This morning we had to take the Citroën in to the garage, the third time. The previous times, even though they made the appointments, the part was not there yet. Fortunately third time lucky. We went with both cars as JL told me it might take long (for me they've said 1 hr). The snow turned into ice and we were almost late as we had to spend time clearing the ice on the windscreens before we could leave. The ESP of the car kicked in a few times (something to do with keeping the car in its tracks) on the icy road. When they told us the car will be ready by 4.30, we've decided to rather come back home and do the shopping this afternoon. Mistake! This afternoon we got the car, then with two cars to Decathlon. Now, things are much much more expensive in France than in SA. But we have a few gems. One of them Decathlon - a huge sport shop where you can buy anything for any type of sport, with the clothes less expensive than in SA. The aim was to buy snow shoes, that is, shoes to walk with in the snow without fearing you're going to make a gymastic move you could never achieve in school and to finish the move by breaking your back or neck or leg. However, the shoes didn't fit well and the one's accessory fell off while fitting it. On which I've decided it must have been made in China, I rather not buy it. So without shoes we left the shop, the food shopping the next stop. The number of cars on the road made us decide against the hypermarket close by. I'll brave that early on Wednesday morning. Instead we chose to meet at Picard (like a Woolies but only with frozen food) as JL had to fill up his car. Now, just to explain. At Picard I'll normally be the only person in the shop if I go in the middle of the day, with one lady working in the shop. At other times, there might be one or two more couples, max two people working in the shop. Today, cars were queuing for parking, you had to wait for people to leave before you could park. In the shop you could hardly move around and between the crowd of people staff members were franticly unpacking boxes into the freezers. I was relieved when JL arrived and we've decided to only buy food for tonight. I think I got too used to my village life, the complete chaos I just couldn't bear. Then, by the time we left the shop it was 5pm and already dark grey outside. And peak traffic, earlier than usual. The dashboard warned against the risk of black ice.
I had to drive through two other villages to get to Verzenay. Each village with their lights and Christmas decorations. You actually start to get the feel for Christmas. Then, as I drove up to Verzenay, looking at the lights of the village surrounded by the snow covered vineyards and forest, with the Christmas lights at the entrance of the village, I felt better. I love my village life and I look forward to a white Christmas this year. Tomorrow I have to brave Paris as we have to be there for the day, I fear it will be even more chaos. One place I know I'll avoid for sure is Lafayette. There they will trample you during the year, so during Christmas you'll have no chance, I'm sure!
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