Drame, Drame, Drame...

On 1st September (after I'd been here for just a couple of days), the shower broke. Thankfully we're not in the middle of nowhere and the plumber was able to come out the next day to look at it. It turned out it was just a blocked shower head bit, but all the same, still very inconvenient!

On Sunday 7th September at about 10:30pm the electricity broke. There was a strange surge and then the tv and lights etc all went off. Not ideal at all! We were all still up (kids in bed) so we lit some candles and Charly went hunting to see if it was just our flat, or the whole street or even the other flats in the building. It was just us. This made it all the more concerning as it meant that it wasn't just a standard power cut. Much to the annoyance of Fran, Charly then went fiddling about in fuse boxes to see if it was blown fuses, or if it was something else but couldn't work it out. 

As it was by this point, around 11:30pm, there wasn't a great deal we could do so we just went to bed. First thing in the morning, Fran and Charly were up trying to find an emergency electrician who would come out that day, and frantically trying to rescue the contents of the fridge and freezer. At about 9:15am, on the way back from taking Marc to school, Fran realised that there was a plug on the ground floor which, logic suggested, would work! She left me with Aurianne while she got something to test it with, and then when she realised it did, ran around the flat collecting all the extension cables and putting them together so she could plug the freezer in!

This took a while, but we managed to rescue everything in the chest freezer, and most things in the little fridge freezer. I also then defrosted the little freezer, given that it was melting everywhere anyway.

That afternoon the electrician arrived (not until 5pm though). He came, poked around with fuses and wires and then said 'nope, you'll have to call your service provider', which was EDF.

After a phone call to EDF, they sent someone round to look at the electricity box outside the building. It turned out that it was just a switch which had turned itself off, he said possibly because there was too much being used, and had shorted the circuit (or something like that). He just flicked the switch back on, and Voila, power!

Charly and Fran then worked their way back round the house re-plugging everything in and replacing all the extension cables so that we could use things again!

...

At 11:30pm last night (Thursday), when we were all just going to bed, all the lights suddenly went off. After a few minutes, and a few lit candles, we realised that the power had gone off again. Charly checked on the other flats, and then went to play with the box outside. He flicked the switch back on and the power came back! 10 minutes later, it went off again... Charly just went back outside but Fran is really worried that it will go off while we are away this weekend, as we won't have anyway of knowing about it and so will end up with a whole freezer of ruined food. We still have no idea what's causing it. Charly thinks it is because the dishwasher, washing machine and tumble dryer were all on, but that doesn't make much sense as we have them all on during the day lots but it's not gone off before. Crazy!

La Dernière Ligne Droite

Thankfully, we were woken up by Helene at 8, not 6. She said ‘we are very late and have to leave immediately’. She wasn’t joking about wanting to leave immediately. I barely had time to throw clothes on before she was back to tell us that we had to go!

The journey was awful as ever, although finally someone had the idea that maybe I should sit by the door and not in the smallest seat in the entire car given that I was the 2^nd biggest person in the car… After that it was a bit more comfortable but the kids were still completely unaware of the concept of personal space.

We arrived at a Service station to pick up some breakfast at around 10am. My headphones were broken by Hermine (she yanked them out of my laptop on the ferry) so when I went in to go to the toilet I made a very speedy stop in the shop to buy some more. Helene came in to tell me that they were very late and now they were waiting for me I was wasting their time. I tried to hurry up but not much I could have done faster. I went back out to the car to find everyone sat on the grass eating, and definitely not waiting for me!

At some point we went past Avignon and the famous bridge – I meant to take a picture but I didn’t have a window seat at the time so didn’t get a chance.

Cat at the Train
station Car park

At about 1.30pm Helene told me they’d changed where Alienor would be getting the train. She was supposed to be getting a train from Bourges (I think) which was completely the wrong direction to where we were actually going, and instead she was dropped off at the train station in a town called ‘Beaune’. The family used to live there apparently so Helene was familiar with the roads – just as well as we entered Beaune with apparently just 8 minutes to go until the train, the satnav said 15 minutes, and they apparently hadn’t bought the ticket yet…

View from Beaune Train Station steps

Beaune was quite nice. Very french, naturally. Helene told me it’s a very old town with a wall going all the way around it. When we got to the train station they rushed in to get Alienor on the train, which must have left about a minute after they got there but somehow I think she managed to get on it. I was left in the car with the children – I don’t remember what they were doing exactly but they weren’t being very nice. Helene came back about 20 mins later and asked if I’d taken my medicine. Obviously I hadn’t as we’d left immediately in the morning and so I hadn’t had a chance. She started shouting at me telling me the reason she’d been gone so long was so that I would have time to take my medicine. I tried to explain that I couldn’t just take it in the car and needed to use a toilet. She then told me she would take the children away and I could go and find a restaurant and use the toilet in there and that she’d be gone for as long as I needed. When she asked how long I’d need I told her I’d need at least an hour – I only needed about 15 mins but I was pretty fed up of her and the kids and wanted a break!

