Car accident!!

Oh, such fun this morning...





That car is a goner. I needed new front wheels but it wasn't worth it since I was giving the car up soon. Yeah right? That was smart of me.

It was complicated. A woman lost control coming on the highway. It's a weird intersection that is hard to describe but on the right, where I was arriving from, is a downhill incline, two lanes merging into one and than that one lane is joined on the right by another road coming off a roundabout. It merges and then there's another off ramp on the right, but the rest of it goes into three lanes and the highway stops.

Now, if I explained that this is a good place to get in an accident, would you find that hard to believe? You can't really see what a mess it is on a map. Just looks like an off ramp.

A young girl arriving from the left, off the roundabout loses control of her car and does a 180. Another women puts on her hazards and stops to help her. The second woman is in a big car and there isn't much room for it on the side of the road. As you can see from the picture, it's raining. This has created a bit of a slow down on the off ramp but it was hard to see. A driver behind me gets irratated and trys to bypass me and about three other cars. There isn't room for him and the other drivers have to break. Or at least, that's why I thought they were breaking, until I was too close to the SUV to get out of the way.

French lanes are narrow and I'm going downhill in the rain, with Davina in the car. I'm afraid of swearving. I can only break and limit the damage.

To add to it all, there is open water to our right. Right there to our right. I get Davina out of the car because I can't risk it being hit again (very likely, remember, very little room) and she was completely unphased. The impact wasn't too much but horay for my 5-point brand new Radian seat that Laura dragged back from the States for me! It really kept her strapped in. I hate to see three year olds in boosters and am so glad mine wasn't! This seat will actually keep Davina in a 5 point harness at least until she's 5 years old.



Now technically this seat is not legal in France. Well, the policeman helped install it in his car so no, I'm not worried about getting "in trouble" for having Davina in this thing. There are no 5 point harnesses for over 40lbs kids here in France anyway.

Here she is post accident, in the police car!







No worse for the wear, and she found the siren too cool (like it was really necessary-ahem!)

The obligatory 7/7/07 post

I was bracing for all the churchbells, the honking, perhaps even some horses clomping down the streets... Not really. It wasn't that remarkable. Certainly quieter than in June... Everyone knows someone getting married it seems but they're all over...

Anyway, I ended up back at Plumy Park for a birthday party. I was there on the phone last November when Suzette told me about Anat. So I got to go back there on the anniversary of the London bombings! It went all right. I wanted to call Suzette but my sister-in-law is coming with her kids and between straightening up and fitting the birthday party...I just didn't manage it.

Summer officially started for us on Wednesday. It rained and I was sick. So much for any fancy plans I had to kick things off.

Thirty years ago when most teenagers are running up debt in the local department stores, my mother was begging and pleading me to go out shopping with her to buy "anything". I have always really, really hated shopping. This is someone who grew up in California, the Land Of Nice Salespeople, not to mention big clean stores, some with piano players. Shopping might not be my cup of tea but Norstrom's makes it as palatable as possible.

Fast forward 30 years. Sharon still hates shopping but now I'm 20lbs heavier and in the Land of Horrible Salespeople. Printemps, which looks more like to me like a Soviet building site. You take your items to the till. There is a big sign that says "Till" ("Caisse" in French actually, but I translated there). Sometimes there is a big line. Sometimes Sharon doesn't bother...if I even got that far. Usually, I check out the line first before even looking at any items. If the till line doesn't look too grim, usually the prices will force me to take flight.

Sales? Only twice a year, July and January and the stores become bedlam. This is actually a law. For someone who hates shopping in the best of circumstances, doing it in a pushy crowd with service nowhere to be found is out of the question.

Daniel, in sheer desperation, calls in The Forces in the guise of his friends' wife Béatrice. Béa used to buy for a small boutique. Béa loves to shop and is legendary for it. Béa calls, and calls, and calls...I keep trying to change the subject. Not be home? She calls Daniel who tracks me down. Béa is 19 times nicer than any French salesperson. She pins me down on a date. I'm still sick. I'm desperate to get out of it but with Daniel calling and sounding a bit firm on the subject. "You NEED clothes. Béa called me again..."

The garderie couldn't take Davina. Undeterred, Béa says to bring her. Daniel had already taken the other two, Talia not happy because shopping is a big thrill to her (I can't fathom how I gave birth to that child sometimes. I think hanging out with Béa before pregnant somehow resulted in some sort of egg-exchange because she even have Béa's hair).

Davina is very active. Béa is very patient. She actually gets the clothes and gives them to me in the cabin. She brings me 40's (yeah right). I grab some 44's and 46's. They turn out to be tents. 42 works fine (which isn't too horrible since I'm 5'8 1/2") I keep trying to put my original clothes back on. I get a couple of tops and a pair of pants with shiny things on it which she has to wrench my arm to get me to buy. I hate shiny things.

She takes me upstairs to get a store credit card. It's hot and the lady is asking me about how long I've been at Credit Mutuel and if we are homeowners... I get the card and continue shopping. I try to look at household goods but Béa keeps me on track, dragging me back to the clothes. She lures with the the additional 15% off the day I get my card.

Then, if no one believes that this woman is the Queen of Shopping, she manages her pièce de resistence. We shop for swimsuits. She assures me that I "just have a stomach". Yeah right. I did draw the line when she brought me a bikini to try on. I did walk out with two swimsuits.

We start at 1:30 and finish at 6:30pm. I actually had to beg her to stop. I just couldn't look anymore, even after changing scenery from Printemps to Galleries Lafayette.

I've decided that shopping with Béatrice is slightly better than going to the dentist. Less "ick" factor but more tiring and longer...