Saturday 9 January 2010

oh gosh...

... I should write something.

You know when you have a really big important thing to do, like an exam or an interview or something, and other things come up which are clearly much less important, like health insurance and tax returns and cable TV bills, but you just leave them to one side to deal with after the big important thing is over?

Well, I did the big important thing and spent the rest of the day wandering around like a loon in the snow and the sunshine and drinking too much pretend champagne at choir practice. Then the next day was a write-off due to abovementioned pretend champagne, plus some extra bits of translation that I accepted and then forgot about, plus the inevitable sudden post-stress brain fail.

And now it's the weekend, so of course I can't deal with the Big Long List of Things I Put Off Til Later today because everything is closed until Monday, so that's a relief!

Instead I bought a mop, and some spray anti-cafards, when what I meant to buy was a plastic toboggan. I suppose at a push I could slide in the mop bucket. Or on my Carrefour eco-bag.

I also found the fève in the free samples of galette des Rois at Pain Quotidien (a cross between a bakery and a coffee shop which always gives me a sugar hangover). Quite why they were giving bits of galette away I'm not sure: the big buttery pastry rounds were piled high in the window display, so maybe they're having trouble shifting them in this weather (I bought a dense, almondy slice the other day and felt sick for the rest of the afternoon).

- ah vous avez gagné! said the guy behind the counter (actually he probably didn't, but I've given up trying to reproduce accurate, realistic French dialogue here), produced a crown made of gilded card, and tossed it flamboyantly in the direction of my head. I smiled and very quickly handed over the golden crown to a tiny girl whose parents were next in the line, with a placating 'wow, qu'est-ce que c'est jolie!' or something equally un-French like that. She scowled at me hard while her parents and the guy behind the counter made similar cooing noises, and we left the shop.

Joyeuse Fete des Rois everyone!

Better start opening bills now I suppose.

8 comments:

Aidan said...

I hope the big important thing went well. I've been doing my big important thing this week too. Glad to be back to facing the list of smaller things (sort of).

pinolona said...

mine was good thanks, how did yours go?
I'm definitely not looking forward to the small stuff, especially as most of it involves paying bills and getting enmeshed in the social security systems of various countries: why can't I just take out private insurance and have done with it?!

katy said...

I wonder if that galette des Rois tastes anything like the King's Day cake my family friends from Louisiana make (Francophone influence?). It's delicious, although you risk breaking your teeth on the plastic baby figure they put in there for good luck. Anywho, let's hang out sometime soon! (in a warm place, preferably, I have no tolerance for this cold after being home)

pinolona said...

Oooooooh hurrah, you're back!!!
Yes let's definitely hang out. I may go to Kraków at the end of the month for a few days but up til then I'm free. Lots of news so looking forward to catching up :)

I think it must be the same thing: basically very dense frangipane between what is essentially two rings of butter-heavy puff pastry? Recommended by cardiologists everywhere...
The feve is the plastic thing, traditionally a dried bean or something like that.

see you soon!!

D9Robot said...

i need to work on my french

Michael Dembinski said...

Lent starts on 17 Feb. Anyone for a refreshing dip into delf-denial?

Michael Dembinski said...

Er... self denial?

pinolona said...

oh gosh, is it already? I don't think I did anything for Lent last year: I was too busy being a student again :) I may give up booze this year, give my liver a bit of a break...