To the local planning department to get the new rules and regulations regarding septic tanks. The rickety old farmhouse has at least five septic tanks, and we're still discovering new ones. A prim young lady at the reception desk proved to be the living personification of the charmless , Anglo-Saxon loathing, French bureaucrat . Without looking up from her paperwork, she fired off responses to my questions at a rate of two hundred words a minute. I managed to catch the occasional derogatory snippet regarding the diameter of my pipes and the positioning of my robinet d'arret. Ah, the joy of dealing with technical specifications in a foreign language. To make matters worse the local dialect has a certain impenetrability . Here in deepest Occitane , the letter 'g' pops up at random - vin becomes vang and pain becomes pang. Armed with a sheaf of ordinances I beat a hasty retreat to the cafe for a glass of restorative champagne.Wilf is enjoying life. Today the joiners are supposed to come to fit the glass to the new doors and the builder and his team have promised to start work on the crumbling concrete on the terrace. On past form illicit treats can be expected from at least one of them. The plane trees are shedding their bark and Wilf has discovered that if he rolls on it a satisfying 'snap,crackle and pop' emerges.
PON.. such a simple happy creature you are. Your face lights up my day. Come on here and stay with me.
ReplyDeleteI have enough trouble understanding specifications in English, can't imagine another language!
ReplyDeleteYou should have taken Wilf--maybe he could have softened the creature.
XXXOOO Daisy, Kendra & Bella
Rude people, in any language, are not fun to deal with. Maybe you should have brought Wilf with you, his smile could melt ice. :)
ReplyDeleteWoofs and Licks,
Maggie Mae
Next time you have to go maybe instead of stopping for a restorative champagne afterwards, try bringing her a whole bottle--Maybe that'll help! ;-)
ReplyDeleteGood grief! You're more diplomatic than me. I'd have been much less gracious over treatment like that. I agree, maybe you need to take Wilf with you next time!
ReplyDeleteMakes my new roof job seem simple. Even with the spattering of Spanish from a dozen workers installing French drains, sprinkler heads, sod, and shingles I can at least extract a courteous and friendly nod of the head and smile, if not a heavily accented greeting in English, for my sake. You may be Anglo Saxon, but believe me, if you were American, the snub would have been much worse! Wilf, on the other hand, would have melted her cold, cold heart and you would have even been offered a chair to sit on. Take him the next time.
ReplyDeleteWhat would we do without the restorative bubbly?
ReplyDeletexxx Joan
Oh, I agree w/Anny - seeing Wilf's smile and "do" each day or so gives me a smile. PON, you are AWESOME.
ReplyDeleteAre those palm trees in the middle of that Rue? uh... I mean... street???
ReplyDeleteRoo Roo, Stuart
Your French must be fabulous to be able to even *start* a conversation with an unfriendly bureaucrat about septic regulations!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that Wilf is happy. Dogs can find joy in the smallest of things. That's a wonderful trait.
I agree with the commenters above, Wilf could melt a heart of ice! Don't know if he'd be allowed in the building but if he is, I'd bring him along next time!
ReplyDeleteI never understood the need to be so nasty in a business setting. My old asst. manager was the same way. If someone acts that way towards me, it doesn't make me want to continue to do business with them.
I don't envy you having to figure out what you need to do and how to do it in a foreign language.
I'm so impressed at Wilf's activism. I had no idea he felt so strongly about environmental issues, but why not, really? Better keep him away from those WTO summits and such. He could end up arrested or worse.
ReplyDeletewags, Lola