Laying new foundations

The old life has been demolished and the recent past needs to be put behind me. I'm putting things back together- wiser and a lot poorer.
Camille took me to see a friend who sells cars. He can find me a little car, easy for me to manage. The bad news is he said I was definitely over charged for the Peugeot 307 SW. The exercise will have lost me extra euros on the car plus 600 euros for expenses. I haven't received anything about the maintenance of the car and I need this for the sale.

I have to trust Camille and her contact because I don't know the market here, I need money for food and I'm still paying insurance and parking so I might as well get on with it and sell the damn thing and start again. More costs with another change of ownership but it should be less this time. I will try out the car they recommend and not feel obliged to buy it but I DO need to flick the other one asap. I cannot afford to wait 3-4 months holding out for the best price. It would still be a lot less than I paid for it.By driving my future car I will gain driving experience, confidence and independence. That's important to me right now.

Yesterday my new DVD player arrived from NZ. Thanks for getting it to me Stephen. It was so exciting, I was like a kid at Christmas. Easy to set up with my new telly, played one of my DVDs no problem. It plays any format but only plays region 4 so I can't use it to play french DVDS. Doesn't matter as I'd already bought a cheap one of those. It makes such a difference having something that works, that will entertain me and that I can use to connect to NZ from time to time. I'm not homesick but I have so few belongings it's lovely to be able to use the ones I do have.

The weather here continues to worsen. First day of December and we are never above zero. The cold snap is severe in Europe, snow even in Paris. I watched the fine snow flurries swirling around me tonight. It was beautiful and seemed in slow motion like something out the The Matrix. A lot of trains are cancelled due to the severe weather conditions. I hope I can get to work tomorrow and I need to get to the NZ Embassy on Friday.

Interesting tip 1: If you are wandering the streets of Paris in winter head to a church, locate a grating in the floor and stand over it. You may get some strange looks (I didn't) but there will be a delicious wave of heat flowing up under your coat.It thawed me out enough to get to a macDo (french golden arches) for a desperate feed of french fries and a latte.

Interesting tip 2: If you get lost in Paris head for the river. If you get lost looking for a train head for the Montparnasse Tower. The station is adjacent

Photos of St Sulpice, freezing birds in Paris and other sights from last Sunday.