Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Stuck Inside Of Ma Ville

I'll admit I've been obsessed with the ash cloud. It doesn't help that we're now trapped in a small village in France with no working automobile - the car's in the shop for a new exhaust system and the ambulance's suspension is so shot it's undriveable.

Oh wait, we've got two ancient bicycles, so that's something.

At least we're not stuck in an airport in Europe or the UK, trying to get...anywhere. Or a train station in France, though they say that strike is ending, for now.

I feel in limbo - afraid to mail anything to the US, and figuring it's pointless to get my mail sent over to me right now even though I know there's a check in there that I could use. And then there's the matter of a package that should be winging its way to me right now - are you ready? my glasses, the ones I thought I'd lost forever back in America last summer. Found, resurrected! The tracking information says, ominously, that they left US soil on April 17. After that, it's blank.

Finishing the record is imperative now, so I guess it's for the best we don't have a car to go anywhere. And the files can be transmitted via the internet, to be turned into records to sell on tour. But is there a wire we could slip ourselves into to get to America next month, if it comes to it? I was even checking on the Queen Mary. It sails from Southampton on May 15, and takes six days to reach New York. We could be just like my grandma and grandpa when they left the old country. Funny, the website doesn't show a price.

Janette, our neighbor who drives the real ambulance, said there's another volcano set to blow that's going to flood Holland and Belgium.

Jacky, another neighbor, sipped his Pernod at 11 am in the local cafe and said why would anyone ever leave the Limousin? It's perfectly placed to be out of the way of everything.

Oh, good.

8 comments:

the sandwich life said...

I know Amy....I keep checking the tracking and looking at the calendar....and checking the tracking...and.....

Erica M said...

Please get here. I have a house concert to crash.

amy said...

I think things are starting to open up with the airspace now Cynthia! It shouldn't be long. Timing has never been my strong suit...

That's right Erica. You can pose as the tour astrologer, who has to accompany us to every show.

Erica M said...

Yessss! I even have tarot cards I can bring.

Andy Stone said...

I can't belive the French railway strike still went ahead but then again it pissed off a lot of us Brits so they probobly felt they achives something!

Ed Ward said...

Can't that check be wired into an account somewhere? But you're right: things are loosening up now and unless someplace else blows up things'll be normal-ish soon.

The upside to all of this for me has been a couple of friends I've been trying to talk into coming down here for a year, who found themselves stranded after Les Printemps de Bourges and figured, okay, what better place to wait it out?

WR: squacken. May the good lord squacken us all today!

amy said...

I think the French are starting to get pissed off with the rail strikes too Andy.

I've wondered what that Bourges fest is like Ed - glad you got to see your pals.

There's some things I've yet to set up w/direct deposit, ridiculous but w/paperless banking everyone still requires a canceled check to do it - I can't remember the last time I even saw a canceled check (though they must be available somewhere/somehow). It's especially sad when I spend more to get my mail than the sometimes pathetic amounts contained in the checks...
Squack on!

Ed Ward said...

No, you just need some numbers for the direct deposit, and if you have one of your old checks they're on there. My bank even has a web page explaining what those numbers are and where. Alternatively, you can take a new check, write VOID everywhere, and mail it in. Just so they can see those numbers.