As the French say “comme d’habitude”, as usual it was laundry day. I did my weekly laundry as usual. Having limited clothes makes the routine very easy. I was trying to figure out how to reduce my Alexandria routine to the same. The air drying clothes does take longer than a dryer but it is not bad if you plan ahead.

Instead of walking along the Garonne for my daily walk, I decided to walk along the Canal de Brienne and the Canal du Midi. This would basically be taking me along the other side of the center of the city and the old part of the city. The old and center part of the city are basically encompassed by the river and the canals. The canals are flanked by large plane trees and other vegetation so it is a very pretty walk. There are footpaths along each of the canals for pedestrians and bikers. There are less people walking the canals that along the river but there were still joggers, walkers and bikers.

As I was walking along the canal, I saw a tourist boat that does tours of the canal and it was entering a lock. I stayed and watched the lock at work as the boat was raised from a lower level to a higher level in the canal. It is pretty interesting to see it done. I had thought that there were lock keepers at all the locks but I did not see one so there must be a more automatic way to do the locks as the boat drivers did not do anything.

I walked further along and found the tourist boat doing another lock but the interesting part was there was a personal canal boat wanting to go the opposite direction at the next lock. I was interested to see how the two boats would accomplish this and navigate the canal and lock. The personal canal boat pulled over to the side in a sort of parking space. It tied up and waited for the tour boat to be raised up and then pass it through the canal – a very narrow fit. Then the personal canal boat entered the lock and the water dropped to the lower level in the canal. It was all very efficient.

I stopped for some wine at a cafe not far from the river on my way back to the apartment. It was the original place that I had wine back in August on my very first visit to Toulouse. That cafe had closed but they had been working on the building since I arrived in March. The cafe is now open so I thought I would try it. The staff was all new and the manager was training one of the wait staff how to carry a tray with drinks on it. It was a nice way to spend some time.

When I got to the Garonne for the walk back to the apartment, I realized it was flooding. Luckily the city is built high above the banks of the river so it is not affected but the whole walk way where I usually walk and the run groups runs was flooded. I am guessing the river is up about 3-4 feet over regular levels. It was also running very fast with lots of debris. It was not its usual dark green but a muddy brown. There must have been lots of rain in the Pyrenees that is flow down the river now.

I made dinner of lamb chops, petit pois (peas) and salad. I decided the reason I like the fresh peas here is it brings back memories of my childhood and going to my grandparents in the summer. My grandfather had a big garden and grew lots of vegetables. I remember being in the kitchen when it was pea season and shucking the peas out of the pod. I get that same memories here when I am shucking the peas out of the pods.