New sights, new friends, different smells and sounds. It's always exciting to be on the move but there are some quiet pleasures that can come your way when you settle down for a spell.
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| The Way Into Town |
We have been here in Corre for over a month now, waiting to have a new toilet installed, waiting for rain to pass so we can get some outside painting done and waiting for our banks to transfer our few piddling funds around.
So now, our new toilet has been installed and while the rain hasn't completely passed, we've managed to get a little painting done between the drops. Some money is beginning to float from one paltry account to another. It seems that we might be getting close to the end of our stay.
Leaving here will be almost like leaving home. We've gotten used to the rhythm and the sounds of this place. The morning and evening cawing of the hundreds of crows living in the trees next to the marina, the lowing of the cattle pastured across the canal, the mewing of our new cat friend who follows us around waiting to be fed. We know that the grocery store is closed for lunch two hours each day, that the boulangerie opens at 6:30am, that the baker brings his truck here on Sunday morning, that the pizza truck shows up in the town's square Monday and Thursdays and where to go for a deliciously cool draft beer on a warm afternoon.
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| The deck of the marina's restaurant |
We've met and gotten to know some of the people in this marina. We will miss them.
Kathy,
an artist,
a designer, a linguist, a gutsy lady. A new friend who is always there, eager to help when a translation or design advise is needed. Modest but adventuresome, Kathy will single-handle her sailboat to Majorca later this summer.
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| Kathy and her dog, Baerli |
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- Jean-Pierre, the jolly capitaine of this marina who can fix almost anything. A man whose favorite expression is "pas de probleme" and who still serenades us in the evenings by blowing a few tunes through his long and melancholy sounding alpenhorn.
- The always smiling Doris (Mrs. Jean-Pierre) whose vigilance in keeping
the public bathrooms clean and the marina's flower pots chock full of
blooms never goes un-noticed or under appreciated by us or anyone who pass
through here.
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| Flowers and just swept porch |
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- The same friendly lady from the boat Gryffindor that we met last fall and now her
mission in life, at least this spring, is to help us learn to speak
better French.
- Carmella, her pleasant husband and their dog (Yogi's
best marina-doggie friend) who helped us sell a desk we bought in
Holland which had turned out to be unsuitable for this Echo boat.
- A Swiss couple forced, because of health problems, to
sell their beloved and meticulously maintained boat after 20 years of
ownership. She and I shared a nostalgic tear one evening....but that's
our secret.
- The frail, slow-moving older gentlemen whose boat is
brimming with and over-burdened by deferred maintenance, so unlike his
current bikini-clad lady friend whom he refers to as "de new voman".
So on to a few words about toilets. We have finally moved into the 21st century...what a relief.
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| The new addition to Echooooo |
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And we suspect that this is the way Doris keeps the marina's public restroom so clean....tough consequences!
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| Take a seat, s'il vous plait |
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| Probably no translation needed -- a dire fate indeed! |
