Did we mention the snow? It has just been snowing pretty much steadily since last Friday night and the village has been transformed! Feeling a little nervous about driving down to the valley to pick up our snow tyres, the expert chain fitter in our family - aka Graeme whipped on those chains and we managed to get out of the drive way! Step One completed successfully!! Step Two - make it to the end of our little road and onto the main road - Check! Then all the way down the valley!!
You may like to note the picture from the car. It's a very narrow section and there's a shear drop to the valley floor about 500m behind the concrete barrier. The road is only about 1.5 cars wide, covered in snow and ice with a great rock overhang and...Graeme is on the wrong side of the road again!! To add further excitement, the local french drivers also seem to think this is an ideal place to pass us!!
Liz had organised with a local garage to have winter tyres fitted to our car. While the expense is significant, we think for safety it's something that must be done. With a new french phrase under our belt - "Pneu pour hivre, sil vou plait" we were on our way back to town for our next big challenge of the day - The interview with the Bank Manager!!"
We could go on and on about this most hilarious interview, which took nearly 2.5 hours! The long and short of it was, without help from a very patient Liz, we would never have been able to open a French banck account. It would be impossible! Even so, the PIN number for our French EFTPOS card is being posted to our address in Wanaka, NZ and our beloved and trusty Moira will need to open the mail and email us the number. Don't ask? We don't understand, Liz doesn't and we're quite sure the Bank Manager doesn't either!!
We invited Liz in for a red wine to a recover from the ordeal!!
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