More this and that!

I don't know about you but I'm finding the times we're living in very strange and unsettled right now! I mean, in the UK Liz Truss lasted 45 days as Prime Minister before being ousted and Rishi Sunak installed in her place. Anyone taking bets on how long he'll last? Not very long (is my humble, uneducated opinion). I've seen a few comments that the UK might be headed for a general election before Christmas but who knows. I don't think there's much appetite for the Labour Party either so who can guess how well the new Reform Party might do in the current situation. One thing's for sure, with Sunak and his wife jointly being worth around one billion pounds I'm not sure how "in tune" he's going to be with ordinary people. Heck he was previously Chancellor (Finances) under Boris Johnson and I remember him taking a phone-in call from a woman asking how she was supposed to cope in the current financial situation with two children. This dunderhead said something about "understanding" how she felt as he had two children himself - yeah, and a billion pounds in the bank! What's more, it's pretty interesting to note that he also has (had? until recently?) a US green card and his wife is (was?) registered as fiscally resident in India for tax purposes. Makes you wonder how much he'll really have his finger on the pulse of the nation right?

Talking of politics, I haven't been paying attention to the US mid-terms (we've got enough crap of our own going on over here), but I did happen to catch a few minutes of the John Fetterman/Dr. Oz debate in Pennsylvania the other night and it was painful! I've never liked Dr. Oz - found him too smarmy - but I know nothing of either his or John Fetterman's politics. What was so excruciating though was watching Fetterman (who is recovering from a stroke) struggling to even sound coherent! And again, I know he's recovering from a stroke but I'm just wondering if it would even have been possible to forego this debate under the circumstances? I suppose given that the result of the PA race could end up being pretty decisive in the Senate, maybe not, but uuggghhh, that was a train wreck debate to watch!

On Tuesday I drove in to Geneva for my bi-annual mammogram - that's always a pleasure isn't it ladies!!! Actually the exam doesn't bother me at all whereas the parking situation at the clinic is such a pain! It was the clinic where Jordan was born 30 years ago and since then they've expanded it to about twice the size - but did nothing about the parking lot. So you go round and round looking for a parking space and if you do spot one you end up with about two inches either side of your car to get out! I actually had to scoot over to the passenger side and squeeze out there - I would have been so pissed off if I'd had to climb back in through the trunk! I was thinking that next time I'll park at the border and just walk but that would easily be a 45-60 minute walk. We'll have to see, next time, I guess. As I say, the actual exam doesn't bother me but I always have this warped-mind thing going on praying that the fire alarm doesn't go off just when you've got your boob jammed in the waffle-maker! Or, as I said to my sister years ago, you're securely locked in that thing but relieved when the guy with the white coat walks in - and then pulls over a ladder and starts painting the walls! Yeah, I'm weird like that! Anyway, I had another scan after that and got the results straight away (no problem) so that was good. After that I decided to head straight back out to the lake at Passy to take advantage of the glorious weather so the day wasn't a total loss! I received the bill (475 Swiss francs, thank you very much) two days ago so thought I'd take a few minutes this afternoon to submit it to my insurance company via phone app. About 10 minutes after I'd sent it I realized I'd forgotten to include the prescription so clicked back on the app to edit my claim and would you believe it, it had already been settled! Now that's service!

