It's the 14th of December today; I am sitting at my cousin's computer in Milly La Foret about an hour south of Paris. It is a bit of a challenge using this computer' the keyboard is configured differently than my one, or those from NZ. I guess it is to do with how common a letter is in usage of the native language. Also of course all the sites are in French and so negotiating my way around Google France is a challenge.
Why am I writing on my cousin's computer rather than mine (don't the French use a question mark) because I can't find one anywhere on this keyboard) anyway' the answer is my computer has crashed big time. Hard drive kaput. A real piss off as it means communication is even more difficult than before' and my blogging is now ne'er impossible. Also it means I have lost many documents and all the blogs I written but not yet posted and I can't back up my photos or view them. Thankfully I had the foresight to bring a portable extension of memory and therefore all my photos are saved on there or else still on the card in the camera. I had lost photos when a previous computer decided to die on me so I was prepared this time.
It does mean that my blogging will not contain photos for a while though' I may be able to get the machine fixed over here as it is still under warranty and has an international warranty so it is able to be fixed if I can find a certified Toshiba repairer' but of course language is the problem.
The truck fixing is hopefully moving on though. The insurance company has all the papers, including a declaration that I wasn't under the influence of alcohol or any stupefying agents, and they have passed the information on to the garage where we will drop the truck on Monday for an assessment. I imagine it will take a few days or maybe longer to get parts, if it is possible at all, on account of our girls age, but we at least can entertain ourselves in Paris and around in the meantime. What a hardship, having to visit the Louvre and other fine places to fill in time. Oh I just found the question mark but it was disguised as an exclamation mark so where is that?
It is cold here now, sometimes sunny, but often rain, the temperatures are consistently in the low single digits and that remains the forecast for the next few days. I can't imagine things will change radically. We are still unsure of our plans for the next couple of months, it is very dependent on getting the truck fixed, then we can either sell it straight away and do a little independent travelling by train or plane, or keep it a bit longer and maybe drive over to the snowy parts in the east. It is a bit cold to be doing too much camping overnight though in the truck as it doesn't have heating and can get a little chilly in the evenings. We will see though. what happens over the next week.