Patio

This morning I woke up at about 4am to the sound of conversation. I first thought it was our next door neighbors, who enter their place through the back door. But then I thought, no that sounds much closer than that. I realized there were people on our patio, which as it is a private patio in a closed residence, was a little bizarre. I tried to wake Marc up "there's people on our patio!" to which Marc responded sleepily "I guess that's okay" and then went right back into deep sleep. I went into our kitchen to find two women probably my age sitting on our porch having a smoke and a conversation. I turned on the light and they were ready to bolt like startled animals, but then thought better of it. I opened the door and probably more than a little gruffly said "uh, we're sleeping" they smiled sweetly, apologized politely and left.

A taxi ride to remember

Because of the aforementioned snow, Marc and I finally decided that we need a car. We went to pick it up monday morning and because the buses weren't running (à cause de la neige) we decided to take a cab. Or more accurately we hitched a ride in a cab with a new friend we'd met the day before. This whole process was crazy. It was bumper to bumper traffic since no one knows how to drive in the snow in Avignon, the buses weren't running and the sidewalks had not been cleared of snow so the majority of people were walking in the middle of the street causing traffic to slow even further. At one point the driver sees a woman he knows walking in the street and stops to say hi. The next thing we know, the aforementioned woman has hopped into the passenger seat and is shooting the shit with our driver. The driver proceeds to flirt shamelessly and persistently with the woman for the next half hour without a thought for his customers - the french business model at work! An hour or so after our departure we finally end up at the car dealership and our very own transportation device.

Snow

I never thought I would miss much about Boston (aside from friends, and really I'd probably like them all more if they didn't live in Boston) and I can't say that I really do, however the snow that struck Avignon last week made me miss the efficiency with which Boston deals with snow. The first day was cool, Marc didn't have to go to work (neither did anyone else), snowmen were built, playing was done, it was pretty, etc. After that first day the snow hardened into ice and none of it was cleared. For FIVE days. Sidewalks were pretty impossible to navigate, none of the buses ran, the mail didn't come, meetings were canceled, à cause de la neige. Finally on thursday (it snowed last friday) there was a lone city employee shoveling one of the sidewalks near our house.