#5 - "Who Turned Out the Lights"

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Bonjour, mes amis:

Everything is going very well here. I'm comfortable getting around by foot and by le Metro. So much is happening that I would like to share with you. My head is in a bit of a swirl.

That brings me to my first point: the cars. There are some really cool looking cars here and some that are downright ugly. The drivers all think that they are in le Gran Prix. It is not uncommon to see them sitting four abreast at a stoplight and, literally, gunning their engines anticipating the light change. Then when it does change, they race to see who will be first to get into the one-lane side street. Amazing! And they do it over and over and over!

Pedestrians here don't count for much. Most stoplights (which are very small and a shoulder height) have a "Walk/Don't Walk" sign by way of a little green man and a little red man. The little green man has become a friend of mine. Judy has reminded me several times that she was almost run over on a previous trip to Paris and she's been visibly shaken by some close calls that we've had. She's keeping a watchful eye on me so don't worry. Anyway, I think it's considered normal here to see if the drivers can psych out the pedestrians...some kind of sport. Where they're going in such a hurry is a mystery to me.

We've weathered a couple of more calamities, Judy and I. I came over here with a converter for the electric outlets (Thanks for the loan, Madeleine!) so I can recharge the batteries for my camera. That is working wonderfully. And my camera is becoming more an extension of my arm so I'm becoming much more adept with the multitude of directories it has. I have found that it can do practically everything except drive a car. I'm really looking forward to putting them in order with captions -- maybe a PowerPoint slideshow. I'll cogitate on it.

I also came with a little kettle that is just big enough to boil water for two cups of tea (about 3/4 L). On my first attempt, the kettle didn't get more than merely warm...not so good...before the circuit breaker to our room tripped. You see, the kettle has a ground prong on its plug and the converter had none. That was probably the reason. Okay, so that didn't work out very well. Then while out shopping one day, I came upon a neat little converter that accommodates the ground wire so I bought it (It's yours, Madeleine!), eager to try it out. Well, the kettle heated up fantastically -- for a couple of minutes. Then Judy turned on her bedside light to read and while we were noticing that the light didn't seem as bright as usual, the power went out. Oh-oh! Me, again! I don't believe it! It's like some little grey cloud is following me around. The German couple in the next room weren't too impressed.

Judy ran down the three flights of stairs (in the dark -- remember the fire alarm incident) to the lobby where Véronique was working the evening shift. Véronique is very young and inexperienced. She didn't have a clue what to do and wanted to call in the repairman but Judy said that she would try to switch the breakers. Véronique phoned me to see if any action brought our lights back and, for several tries, nothing happened. C'est la vie, n'est pas? Then Judy tried something else and on they came! Phew! A close one! It still makes me laugh when I think about it!

Well, those were two "bad" things that had happened. Here's the third: last night while eating a chicken sandwich, Judy's tooth broke. I know how upsetting that can be. Anna was on duty last evening. She gave us the name of a local dentist that the housekeeping staff offered. Off we went to the office to see if we could get some help for Judy (the office said that they couldn't make us an appointment but for us to just come). It wasn't very far and we were there in less than 10 minutes. The dental office was on the third floor of this very old building. The dentist brought his appointment book out to the reception area and offered an appointment for the Wednesday before we were to leave Paris. That wasn't any good for Judy so the dentist brought out another appointment book belonging to his brother, who was also a dentist, and gave her an appointment for next Monday - marginally better. Judy was worried about her tooth so I suggested to go talk to John, who owns the Internet Cafe where I am right now. Since John speaks very good English, Judy thought that that was a good plan, so off we went. It was only a block and a half away from where we were. John was wonderful. He phoned his dentist, who is very close by, and made an appointment for 9 a.m. today. Judy was visibly relieved and that was good enough for me. The rest of the evening was very quiet - no more alarms, no more broken teeth, the power didn't do out. And I wasn't allowed to touch anything! lol

Well, today, Judy is in much better spirits knowing that her tooth will be tended to. We were at the dental office before 9 a.m. and waited for the dentist. Once he arrived, we were shown into a very comfortable waiting room for a few minutes. Then Judy was brought into the examining room. She was really brave. In less than 15 minutes, she was done -- no freezing, no pain. The dentist put in a temporary filling. You know how it is when you need care for your teeth - the cost can sky-rocket. Well, it cost 75 Euros (about Cdn$130). Apparently, the dentist cleaned the tooth with a laser and didn't need to drill to put in a temporary filling. He expects that everything will be fine until we get home and Judy can go see her own dentist.

Now for the sights we've seen, we're added to our list. Today we're going to see the Salvador Dali Museum and Sacré Coeur Cathedral. We still have lots of things that we'd like to do but we're kind of playing things by ear. The heatwave has broken so it is much less fatiguing and we're sleeping great. I can't believe how I've been sleeping. You know, I'm actually sleeping about 7 hours every night. I don't remenber ever sleeping that long and without getting up through the night, either. Amazing! It must be the miles that we're walking each day.

Talk about a surreal experience. One of my students needed a paper edited for an assignment with a tight deadline. Can you believe it? Here I am in Paris, editing my student's paper. It totally amazes me, this electrical umbilical cord called the Internet. I just have one final read-through and I can send it back to her.

Well, that's my blog for today. Talk to you soon.

Take care.

love,
~Linda.

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Comments

[Mado]

You cool dudette!!
You never cease to amaze me. First the alarm, then the breaker. What next? Keep on doing your stuff, Calamity Linda! Lol!