Rolling

Hi guys and gals! Sorry for being so quiet, I came back to France and no longer had internet access. I am writing you from a cyber cafe in Saint Georges des Coteaux.

My trip back to France was easy and relatively cheap. Harassed by a big black prostitute within 5 minutes of breathing Parisian air. I knew the routine, been to Kenya. Got rid of her in 3 minutes. Bought mediocre strawberries and laid down in a nearby park. Observed ancient Middle-Eastern men sit on benches and speak at 1 word per minute.

Back in Charente Maritimes. Waiting to see if I get the thousand Euros towards driving school/licence. Nope, I lose. I do paperwork just in the nick of time to start my second two week volunteer period one week later.

The skinny, nervous, unshaven plumber manoeuvers through a roundabout while rolling his cigarette changing gears in a manual van. We eat at restaurants sometimes, appetizers, red wine, bread, main plates, cheese plates, desserts, coffee. The enterprise pays for that. Two hour lunches. Get at the shop at 8am, leave at 8:45, spend fifteen minutes drinking coffee and chatting with the guys at the plumber store. They don't have what we are looking for. Go to a second plumber store. Have a coffee, chat, look at newspaper, buy the part. Go to the electrician store, have a coffee, chat, buy a part. Get in van and drive 45 minutes. Work 90 minutes at the job site, have two hour lunch at restaurant.

Hubert, aka 'putain mierde' drank 3 coffees in less than an hour. He likes to swear to encourage his successful work. Actually, it doesn't seem like he has a choice, it is a habit that has become somewhat subconscious. He started working at 14 years of age. Maried at 19, child at 21. He once said the longest 'ooh la la' I have ever heard. I try hard not to laugh when he swears in frustration. It pours from his throat steadily and melodically: 'ooh la la la la la la la la la la la!' (the 'la's' alternate between high tones and low tones).

I don't do a whole lot, in fact my calf muscles get a great workout from standing for hours and hours watching. I try not to fall asleep while I watch the whole department pass by as we roll along here there and everywhere. We once drove 75 minutes one way to do a 10 minute job, and then 75 minutes back, and then 2 hour lunch.

Look into Compagnons de Tour de France, a world-renown school for tradeskills, but looks like I landed in the wrong region of France to learn Carpentry. Educational funding has become regionalized, and all the carpentry schools are elsewhere. Stephanie has family in Brittany, perhaps I can move there and go to school there...

Well I am not going to tidal wave you to try and make up for all the time lost, so I will leave it at that for now.

Cheers,
Maurizio