Wednesday, January 25, 2012

A funny thing happened on the way...

I was walking into Toulouse today, about to cross one of the bridges over the Garonne, when my eye was caught by a glint of metal on the pavement. At the same moment, someone coming the opposite way also spotted it, and stooped down to pick it up. He straightened up and showed me what appeared to be a gold ring.
So far so good, but next he surprised me by handing it to me, saying that his hands were too small. Rather at a loss, I continued on my way, stuffing the ring into my pocket. A couple of minutes later, he came charging after me, and asked if I had any money. I gave him some shrapnel, which was all I had, and he asked for more, about 5 euro was the figure he had in mind.
When I explained that this was all I had, he wandered off again. I can't think that this was a scam, or if it was, I can't quite see how it works, in the meantime I have a chunky, possibly gold ring (it has hallmarks). Can anyone explain?

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Long time lonesome...

Greetings from the banks of the Garonne, it has been a long time, both since I was last here, and since I last blogged. Apologies, I moved house in July last year, and my new place, although splendid in its isolation, is too remote from the exchange to permit Internet access. My own stupidity, not realising I could get a blogger app for the iPhone, has also cramped my style.
So, here it is, the return of Way out West, hopefully I will have interesting things to see and do. This year is looking quite interesting quite a lot of festivals, and with any luck I'll manage to avoid the Olympics entirely.