God I'm glad I'm retired!!!

Come 31 December I will have been retired five years - and I'm still so, so glad! I mean, who wouldn't be? I don't actually know anyone who regrets retiring - or maybe one or two, which surprises the heck out of me! The other day it was peeing down rain when the Amazon delivery guy showed up, so when it's like that I usually offer to make them a coffee to go. He didn't accept because he had so much stuff to deliver, so while I like being able to find pretty much anything I want on Amazon, and I guess they're also keeping a lot of people in employment, man do those delivery guys work hard (and of course it's not just Amazon delivery guys). Then earlier this week another delivery man knocked on my door but when I looked at the address I told him that he'd got the wrong address - it was destined for next door. At this point my other neighbour came out as she'd been expecting to take in the stray parcel but when she tried the QR code it wouldn't work. So she called the intended recipients, who were in Annecy, and the husband did his nut because he'd been expecting it on Saturday!!! Try what they might, it just wasn't going through so when I offered this young man a coffee he gladly accepted. We ended up having quite a little tea party, with him saying he'd come back around 7 pm to try to catch them. So yes they work damn hard, which might also explain why they tend to drive like lunatics too!

The friend who I met on my first day in Geneva called me last week for a catch up. We only worked together for about a year as she moved on to another organization, but we have kept sporadically in touch over the years. I asked about her kids - one of whom was doing well in Switzerland and the other had sadly just lost her job in England. She mentioned that she would be having her ex-husband over for Christmas as he still lives in Geneva. Not my business of course, but I never particularly liked him. I found him arrogant, bragging about his "fancy job and fancy company car" - well that was until he lost the job and she later found out that he'd stopped paying the bills, including the mortgage. She'd just had a baby and had switched to part-time work and then he got made redundant in his mid-40s, and as far as I know never really found another decent job! They had bought at the height of the housing boom and ended up selling in a depressed market so basically they lost everything they had put into the house. She then moved into France and bought a small apartment for her and the kids and him - well he ended up living in a small studio in Switzerland on not very much money, I imagine. It's funny how life works out, isn't it. One day everything looks like it's hunky dory, and the next, well it just isn't any more! Sadly they're not the only couple I know where that happened either! 

I've been very tired lately so actually had to laugh when someone asked me if I would be going skiing over Christmas! I don't think I'd even be able to walk with those boots on any more, let alone ski! I also finally bit the bullet and signed up for audible as I found I was wasting so much time sitting on my bum reading or listening to podcasts on the computer when I could be quite happily doing something else while listening to them on my phone. It only took me how many years to figure that out?

I have been in the mood for trying out new recipes lately, so it's good when a new recipe piques my interest. I had to laugh though because there's a lady on a FB group that I follow occasionally who is posting some pretty nice recipes. It's a group for people who've been cheated on by their partners and since I'm so far out I only occasionally catch up with them. But what have recipes got to do with being cheated on, you might ask? Well this lady's husband (they're still in the process of divorcing) moved in with his girlfriend and apparently the gf can't cook. So he's been asking his wife (who's a pretty good cook by all accounts) for some of her recipes. When she told him to get lost he deleted her online recipe collection!!!! And if ya think that's weird, I was putting some of my clothes aside for Goodwill when my still husband asked if he could take them because he thought his gf would look good in them!!!! Anyhoo, this lady is slowly reconstituting her recipe collection so every so often she'll post one on FB, especially if it's one of his family favourites. This is a private group and she posts them knowing he'll never have access to them again. Yeah, I like that kinda petty!

Earlier this week I had a dermatologist's appointment in Geneva so I left really early in order to park at the border and catch the bus in. Problem was, when I got to my usual car park, it kept indicating one or two spaces available (there are usually loads) and about 10 of us kept driving round and round looking for them. But no luck - I then drove on to another car park and it was the same thing there. Turns out French transport workers were on strike so people who usually took public transport in to Geneva were taking their cars, hence no bloody parking spaces. I called the doctor's office to explain and they were very good and said they wouldn't charge me as they knew what had happened. Then today I had a different doctor's appointment (trying to get them all in before the end of the year) and the same bloody thing happened. No parking at the border, the car park near the hospital full (turns out there'd been a landslide on the railway line), but I eventually managed to get a spot in a car park in central Geneva, and then legged it up to my appointment. Good thing I left so early right? While I was waiting to get a blood test, I heard the receptionist very firmly telling someone on the phone that "no, if she didn't make it this afternoon she'd either have to go to her local clinic or come back in January" (apparently this lady frequently cancelled at the last minute). I commiserated with her about juggling appointments but she said this was a 53 year old lady who was pregnant through IVF???? Yikes, I would not want to be pregnant at 53, all the more so when she pointed out that this lady already had four daughters, but wanted a son. She probably shouldn't have told me this, but when she found out this latest baby was another girl her whole attitude totally changed! Again, yikes, I would not be going through that again at 53 no matter how many daughters I had! Which reminds me of my Uncle Phil who approached my dad when I was born and asked if they could adopt me because "you've already had six children" (even though they'd lost two). I guess it was sincere and they would have treated me well, but man oh man am I glad that my parents said no!

And finally, I had just got home when the doorbell went again. I was crabby because I thought it would be another wrong delivery (I'm not expecting anything) but when I opened the door there was a charming older gent from the Mairie delivering Christmas gifts to all the over-65s in the village! Which kinda surprised me because when they sent round the registration paper earlier in the year I didn't fill it in because I wasn't 65 yet. We'll open it on Christmas Day I, but I wonder what's in it - biscuits maybe or chocolates? That'll teach me to be such a crab!