The first day in La Bourboule is always a busy one. After sleeping for ten hours – yeahhhh!!!! –
I performed the customary ablutions and went shopping. I have a self catering apartment, and had to
buy cleaning fluids, toilet paper, and, of course, tea. I went to four different shops until I
finally located some loose tea, Twinings Earl Grey. I was extremely overloaded when I went home!
Then I had lunch at Le Galapagos. Next to me sat a family with twins, about two
years old. One was very quiet, looking
at a picture book, the other screamed its head off and caused all sorts of
trouble. I immediately warmed to the
troublemaker. When the father apologised
for the misbehaving infant, I told him, No problem! The child is obviously worried about
something, probably the war in Syria
– good for him! The father didn’t reply,
but just looked at me very strangely. I
guess he is a war monger, or maybe doesn’t have a sense of humour. Either way, if I was his kid I’d scream a
lot, too.
Then I continued my shopping. I bought an apron, and then visited Pascal’s
Delicatessen Imperium. Such a lovely
shop, I always buy more than I should. He
makes excellent headcheese, and there is the St Nectaire cheese and bilberry
jam and honey, and of course a small bottle of sweet fortified wine for my
evening tippling. 35cl last me three
weeks, it keeps well in the fridge, too.
Then I wandered to the swimming pool to find out about
opening hours. They are simply
scandalous! All over the place, every
day different, impossible to remember.
If I want to have a regular time each day I am limited to more or less 17:00 to 19:00 hours and closed on Thursdays. That’s dinnertime! Oh well, I shall have to adjust. This afternoon, as soon as I have sent off
this missive, I shall pack my bag and trundle over there. It is almost half an hour’s walk, I
think. It is difficult to estimate
distances here, everything is so close together – it might just be ten
minutes. I shall update you in due course.
When I returned from my excursion I ran straight into a
parade. I like to think that it was in
my honour, although none of the signs actually mentioned my name. Well, they must have heard about my innate
modesty and decided not to embarrass me.
I took lots of photos to share with you, dear loyal readers! I wish I could also share the music that was
played by the brass band, particularly a lovely tune which repeatedly mentions
La Bourboule and is very vigorous – the local anthem, apparently!
Later that day I went to see my doctor, who was keen to
utilise several new examination implements he had acquired since my visit last
year. Apparently I was Cure-Capable, and
he sent me to Les Grandes Thermes to register and pay.
