I set off this morning with high hopes and my passport in my pocket.  I had decided that first I would change up the last of my traveller’s cheques (before the weekend when the banks would be closed).  Then I would go to the exhibition and finally I would do some serious shopping in the town centre.  As I walked the streets, it slowly dawned on me that something was wrong.  The shops were all very slow to open.  I checked their opening times as I went past and many were supposed to have been open for half an hour, but there was no sign of life.  In fact, the streets were unusually quiet for a Friday morning as well.  

I finally saw a sign in a shop window that explained everything. Silly of me to forget, but of course, the 15th of August is the festival of the Assumption!!?!  

Not content with a one-month annual shutdown which turns most of France into a ghost town, they had to come up with reasons to shut down the last vestiges of life that remained!!  As a result, everything will be closed all day (apart from florists and bakers who will be open in the morning).  I didn’t have anyone to give flowers to, and I had just had breakfast, so that was no good, and I settled down to a flat, relatively meaningless day wandering around trying to find something to do with myself.  The sun wasn’t even shining, so I couldn’t take all those photographs I wanted of the town.  

There were two street markets in the morning, so Sammy would have probably found something to keep her going, but there was nothing much to interest me there. After a fair bit of wandering I decided to lunch in the square outside “Baker Street” a theme pub that has opened next to the town hall (salade Roannaise and a brochette de boeuf that I made last as long as I could).

I then went back to the room and settled on a siesta and some tidying before venturing out for another wander round and a decision to go to the cinema to see “Terminator 3” in French. Not bad! An air conditioned room for two hours with a film thrown in for 6 €.  Arnie speaks French better than he does English too, and his diction is perfect!

The film finished at about 10pm, which seriously limited my evening meal options, so I settled for a couple of beers and a sandwich opposite the town hall (they’d run out of bread of course, so I had to make do with a croque-monsieur) before going back to the room with a take-away bottle of Perrier.  

All in all it was a dreary and fairly meaningless day, but hopefully tomorrow things will pick up and I will be able to change my cheques and do my shopping.

Closed during the annual closure - This has to be France!

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