Convenience but what service!

Yes we are now in the 13th arrondissement in betweeen the superb Chinese area and Place d'Italie. I've already discovered a Chinese supermarket which sells a huge variety of frozen Chinese dim sum though they are in competition for freezer space with the deluze frozen food from Picard which is only 3 mins walk away! The library yes only 5 min walk away offers free internet access - yippee because getting the phone, internet etc installed at the appartment will probably be yet another long saga.

Did I mention that we had to go back to Darty about 5 times to get my mobile phone (didn't bring my passport the first day and they had to retrieve the number from a different place the next day) and then I had to make sure that they would deliver all our home appliances in one go (why they would send the machines in two different delivery slots in the same day is beyond me). So of course I was the mad foreigner with such ineloquent French who kicked up a fuss and made a scene at the 'service clientele' desk. I still stayed in all day to wait for the appliances which finally came all together. Oh what was worse was Ikea - we paid for the delivery of our wardrobes and shelves and unbeknown to us the man with the white van declared that it wasn't his job to unload the furniture. I had a split second vision of me pushing the boxes into the street under the rain and screaming at him of course until he said in French 'but if you give me some tips'....daylight robbery but of course I had no choice but to surrender to him. Next task complaint letter to Ikea..hum in French!

Did I mention that you have to pay here to call any sort of customer service number in France; from planes, trains to banks - I don't think the term 'Customer Satisfaction' exists in France!

But I love my new area - everything seems so convenient!