More views of Beaune

I found a little pub just opposite the train station. Helene had suggested I go to some other restaurant over the road but it looked quite posh and the type of place you can’t just go in to have a drink and use the loo! The people in the pub were quite friendly. I ordered an orange juice and then sat there having a nice time for about 40 mins, and then went to take nasty medicine in the toilet. I’d taken the little plastic cups from the toilet at the hostel and had ‘borrowed’ a teaspoon from the Ferry so I could mash up tablets.

Lots of old buildings in Beaune

When I was done I texted Helene to tell her I’d wait at the train station. While I was waiting I decided to pick up my Railcard - a very good idea because I don’t know when I would have had another opportunity to get it! Helene returned at least 20 mins after that, during which time I just sat on the station steps and watched a cat wandering about in the car park.

Now that Alienor had gone I was able to sit in the front seat! Much more room so much more comfortable! I was also able to talk to Helene – the first time we actually had a proper conversation since I’d arrived in Corsica. I was very annoyed to find out then that there was no internet at the house in Vosges!

Un Voyage Difficile

This morning was awful. I didn’t sleep very well last night because I was worrying about the journey, medicine etc. (mainly just because no one actually gave me any information so I didn’t know what was going on!)

I must have only got around 4-5 hours sleep, which was interrupted by a lot of banging at 4:30am – the german uncle (finally found out his name was Albrecht) and Benoit were leaving (I think going to Ireland, but who knows).

I got up at about 7am. I had some hot chocolate and then went to take my medicine. At 7:30am I asked if it was ok to use the shower to which Helene told me ‘No no no, there is no time’ so I just had a quick wash in the sink instead and then got dressed. I helped all the children finish getting dressed and have breakfast and we were ready to leave at about 8am. I was feeling very sick and the children wanted to play in the garden so I sat with them and had a drink of water. 5 minutes later Helene started shouting at me telling me that there was so much to do because we were about to leave and to go and help in the kitchen. I went to the kitchen only to be told by Anne and Grandmaman that it would be easier for me to wait in the garden with the children because there wasn't enough space (they were just emptying the fridge, getting the food together). There really wasn’t much to do – they had paid for the cleaning service at the villa so they didn’t have to wash bedding or towels or vacuum or anything.

Helene told me to put the children in the car because we had to leave very soon so I started getting the children into the car with all their things at about 8:30 and they were all inside, ready to go by about 8:45. At 9:15 I was getting annoyed. All the children had been sat in a boiling hot car for half an hour but Helene was just talking to the other adults. At about 9:30 we FINALLY left and by 9:40 all the children were fed up with their toys and games (obviously). At 9:45 we made our first stop at the side of the road because one of the kids was feeling carsick. I kept telling them to look ahead out of the window, and to open their window and let in some fresh air but for some crazy reason Helene told them to look out of the side windows and to put a jumper on – what?! Consequently we stopped another 2 times in that first hour… We also stopped after about 40 minutes to have a coffee at a little café – something else that made no sense to me. She didn’t even ask the children to go to the toilet if they needed to when they were there and so 5 minutes later they were all crying because they needed to go.

Helene told me to order a
'small hot chocolate' at the cafe.
Tiniest hot choc I've ever seen
(this cup was barely bigger
than an espresso cup)

There was hardly any room in the car, but Helene made me sit in the smallest seat in the whole car (the middle seat) – despite being bigger than all the other children. Apparently Hillaire gets carsick – so put him in the middle so he can look out of the windscreen!? Idiot.

We arrived at Ajaccio at about 11:30am and then drived around all over the place, the wrong way down one-way streets etc. looking for a Boulangerie. Crazy. At about 12:30 (yes, almost a whole hour was spent driving around aimlessly) we stopped in the ferry carpark. The grandparents were coming on the same ferry so they found a shop and bought croissants, pain au chocolat and baguettes which we then stood in a car park and ate. I wasn’t able to put on suncream this morning either – they had made me pack it up in the car the day before so I now have slightly burnt shoulders because the only shade was one bench under a tree and there wasn’t room under it for me.

