Our hopes
that the weather would cool off a bit and stay dry were not realised, although
it did stay dry. The oppressive heat continued though and this week has seen
both of us fairly wilting at times. Sitting at the computer with the fan running
at top speed, or driving in the car with the air con on are the two best
options.
After what
seemed like endless problems, with our mobile phone service provider we finally
decided to change to another company and it made sense to change to the company
which supplies our telephone and internet service. As our closest Orange/France
Telekom shop could have supplied us with a new card and set up a contract, they
would not have been able to link it to our landline account, so we did everything
by phone except, of course, get the new SIM card. For that we had to go to
Cajarc about 13 kilometres away on the bank of the Lot River. What a pleasure!
A drive in the nice cool car! We had to collect the SIM card from a ‘tabac’ in
the town. A tabac is a smallish shop that sells newspapers and magazines,
cigarettes and some sweets, souvenirs and knick-knacks and mobile phone time.
They also, in this case act as a postal depot for items arriving by courier. A
few moments later we were out in the street again clutching a rather large
padded envelope which we decided not to open until we got home and could give
it our undivided attention. Instead, we went to look for a small pottery down a
side street which had heard was owned by a South African couple. We found it
quite easily and were just in time to have a look around the shop before he
closed for lunch. We had greeted the owner as we arrived, and had introduced
ourselves, so he invited us up to his house, which is two doors away, to have something
cold to drink and to meet his wife. What a charming couple! We had to drag
ourselves away before we used up all his precious lunch hour, but I’m sure we’ll
be back again soon.
By then it
was also lunch time for us so we looked around for a cheap eating place and
found one just up the road. The had tables outside and by then there was a
whisper of a breeze, so sat down and enjoyed a long lazy lunch, watching the
cars and people go by. Like almost every town in France, Cajarc is on one of
the routes to Compostela so there were plenty of hikers coming along. Perhaps
the most unusual one was a man with a donkey. I have no idea where he started
from but I overheard him telling some-one at another table that he would be
taking five months for the walk. As both he and the donkey walk all the way, I
imagine that there are several rest days included in that. As we left, I asked
him if he would mind if I took a picture of the two of them, standing together.
He obliged and I am delighted with my photo of a pilgrim!
As we were
out and about already we thought it a
good idea to do a bit of exploring, so we took the road west out of Cajarc and
followed the river Lot for a while. We came across some weird semi-troglodytic
houses built into the cliffs on the bank of the River which have half the house
inside the cliff. Others are just built up against the cliff but it’s a strange
way to live. There were also places where the river has carved a course right
to the base of the cliffs and the road-builders have had to tunnel through the
rock to continue the road.
At Saint
Sulplice we turned away from the river and headed back to Cajarc and home
having had a lovely day out.
When we got home
we opened our package containing the new SIM card and read the instructions a
number of times until we were sure we had them right. It was apparently possible
to do this all online which is much easier than having to listen to a recorded
voice on the phone so we decided to do it that way. Isn’t it just so annoying
though when you are instructed to ‘Log on’ to whatever and then ‘select’
something which is not listed. After several attempts I eventually phoned the
helpline and got hold of a very pleasant lady who tried but could not help me. ‘For
mobile phones’ she said, ‘You will have to call a different number, but they
only speak French’. We decided to call it a day and to take the phone into
Villefranche next time we were going, which was in a couple of days time
Although they wouldn’t have been able to do
the initial work, they would be able to help with this. So a few days later we
found ourselves at the Orange shop only to be told that they were closing for a
few days and would open again on the 11th. Oh phooey! Nothing for it
then but to wait.
Meanwhile,
the shelving in the cupboard has been going on at a very slow pace, but is now
finished. I am so looking forward to hanging all my clothes in a sturdy cupboard
on a sturdy rail. When we took everything out of the collapsible cupboards, it
all got piled everywhere, and with guests arriving in ten days time, I need to
get a little order around the place.
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