This is one of those good news - bad news - good news - etc. etc. etc. stories, for which the final scene has not yet been written!
I got home from my last evening of hitting the shops and cafés, thinking OK, just need to do some packing and wash a couple dishes and hit the sack. I got in the elevator and … eek … my worst nightmare! (OK, maybe not my worst nightmare, but…). The elevator didn’t work. The interior door closed, I hit the 3rd floor button, it sat still and then the interior door opened. (A worse nightmare would have been if the interior door didn’t re-open!) I went out, got back in, tried again. Same thing. And a couple more times! What to do?
I went outside, sat down at the café just steps outside my door, ordered an orange juice to lubricate my brain, and texted the concierge for my apartment for advice. No response for 30 minutes.
So I went back into my building and looked for an elevator repair phone number to call. Bingo! But I had no phone reception inside the elevator or the hallway so had to go outside again.
Finally, I connected with the elevator repair company, but the woman who answered spoke very little English and I couldn’t understand what she was asking me. So she found a colleague whose English was great, and who confirmed my address and asked if I was inside or outside the elevator. Outside! He said they would dispatch someone either tonight or tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning??? That’s when I’m leaving for home! Hey, the sign said that their service was 24x7! Images of me struggling down the stairs with my suitcases in the morning (there are a few straight steps, then a few with a sharp turn, then straight again, for every floor)…not a pretty picture!
I mustered up the courage to climb the three flights very slowly, putting my package and my purse a few steps ahead of me while grabbing on to a banister or wall (no handrail here) and shifting my cane technique depending on the step. Luckily, the steps aren't too steep. About 15 minutes later I was in my apartment. Whew!
So, then, what to do about tomorrow morning in the event that the elevator isn’t fixed by 7am when I need to leave? I tried my concierge again to see if there would be anyone who could help me with my suitcases, and happily she responded on her WhatsApp this time. But she said it might be hard to find someone at this point. I told her "bonne chance" to you and to me!
Then a few minutes later she wrote back to say that she had found a car service, and the driver could come up to the apartment and take my bags down for me! It will take a bit of choreography - I’ll leave my bags in the apartment with the door open, head downstairs however I can (elevator, fingers crossed, or stairs), greet the driver, have him go up and retrieve my bags, and ask him to close the door (it will lock on its own). She wasn’t certain whether this car service took credit cards, so I’ll have to go out extra early and hit the cash machine around the corner (don't have quite enough left in my wallet at this point).
Hopefully the final scene will be in the “good news” camp! Wish me luck!
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