The public toilets in France are foul. They don’t get cleaned - at least not often enough. French have a reputation for being smelly... but dirty!? Everyone always complains about Asian toilets, but why don’t they complain about French ones? Often they cost 20 euro cents just to go in for a pee, and all they are is a hole in the ground! Anyway, I have discovered that most public loos can be opened without putting in the 20 euro cents. The door will open, but the light wont go on, so if you want privacy, you also get darkness, even in the day. When you are blind, everything is done by touch... perhaps this is why they are dirty? But then again, at the moment, we are dirty too.
It is impossible not to be dirty when we are camping every day. Climbing of course makes it worse. Fingernails and toe nails are constantly black; and sometimes after thinking I have developed somewhat of a tan, the reality hits home as I shower and rub off the dirt. Even after a shower, it doesn’t take much for our bodies to be caked in dust. But the campsite showers are often as bad as the public toilets. You have to press a timer button to get them to work, and so the water can flow for about 15 seconds if you are lucky or 2 or 3 seconds if you're not, until you have to press the button again. It seems that the busier the campsite, the more often you have to press that button, and the colder the water is. It is more frustration than enjoyment, and sometimes seems not worth the effort. Besides, someone stole our organic Marseilles soap and shampoo - of all things! - at Ceuse! - a campsite full of climbers! – such honest people most of the time :( - ................ at least a climber somewhere is clean.
After a while of staying at Ceuse we were invited to dinner at the mother of Nic’s friend, Guilleume's house. I was eager to turn up clean, leave a good impression, or at least not a bad one. So, after two nights of bivouacing, Nic and I made our own little shower with our hand basin and did the best we could but when we arrived at Michele’s, the first thing she asked us was whether we wanted to clean off in the pool before dinner! Well, that was what her nephews normally do after climbing at Ceuse she said. Lucky she didn’t mind too much that we weren’t so keen for more cleaning, just feeding; and what a feast!
Michele’s place is a climbing boys dream. A pool to cool off in, endless good food, comfortable beds, and a shower filled with fresh razors and shaving cream. She is also a physio, so can get stuck into those sore shoulders, arms, backs and any other injuries, with massages and other treatment. She even has a stash of clean boys clothes to lend her nephews and their friends when they go out on dates! Lucky Guilleume to have such awesome parents, and lucky us to get to meet them.
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