5th November

I slept so much better last night and it’s a lovely morning 🙂

First job this morning was to (finally!) sort out my voting forms. The library was open. Hurrah! But the “discotheque” that I needed wasn’t. It would be though at 1pm! I looked up the word discotheque and it means, of course, a “disco/nightclub” but it also means a “collection of records, CDs etc”

I decided to carry on into town and go to the supermarket and there seemed to be a lot of activity on the bridge over the river where I’d seen a man fishing a few days back. This time there were several people actually in the river, wearing long waders and carrying fishing nets. They were moving very slowly down the river towards the bridge. There were other people too, similarly dressed, on the banks with large buckets and, on the other side of the bridge they had made a dam using a big piece of wood. Lots of people were stopping to look. I stood there for ages watching and also wondering what they were catching and whether this was a regular, or annual, event. I still don’t know now! But everyone was having a jolly good time 🙂

I bought some Christmas presents for little people in a lovely children’s clothes shop today and the packaging is almost as gorgeous as the gifts!

I went back to the library at 1pm and headed for the discotheque! It was indeed full of lendable music- and had some fabulous music posters on the walls. I explained what I needed, ie the forms from the email on my phone printing out for me to then fill in and send back to Kirklees. The man said could I find the forms on the internet instead and luckily I could. We printed them off, I came home and filled them in and emailed to the nice man at Kirklees and thought “job done”.

I’ve seen the signs for the castle in Vendôme every time I’ve left the town to visit somewhere else so, as it was a lovely day, I decided I would go exploring and find it on foot. I’m so glad I did. It’s a beautiful old ruin, with lovely gardens and stunning views over the town. There was a gardener working there and I stopped to comment on how beautiful it was and we had a really nice chat. She told me that she lived in Brittany for a time but is now back in Vendôme. She said she feels her heart is here- and I completely understand why. I love it here. It’s really drawing me in. It’s got everything. Architecture, beautiful parks and buildings and is typically French but, important for me, it also has shops and restaurants and a busyness about it. I stopped off again, on the way home, to look in several estate agent windows!

Oh, Madame la Jardinière also said my French was very good- which was nice and encouraging:)

So Lindy Hop tonight! I was nervous but really looking forward to it. I was feeling confident too as I had managed to have three good conversations in French already that day and not a word of English spoken! And yes, I was hopeful that the guy I met at Chaumont would show up.

I got a reply from the nice man at Kirklees at about 4.30pm saying I hadn’t filled my forms in properly and would I do it again! I checked and checked but couldn’t see what he meant so I rang him but he wasn’t available. It sounds silly but it wasn’t the easiest of conversations that I had at the library, although everyone was very kind and helpful. It’s just that words such as “proxy vote” aren’t (or weren’t) really in my French vocabulary! So to think I might have to do it all again was a bit of a concern. And of course, with the election coming up, I also need to sort this out pronto.

Anyway, I had a lovely soak and got dressed up, really for the first time since I came to France, had tea and then it was time to set off to dance! I’m glad that I had already driven this way several times before and in daylight, because it was very dark and there were few lights and few cars and a lot of the route is really in the middle of nowhere. However, I did feel pretty pleased with myself that I am beginning to recognise places and wasn’t wholly relying on my satnav for at least part of the journey. Almost like a local! 🙂

It was a 40 minute drive and I got there, and parked up on the road that the dance school is on, about 15 minutes before the lesson was due to start at 8:30pm. My satnav said that I was 300 metres away and so I walked down the street to find the place. Quite nervous but so glad I’d come.

I couldn’t find it! I walked all the way down the street, more than 300 metres I’m sure, and then back up again and still I couldn’t find it! It was like looking for the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix in Harry Potter! By this time it was past 8:30 and worse than going somewhere on your own is going into that place late, and I still couldn’t find it anyway, so I decided I’d better just come home. I walked back to the car past bars and restaurants and a cinema too. On the other side of the street there was an event being held in a building that looked like a museum. Having come all that way it seemed ridiculous to be just turning round and going home but the only thing I could have done was go for a drink and, although in England I will allow myself just one single gin and tonic if I’m driving, here I wouldn’t even consider having one at all.

I got in the car and double checked- triple checked even- that I was actually in the right place! I was. Then I set off and the fun started. My satnav and I got completely lost! We went round in circles until finally we were back on familiar roads.

That’s when the tears started and I couldn’t stop them. Not even red wine, TUC biscuits and chocolate could stop them. I felt completely defeated and disappointed and on my own. What had started out as a lovey day had rather gone down hill. And I’d got to ring bloody Kirklees council again in the morning.

Pas une bonne nuit 😦