Trying To Catch-Up

For a guy pretty tightly wired, both in terms of technology and personality, it’s been a very stressful three days. On one hand, our group has done a lot of sightseeing and tasted some of France’s great wines.  However, I’ve now experienced French culture in its purest form.

 Meet Jaques, the very man who three nights ago saved us from spending the night in our rental cars. Jaques is the handyman, caretaker, and “go to” guy for Mas  Agrade, our rental house. The group speculates that Jaques lives on the property somewhere, but we’re not sure. Mas  Agrade is pretty massive and there are parts of the house completely cut off from the section we occupy.  But, we rarely see lights in the other parts. Sometimes Jaques’ car is the driveway in the evening, sometimes not.  I’ve concluded that Jaques has the ability to appear and disappear at will. Why else could he simply appear in Les Vigneres on Wednesday night and pull up next to my car? Last night, we had just finished dinner on the patio, it was completely dark, and poof, Jaques is standing there.  It’s French magic.

 I’ve been complaining to Jaques that both the phone and the WiFi in the house are not working. When he appeared last night, small case in hard, I was hoping he was coming to fix it and reconnect me to the rest of the world.  He opened the case, pulled out a small laptop, and then began to plug-in, unplug and then connect a multitude of wires. He was very thoughtful in this process.   And then, with a mournful look, he began a long monolog that involved lots of hand jesters and shacking of his bald head. Jaques had concluded that the Internet was down throughout the district and it would be another 24-48 hours before it gets fixed.  He stressed that his concerns have gone all the way to Paris and that officials are working on the problem that very night. Maybe sooner than 48 hours it will be fixed, but if it’s an emergency that I connect to the Internet, I should find an Internet café in one of the nearby villages.

Welcome to France. Good thing they make great wine.

PS- Just found a McDonald's with internet connection! This is where I'll be eating the rest of my meals after our planned lunch at Ousteau de Baumaniere in Les Baux.