This and that!

They say March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, and it's certainly seeming that way at the moment. We've got howling winds, especially in the evenings and throughout the night, and then the next day the weather is relatively stable - well stable enough for me to be out pottering in the garden anyway! And I'm really enjoying pottering about after a fairly hectic few weeks! 

I mentioned previously that life wasn't being quite as kind to a few people I care about. There've been a couple of incidents with people ending up in the emergency room, and while things are seemingly much improved they are not resolved as yet. Then my poor sewing teacher - you know, the lady whose son fell down the stairs about eight years ago and has had to be institutionalized ever since - well she and her husband have recently lost their home through no fault of their own. It's complicated, but despite being up-to-date with their payments, upon asking to switch their mortgage from Swiss francs to euros, the bank called in the entire loan - not just the outstanding amount, but the entire 100% of the loan so their house was sold as of last week! They went to court but seemingly the bank was absolutely entitled to do this (legalized robbery springs to mind) and while they should be able to recoup everything they've paid out so far (around €200,000) it will take a few years to get back so they've had to sell their home. While her husband can transfer further inland to a cheaper part of France, she does not want to leave this region as her daughter lives here and her son is institutionalized here (they're her children by her first husband), so they've had to move into rental accommodation. How is any of that fair, or even legal???? On top of that she told me about six weeks ago that she's just found out that her husband has been cheating on her for the last three years - and then her beloved dog died!!!! She always likes to play "tough" but she's really a big old softie at heart, though how she's holding up right now I have no idea!

Much closer to home my favourite neighbour's husband died about 10 days ago, and while it was probably not unexpected (lung cancer) in the end it took him so quickly I think the shock knocked her off her feet. He had been due to start treatment on the Thursday but actually died on the Friday, with a private funeral being held yesterday. She came in for coffee this afternoon and while there was no love lost between them for the longest time, she admits she wishes things could have been different. She and her children did right by him to the end, though, and can be proud of themselves! She knows there is such a lot ahead of her, both emotionally and practically, so I told her to reach out anytime I can be of help, rather than asking her kids to drive over. I mean that as much in the physical sense as anything (I know what it's like to try to shift gas canisters and heavy logs alone), and I can always help her on the computer, but I'm heartened to see that she is determined to make as much a go of things as she can on her own - after so many years of being afraid of her own shadow!

I told her I'd done her a huge favour though as there is a lady we call Mrs. Tupperware who called me today to pass on an invitation to lunch "for the old fogies" (being 65 I now qualify) and as she'd just heard about the death she said she would go over there to speak to my neighbour. I asked her to wait a little as my neighbour had expressed the wish to be alone for a while, but that I'm sure she'd appreciate a card in the mailbox. Now this woman can yack for France, and by the time you've finished the conversation you know all about her first cousin's second husband's vasectomy. She's also very opinionated and was telling me how scandalised she was that no-one was allowed to go to the funeral and that it was "in poor taste"!!! Thankfully I took this call rather than my poor neighbour as I'm sure there would have been fisticuffs! I told her that those were his express wishes and had been respected. Moreover, I personally wanted to leave this earth in much the same way. Thankfully that shut her up and she hasn't showed up at my neighbour's house - so far. Now this lady is not actually unkind, and has been through an awful lot - the death of her husband, the death of her 34 year old daughter and the suicide of her 28 year old son - but she is totally overpowering and I don't think anyone should have to deal with that while they're grieving, however well intentioned!

She told me she'd stop by with my invitation to this lunch so I told her to just leave it in my mailbox as I "was working in my back garden" - so of course that was a cue for her to tell me that now wasn't the time to be working in the garden, everything would freeze, the soil is still cold .....! You see what I mean? Mind you, these things go in one ear and out the other for me, so I'm glad it was me that got the brunt of it, rather than my neighbour!

But - and this one makes me really mad - my neighbour was telling me that she and the children were at the hospital with her husband and they knew the end was near. As the kids wanted to stay on she'd called my other neighbour - Mrs. Gossip - to see if she could pick her up from the hospital, which of course they kindly offered to do (I was out). Reception was very poor inside the hospital and once they realized that her husband had passed she went back out into the parking lot to let Mrs. Gossip know not to come. Well by the time she got back up to the room and they were unhooking all the tubes etc., her phone was ringing off the hook, including a call from a lady who had been on the village council with her husband, expressing her condolences. So in the time it took my neighbour to get from the parking lot to the hospital room, Mrs. Gossip had already spread the news!!!! I'm disgusted - this was the lady who let everyone know that my son was getting divorced (hence he'd moved back in with me) before we'd had chance to do it ourselves!! And the same lady who when her own husband had a minor stroke, swore everyone to secrecy!  Now I know this couple can be kind and would do just about anything for you, but to not have the decency to allow the family to grieve in peace for fifteen minutes - well, at least, as my neighbour said, she now knows where she stands on that score!

In more pleasant news, my sister and her husband were to head off to their house in Spain for two months the other day, but the weather was so bad that the channel ferry crossings were cancelled. Her daughter works for the ferry company and so was able to quickly get them on a crossing tomorrow as the places were selling like hot cakes! I'd call that insider trading wouldn't you! In any case she said if I wanted to fly down to Spain while they're there I was welcome, but I'm off to Corsica soon (overland and ferry) so I doubt I'll be able to fit it in!

Both my kids are now in the States so Ammy (great grandma) finally got to meet Charlie for the first time. I spoke to Charlie yesterday and he was telling me had had a gros gros gâteau (a huuuugggge cake) as he celebrated his third birthday on the 28th. I then got to speak to Ammy and she was telling me how much she was loving having them all there and that she would keep them if she could. Once Charlie got over his shyness, he has taken to all of them like a duck to water and is even coming out with a few words in English!

As for me, as I said, I'm appreciating just pottering and enjoying the arrival of spring. You can tell spring is on the way because the lambs are in the fields, everyone is contentedly wandering around the farmers' markets, someone cut the grass on the island yesterday ... and the lead up to the Mont Blanc tunnel (which goes into Italy) is backed up for about three kilometres! Happy Easter everyone!