Auxerre - Settling In

Can you spot us on the right - we are TINY!!!!!!

We’ve been here for just over a week now, probably one of the fastest weeks of the year, or that’s how it feels to me anyway.  We’ve not done an awful lot, just trying to get used to day to day things and working out how things work – or don’t work…….

We’re trying to forget our first full day in Auxerre as nothing worked.  I know it’s all first world problems, but we had a terrible internet signal and Mike was trying to work, trying to do his accounts with his online bank and trying to reconcile his Enterprise Account for our recent car hires, which looked like it had charged both him and me for the last hire!  It was a very frustrating day as nothing was achieved and it all seemed so difficult and we were well narked.  The next day we were shuffled up the port a bit, nearer the office and the internet signal improved but still wasn’t great.  We’d hoped to get a French sim card with Free offering the best deal, but Auxerre doesn’t have anywhere to get a Free card and our order didn’t work online, so I would have to get the train to Migennes where there was a machine in a Tabac that takes your cash and spits out a sim card – easy peasy!!  Mike was still having problems with First Direct online banking.  We’ve had the problems before when we tried to use the online system in France and I’d say they don’t like you being out of the country but we’ve had the issues in the UK as well.  By day three of his hour(plus!!) long calls to them, he told them to move a lump of money and close one of his accounts.  All our other bank accounts work fine, so it’s not on that this one doesn’t.  They’ve tried to remedy it but the first time he tried to make an online payment from the account, it failed and he had to phone them to do it……kind of defeats the purpose….

Meanwhile, he was still working away on the report for his current client.

Pretty town centre of Auxerre

The only narrowboat in the village

So whilst he’s been hermitised in the boat hunched over his new laptop, which IS working – so far…….. (although he’s in dispute with a spreadsheet template as I type)…. I have been doing odds and sods and exploring Auxerre a little.  It’s a nice town and I think we’ll enjoy our time here.  We’ve met our neighbours, an American couple, Chris and Liz, but have yet to socialize properly with them and pick their brains on boating in France.  Liz is a retired French teacher and is happy to give some lessons to Mike, so that’s one more little thing sorted out.

On Monday my mum called and shed some light on the Enterprise discrepancy; they had charged Mike £35 for administering the police notice for speeding  - booooooo!  The most annoying thing about the speeding ticket is that cars coming the other way had been flashing us, and we saw the mobile police camera and slowed down to 39 in what we both thought was a 50 area.  Turns out it was temporarily down to 30 for roadworks – which neither of us can recall seeing.  Mike would feel better if he’d been doing 90 on a motorway, at least he’d feel justified.

There was also a bit of excitement in the port on Monday; a barge had arrived on Sunday to load up the Christmas tree for the Champs Elysees in Paris and take it there by waterway.  It drew quite a crowd and was mentioned on the radio.

Crane lifts the tree from the lorry into the hold - I was a bit late to see it swinging through the air!

Fairly drew the crowds.

Off she goes - next stop Paris!!

Although we’d arrived knowing that it’s harder to get diesel on the waterways in France, we hadn’t thought about fuel for the stove; coal and wood.  So that was another search that proved fruitless, having found a wood supplier locally, we walked round to find out it was shut down!  We did find bags of logs and compressed wood in the local L’Eclerc supermarket, but it’s expensive, so we’ll need to find a supplier to deliver a pallet to us that will last a bit longer and work out cheaper.

On Tuesday, I put the Christmas decorations up.  It’s early for me as I usually leave it to the weekend before Christmas, but everything is gearing up in Auxerre and as we’re away over the festive period, at Mum’s, I wanted some time to enjoy my fairy lights.

The Most Important Find So Far.......

.......The cake shop!!!!

On Thursday, having done all my boat tasks; chopped the logs to fit the stove, cleaned the bathroom, changed the bed and done the laundry, made the coffee, I headed off to Migennes to buy our French sim card.  It turned out to be the most expensive sim card ever bought.  I confidently purchased my return ticket from the machine at Auxerre, boarded the train, hung about at Migennes until the Tabac reopened from lunch at 2.30pm, although it was 2.40pm when the doors were finally unlocked – must’ve been a good lunch.  Migennes is a strange little town, nothing much there but a hub for rail and waterways and they pipe music into the streets!!!  Very odd.  

The Canal du Bourgougne frozen over at Migennes

Anyway, I succeeded in securing a sim card from the machine and headed back for the return journey and only realised I’d lost my ticket when the conductor came round.  I had the receipts but when I showed them to him he said that what I’d paid for was only for a single journey, not a return.  He was terribly nice, tolerated my poor french and thankfully spoke good English and only charged me the full price (13,60) for one leg rather than for both legs, which he should have done as I didn’t have the ticket for the way out.   So I hadn’t actually bought a return ticket as I had only paid 8,80 and it should have been 8,80 each way – 17,20 return.  You get charged more when you buy on the train, so I was lucky he only charged me one way.  Anyway, I felt I could join Mike on the criminal bench as I had unwittingly almost fare-dodged on the train.

So we’re getting there.  Once Mike has this report finished we’ll get out and about a bit more.  I’ve been around the town, found the pattiserie, Monoprix supermarket, the market, and this morning we went to the Christmas market, which had a St Bernard dog, a pig and some pygmy goats on display but was lacking in reindeer.

Starting to feel French - we have a loyalty card for the supermarket!

And a railcard for discounted journeys on or over the weekend

You Know Who welcomes you to Auxerre's Christmas market!

I’ve also been for a couple of runs, there are a lot of runners in Auxerre, good paths, so I’ve enjoyed a wee trot along the bank of the Nivernais and if this fab weather continues, we'll be exploring further on the bikes.  It's cold, most mornings we've had ice on the windows, but when the sun warms up in the afternoon it's glorious - no rain for over a week!!

View from the kitchen by night

And from the living room.