Mises à Jour (Updates)

Looking down Rue du Minage from our balcony

As you read this, we will be on our way to Paris. We have rented a small apartment for the week so will become, for a short time, inhabitants of the 12th arrondissement, close to the river and an easy walk to many of the important sites. This will therefore be short--just a few updates on past posts.

In late breaking news, David is now legal, with papers. The visit to the University of La Rochelle OFII office was very relaxed and easy. We were back home in less than an hour!

And, our dear friends, Géry and Marie have just accepted jobs in Africa and will be leaving in April. We are thrilled for them as this is a long-standing dream of theirs. However, we are sad for us as they have been such an important part of our life in La Rochelle.

M. Grue continues to work away building the new apartments. He seems to sit idle more often now. Today I noticed that he was bent over what looked like a book in his cabin high in the sky. I fantasized that he was reading Camus. David took a good look with the binoculars and reported that he was playing games on his telephone!

Madame continues to intrigue us. She has become 'Blondie' to us now and if we happen to be on our balcony when she is opening her shutters, she waves vigourously. Maybe one of these days, we will meet in the street and be able to have a conversation.

'Les gars' have given up the barbecue--too cold for them, I guess. They are either very serious students or waiters. Their lights are on in the early hours of the morning all through the week. Their cat continues to amuse us as she leaps across the rooftops and sits by their window waiting to be let in. We have even seen her rapping on the window with her paw.

The duel of the two restaurants persists and we continue to wonder how they manage to remain open.

We are becoming friendly with Olivier of the Sex Book Shop. He became quite emotional when I took him Christmas cookies and we have begun to have chats as he stands by his door smoking. He is very pleased that we are going to Paris as he is a Parisian himself. "I don't want to be a chauvinist," he said, "but there is no capital city like Paris."

We will let you know if he is right!