Dog days cause Blog delays...

A couple of weeks ago I noticed that Loulou (our dog who I am blaming for most of my problems) had a wound on one of her back legs, and bearing in mind this was a Saturday afternoon and there was yet another bank holiday due on the Monday, we rushed to the vet and got there just 10 minutes before they were due to close.  Yet again my ‘fluent’ French was sorely tested but it is so difficult when you don’t even know the English word for the sticky out lump behind a dog’s back leg which looks a bit like an elbow but could even be described as a heel even though it never touches the ground.  The vet very quickly got out the razor, the staple gun and some sticky bandages and we were on our way. 

We were both quite tired after the traumatic events and after she had had a couple of hours resting and I had had a couple of glasses of wine I began to see the positive side of things – we wouldn’t be going on our usual evening walk and I could spend some ‘quality’ time on the computer.  Sadly, in my excitement, I tripped over a tennis ball which had been thoughtfully placed underneath my desk and spilt half a glass of wine all over the laptop keyboard....

... Luckily I also have an I-Pad, so as I threw a towel over the area and ran to fetch the hair-dryer, I was able to ‘Google’ the problem.  The first response I read was ‘Do not use a hair-dryer as this will cause a short-circuit’!  I followed all the advice, (Shut-down the computer, turn the whole thing upside down as quickly as possible, blot in-between the keys with tissues, allow to air-dry and under no circumstances turn it back on just to see if it works yet), but after 24 hours, although the laptop seemed to start OK and I was able to open programmes, whatever I typed came out in what looked like Russian.  I sent an email to my friendly computer man and he quickly replied that he didn’t think he would be able to fix the problem but suggested that I buy a separate keyboard.  Brilliant idea.

The easy part was ‘installing’ it, but then I realised that it was (obviously) a French keyboard.  At first glance they don’t look hugely different but for some reason there is a Q where we have an A and it always takes me half an hour to find the @ key.  However, now that I have to use the office computer regularly I felt it was time to bite the bullet and get to grips with this new method of typing.  Then came the ‘Good News/Bad News’ situation – while the keyboard layout is French there are no drivers for it on my laptop so it treats it as English!   Rather than attempting anything as ambitious as downloading drivers I have been relying on my touch-typing skills and using the French keyboard by not looking at it.  For the most part this has been working well but caused some anxiety for the computer man when he came out to sort out a recent non-wine related problem.

As long as I don’t need to type anything involving asterisks, strike-throughs, brackets etc (I always have trouble locating them) I will continue using this method – although this means that I won’t be able to relate the sad saga of the kitchen installation for quite some time as too many swear words will need blanking out with ‘special characters’...

The dog is now fully recovered and the office is now a ‘no-ball’ zone.

And in local news today ....

I have just started writing a weekly ‘round-up’ of news for a local website here and in doing so I am reminded that it is a while since I last updated this blog.  So here is a round-up of my extremely local news...

Firstly, the Carcassonne – East Midlands summer flights have begun, so now I am a regular visitor doing the airport run.  On Wednesday the waitress in the airport restaurant brought me my regular ‘Cafe Allongee’ before I had even ordered it!  The airport is in the final throes of renovation work which has been going on for 2 years now but it can only be an improvement and will be nice when it is finished.

Talking of nice things when they are finished, we finally have a kitchen!  It is such a luxury to be able to store food, cook and wash-up in one room at last and it is so beautiful that I can almost forget the fact that it has taken 10 weeks to get to this stage – in much the same way that mothers can forget the pain of childbirth when they gaze into their new baby’s eyes...  The ‘cuisiniste’ has been conspicuous by his absence during these long weeks but finally dared to show his face last week to present us with an oven glove, a bottle of wine and an enormous bill.

Having left the dog to amuse herself in the garden while I went to the airport I was dismayed when she ran to greet us and was absolutely soaking wet.  She had somehow worked out how to turn the hose on and had bitten so many holes through it that it had become a giant sprinkler system and was now her new favourite toy.  A trip to the DIY shop beckons to see if they sell ‘dog-proof’ hoses.

Also on the subject of the dog, now that the ‘summer season’ is starting we can no longer take her to the more popular beach areas due to her obsession with balls.  Despite the fact that we take her own tennis ball she is much more interested in all the footballs being kicked around by the children and has disrupted many a happy family game.  And I can only apologise to the poor gentleman who was attempting to entertain the crowds on Place Mediterranee with his juggling act.  Although it was entirely his fault for dropping so many balls, and despite the fact that I think he earned more money by having a dog as part of his act, we can never return.......

And finally.... Perpignan Properties is no more.  I have been asked to join a local estate agency which by definition means that I can no longer be considered an ‘independent property finder’ – so if anybody is interested in taking it over, don’t hesitate to contact me!  My new agency is called Beautiful South and I think I was taken on as I am the only person who can pronounce the word ‘South’ properly!  I will be the main liaison for the English-speaking clients and have already spent days on viewings, long hours trying to understand the database and even longer hours at the Prefecture sorting out all the paperwork....

I shall continue writing this blog – mainly because I hope it gives a real flavour of the realities of living life in France for those who are thinking of taking the plunge, but also because it is the easiest way of keeping in touch with my friends!