Vendôme 

Tuesday, October 6. Early morning departure for Montcourt-Fromonville, south of the Seine-et-Marne where Maryse, a long-time friend of my mother, will welcome me. This will be my first day as a “real” road in the sense of a “long” road. I am about to make about five hours of travel, divided equally between the morning and the afternoon. I recall my aversion to Vinci and my wish to discover France and its villages. But it is a purely «automobile» discovery that I will make because being expected in the evening but also at noon, I have little time to stroll and stop here and there.

However, thanks to an important mail that I had to post in Nantes and that I still keep in my bag, I stop at the post office of a small town in Loir-et-Cher (or the Indre-et-Loire?) and nothing but that, it’s fun. The Loir-et-Cher, apart from the Delpech song, I don’t know if I’ve ever been there! So yes, it’s an adventure. I talk to the postwoman, tell her I’m going to Vendôme (my lunch stop). I feel communicative, she talks to me about her. A little. But that is enough to rejoice me. Despite our masks. We live a short but friendly exchange and I leave, filled with this moment of sharing and despite my fatigue.


Yes, because the night before at Maud’s, I had an insomnia. I have no idea why. In short, having experienced several weeks of insomnia after confinement (the unlikely thing I usually sleep like a groundhog), I am a bit afraid of the fatigue associated with driving but I know that I will pay for it the next day… Well that’s how it is, maybe a test of the universe. But I decided that it would not spoil my residency or my meetings.


On the way to Vendôme, where I am expected this lunch at Blandine. This minute stop (which will last several hours) has stalled the day before. I did not know Blandine who is a friend of a friend, Catherine. Yet our lives have crossed many times at parties at the so-called mutual friend’s house but we had never really connected. This thing will always surprise me.


Catherine often spoke of Vendôme for having lived and worked there for many years and for having kept friends there. I see that Vendôme is right at the centre of my journey today. The opportunity is too good! In addition, I see Cat the day before my departure during a meeting around the Beatles Family project. Cat tells me about Blandine, who might like my approach. And hop, three sms and two phone calls later, the deal is done: I will meet Blandine in Vendôme and she will make me discover her very beautiful place...