When I was doing cleaning in the apartment on Monday, I noticed that the toilet was leaking on the floor. It was not a serious leak but I could see some water. I reached out to the landlord/host and sent pictures of the leak. They reached out and said they would arrange for a plumber to come by and look at it.

This made me somewhat nervous as I was not sure (actually definitely sure) that my French language skills would not be able to handle a discussion of plumbing. I think the landlord understood this and they agreed to meet the plumber.

Dominque and the plumber arrived and looked at the issue. It was decided that some internal pipes needed to be replaced. The plumber said that he could not do it right away, I think he needed to get the parts needed. We agreed that the plumber would come back tomorrow to do the repair. I said that I would be available.

Luckily, the plumber spoke reasonable English. We exchanged WhatApps contact information so he could let me know when he was coming and I could let him in. The apartment building has security built in a phone system.

The plumber reached out and said that if I was ok with it, he could come at 1:00 pm and do the fix. I agreed to it and I thought it was better to get it fixed than wait. I did have to cancel my lunch at Terra Tolosa but was glad to get the toilet fixed.

The plumber (I should have gotten his name), told he had some apprenticeships in various countries including Norwich, England. That is where he learned English. We had a nice conversation about his time there and how he learned English. I explained how I was trying to learn French. A bonus was that he gave me a recommendation for a restaurant – Jour de Marché. It is near St. Aubin’s where the open air market is located. I will try it. He says it is traditionally French and good.

While I was waiting for the plumber, I made reservations at various restaurants for the days that Emily and Barbara are visiting Toulouse. Emily and Barbara arrive next Wednesday for a 4-5 day stay in Toulouse. After Toulouse, they are heading to Paris to visit other friends.

I want to show them what I consider the best of Toulouse so I have reservations at Le Panache (of course), Reflets, Le Braisierie, Aux Pied sur la Table. I need to make one more reservation.

I am a little nervous for their visit as we have to walk everywhere and I am not sure they are up to long walks. Barbara is 91 but very active. Emily has some health issues that make walking more difficult. I figure we will do a lot of sitting in cafes between walks.

In the evening, I went to run with Run in Toulouse. I chose a little faster pace as Eliott was not at the run. He is in England visiting a friend of his who lives in York. I did not pay close enough attention and ran with the hour group rather than the 45 minutes. It was good as I have to get in shape for the half marathon. It was a good run. Also, it was the third day running in a row which I have not done in a while.

While walking there was a band on a stage in the Place St. Pierre. Not sure why it was there as nothing else was going on but it was sponsored by the city. I think there is a “live a healthy and good life” program going on and this was part of it.

Raghu, a person I met last year in the Run in Toulouse group, who is a digital nomad and is from northern Virginia originally; sent me a picture and pointed out that we had met a year ago. It was fun to spend time with him in Toulouse last year and also that we have kept in touch over the last year. It is again one of the amazing things about modern communication. No matter where either of us are, we can keep in touch.