Not all superheroes wear capes!

As an update to my last post, the good news is that all of the four toddlers (aged between 22 and 36 months) stabbed by that lunatic are now out of danger (as are the two adults). The back story is he had been living in Sweden for the last 10 years and had asylum there. He split from his wife and last autumn travelled to France and requested asylum here in France. The French refused his request on 4 June on the grounds that he had been living for the last 10 years in Sweden, so now if he wanted to move to France he would have to qualify as an immigrant, and not under refugee status. Apparently his ex-wife had already written to both the Swiss and French authorities warning them that he was unstable but ....! So he'd lived in Annecy in an "irregular situation" since last autumn and then decided, for whatever reason, to stab a bunch of little kids in a play area. All I can say is thank God the kiddies are going to be all right. Well no, actually thanks don't belong to God, they belong to the first responders and doctors and nurses. Actually no, to give thanks where they really belong - well that would be to a 24 year old hero who came out swinging and managed to get that lunatic away from the play area until security forces could pin him down! It's ironic that footballers can be paid millions and when they score a goal they're referred to as "heroes" but in reality not all heroes wear capes!

Henri - a real hero!

In other news, my friend and I took our annual trip to the market in Turin yesterday, our first since 2019, for obvious reasons! We were up at the crack of dawn to catch the bus at 6 a.m. If all goes to plan we make it to Turin around 10 a.m. and then get to spend around six hours doing our own thing. We've done this trip often enough now to realize that next time we can afford to spend an hour or so exploring the old town before having lunch and then hitting the market. There are markets all over Turin but I reckon this must be the biggest. It's not even in the best part of town - it's a bit grubby and run down, to be honest - but god I love that market. As soon as I duck under the stall awnings I'm in my element. Prices have gone up just as everywhere else (it's still cheaper than where I live), but just the sensory experience is worth the trip for me!

Look at the size of those watermelons!

In my dream world I would live in one of 
those apartments and wander down to
the market every day! It's not even that noisy - 
Birmingham market is way noisier!

Having lunch next to
the market!

It drizzled on and off all day, but after a few minutes of rain, the sun would come back out and we'd end up walking round in what felt like a sauna! On the way back to the border we stopped at an outlet mall, the main point of stopping apparently being to buy booze and cigarettes! Our trip cost €60 so you don't actually "save" money by going to Turin, but I suppose if you are also buying spirits and cigarettes it might work out evens-stevens financially. I wouldn't know though, as I didn't buy either. To me it's just a lovely day out. I personally spent around €100 at the market (in addition to lunch), We had three buses going in our "convoy", I saw two buses from Annecy and quite a few more from other French regions relatively local to Turin, so the market really makes out by having the French buses stop in. Just as the northern French ports used to make a killing when the Brits would do a day trip by car and load up at the local supermarkets. Of course all that stopped when Britain left the EU. It's "funny" (in a not so funny ha ha sense) how these things have a knock on effect. Just imagine if the French could no longer visit the market in Turin and cross back into France with their purchases duty free. The whole house of cards would come tumbling down wouldn't it! A case of the hip bone's connected to the thigh bone, methinks!

The Glacier de Bosson, seen from
the Italian side, just before we hit
the French border!