French apartment renovations, Day 361: Slave labor, 1800 kg, & a party

21,984 steps

We left first thing this morning to pick up supplies for leveling the floor (Fermacell dry leveling system, called a "chape sèche"). The store had enough of the fiber cement boards, but not nearly enough bags of granules. We bought everything they had and will do as much as we can and I guess wait for the rest (which won't be here until some time in January).

This was way too much for our own car to hold. Remember way back when I bought the cement mixer from a random guy and got into his delivery van? His name is Yann and he looks a lot like Daniel Craig. Well anyway he gave me his card and said to call if we ever need things delivered. So I called him up this week and he said he'd do it for 50 Euros. He met us there and we loaded up the bulk of the supplies into his van. We put 10 bags (350 kg) of sand into our own car.

The fun part started when we had to first unload everything from his van into the hallway of the apartment building. We called all the kids down and got it unloaded as quickly as possible to avoid blocking traffic and taking too much of Yann's time. Then we had to carry all 1800 kg of materials up 2 flights of stairs.



The kids were chipper at first and then lost motivation midway through. "This is the first day of vacation! It's like we're your slaves!" Dio helped with one board and declared he was done. I declared that no one was done until it was all done. "We're a family and we're all working together."

We had everything upstairs by 1:45 pm. I vacuumed the entire staircase & entry hall and then had to run off to look at a mirror. It was a half-hour walk away and I did it in just over 20 minutes. I can walk fast :)

The mirror was amazing--the perfect thing to put above the bathroom sink in Le Catamaran. Excatly the right size and shape with amazing Art Deco detailing, and only 10 Euros.

While I was gone, Ivy went to a friend's house and Dio and Eric went off to his soccer game. I came home, dropped off the mirror, and went out again with Inga to do some Christmas shopping. We didn't buy any presents but at least we got some good ideas. We went to the big shopping mall in central Nice, called Nice Etoile, and I insisted that we ride the glass elevators while we were there. Inga talked me into buying us a pain au chocolat to share.

Then, soon after we got home, Eric and Dio came back from teh soccer game and we left immediately to go to a Christmas party at our church. They had presents, games, and a movie for the kids and game tables set up for adults. I was already feeling overwhelmed and exhausted from our busy day and after a while I had to escape to a quiet place. Introvert life. My sciatic nerve is also bothering me and after a while I was desperate to just go home and not be sitting or standing.

Oh, when Inga and I were walking home, we saw a marching drum squad dressed like Santa and his elves.