Thursday 3rd July 2008 Day off at Vic C. du Midi

Much cooler, overcast and dull. Raining when we woke up at eight, so we had a lie in. The 'fridge wasn’t switching on as the voltages were low, so Mike ran the engine after connecting the Markon up. As the generator was running I did some washing. He went into Castanets in the car to the Post Office to pay in the money to cover the dry docking bill. After lunch we went into Toulouse by car to find a ‘phone shop which would unlock the two Ericsson phones that Mike bought via Ebay, which were locked on the UK Vodaphone network. We drove down Rue de Bayard and had to turn off as Mike thought he was driving down a bus lane and traffic was one way, the opposite way to what we were going. We went to go around the block but then saw a cyber café with a notice in its window that said “Phones unlocked”. We parked in the underground car park at Place Jean d’Arc and walked back to the shop. Yes, the young Algerian guy said after he’d made two 'phone calls, could we come back around six o’clock as the bloke who did the unlocking would be there then? Yes, OK. We went back through the city and went into Jardiland, had a look round (a cockatiel insisted on telling both of us its life story but sadly we didn’t listen to its pleas for rescue) and I bought a hanging basket with a strange looking succulent plant that had pink, red and orange flowers, called a pourpier (portulac or moss rose), then we went for a drive in the countryside to the east of Toulouse. Called at a bank ATM for some cash and an MBK bike shop for a new sparking plug for the moped. We parked again in the underground car park at Jean d’Arc and went back to the shop at 6.00 p.m. No sign of the bloke yet, could we call back in an hour? We went walkabout. Sat outside St Sernin’s Basilica after having a very brief look inside. Still no sign of the guy who does the 'phones, could we come back the next day? Nope, we’re moving the boats, we’d be about five days before we get back. OK. Should be done before then. We drove back in the slow moving traffic. Back just in time to get the French weather forecast. OK next day and a slight chance of rain over Saturday and Sunday. Checked with Bill, OK for moving on in the morning.