O Ring

Rain on and off, cool breezes, grey skies - the perfect weather to stay indoors and read, catch up on our sleep, or do the odd little job around the house. 

Karl is a man of many talents, so today he decided to put on his plumber's hat and fix the leaky tap in the bathroom.  Not a big job, as long as you know where to find the needed parts.  And providing you know how to explain yourself in French!

Yollande, our new acquaintance from Le Café des Arts, told us that the hardware store, or "quincaillerie", is part of Weldom, home of the handyman, the "bricoleur".  So off we went to explore this huge store which carries everything you can think of.

There is your:

chicken run

rabbits

birds

colourful fish

and apartment gardener's plot.

Oh yes, we were here to find an "O ring" for the faucet.

I speak French fluently, but I don't have a plumber's vocabulary, so I resorted to sign language and a trick that Alzheimer patients often use: describing what they want without saying the actual word.  Thank goodness there were props to demonstrate what we needed.

 We now know that an "O Ring" is called "un joint".  There was definitely a variety of sizes to choose from!

We also had a second set of house keys cut, just so we don't see ourselves revisiting the nightmare from our last trip, when we locked ourselves out of the house!  

You'll be pleased to know that the faucet no longer leaks, the extra set of keys is safely tucked in my purse, and although the rain hasn't abated, we are comfy and cozy in our house, reading and sipping tea.  Ok, sipping wine too!

Sipping wine can lead to an afternoon nap...