I wrote this the day of the flood. The day I almost burnt down the apartment. I guess I must have forgotten to post it with all the excitement…. so here you have it, a few weeks late, but still. This kind of rubbish will always be rubbish:

Today I was invited to lunch by Michelle’s boss, the director of HR & the 2 HR girls that are our contacts in this expatriation contract. I have to tell you I was not keen to go. After everything that has (and hasn’t) happened over the past 6 months I was not sold on the idea of meeting the people involved, but as usual logic over-rides all else, and the fact that these people are important to Michelle and her position here in France, it was the least I could do. Turn up, smile and enjoy the meal.

It’s been planned for some time. In fact the idea was first mentioned by Michelle’s boss while I was in Australia, before we even had news on my visa. At this point I had the right to veto! I mean, there was absolutely no cause for celebration, welcome, whatever you want to call it, while I was on the other side of the world (except maybe on the part of my mum, who was happy to have me home for 2 full months!) But once the good news was welcomed, the date was set and here we are. I’ve been not looking forward to it ever since.

But today, after having gone & conquered my fears, I am pleased that I went. Michelle’s boss was truly charming. Extremely kind and very generous I was glad to have met her and everyone seemed genuinely happy to have the whole disaster behind us. I now have faces I can match to the names, as well as a better idea as to how far, whats involved, and generally a much clearer picture of where she heads off to every morning to what she loosely terms ‘work’!