Adventures and misadventures
This morning's task was to go with Ben to the excellent Espace Etudiants at Capucins to register them for child allowance. It all seemed so clear-cut and easy. Ha !
First thing - a man had barricaded the Park and Ride with his Renault Scenic. He came back to explain to us. "No trams", he said. "But we just saw a tram..." Anyway, there were trams, as far as Doyen Brus, then a shuttle bus because of an incident between Doyen Brus and St Nicolas. OK. We parked, we trammed, we bussed, we boldly strode to Capucins.
A nice lady at the CAF stand (Caisse d'Allocations Familiales) said to answer the questions on the computer screen, then she went away. We did that, and it started to print out a 13-page form to fill in. "Oh, that's wrong", she said, scuttling back, "Wait, he has children ?" (Ben later reflected on the surprise people generally show when they discover that he has children.) The 13 page form is right, and two pages have to be filled in by his landlord, then he has to post it off. So we went to MacDonalds for a coffee and to fill in the forms. (A chap was there using the free wifi on his MacBook. Why are MacBooks so cool and laptops so naff ?)
Then we thronged by the bus stop, then surged onto the shuttle bus back to Peixotto where we teemed onto the tram to Unitec and the Park and Ride. A tiny elderly lady worried that she would not get to Pessac. I tried to reassure her that, whether by tram or bus, they would take her to Pessac and I like to think that they did. I think she was a nun. Either that or she was just a tiny elderly lady who likes white blouses, navy cardigans and large porcelain crosses.
This evening we performed a complicated manoeuvre to enable us to pick up Gwilym at 4:30 and Catrin at 4:45 while simultaneously taking Gwilym to the doctor to have his toe checked. It kind of worked, except that at about 7pm Pat started to worry that she'd got the day of the appointment wrong, so she texted me asking me to phone the receptionist and check. Well, I looked up the number, rang the receptionist and explained the problem.
"But if the appointment is at 4:45 today then it is already past", puzzled the receptionist.
"Well, yes" I said, "and she has been sat in the waiting room since 4:45. That's why she thinks she may have the day wrong."
Next thing I knew there was a deep voice on the line. That of the doctor. I explained why I was calling. "She's in with me now," he said, "we're running late and I've just removed the dressing."
I made my hasty apologies and beat a hasty retreat !
First thing - a man had barricaded the Park and Ride with his Renault Scenic. He came back to explain to us. "No trams", he said. "But we just saw a tram..." Anyway, there were trams, as far as Doyen Brus, then a shuttle bus because of an incident between Doyen Brus and St Nicolas. OK. We parked, we trammed, we bussed, we boldly strode to Capucins.
A nice lady at the CAF stand (Caisse d'Allocations Familiales) said to answer the questions on the computer screen, then she went away. We did that, and it started to print out a 13-page form to fill in. "Oh, that's wrong", she said, scuttling back, "Wait, he has children ?" (Ben later reflected on the surprise people generally show when they discover that he has children.) The 13 page form is right, and two pages have to be filled in by his landlord, then he has to post it off. So we went to MacDonalds for a coffee and to fill in the forms. (A chap was there using the free wifi on his MacBook. Why are MacBooks so cool and laptops so naff ?)
Then we thronged by the bus stop, then surged onto the shuttle bus back to Peixotto where we teemed onto the tram to Unitec and the Park and Ride. A tiny elderly lady worried that she would not get to Pessac. I tried to reassure her that, whether by tram or bus, they would take her to Pessac and I like to think that they did. I think she was a nun. Either that or she was just a tiny elderly lady who likes white blouses, navy cardigans and large porcelain crosses.
This evening we performed a complicated manoeuvre to enable us to pick up Gwilym at 4:30 and Catrin at 4:45 while simultaneously taking Gwilym to the doctor to have his toe checked. It kind of worked, except that at about 7pm Pat started to worry that she'd got the day of the appointment wrong, so she texted me asking me to phone the receptionist and check. Well, I looked up the number, rang the receptionist and explained the problem.
"But if the appointment is at 4:45 today then it is already past", puzzled the receptionist.
"Well, yes" I said, "and she has been sat in the waiting room since 4:45. That's why she thinks she may have the day wrong."
Next thing I knew there was a deep voice on the line. That of the doctor. I explained why I was calling. "She's in with me now," he said, "we're running late and I've just removed the dressing."
I made my hasty apologies and beat a hasty retreat !
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