5 - Back to work - Castets and Hossegor

 Monday November 20, 2023

I didn't sleep particularly well last night, just cause I was done with the illness doesn't mean the illness was done with me.  My belly ached throughout the night which made it difficult to fall and stay asleep, but I think I still pulled off about 5 hours.  To help settle my stomach, I took breakfast in the lobby and then made my way to work in the light rain.  

My first order of business at work was a follow up site safety training by the Health & Safety guy.  For the most part, the protocols and requirements are the same between this site and my own; however, it turns out that my sudden departure last Friday wasn't how I should have handled it.  Apparently, by regulation, if someone becomes sick on site, the site must check that they're fit to return home by themselves or be escorted.  Oh well, I'll keep it in mind pour la prochaine fois 😅

On the drive to the restaurant for lunch, it struck me how some of the atmosphere and landscape reminded me of Whidbey Island.  It was a rainy morning, but the rain ceased and left us with a damp overcast day.  I think it was the thick hedge of gorse (I'd initially mistaken it for Scotch Broom) that prompted me to think of Ebey State Park.  I suppose I'm thankful that damp overcast days are more likely to making me feel nostalgic instead of depressed 😂

I had dinner again with the engineers from AIGP; I had debated not going since I was really just tired but I'm glad I joined them.  The restaurant was a little further away this time: it was located in the coastal town of Hossegor.  This town is apparently very popular in other times of the year when people flock to the beaches or stay close the its namesake lake (or maybe the lake is named for the town?) which grows oysters (des huitres).  They offered to drive me and I was more than happy to let someone else navigate and drive in the dark.

Our restaurant was inset only slightly from the beach, before going in to be seated we took a 2 minute promenade to the stairs to the beach.  With a ton of cold wind blowing, I could hear the waves going crazy and just barely make out the white foam as it broke on the sand.  

Here's a word I'd just learned in Duolingo last week: the restaurant is just a little more lit up than its neighbors (la restaurant est juste un peu plus éclairée de ses voisins)

Dinner was good, and extremely filling.  On the ride home, we listened to a Basque radio station and I got to marvel at how completely incoherent it was to me.  Oh, that and I learned that France has wild boars (les sangliers) that people hunt / sometimes hit with their cars (not because we ran into one but because I was informed of this).