Grand Central Station

It's amazing how busy our days seem to be.  Yesterday by late afternoon I hadn't even found time for a shower.  In the morning I walked with Matthew and Juliet to her school, as I'll have to take her later this week.  Not that I really need to know the way; according to Matt, she knows the way and will be glad to show me.  Well then, I should have taken her on my morning walk, as I got lost.

I decided to walk in the morning because it was supposed to rain later in the day.  I didn't need a map because I planned to walk straight in one direction, then straight in another direction perpendicular to the first, and so on until I made a square and ended up where I had started.  Easy!!  Of course the streets don't run perpendicular to one another.  Sometimes they run off at an angle which turns out to be quite a large angle and actually might even take you into another town.  Let's just put it this way:  I saw three other towns before I made it back to Levallois.  And I probably wouldn't have made it back without a friendly school crossing guard who pointed out the way.  Sheesh.

Getting lost and then found took up a lot of the afternoon.  By the time I returned to the apartment it was almost time for us to receive our first guests of the day.  Colleen, the nanny, brought Juliet and her friend to the apartment to play.  Shortly after that Jeanne's friend from work came to meet James, bring gifts, have some tea and chat with Jeanne.  At this point I decided it would be a good time to take a shower; everyone was occupied in other rooms, and the toilet is in a separate room from the bathtub, so no problem there.

I did finish my shower before Jeanne and James arrived to change his diaper (the changing table is in the bathroom).  And I was toweling off when Colleen came in to draw the bath water for the girls.  I even had my robe on by the time Juliet's friend's mother came in to wash her hands before holding the baby.  When Colleen's boyfriend arrived to see the newborn, I gave up and retreated to my room.  I don't have a hair curler anyway, since I brought the one I bought in London last year, and we don't have an adapter for it.  So I might as well let my hair air-dry as it's going to look horrible anyway.  At least I got my shower.

The apartment really did feel like Grand Central Station yesterday.  Guests coming and going from 3:30 until 7:30 or so, then dinner for Juliet, play with Juliet, bed time for Juliet and finally dinner for Matt, Jeanne and me about 10:00.  A long day, but interesting and humbling in a few ways.  I need a map and I need an adapter.  And that's okay.