areas, how it reflects the sky from the big windows. 

We didn’t bring much furniture with us so at present we have a table and six chairs, two coffee tables and two beds. We left the vacuum cleaner in Bristol so bought a shaggy dust mop so it’s quite easy and quick, despite being over 100m² of floor.

The tiles are good as well – different designs in kitchen and bathroom (so no chance of boredom setting in) and our new sponge squeezy mop does the job very well. It will be even better when I’ve invested in a larger bucket and don't have to use the waste bin.

Our time in France may well be my idea of housework heaven.