we get the keys! we return to the etap and pack up our bags and prepare for the arduous 8 bag journey but then the cell phone rings and its corrine, "i told you to call me, what's wrong?" now, she had told me to call her at about ten to help move, but i had told her that we could do it alone and and we'd call her afterwards. but i am learning that she does easily permit refusals of her help. a spotty connection forbade any other refusals and she said she would be right over. such was the day of corrine and us, and i kept feeling guilty for keeping her from her family or free time, but she insisted. she drives us from the hotel to our new apartment, helps us move in, and then takes us several places furniture shopping in the morning. then she feeds us a delicious lunch with her family in the afternoon (she has an absolutely stunning place in villanueve, the former home of a popular avignon architect), and then offers us a bureau, refrigerator, kitchen table and chairs. she takes us furniture shopping in the afternoon and when we have everything picked out, takes us to rent a moving truck. after helping us navigate the difficult french formalities involved in that and waiting for a while for us for the next available van to return, she has to leave to go pick up her son from school, and tells us to call when we get home and moved in all the furniture so that she can take us shopping for other household things.
the wait for the truck is two hours long. seth seems very tense. it was a stressful day and the wait is annoying, but there's something else. "provincial drivers are insane," he says. and they are. people turn mad behind the wheel here and there is no reason. they go through red lights often. we've seen it; they don't care about rules. and avignon roads are made for horses, not moving vans. there are smart cars here; they look like sedans cut in half.
