A closer inspection of our apartment revealed a shortage of cutlery and dinnerware and a toaster that didn't work. Sent messages to the landlord to rectify these problems. There was only one mug in the cupboard.

Decided to have a look in the dishwasher and discovered it was full to the brim with dirty dishes. Not Happy Jan!!!

Got the dishwasher going and then waited for it to finish it's cycle before braving the shower.

By now neither of us have done any washing for about a week and a half. Time to find a laundrette and get cleaned up.

We headed out and found a laundrette just along the street. Happily for us, an English woman named Sally came in behind us and showed us the ropes. Sally is from Portsmouth, is married to a Frenchman and has an apartment in the area. We had planned to have something to eat while the washing was happening but we got chatting to Sally and before you could say 'Jack Robinson' the washing was finished.

Unreliable internet connection in our apartment and very poor speed when it is connected. In the afternoon we lost power completely, so had no light or heating and it is getting quite cool outside now.

Urgently trying to get messages to the landlords and everything was becoming very frustrating.

Took the clean washing home and went out to explore the Furriers area nearby. I was surprised at the number of shops and what they are doing with fur now. Dyeing beautiful mink and chinchilla neon colours, icecream colours and everything in between.

We continued wandering the backstreets and discovered a pretty leafy square surrounded by iron lace clad buildings. The square had a playground for little children and a games court for older children. Plenty of seating options for grown ups and a beautiful statue of a group of Parisian Belles. Just behind the square there was a little shop making and selling ballet slippers. Take a look at their wares.

That's our apartment, the French doors above the "Bar" sign.