First Full Day in Toulouse

I got up late morning, and Eric was in but Carine had gone out. Eric explained that the key would be left in the post box outside (in the garden wall - imagine doing that at home!), and I was free to come and go as I pleased. I had breakfast and drank a lot of Eric's tea, at which point the cat, Maya, introduced herself. The cat turns out to be very young (6 months) and very playful, and in no doubt at all that you are there for no other reason than to entertain her. I know my place in the cat hierarchy, so we would get on just fine.

I thought I'd have a potter about in Toulouse centre today, and the route from chez Eric was basically due East for 3/4 miles. As I got to what I thought was as close to the centre as I would be able, in a car, I jumped into a parking space and then stood at the nearby machine looking stupid for a minute or two. I pretended I knew what I was doing by carefully moving some coins about in one hand while furrowing my brow. I failed miserably obviously, as a voice from behind me offered a helpful hint. After making it plainly obvious that I was out of my depth, I did manage to grasp the thrust; it was free parking on Saturday. Doh! I thanked the chap and strode off, vowing to learn the language tout de suite. It turns out I had bailed out of the roads a stage too early, but this had the advantage of taking me for a walk accross Pont Neuf on the river Garonde to get to the town centre. The part of the centre I saw on this visit is very pretty, with little paved back streets and no car access, opening out onto a large pedestrianised concourse that looked like the "town hall square". The building in question is actually called The Capitolium, and you can walk through its courtyard, through to another smaller area which has mazy lawns, water features, and some monuments. There were plenty of people doing nothing other (it seemed) than just being there, and in due course, I'll be one of them, when I'll have time for a proper exploration.

My first bit of shopping in Toulouse was easy enough, and was for a more up-to-date WiFi card than my current one, and this was obviously done in a geek shop. Even in a foreign language a geek shop is home. I felt on a roll, so I threw in a pair of USB travel speakers too. At this point I am still cursing when I spend money earned in Sterling on products costing Euros. It seems like I'm paying too much, which is true. I'm going to be much happier when it's the other way around.

When I got back to the car, I told Kate to take me to my new office (Freescale) so I would have some familiarity with the route, come Monday. It is located very near chez Eric, easing the transition in very nicely. It seems so far as if everything I need is in the SW quadrant of the city. Big bonus, is that my commute is approximately , ooh, 7, maybe 8 minutes :-)

In the evening, Eric and Carine took me to the cinema to see Young At Heart. The cinema has a restaurant and the closest place I can think of is the Cornerhouse in Manchester. It shows a similar non-mainstream type of film, but the Cornerhouse is more bar. This cinema is quite famous and one of only 10 such places in France, 2 of which are in Toulouse. Dinner there was on me by way of thanking Eric and Carine for their hospitality. We were served by a Dutch girl, who could speak a lttle French, but spoke pretty good English, and with a kind of northern twang. Carine sensed me latching onto this and seemed hell bent on pairing us up, which amused Eric no end. I did ask her about her English, more specifically where she'd been to get the accent, and it turns out she'd never been to England in her life, but the Dutch watch a whole lot of English TV. So she spoke pretty fluent English, which an authentic accent, off the back of television topping up whatever formal training she'd had. Pretty amazing I thought (perhaps you'd have to hear her to understand why), so I added it as a technique to try myself, although I'm reliably told French TV is spectacularly bad, so we'll see.

The film was excellent; it has a rather bitter-sweet ending, but is a real feel good film and really puts things in perspective. As I turned 40 I was being investigated for bowel cancer (turned out ok obviously), and it's useful to be reminded how nothing should be taken for granted. I resolved to bow out bawling Temple Of Love over the top of my BMW zimmer.

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