We have satellite dish and tv, now to introduce them to each other...

There was a Freecycle ad for a tv in usable order; how could I resist? The address was somewhere near Ikea and I need cheap stuff for the house (well, I need free stuff, but Ikea is the next up in price), so I arranged to collect the tv on Thursday because that's the Ikea late-night and sales day. Plan for the day: first, an appointment with Camille from Casa Nova to see what can be done upstairs with the little money I have left, then to Bordeaux.

All went well until Bordeaux. I got horribly lost following viamichelin's instructions and decided to go out to the ring road and start again. Bad move. It was into rush-hour, and if you get in the wrong lane... well, I ended up going all the way round, and then doing a few loops in north Bordeaux. I phoned the tv donor and he had no clue about the roads or street names (as he said, you can't see them when you're driving). With all the roadworks and diversions, the signage is missing or confusing: the city council probably thinks it doesn't matter out of tourist season.

Eventually I found the place, two hours late, in a one-way area. It had a No Entry sign and a notice saying the road was blocked, but there were cars in it so I drove up there anyway.

The tv is enormous. Donor was fortunately strong, and lugged it down from his flat. He spoke English, too, which was comforting because I was tired and fraught: car engine had been overheating in the traffic jams.

It was 20:30, and there was still time to get to Ikea before 22:00. Unfortunately, the Pont Aquitaine was due to be closed overnight, starting at 21:00. I'd thought it wouldn't matter because there'd be an alternative route of some kind. As I got close to Ikea and the bridge I realised that there were no diversion signs. None. Just the "bridge closed" signs. So I missed Ikea and went over the bridge before I could get trapped in Bordeaux.

Tv is still ensconced on the back seat of the car. I can't lift it.