Singing and Dancing to Summer

« Il n’y a pas eu mort d’homme » the French say ruefully after complaining about something or bracingly when someone else has been complaining about something. “Nobody died.” I’ve been saying it a lot since mid-May when the electronic devices that make my life comfortable began falling apart one after the other.
My printer went first; it was only 8 years old. I decided it was time for a new computer too. My 6 year old Dell, while still working, was showing definite signs of wishing to retire. Go to the store and buy a new printer – which also photocopies and scans or will as soon as I figure out how --; call Dell and order a new laptop; hire a guy to come transfer the insides of my old computer into the new one. An efficient day’s work.
Except the computer didn’t. Work that is. I entered into a 2 week long customer service nightmare with Dell. I now have a perfectly working laptop. But only after I e-mailed an American Dell executive whose name and contact details a friend had. His response resulted in my call being followed to completion by the Director of Technical Support Europe and a phone call of apology from the Director of Customer Service Europe. It was hard to go back to my normal, anonymous life.
In the midst of my Dell crisis, my 7 year old cable box stopped functioning. One electronic problem at a time seemed more than sufficient. So, having called the cable company and found out where to buy a new one, I decided that could wait. Now every evening a message pops up saying “Soon France will switch to digital TV and your set will stop working.” Sigh.
By the beginning of June, serenity was returning to my life -- when my internet access failed. At least I thought that was the problem until I picked up my phone to call customer service and heard … nothing. It turned out the water company had cut through the telephone cable while performing some mysterious and disruptive task “to make your life better”. Guess again. Five long days without cable TV’s international channels, the internet, e-mail and international long distance made my world seem very small.
Fortunately, June is a month of music and dance as we move joyfully towards summer so I got some relief from my electronic woes.

My choir’s two concerts were successful and well-attended.



There were other concerts to go to.













the pre-school’s end of year festivities












and, of course, la Fête de la Musique
























Life gradually looked good again.


Welcome summer.