twenty-four hours of madness

Tuesday

6:30pm Head to Eric's house a half an hour away for a barbecue. Eat lots of tasty food in the company of friends. Afterwards, goof around in the garden with a football and laugh at JP's outrageous pantomimes.

11:30pm Head back home, but notice that the car smells very strongly of gas every time it's sitting still. Turn off the vents, roll down the windows, and pray we get home safely.

Wednesday

9:30am Wake up, eat breakfast, etc. Steph takes wounded car to the friendly neighborhood garage.

10:15am Steph returns with a car which isn't ours. Turns out the gas line to the engine is about to disintigrate and is not drivable. Our friendly neighborhood garage has lent us an ancient but very drivable replacement for the interim for free, we just have to fill up the tank. Our car, which will also have an oil change and two new tires, will be ready either Thursday evening or Saturday (Friday being a national holiday).

10:45am Head to Troyes.

11:30am First stop: the park where we will host our big party next week. Steph and I never had a wedding reception after we moved here, so we decided our second anniversary would be a good time to have it. We're calling it "Mieux vaut tard comme jamais" (translation in the comments box). Today we did a final check of the hall for what will be available in the kitchen and what we'll need to bring with us (everything).

12:00pm Lunch. Buffalo Grill. Yee-haw.

1:30pm Grande surface shopping for first round of party supplies (cups, plates, plastic champagne flutes, etc.) and ordered the cheese platters.

2:30pm Book shopping and party favor idea shopping across the road at Cultura, my favorite place to drop money I don't have.

3:15pm Come-to-Jesus meeting at the unemployment office. Speak French like a four year old on a sugar high and talk about the same things we always talk about (improve written and spoken French). Walk out with the usual job notices for bilingual secretaries. Will now have to endure one of these "enlightening" meetings once a month until I find a job or I go stir-crazy and Steph has to put me in an institution.

4:30pm Arrive back home, pick up shopping bags and take off with the car. Pick up package from my sister at the post office (thanks, Junior!) and do shopping that will theoretically last through the weekend.

5:30pm Sling food into the fridge, melt on the kitchen floor from enduring 90 degree temperatures in a car with no a/c.

And tomorrow we get to do it all over again!