APRIL 1, FRIDAY

AMAZON BASICS

I was so successful yesterday in figuring out my apartment, that I turned to other practical matters today. My first task in the apartment was to order the Amazon Basics zero gravity chair that I bought in Swannanoa, inexpensively, that Susie is sleeping on now. She can only sleep in a recliner so I have to buy one here. And I had discovered on the French Amazon site that we can get the exact same Amazon Basics chair here in France. So I endeavored to order it, on the French Amazon website which I couldn‘t read. For some reason the $60 price had gone up to $250. I figured that maybe I was renewing Amazon Prime for the year or that the chair had to be shipped expedited from the United States. The price seemed exorbitant, but I bit the bullet, we had to have the chair, and ordered it. Only after I ordered it did I realize that I had never been asked for my addresss, 15 Yvonne le Tac, Paris. I looked again and realized that I was paying to have it shipped from France to my address in Swannanoa and that it wouldn‘t get there until the 14th. I then cancelled the order, I‘m pretty sure.

I tried again, this time on the American Amazon page which I could read. This time I changed the address to Paris. This time it was again over $200 but I bit the bullet again, determined to buy it, after which I discovered that I was paying to ship it in the opposite direction from the United States to Paris. I cancelled again.

So I tried for the third time on the French Page with the right French address and suddenly Amazon Prime kicked in with no shipping charge and the price of the chair dropped from $250 to $50, I was home free and ordered it with a huge sigh of relief.

Until I remembered the two locked doors. When Amazon arrives on Monday with the chair they will not be able to get past the first front door. I don‘t think there is even a buzzer they can push to alert me. They will have to leave the chair in its big box on the sidewalk, blocking the sidewalk of Yvonne le Tac as tourists rush by and thieves of all varieties, looking for something to steal, abscond with it. Will I have to open my window and lean out all day until the Amazon man comes three stories below me?

So I went back again to the French Amazon page. I ordered a French Coffee press and a device to set a coffee cup on to keep it warm. They will arrive tomorrow. And this time I think I have included my American cell phone number which may or may not work for calls or text messages and the code, I think, for the front door. I certainly can‘t go anywhere tomorrow. I’ll have to be here to answer the phone if they do call. Today snow is predicted all day. I don‘t want to sit outside tomorrow or lean out the window all day. But if I do receive these two packages, somehow, maybe the chair will be delivered securely on Monday. If none of that works I will have to figure out what to do next. In the United States they would take it back to the Amazon delivery point and inform me. I don‘t know what happens here. `

Otherwise I have no problems at all and exude an air of confidence. Everything is going swimmingly.