Boy have we had a busy week, not an exciting one, just a busy one. If I haven't told you already we are living in an apartment on Susan and Patrick's property that has been vacant for sometime. Due to the vacancy Susan and Patrick turned off the furnace. Well, long story short, it did not want to turn back on. This did not stop us, we called the furnace repairman, made an appointment and got to work getting the apartment set. The carpeting in the bedroom in our apartment had been torn up exposing the hardwood floors, which were covered in glue which formerly held down the carpet. This mean, break out the sanders. Angela, Susan and I spent a day sanding the floor until it looked brand new (I'm going to say it's oak, maybe French oak, which could be used to make wine, why should we be standing on it). Angela then varnished the floors and painted the room. We put together some furniture, and began setting up the apartment; it is almost completely ready now.
In addition to the apartment, Angela is having a slight medical procedure done tomorrow that involves a 2 night hospital stay. Well, in order to prepare for this she had to visit a few doctors. We are sitting in the doctor's office (which is in a hospital of sorts) and in walks a guy decked out in New York Mets gear. Anyone who knows me knows that I think of the Mets fans as a bit of a special organization. The Mets are the second baseball team in New York, rarely win and I suspect nobody would really want to be associated with the Mets unless they were actual Mets fans (hell, many of us don't want to be associated with them and we are Mets fans). Looking at the man wearing all of this gear (jacket, hat, etc.) I feel an instant camaraderie with him, like he and I are in on some sort of secret information that other people are not privy to, we know what being a Mets fan is all about and feel for each other. He's my people and I'm his. Well, it turns out, that this mutual understanding was less than mutual. As he walks by I look right at him and say "Let's go Mets." His response was to look at me like I'm insane and walk right past.
How am I the insane one in this situation. You're the guy wearing paraphernalia of an organization which you don't know from Adam. Seriously, for all this guy knows, the Mets could be some groups of misfits who can't do anything right and succeed at only crushing the dreams of children and adults alike; oh wait, I guess that is a pretty good synopsis of the Mets, but you get my point.
I recovered from the embarrassment I sustained when I spoke to the pseudo-Mets fan and the next day Angela and I decided we needed to go to the grocery store and buy some food for the house, so we went to the Casino. Now before you start getting ideas, the Casino is a supermarche (supermarket) here in France, it's not like we're degenerate gamblers who are blowing our money on blackjack when we need food. It was a bit of a windy and cold day, so I was wearing a scarf, and we purchased a whole bunch of food, including a baguette. This was my time to really be French, I had my scarf and my baguette. I threw my scarf around my neck, my baguette under my arm, and went home, tres francaise.
Many other things have happened since we've been in France, but most of them are pretty boring, even more boring that what I wrote above. The only thing I have to say is I bought a 5 Euro bottle of wine at the supermarche yesterday and it was one of the more expensive bottles of wine in the entire store. And this wasn't a small wine section, there were 3 aisles of wine. Moreover, I would put this wine as one of the 25 best wines I've ever had. Just fantastic, it was a 2006 Cotes du Rhone (rouge) made by Domain Mireille and Vincent. Just so you know, the French don't tell you what kind of grapes are used in the making of a wine, you're just supposed to know. I just looked this up and the two most popular red grape varietals in Cote du Rhone are grenache and syrah, so my guess is this was probably a blend of those two grapes.
That's all I have for right now. I suspect this blog will become more interesting after I start my classes and I butcher the French language. Who knows I might try to buy a shirt and end up in another country, never underestimate my ability to not speak French.
I've made a note about the wine and will try to track it down locally. And though the Rangers have taken over most of my heart, I know how you feel about the Mets and being a Mets fan. I was at the very first game in the Polo Grounds and the first game at Shea (I still have my commemorative seat cushion). Perhaps the pseudo fan didn't understand your language and thought you said Let's go to the metro.
ReplyDelete