Day 35: 17/07/17 Chasing Mail

Today we were supposed to leave Paris, but we still haven't received the SIM card we are waiting for from the UK. We had a tracking number that told us there had been a failed delivery at 7:03am on Saturday (marina office not open until 8) but I couldn't understand what the next step would be... and neither could the marina staff, but we agreed that we would see if it arrived this morning and then go to the local Post Office to ask questions.

Concerned that they may try to deliver at 7am again I set my alarm for 6:40 and went up to wait outside the Captainaire's office. No delivery before he opened at 8am, so I left our numbers and he said he would call if anything turned up. When I went back to the boat the kids weren't quite up so I decided to go shopping in the cool, leaving Patrick to feed them breakfast and listen to them read.

Back on the boat for boatschool by 9:30 which was a bit of a nightmare after a few days off to explore Paris. Neither kid was having a good day and it was nearly 2pm before we finished the minimum Maths and English. After lunch the kids and Patrick had some electronics time while I went off in search of the Post Office.

After a 10 minute walk I found it and went inside to ask questions. Nobody really spoke English and didn't seem to really want to try to communicate which made things tricky. In the end one lady scribbled down another address which was about 3/4 of a mile away so I started walking again!

This looked more promising as it was clearly a sorting office rather than a Post office counter. After hunting around I found a pedestrian entrance and came up against one solitary counter with the shutter down, saying that in July it closed at 13:00. I tried banging on the shutter as I could hear voices behind but no luck.

Not wanting to give up I decided to hang around outside to see if anybody could help. After about 10 minutes of waiting a lovely lady Julie came out and very kindly delayed her departure home to help me find out what was going on. Luckily her English was pretty good so now I'm pretty sure my letter is in the sorting office, but in a locked area as we needed to sign for it, and those people had gone home. She said that if I return at 8am tomorrow I should be able to get it.

After a long walk back I collapsed on the boat and had a nap... walking in that heat is no joke.

At about 6pm I took the kids up to the park for a play and they made another new friend. Esmé got him a boat card so he could follow our travels and AJ learned some more French playing top trumps with him. His Mum was originally from Iran. I wonder if it is co-incidence that the 2 parents I have really got talking to in parks have been born outside of France?

Esmé also took the opportunity to try out her Heelys.

Anyway, very late tea of steak, new potatoes and salad and then bed.