I'm beginning to love Sundays!

I know, I know, it's not Sunday, but do you remember that awful sinking feeling you would get (well most of us, I would guess) on a Sunday evening knowing that tomorrow would mean "up at the crack of dawn and back to the daily grind"? Of course I don't have to do that any more and as such I am starting to really appreciate Sundays. I was thinking just this last Sunday as I marvelled at how quiet and peaceful it was, with people out cleaning their cars or just pottering in their gardens. You see, over here in France nothing is really open on Sundays so while I enjoyed doing a bit of shopping on Sundays in the UK there is none of that here. And now I really appreciate the quietness of it, often just tootling around the garden and watching the planes overhead wondering where they are off to!

Well I suppose "totally quiet" isn't strictly true! I was driving down to the market in the next little village on Sunday and the traffic heading up and down the mountain was pretty awful seeing as the schools' winter break/ski holidays have already started. What! But they've only just gone back to school after the Christmas break! To be honest, I don't know how we did it when the kids were young, coping with those never ending school holidays, although I'm pretty sure we never tied them to a chair and left them home alone! Anyway, the next village of St. Pierre is the access route to a winding mountain gorge that takes you up to some lovely ski resorts - La Clusaz (my favourite), Grand Bornand etc. - and the traffic was horrendous, as it was "changeover day" for many renters and ski day for quite a few locals, although I always tried to avoid the resorts when the schools were on their break. In fact the day before there was a traffic jam heading north (towards Paris) that we know was about 130 km long. It started way before the toll road just near me and stretched at least until Bourg-en-Bresse, 130 km away! What a nightmare! I have a vague thought that I might go back to downhill skiing again next year but only with a group that goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays rather than the weekend. The Swiss Alpine Club do this so I might try them out, although I'd need to be a lot fitter before joining them I think. Ha, I once joined CAS (the Swiss club) a few years ago and signed up for what I thought was a cross country trip. On the list of recommended equipment was a "piolet", so I asked my friend what that was in English. When she said an ice axe I nearly died, I had signed myself up for ski touring, you know skiing up mountains and not just down or across them. Hell, could you imagine me turning up for that!

I was keeping an eye on the traffic though as I had arranged to meet my friend in Geneva to go to the cinema and wanted to know if I needed to take the back roads but by Sunday afternoon it was flowing freely. Just as well really as it's almost an hour's drive even without the traffic. We went to see "Green Book" and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. It is based on a true story of the unlikely friendship between a black concert pianist who elected to do a tour of the US South in the 1960s and a hard hitting Italian New Yorker hired as his chauffeur. It was funny but also thought-provoking on just what it must have been like to be a black person in the South in the 60s. The next film I want to go and see is "Stan and Ollie", which doesn't come out here until 3 March so it will have to wait until I get back from Sri Lanka. My nephew made me laugh though as he said he had seen it (and thoroughly enjoyed it) but while he was queueing up to get tickets somebody behind him said "so what's it about anyway?" Sweet!

And going off on a totally different tangent, being at home more has brought home to me how many bloody scam/telemarketing calls I get on my home phone! I got three in the space of an hour the other day while I was sitting reading. If I don't recognize the number I never pick up as my friends know to start leaving a message. These callers never leave a message of course. And I was getting quite a few calls from Tunisia on my mobile until recently, even though I never give out my mobile number unless it is necessary. I routinely block them as they come in but then of course they just call from another number. Tunisia seems to be on the wane now and Tonga seems to have taken up the slack! Bloody hell, Tonga!!! Again I just keep blocking the numbers but seriously?

After my experience with the farmer yesterday I must admit I have spent a good amount of time today looking out my window to make sure he wasn't in the field at the back of my house. He has the horses in a field nearer to my house today but I only saw him from a distance. You see, while I didn't mind having a coffee with him I really don't want to get taken "unawares" again as he was quite insistent yesterday! Time to get the wig and false mustache out I guess!

And finally, I see that Karl Lagerfeld died yesterday. I'm no fashionista (haven't got the figure for it) but I did find some of his "bitchy" comments quite amusing. I particularly like the one about sweatpants. "Sweatpants are a sign of defeat. You lost control of your life so you bought some sweatpants!" Oh dear, I wonder what he would have said about woolly socks, no bra and sweatpants!