A quick trip round Leroy Merlin
to do shower comparisons, then a little shopping at Auchan (our non-sugared
muesli is out of stock today), a bite to eat and up the road to Decathlon to
look at a bike for Karen. The bike is fine, but we are apparently not allowed
to take a bike on city buses, and there are none in boxes (a bike in a box
would have fitted into the baggage compartment of the bus just fine). So we
will have to buy it and take it away the day we hire the van for IKEA.
We could see where we were, and
Castorama was thankfully only a short walk up the road. It isn’t designed for
pedestrians around the commercial area. You either have transport or you
struggle along half-formed paths (not footpaths, but paths in the wilderness).
Into Castorama and we checked the
kitchen we had thought we’d buy, then found a discounted expo-model shower that
looked just perfect, with a decent size enclosure and a side place to stand to
drain. Our shower has to be on a platform for the plumbing, so a side platform
seemed a good idea. Arranged delivery (€90
- ouch), then ordered the kitchen and somehow didn’t get charged any more for
delivery (should have been €120
more). Bonus! Looked around at paint and all manner of other bits and bobs
until we were exhausted, then back to the bus at Auchan. There are other bus
routes closer, but the No. 9 from Auchan delivers us direct to the Gare where
our €1 bus leaves
from.
An exhausting day, but we are
further ahead thankfully. Were desperate for food by the time we reached the
Gare at 6.45pm so a quick shop in the supermarket there and we came up trumps
with a box of 12 mini ice-blocks (we thought there were 4 in it but it turned
out there were 4 flavours!) and a 6 pack
of beer. Consumed half the ice blocks while we waited for the bus. Yum. The rest
stayed reasonably frozen till we got back home, where the quickly consumed,
followed by a beer (our first since we have arrived in France). A few crackers
completed ‘dinner’. Lying in bed that night we both decided that the shower
will be just too large for our bathroom.
