I woke up yesterday not being able to speak. My throat was sore, my head ached, I was unreasonably tired. Oh dear, not today! Today I'm too busy to be sick! I've got things to do and people to see today! Alas, it couldn't be helped. I sucked down some tea after a quick shower and set off.
Item one on my to-do list was to meet V to go set up my French bank account. The paperwork involved in setting up a French bank account is not dissimilar to the paperwork involved in buying a house. That is, there's a lot. They needed my work contract, my passport, my student card, and of course V there to translate. Our banker then needed to go and fetch his associate banker friend to help. There was some discussion about whether or not I would be buying things online. I was confused. Would this change something? Does the bank not work online? Why would the bank not work online? I guess it was eventually decided that I most likely would be buying things online because I am young. Ok then. I was then given a million papers to sign and initial, wondering if any of this was going to cost me money. V then put in next week's hundred euros for me, and boom. That much closer to full on Frenchy.
My throat was still sore. I needed some tea or coffee or something. But there was no time. I had to meet my friends at the Musee D'Orsay. I lingered a bit, suspecting the others would be late. I should have lingered more as I ended up standing around in the rain alone anyway. I would have had time for that cup of tea. As I was wondering whether to go inside where it was sure to be warm but I might have to pay for something or just loiter, wet and cold, outside for free, I got a call from Bea who was also standing around outside having a similar internal debate. So we stood around together by the rhinoceros statue, and waited. We did have a good chat and it might have been nice if not for the cold and rain. "I really want some tea and cake," she said. Girl, you have no idea. Eventually the others did arrive and we got into the museum (for free! My favorite word!), and realized none of us had much time to spend there. We wondered about, Jane took some illegal pictures, and we were honestly most amused by a very intense looking conversation happening between a couple in the middle of the Impressionist gallery, because we are uncultured ruffians.
"What do you think they're talking about?"
"He's mad at her about something."
"Maybe he thinks she's been flirting with other guys."
"Maybe we should give them some privacy..."
"If you want privacy then don't do this in the middle of the Musee D'Orsay."
"Maybe he just wants her to dye her hair back."
"I bet she's breaking up with him."
"Oh look, now they're holding hands!"
"Okay we have now officially stopped being subtle."
We sidled away and someone mentioned tea again. Oh please. Some tea. My kingdom for a cup of tea. I looked at the time. 3:20. Would have to leave soon. We passed the museum's restaurant, creatively named The Restaurant. It was expensive of course, we could tell just by the chandeliers. "Perhaps there's a cafe or something also?" We set off in search of a cafe, which turned out to be on the fifth floor, with prices identical to The Restaurant anyway. 6 euros for a cup of tea is a lot of euros. Honestly, I would have just choked it down, but I couldn't ask other people to do that, and we left a bit sadly. In any case, it was now 3:45 and I really needed to be off. "Well, see you all later tonight," I croaked, and ran to the bus.
Because God is good and really wants me to be happy, I made it home with enough time to stop by Starbucks for a latte before picking up Le Petit. Some habits never die.
No comments:
Post a Comment