We decided to get up at 6.30 am this morning so we could walk the dog at 7am while it was still cool. Poor dog spent the rest of the day indoors where it is quite cool as it is an old stone house. Just as well because the hottest part of the day reached 99f or 36C perhaps more at the front of the house.
Well we woke up to no power in the house. A French fuse box is quite a differerent animal to a UK fuse box. We have a selection of fuses from 10 to 32 amps. With a little unplugging, and elimination at the fuse box I found it was the main 32 amp fuse for the kitchen which runs the fridge and the freezer.
Initially I thought it would be the fridge that was tripping the system, but even unplugged the system tripped out, so we called the electrician.
Now there is service. He left the job he was on and got to us in just over half an hour. The moment he knew our kitchen was out of action this became a priority job. This is the real France. The sole traders make the world of difference to a small community. We are so impressed with our electrician/builder and fixer.
After an hour the fault was traced to a socket we have never actually used. The reason we do not use this socket, or the next one on the ring is that they are right next to the sink. I explained we never use them as in the UK it is forbidden to put sockets within a certain distance of the sink. He said their is no law over the placement of sockets near the sink in Fance, although you can't put a socket in the bathroom.
There's EU laws for you. The ones that might save your life are a little short on the Health and Safety!
This socket had burned out inside. A completely hidden fault that could have caused a fire. Anyway our electrician isolated all the sockets on that ring and said he would come back in a few weeks while we are away to replace all the wiring and check its all ok. We can just trust our French electrician to do exactly what is needed and not overcharge us.
Well mulling over this evening, after a very hot day, I wonder how hot the cables are in the high frequency trading sector!
I suspect the algorithms aren't coping very well! They weren't designed for a Brexit!
Everyone is downgrading their GDP forecasts. Perhaps they have had to shut down the HFT mechanism, as it is churning out too much aggravation and the markets and Forex systems can't cope. In which case it's back to floor trading, and some sanity. Well it's all insane anyway.
The whole futures market needs to get taken down. It elevates the price of commodities and the cost of living for everyone.
I have been watching the rates of exchange and how the £ is doing against other currencies. I think it's time now for the Americans to devalue the dollar. After all most of the third world countries that have to pay back national debt will have to default soon as they won't be able to pay at the current rates.
Well give it a week and some will start defaulting. Which means the Americans have got their own garbage back on their doorstep. Perhaps America will be bankrupt before the rest of us!
Perhaps the UK can try and put America at the back of the queue for a new trade deal...
...And the rest of Europe and everywhere else for that matter. At the risk of being anti establishment here, what would the world look like if America's foreign policy got held up to the real scrutiny it deserves.
Actually I initially thought Theresa May was out of her mind giving the Foreign Office Job to Boris Johnson, now I am beginning to think the lady has a great sense of humour. It's like asking Prince Phillip to be in charge of the Foreign Office. We know just how many off the cuff remarks he makes, that we all enjoy as Brits.
The world is a comedy of errors. Let's just enjoy the scenery wile we are here and stop fighting one another for every inch of each other's livelihood.
Our French electrician said he would give us the bill for his work when he had done the new ring and fixed the sockets, and that today he was charging for an hour. I said, you had to leave the job you were doing, travel here and back to fix our problem. In my reckoning that was two hours to charge for today.
He said sorry sometimes it takes a little while to find a fault. I said I realised that. Better we have a Bon accord and pay him for all the time it took today to fix our problem.
He has to make a living in a small rural community. I used to undersell my time to keep customers happy. I won't do it to someone else who has given me such a great service.
Vivre La France!