Yesterday in Bordeaux

I was scheduled to be in the bookshop all day, so I left the house at about 9 and just missed a bus that passed at 9:04. We have real-time bus reporting now, so I flashed on the QR code and it said the next no 4 was due in 17 minutes. They're 10 minutes apart. So I decided to scuttle round the corner to catch the next 44, reportedly in 5 minutes.

I waited at the 44 stop. I was joined by another chap. "It comes at 9:12", he said. 9:12 came, but no no. 44. 9:15 arrived. I checked the real time buses again, so far "real" was not to be taken too literally. Bus 4 in 5 minutes. I scuttled round the corner again. At least I was getting some exercise even if I was not getting a bus.

As the longed-for bus 4 drew up my phone rang. "Don't come in this morning. Come at lunch time."

So I went home and got on with some reading. Then in for the afternoon.

While talking with James, my phone vibrated. Facebook Messenger : Bad day in France. Thinking of you all as you speak with others

We put on the BBC News, then France24 and learned of the events in Paris. Unimaginable.

At about 5 there were hordes of people walking up the street outside the bookshop. "It's the sales", said our friend who begs outside a shop opposite and who comes in for a quick coffee from time to time.

I found out later that it wasn't. It was a silent vigil outside the Ecole de la Magistrature. When I closed up at 18:30 there were still several hundred people there.

Thanks for your prayers for France.