An American in Provence

Exhausted.
This has been a very slow week. On Sunday I started to come down with a cold- always starts with a sore throat for me. By Monday, it was a full-blown cold. In my office of three, two of us were sick. One guy, stuck right in the middle of us, was not yet sick. He still is not sick after a week of sharing an office and shaking hands with us. A miracle.

On Tuesday we had "K par K" come so that we could sign the contract to get the window in our bedroom and window/door to the balcony on the street side replaced. We get quite a lot of street noise, and last Saturday we got an estimate for the top of the top double paned, super anti-noise windows- 4000€. Yikes. At least it includes transportation and installation. It is supposed to be 42 dB and is supposedly what is used in airport zones. Our current windows were installed in 1993, and are 27 dB. They help a lot, but not enough. I hope these new ones do the job. We had an estimate from another company for 35 dB I think it was, for 2500€ including installation. We figured that we might as well pay for the best. Then we at least know that we did all that we could.

Anyway, back to Tuesday. The technician was supposed to come at 7:30. When I got home from work I noticed that there was water all over the kitchen floor. Our water heater leaks, and we put a bucket underneath to catch the drops. Well, the bucket overflowed. I was moving the small table with the microwave and other electrical appliances out of the way, when all of the sudden the electricity went out. I checked in the corridor, and there were lights, so it was just our apartment. I got a flashlight and looked behind the small table- yep, the power strip had fallen into the bucket of water. Duh electrical engineer.

Yes, I know, it is super dangerous. I don't need a lecture.

I was standing there in the dark rather stupidly when the technician shows up, about 30 minutes early, and Alain still hadn't come home. Hello Mr. Stranger. Please come into my apartment when I am home alone in the dark. He was nice and helpful, and we managed to move everything out of the way. I got the ladder and we fiddled with the electrical box. Nothing. Alain came home and managed to fix the situation while the K par K guy sat out in the hallway and started filling out the paperwork. This must have been one of his more interesting visits.

Anyway, we got the lights on, he came in, we signed the contract. One thing that irks me is that people tend to ignore the foreign half of the couple, especially if that foreign half is a woman. It went from being Mr. and Mrs. P's project to just Mr. P everything. His name on the papers. His signature. His contact information. What am I, chopped foreigner? Anyway, soon another technician will come to take the exact measurements, then the windows will be made, which will take up to eight weeks, then they will be installed, which should only take a day. Perhaps finally I can stop sleeping with earplugs. I thought about asking how much the double-paned glass would be for the entire wall but didn't. Oh, one unexpected bonus is that the government will reimburse 1300€ of the 4000€ price. Not because of the noise but for thermal insulation.

And now, finally, it is the weekend.