Make over day

I knew the day would come when I looked into the mirror and realised with some certainty that I was in need of some immediate salon treatment. Hair cut, waxing and tinting - you know the routine.

Wearing my new Ecco shoes I walked off feeling quite confident and ready to face the world ! I was soon limping as my new shoes weren't so accommodating. The limp moved to the next stage with shoe shape being changed so I could walk on the heel. It didn't do the job, so pushed down the heel of the shoe and made the most of it - this decision meant that I suffered later from many blisters. What an idiot I was. I should've worn more comfortable shoes and I was now too far from the van to go back so shuffling into the nearest Pharmacy, and using my French phrase book, managed to buy some band-aids. Didn't really help and I now realise that the shoes sold to me weren't the size I tried on (they were a size smaller) so will send back to Australia and hope my friend Luiza will like them.

Putting the shoe drama behind me - I limped along to hair salon and organised appointment for later that day, set up tinting and waxing appointment with lots of gesticulating on my behalf and then took my precious white gold bracelet to the jewellers to have my 'country' charms put into place including the letter H, and the letter G

Went  back to the van, changed shoes and got on my bike for the afternoon appointments.

My first appointment was to have my eyebrows tinted !! The salon owner had a general idea but clearly didn't get the bit about colour. She spent quite some time working on them - 30 minutes !!!!! and when I looked into the mirror, I could see that the shape was much better but colour !! I couldn't see any. 

Viola', my hair appointment was sensational. I had returned at 3pm. so English speaking hairdresser and stylist could be on hand and knowing that my hair would have plenty of time to grow before a special date in October, I did my best to try and explain that I wanted them to style my hair - a new French look was required. However, I think it's similar to previous cuts just a little longer on top.At one stage I had four hairdressers all trying to decide how to cut and colour my hair - I managed to follow some of the conversation and just hoped that they understood me. They clearly understood that my eyebrows were causing me some concern so for the first time my life, I sat in a chair with foils in my hair and a hairdresser running from the back with some 'hair dye' which she then smoothed over my eyebrows. I literally sat there and watched my eyebrows change colour and then wondered when she was coming back to wipe them. !!!  They're still not dark enough but better than no colour at all.

I finished my day with a coffee in the sun and just watched life go by. The French shut shops around midday for up to two hours and then re-open until early evening. The shops had now re-opened, cars were buzzing around, and the French were back in business as I hopped on my bike and made my way back to our van.

Helena - 26-4-11