21 - 25 mai

Samedi, 21 mai

Nous allons à Superlav et Wilf rentre avec deux tartes.

The regular Saturday market visit is restricted by the realisation of how much money we’d spent in the last few days, not knowing if any money had reached the French account and how much it cost to withdraw from the English one. Still, we bought fresh sardines, salad and fruit and will survive until Wilf can check online on Monday.

After lunch, we went round the corner to Superlav. It’s not one of those fancy loos but a rather “traditional” launderette. The last time I used one was about forty years ago and things haven’t changed much since, if this one’s anything to go by. We got almost everything in it a large machine which washed surprisingly quickly. We decided against the spin dryer which appeared to be held together with gaffer tape and staggered back with our soggy washing.

As a reward for something (I’m not sure what) we decided we should treat ourselves to some patisserie and Wilf returned a while later with a couple of tarts, lemon and fruit, and we then had a sharing ritual. Even half of the fruit tart must have sorted out my “five a day” ration but add in the lemon juice from the other and it was a very healthy snack.

Dimanche, 22 mai

Nous allons à la gare

We’d had a big thunderstorm in the night – long rumbles of loud thunder and lightning that managed to flash through the vents in the shutter straight into my eyes – and so, after our totally gluten-, fat- and sugar-free breakfast (oh, who am I kidding – it was croissants, bread and jam) we strolled over to the station to see where trains went.

 

It turns out they could be quite useful: the main destinations are Douai (of where we know nothing yet), Lille, Calais and Paris. Even more useful could be the weekend travel card: pay 7€ and you and your first companion can each have 50% off the price of a day return and your next three companions (of any age) can have their tickets for 10 cents each. So instead of the normal price (19€) for Lille-Calais-Lille return for one person, five people can go for 19,30€. It’s valid on weekends, public and school holidays and I’m still trying to find the catch but there really doesn’t appear to be one.

We wandered on around the boulevards, heading for the only supermarket open on Sundays (until 12.30pm), the baker’s and in search of free parking near the flat for when we have visitors. Success with all three, plus a stroll round a small park which has a large sensory area and lovely trees. It’ll be better in sunshine.

Lundi, 23 mai

Je fais la queue

Most of the day was spent in queueing and having fruitless discussions while trying to get the internet connection sorted. I will say no more.

The weather summed it up:

Mardi, 24 mai

Je retire de l’argent

Since our weekend realisation of how lacking in liquidity our funds were, we’d been super careful but there’s only so far 5 euros will go and so I went to the bank to withdraw some cash as our debit cards still hadn’t arrived. The receptionist/cashier spent quite a while going through things on the computer, I signed twice on a tablet, then she gave me a bank card. I was a bit surprised and went home (after another visit to the phone store) to find a letter that had recently arrived about PINs, etc. I’d just got into the flat when I realised that the bit about “only valid for 30 minutes” I’d read must have applied to the card, so rushed back to the cash machine which swallowed my card then gave me the money – a single-use card. Sighs of relief all round.

There may be slight progress on the phone front but I’m not overly optimistic.

Mercredi, 25 mai

J’ai marché et je vais au marché

The receptionist at the sports centre had told me that Jogging Valenciennes were a friendly group and there were some walkers, so I thought I’d risk it. There were only three runners (all too fast for me) and four walkers so I joined the latter.

We set off along the road heading out of town at a fairly leisurely pace. “We” are Monsieur, who has visited England several times over the years and speaks the language well, Bernie, Danielle, Lulu and Vénus, the latter a Jacques Rouselle dog with an incontinence problem who likes disappearing if let off the lead. It was lovely – a pleasant evening past the cemetery then through fields with poppies and other wild flowers, rabbits ("Venus!"), discarded chairs and mattresses ("Venus!"), passed three times by a police car. Topics of conversation included children’s play equipment, various visits to England, slang French words for running shoes, problems of overpronation and several impromptu recitals of various hits by The Who, The Beatles, etc. As we near home, Monsieur says to me, in perfect English, “Well, I must say, I’m completely knackered.”

We walked about five miles in a couple of hours. It was lovely, my companions were lovely (French double-kiss on the cheek on arriving and leaving) but I’m not sure I want to spend that much of an evening on it again. The club meets again on Thursdays which are usually busier so I’ll give that a try and see if there are any runners slow enough.

I had the best night’s sleep for a very long time and woke hearing the dawn chorus. Usually it’s the second or third waking when I hear the birds. I dropped off to sleep again afterwards and nearly went back to bed after my breakfast.  

It’s market day, though, so shopping had to be done. Fish, of course (mackerel and trout), plus fruit and veg. The produce is much more seasonal than at home. I overheard one woman asking if a stall had any broccoli and the reply was that it’s now time for green beans, with an implied “Why on earth are you asking me such a daft question?” I love green beans so won’t lose any sleep over the lack of broccoli.