Rebuilding

Little by little I am putting my life back together after the robbery in the Metro. I now have a replacement Carte Bleue and a new NZ Visa. The later cost a lot of money to get here but full marks to the ASB for having a 24 hour emergency service manned by NZers,and responding very promptly to cancelling my stolen VISA and getting a new one to me. A little more rigmarole to replace the French one but, once again, with the help of a colleague, I now have access to funds. Almost nothing, but I did manage to buy some groceries so that's cool. Replacing my drivers license is another ball game. There are no such things as Justices of the Peace here who can sign and validate a photocopy of a document. I need that because NZ Land Transport says to send various ones to them, not original documents. I will need to ask the NZ Embassy in Paris if they can do that for me. If yes, I will have to take a day off work to travel to Paris-what a pain.

I'm also having to take next Friday off because my personal effects arrive from NZ to the studio. It's ridiculous, they don't deliver on Saturdays. I wonder if there will come a time when I am actually 'settled' without all this moving and bureaucratic crap to deal with. I still need to find some wrapping paper so I can post Christmas presents to NZ. Such a simple detail is so difficult to do. Bookshops are not common and my local supermarket doesn't stock anything like that. Most of the time I cannot do this shopping because I am working during opening hours. I get things done eventually but great patience is required.

I may get my car tomorrow. The boss is leaving for NZ for a few weeks so it needs to get sorted tomorrow. He also popped in to collect some of the small stuff in the studio so my home is a little less cluttered. Before Christmas I am hoping his enormous wall unit will be gone so I can set up my stereo and not have to get bruised each day trying to get around the corner of my bed. My new curtains will function better too with more room.

Last Tuesday Bent kindly picked me up from work and came over to install my curtains. It was a job and a half. The drill couldn't penetrate the wall coverings/wood properly and the windows are at the end of reach of a man of normal height standing on a rickety table. It's not fancy. There's no room at the top to install a normal tringle so I had to use a metal cable instead. It sags a bit but at least the curtains are up.

Yesterday I took Bent to Rambouillet to see the castle. We did the tour inside. Yes, it's lovely, visited the seashell cottage and the Queen's Dairy. Awesome. Ancient air-conditioning at the cottage was achieved by embedding thigh bones of cattle into the walls to conduct the humidity outside. Very clever-see my photo.

Bent and I have had some intensive/extensive discussion in recent days. Despite our very different backgrounds and life experiences we enjoy each others company. We are not what we 'expected to meet'. I needed to consult with the lovely ladies at work to see if I should be considering a relationship with a man with such a past but, french attitudes are less rigid than in NZ. Their advice was that if he treats you well now and does not have the old behaviours then give it a go. And I think he deserves a chance. So we'll see. Could 2010 be the year when Frances achieves almost all her dreams?
Stick with this blog. I suspect my adventures may only be 'getting started'.