So yesterday I got dolled up ... fixed my fabulous new do, donned a dress (!) with my new belt, black tights and knee high black boots (you know the kind!) ... looking good, my friends, looking good.
Hop in the car with my new French smart card, zip off to the petrol station ... and n'accepté pas!
Blast it all to hell, methinks, I'm risking it. Head off into the deep black night on tiny backroads ... searching for La Rhue, the site of a supposed blues night extravaganza. Over hill, over dale, nervously trying NOT to regard my gas gauge which is hovering maddeningly over the band of red.
Okay I know, I'm an idiot. I was also contemplating just what I might do once stranded, sans gazole, in the middle of nowhere. I took stock of an extra coat in the trunk and determined I could sleep in the car. No, I hadn't yet been drinking!
I stop in the midst of a village and pull out my routier, don my glasses and peer at the miniscule lines on the map. I think I need a new prescription as it was impossible!
I keep going, almost now refusing to back down. I come upon a Salle des Fetes with a party in full swing. I get out of my car and sashay on up to a group of five men engrossed in an animated conversation. "Pardon messieurs ... je suis perdu" well that got their attention. The tallest of the bunch ... also the one who had been dominating the conversation before I interrupted, a grey-haired fellow with a commanding presence, proceeded to give me some directions. Another one to the side kept trying to interject in English ... thinking I didn't understand.
I submitted my mercis and get back in my car. Basically I was retracing much of my original trip ... having missed a turn. Well on the way back I still never found that turn.
Now I was faced with a decision. At 10:00 p.m., did I dare risk a further venture out to Chalus where I knew Eric and Amy were performing? Would my luck stretch that far and all the way back to Brantôme?
I was discouraged. I decided to return home. Obviously my gazole amount got me here.
But I am pissed. Music nights in the winter aren't occurring every week-end.
And DAMN I looked cute.
15 comments:
Ooh, I hate that you didn't get to have your gorgeousness appreciated by others. Sad story! :-(
Glad you didn't get stranded. Better luck next time, though.
lbr-ha! well there's always next time I suppose!
Jon AKA - hello old friend! missed seeing you, thanks for stopping by~
The newfangled technological inventions sometimes frighten this old man, but have you thought about a GPS? I say this not in jest and not that it'll solve all problems given the likely plethora of unmapped 'alternate routes,' but what the hell.
RG-Surprisingly I get around fairly well and do well with maps. I should have known the venue was a crapshoot - their website is all in Dutch with no translation, no visual map ... and their address is basically D80 (yep that is it...the name, D80, and the city.
I should have researched more carefully before just jumping in the car, but it was also a crap location. Everyone I've spoken to here says GPS is not worth the investment unless you are in a city.
The scariest part was the low gas, otherwise I would have fucking driven till midnight just to prove I could find it. grrr.
Oh merde! Did you take a photo of yourself in your fabulous outfit, at least?
I'm glad you weren't stranded on a dark country road sleeping in your car though!
no picture, but next time for sure. good idea!
oh Kim, so sorry! We would have sent out a search party for you. We searched for that place (La Rhue) in broad daylight and did find it but it was not easy - and this was with GPS. Maybe we can meet you at Jumilhac another time and find it together?
Even so, it was an adventure. And you looked so good. It's never a mistake to look good when embarking on any adventure.
bummer. Well, you'll just have to get all dressed up again. Oh darn. LOL! (and buy some gas! Ha!)
Oh, what suckage. Still, I bet you were the hottest looking lost woman driving around that part of France that night.
amy~ so it DOES exist! lol! that would be fantastic (to go ensemble)... I'm planning on calling you today, be warned, ha!
Utah~yep, at least if I were stranded and found frozen in the cold, I would have looked smashing!
Stacey-gas purchase on today's list ... yep, yep.
Michelle-suckage is right. hope that other part is too!
glad you didn't run out of gas...we were driving around yesterday with the gas light on too, NO stations open on Sunday. We need to remember that, along with getting bread & croissants on Saturday too. Hey our address is Les Costes with a village and zip, so french.
Oh, Dutch. Say no more. They're the worst.
rg-I'm telling. "let's go Dutch". I rest my case! :P
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