I called my ex-MIL on 19 October for her birthday and chatted with her for about an hour! I mentioned previously that when my former BIL woke up to find his girlfriend dead in bed next to him, he ended up moving back in with MIL. I knew it would be a disaster and frankly didn't think she should be dealing with him at almost 90 years of age, but my ex-SIL wouldn't take him, nor would my ex-husband - which is funny because years ago he talked about "bringing M over to France to 'straighten him out'"! Ha, what a joke - even moreso since the French would never have given him a resident's permit and I would have filed for divorce on the spot. Heck if I thought my husband was bad, this BIL is 10 times worse! Anyway, he was being harrassed from Alabama by his gf's oldest daughter about something - keys to the abandoned rental property and car in Pittsburgh I think. BIL still had the keys and wanted to hand them over to a lawyer but he was getting threatening messages and phone calls from the daughter saying she was going to have someone come over to "sort him out"! Hell, who needs that at 89? So in the end my MIL and BIL went to the local police to file a restraining order. MIL said the cop was really good, picked up the phone and called the daughter in Alabama and told her to have her attorney contact him (the cop) and he would personally hand over the keys to him. Daughter said she would do that within the week - and sure enough six months later they've never heard from her! Yeah, these are the kinds of people my brother-in-law brings into your life! Anyway, BIL can't drive and ended up moving nearer to town (and the local bars) into an unheated, no-AC room with some guy to the tune of $650/month in rent. I told my MIL I hadn't lived in the States for many years but that sounded hellish expensive to me and she agreed - it is! So at least she's got him out of the house but is now left with all his crap in her basement and my ex-husband is bringing stuff over and dumping it in her garage too! Say what? He's got his own house and garage but he's junking up hers now too! I laughed and told her I'd still got quite a bit of his crap from when I had to empty his rental in 2015 so I guess he's just "spreadin' the joy"!

I had the bright idea of making an online photo album of Charlie for Jen for Christmas (they print it and send it to you as a hardback album) so set to and got that done a couple of nights ago. Then I thought Ammy (ex-MIL) would like one too as she's never met Charlie so I ordered a few copies - and then thought "don't be a jerk" and ordered one for my ex-husband too. He's only met Charlie once so even though I was initially not going to get him one I thought that would be mean. They should be here by Tuesday so I'm hoping they'll turn out nice. Then I thought that would be a great way to sort through all my old family photos so as soon as I get myself organized I'm going to try to compile a couple and make a copy for my sister too. It'd be one way of sorting through the photo clutter since I know I would never look at them if they are just online! Genius!

On Thursday my card club had a group lunch (there were 24 of us) before playing cards and it was really nice! I looked round and thought how a comedian could eaves-drop on this lot and it would be comedic gold - not making fun of them, but because they were such a hoot! Oh the average age, seriously, would appear to be nearing 80 but it was so interesting to listen to them talking about this area and where the best hikes were and so on. The bodies might no longer be so willing but their minds sure were with it and I had a really nice time!

After that I went into La Roche and joined the library-with-the-beautiful-view. It's located right next to a medieval tower in the old town and as I was walking up there I was thinking to myself how I would love to live around there. But then again it would be all hills, old buildings and steps, so while it looks beautiful it wouldn't be practical as time marches on!

Tour des Comtes de Genève

Jen's job at the daycare comes to an end on Monday. She knew it was only temporary as it was to cover a maternity leave, so she'll be looking for work next week. I think she's leaning towards having her nursing degree recognized in Switzerland - which will take six months - so in the meantime she'll take anything. They're recruiting at the supermarket about 300 yards away from their place so that looks like it could be a good option (and for the same money as at the daycare)! Jordan is working on a new hotel going up at the ski resort of Flaine which has to be delivered by December 2023. He gets along with the young foreman, who stops by in the compay van and picks him up every day, so if both of them could get away with having no commuting expenses for a few months it would be something to factor into their budget - a definite plus right now!

Flaine ski resort. I think it's ugly - 
a purpose-built resort with no character
but hey, he's not there to ski!

I had Charlie again on Friday and while he was coughing a bit he was a hoot, if an exhausting "hoot"! I took him out for 90 minutes and then we read and played at home for the rest of the day. I had grabbed their big Halloween spider who then went on to "steal" Charlie's doodoo (the nasty piece of rag he carries with him everywhere - a bit like Linus' security blanket). Anyway spider wanted the doodoo so Charlie and I were playing hide and seek when Jen walked in. She was laughing and I told her we'd had a great day but he had worn me out! She looked at me and asked if it really was that way round - just who was exhausting who (or "whom", if you're posh)! She might have a point!

Linus!

And finally, I see Elon Musk has bought Twitter and Facebook/Meta has lost $677 billion so far this year! It's all go isn't it!