Waiting for the plumber seems to be my main occupation these days. One day it is the pool, another day it is the toilet leaking. And waiting for someone you do not really know WHEN will turn up, in your house that seems to be the ONLY house on this planet without a DOORBELL, can be quite frustrating. As you cannot really relax in the garden, in case you do not hear the guy coming. The whole process involves a lot of running up and down stairs, opening and shutting doors, and gazing out windows.
Every fifteen minutes or so, I would go outside to the parking lot next to our main entrance to look for the guy. Then, out of the blue, a total stranger appears at the top of our staircase. He has a bit of a desperate look to his face, and he has a serious case of sunburn - his nose peeling. He approaches me and exclaims:
"Je suis perdue!"
Hm. Perdue. Perdue? Perdue. Hm. I know we had that in French class. My first thought is that the is SORRY. He sure LOOKS sorry at least. Hm. No. That cannot be it.
Then it hits me. Of course. Overjoyed that I am actually able to understand what this native Frenchman is saying to me, I exclaim - in English:
"Oh, you are - LOST!"
Like that was the greatest news I had ever heard. The guy looked truly puzzled. No wonder. Here he is - lost in this labyrinth of a small village, the sun is burning, and this crazy person is actually HAPPY to hear about his great distress?
I somehow managed to pull myself together and give the man directions for his way back go the main (well, there really is just one, but still, the village is large enough for people to get lost anyway) square in our village.
I definitely need to install a doorbell sometime soon. I cannot imagine how the previous owner of our house survived without that for twenty years. I guess Mr. Duct Tape did not have that many friends coming over to visit. Or handymen, I guess. You don't need that when you have enough of the extremely versatile duct tape....
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