We then drove to the boarding area for the ferry. Helene told me that she didn’t have a ticket in my name so if anyone asked my name was Bethany Amis (perhaps this is an au pair that cancelled on her which would explain the late notice for hiring me!). We then had to sit in a very hot car for almost an hour while we waited to board which was very difficult with bored and uncomfortable children (and me).

Eventually we boarded the ferry where everything was a big rush to find a seat. Helene then told me that she needed to spend time with her parents away from children because her mother was ill and was very exhausted so needed quiet time. She told me that she would sit with her mother for an hour or so, and then come back to spend time with the children before dinner, after which she would go to have dinner with her parents and Alienor, and then give me some free time.

However, that, as always with Helene, wasn’t how it happened. She appeared 3 hours later, at which point the kids were all huddled around a French film and I’d stuck on a film for me on my laptop. She came up behind me saying ‘is that a film for the children?’ When I said no, they’re watching a film on their dvd player, she got really angry and started telling me that this was time for the children, not for me. Trying to explain that the children were watching their own French film right next to me didn’t make any difference – she just huffed and then shouted, ‘I am really fed up of you!’ and stomped off. Her 17yr old daughter Alienor then gave me a dirty look and followed her mother… I was pretty confused at this point, in my opinion it was pretty nice of me to look after the children at all as she’d told me that she was hiring me to be an English tutor and to edit her courses. 10 mins later she came back with 5 plates of steak hache (basically a burger that’s not in a bun) with chips, throws them all on the table and then stamps off again. I wasn’t sure if one was for me or if they were just for the children inc. Alienor, and when I asked Alienor what they wanted me to do she just said ‘eat and watch the children like you’ve been told to’.

I had just sat down to eat when Helene reappeared to tell me that she had to speak with me immediately. I got up and followed her off to some stairs somewhere (ridiculous place to decide to sit – loads of people kept trying to walk past with their bags etc.).  I don’t remember exactly what she said but the gist of it was that she wasn’t very happy with me because I hadn’t done anything at all in Corsica (oh, only look after the children, and help in the kitchen or with cleaning, washing…) I told her that she’d never actually told me that I was going to be looking after children so to now tell me that was the main reason she had hired me was pretty ridiculous. She then tried telling me that she had been very clear – I was hired to help with English, edit her courses and look after the children (she didn’t). She then told me that I had to keep the children with me until she had finished dinner with her parents because her mother wasn’t very well. I tried to explain that at any given time at least 1 of her children (usually Hermine) didn’t want to stay with me and would run off to find her. She just told me she didn’t care, that she needed to keep the children safe etc. When I asked her to tell the children that so they knew they had to stay with me as they didn’t understand/listen to me, she told me that she didn’t hire me to tell her how to be a parent… Not sure quite what that had to do with it.

Typically, she then didn’t come back. One by one the children disappeared to go and find her. I tried following and keeping track of them but once I realised their mother wasn’t actually so far away, I gave up. She was supposed to have come to take them away after she’d finished dinner anyway…

Final view of Corsica from the Ferry

We finally arrived in Toulon just after 11pm. Helene was very angry about this because she thought they’d have arrived at 10pm, allowing us to get to the hotel by around 12am. Naturally she didn’t account for the actual getting off the ferry which took around 20 mins, plus getting out of the ferry area which probably took another 20 mins. Consequently, we didn’t arrive at the ‘hostel’ until after 2am, although I’m convinced we could have arrived by half 1 if she’d started walking back to the car earlier, and then hadn’t driven around EVERY roundabout 2-3 times each, and taken about 5 wrong turns (seriously, how?! the signs were so clear and she had a map and satnav?!) When we arrived at the hotel she told me that, again, she hadn’t planned for me and had only bought 2 rooms for 6 people (there was 7 of us). She then told me I had to share with the 10 and 12 yr old boys while her, Alienor, and the two little ones shared the other room. I felt quite uncomfortable about this arrangement – and told her so, but she just told me there was no problem and that she wouldn’t change it.

The hostel was super basic – much worse than those Formula1 hotels we used to stay at. Worst part was that the bathroom was like a train toilet, except they’d squashed a shower in there too… I felt hot and sweaty and generally dirty after the travelling and ferry so had a very hot shower before I went to bed. It was a good move as I definitely wouldn’t have got one the next morning. Helene told me that we’d be leaving at 6am (to be honest I don’t know why you’d bother stopping for just 4 hours – probably would have been better to upgrade to a cabin and sleep on the ferry…). I probably asleep at around 3am in the end…