It had been 11 years since I had last seen my brother after my fathers funeral, and I hadn’t seen my sister-in-law for 22 years since a back packing trip brought me through Germany in 1994. It would be fun to see them and they were pretty go-with-the-flow folks so we wouldn’t have to plan a lot to keep them entertained, (not that we didn’t want too, just that it was a relief not to have to worry about something else!).
Their arrival did prompt us to make another trip to the Carrafour for sheets, pillows, pillow cases, towels, and a comforter for the guest berth. I decided that I would get two, queen sized top sheets so I could use them as a bottom or a top, but of course I ended up with two of the fitted bottom sheets instead so apparently my French was not improving rapidly. This turned out to be just fine as we could use one on our Master berth instead of the single sheets, and just go with the French tradition of no top sheet on the guest berth.
The next day was another hot one. We had a new strategy of getting to the boat at the beginning of the work day to check our list for what and who was scheduled, then return at 12.30 when they knocked off for lunch and check the mornings work. The final check we would do around 5-6pm after they knocked off to see if anything had been completed. That Tuesday, Patrick a young electrician was still running wiring for electronics when we arrived. He was very personable and spoke fairly good English as well as Spanish and French, so we enjoyed getting to hear about his life there over a couple of beers. It was really hot still when we returned to the apartment and Todd ended up with a touch of heat stroke I think..either way it was an exhausting night with lots of trips to the loo!
As Todd was still pretty tired the next morning, I did the a.m run to the boat to check the schedule for the day. I got a handshake on the fly and no information from Alan who was fielding phone calls and questions as he walked on the docks. There were a couple of guys on the boat, a plumber and a new guy we hadn’t seen before working on the air conditioning. Todd was vertical again by lunchtime so we took a look but couldn’t see if anything was finished. It was still 95 F so we walked down to the beach for a swim, which was glorious. There were a few more people about but it still didn’t look like the main holiday crowd. At the afternoon visit, the new guy was busy putting cotter pins in the main sail attachments. This was a job that the elusive rigger was supposed to have done, almost 2 weeks ago when they bent the new sail on. The rigger was also supposed to be replacing blocks and running rigging which we had been told time and time again he would do, and were contract items. It was bloody annoying getting to the boat every day and having to see miss matched sheets and old blocks. The biggest offense though, was that our brand new main sail was left baking in the sun because the old stack pack didn’t have any closures. We finally bought plastic clips and elastic cord and closed it as best we could.
That night was the last night at the AirBnB, which made a grand total of 12 nights there, and 8 at the previous two hotels. We packed up and organized stuff for yet another move the next day when we would return for two nights to the Hotel Europa. I was looking forwards to the air conditioning again!
We did our morning boat check to see what the project du jour was, (ongoing plumbing of the port head and connecting gas for the oven), then returned to pick up our bags and drop them at the hotel, although our room wouldn’t be ready until 3pm. The HDMI cable and Fusion radio had still not arrived from when Alan had ordered them a week and a half previously, so we set off to the Darty store to see what cable lengths were available. Most of the standard lengths for home entertainment systems were only up to 1.5 meters and we needed 15 meters. Needless to say we could not find the length we needed but we did locate a TV mount. We headed back to drop that off (the oven was now working, not the head), and have a swim. It was now time to check into the Europa to shower up and lounge a bit (on the single beds), while enjoying the air conditioning.
Before we left the states, I had made a tentative plan with a co-worker whose daughter was visiting Europe at the time we would be there. We had hoped to meet up with her and her friends and have them aboard the boat during their time in France, and at the very least be a contact in case of emergency. Once we were at the hotel I texted her to see where she was, and she said that they were in Nice until around the 11th of July when they would leave for England. I explained our situation and that with all the boat delays we would not be able to meet up, but wished her well with her ongoing adventure. This turned out to be a stroke of luck, as we would likely have been in the area during the July 14th Bastille Day terrorist attack.
Saturday July 9th we finally got to move aboard the boat and it was still exciting, even after such a long delay.
Doing a thorough cleaning and setting up the galley, and having our first meal at the salon table, felt like a big step towards the adventure we had been imagining. It was a hot day in the 90’s and we figured it was a good time to test the air conditioning. It seemed a bit dodgy still, and took ages to cool off the boat but we figured this would improve once we understood the system a little better. The port head on the guest side was not working but would be getting fixed on Monday..good thing it was a 2 head boat as we were having my Brother Glen and his wife Uschi visiting July 10th through the 13th! We got the guest berth prepared and I discovered I had purchased 2 fitted sheets instead of 2 flat sheets, so just switched gears and did it the French way with the comforter on top and no top sheet. It was fun to set up and plan for company and we decided we would have dinner aboard and then walk to a nearby bar/restaurant to catch the world cup final between France and Portugal which was on that night.
Glen and Uschi arrived in their rental car after a flight from Germany and made their way to us by the afternoon. It was great to see them both and we really appreciated them spending some of their holiday time to come and see us. Todd had looked at the port head and felt that it could be used “lightly” and by pushing the empty button, it would be OK for during the night. After a leisurely meal with the local Rose’, we wandered up to find a bar to watch the game.
Temperatures were in the 90’s and the first place we checked out was a cute casual place that was completely full of what appeared to be an extended family, who had set up a large projector screen and rows of chairs filling the entire space. After being invited in we made our way to the back where there were a few free chairs..but quickly realized it was 10 degree’s warmer inside and we would probably expire before kick off, so thanked them profusely and retraced our steps to La Voile” Bleue” , which was the pricey but highly recommended restaurant that we had yet to visit. Here we found some shade and occasional breeze in the outdoor patio, and were able to order beers from the walk up bar. Thus situated we had a good catch up and occasionally checked the TV to see the French team’s progress …it was a bit of a thrashing though and the crowd was pretty subdued when their team lost to Portugal. We returned to the boat for a nightcap and turned in around midnight. The AC hummed away for a few hours so it was easy to get to sleep, but quit sometime in the wee hours, we’d really have to try to figure that out..