French renovations, day 8

5,070 steps
lots more trash hauled away...can't remember how many but I wrote it down somewhere!

Well, we're headed back into a stricter lockdown starting Jan 2. I don't know many details except they're making the curfew 6 pm instead of 8 pm (which, frankly, is ridiculous...what difference will that make?).

I tore down the rest of the wood paneling today and cleaned up 2 big piles of wood. I have about 3x more left to either get rid of or pull nails out of.

I also capped and tucked away all exposed wires. But in the process, as I was testing a former light switch by the front door, I tripped the main circuit breaker. When I turned the breaker back on, we no longer had power. The breaker stays on the "on" position--it's not tripping back to "off." But no power at all.

So I had to work most of the morning with a headlamp.

I need to figure out what's going on. Is there another breaker closer to or on the meter, for example? Why is the breaker resetting but not working? I wish I knew French electric systems better. Plus the wiring in the communist apartment likely dates to the late 1950s or early 1960s. I am sure much of it is no longer up to code.

So yeah, I'm feeling a bit down about renovations today...it's frustrating to hit a snag. We'll figure it out, I'm sure. We have a few electrician friends and of course we can always hire someone.

In the afternoon we met up with several friends for a bike/scooter/rollerblade ride on the Promenade des Anglais. Eric took Zari and Inga all the way to the airport and back, while I stayed with the main group. We walked slooooooowly (one friend had a puppy, another had a baby in a stroller) a bit past the Negresco, then turned around. It was sunny and windy, with a dramatic, stormy ocean.

     

At one point I was towing the two girls on rollerblades behind my bike. They were holding onto the back rack, one on each side, and raising their other hands in a victory salute.

Eric recorded a conference presentation this evening about writing for video games. We had to stay quiet; I put on a series called Dragon Prince on low volume. The kids are enjoying it, 8 episodes so far (not all today of course!).

Eric made duck breast with honey & balsamic, a classic recipe. Yum! I think it's the first time we've cooked magret de canard. I'm not sure why? We eat it at restaurants but just don't think of cooking it at home.