On becoming a hermit!

Yet again it's been a while since I last posted, but honestly if all you do is flake out on the sofa, what's to write about? Summer has finally hit us "proper", with temperatures in the mid-90s. This usually lasts for the months of July and August and since most people don't have A/C it can be tough. A few people I know have put individual A/C units into specific rooms but I just get by with a small mobile unit and cold showers. I'm getting used to it now though and since I know it won't last forever I'm fine with getting by like that. I've come to accept that "summer" means generally doing bugger all (a bit like during lockdowns), but I have managed to spend my mornings sorting tons of old photos and going through (and getting rid of) loads of administrative paperwork. It's a slow process (I'm definitely a tortoise, rather than a hare) but I'm making progress, all the same. So I've been shredding papers that had identifying details on them and then emptying my shredder into large bin bags which I'll get round to taking to the tip shortly. Only problem with that was, last night a massive storm kicked up, slammed the office window wide open, picked up the plastic bag and deposited shredded paper all over the upper floor of my house. It looked like I'd hosted 100 weddings in 24 hours so today was spent hoovering all that up - followed by yet another cold shower!

Talking of weddings, I was invited to Jen's best friend's wedding on Saturday (not sure why, to be honest) and boy was it hot. They have lived together for quite a few years and have a five year old daughter together but decided to finally take the next step and get married. And oh were they a handsome couple. Jen was on tenterhooks because she was to be the bride's witness/maid of honour - and was 38 weeks pregnant last week!!! But she made it and we're now all just waiting for the arrival of the next little bundle of joy! Two of their mutual friends are identical twins, both are gay and are two of the loveliest young men I know! I've known Julien for ages as he lives locally and comes to our board game evenings, but his brother, Nico, is a (very talented) hairdresser who works in Paris, so I don't know him very well. Anyway, Nico and I chatted for ages and he kept looking at my hair, which was a frizzy mess, and said next time he comes down he's going to cut my hair for me to get rid of that frizz! I'd only had it cut last week but even I have to admit I can't do anything with it! He had styled seven people that day - including the bride - (and cut Charlie's hair - talk about a busman's holiday) but he said he loved it and like it or not, would be attacking mine and André's hair next time round (apparently André is going to become a bleached blond)! These two, as I said, are two of the nicest young men I know and were absolutely wonderful with Charlie, so hats off to mom and dad for doing such a good job!

I had to go into Geneva the other week for an appointment so met up with my Uruguayan friend for lunch beforehand. He goes back and forth to Uruguay frequently and invited me to come with him next time!!! I must admit I'd never given it much thought but to visit a country with "a native" has got to be the way to go, right? Add to that, that despite the fact I swore I'd had enough of long distance travel, I'm now giving serious thought to maybe doing India's Golden Triangle next spring. André was all over me to go for it at the wedding, so who knows - Airmiles Annie, here I come!

Due to all the enforced inactivity caused by the heat I've continued to plough through some of the many books I've been given over the years and am still (mainly) happily surprised. I've just finished a book by French author Michel Bussi called Time is a Killer and was delighted to see that it was set in northern Corsica - where we started out on our recent trip. Now I'm moving onto Gomorrah, by Roberto Saviano. I've had the book for quite some time and understand it caused a huge stir when it came out, with Saviano having to go into hiding immediately after it was published. It's apparently about Neapolitan organized crime so I sure hope he covered his tracks well!

For whatever reason, the powers that be have decided to reroute some of the roads in town and I'm still trying to get used to it. The roads here are quite narrow as part of the town is mediaeval but as far as I know there have been no accidents (so far). At least it has got to be easier than when Sweden switched, in 1967, from driving on the left to driving on the right. I remember it fairly well and can't begin to imagine what would happen if they tried that in the UK (not gonna happen, methinks)!

Sweden, the first day of the switchover!

I haven't watched the Olympics at all, which is weird because when I was a kid I couldn't get enough of it. I guess I'm getting too old to sit still for long anymore. I have watched a few reports on the Australian breakdancer though who received zero points for her performances. Having seen some of her non-Olympic performances I'm not surprised and honestly thought it was a joke, to begin with. One commentator described her performance as "like a kangaroo having an epileptic fit", and while that's funny, at the end of the day who missed out on a place on the team because of it? But then, I'm an old lady so what would I know!

Raygun!

In a fit of madness I signed myself back up for pilates lessons (in addition to my usual yoga class) come September. I don't know why really as I never enjoyed it much pre-covid but I do know that it did me a world of good and if I can't "feel the burn" for just one hour a week I'd say I'm pretty pathetic! But if you want to feel really bad about yourself, try watching Mountain Queen (on Netflix). I watched it the other night and loved it - but it makes my whingeing about a piddly pilates class somewhat embarrassing don't you think?

Mountain Queen!
(see the trailer here)!

And finally, I was sitting here minding my own business reading the other day when my (male) neighbour came round and rang the bloody doorbell eight times! No kiddin'! Is it a man thing or what because my other neighbour (the one who died in March) also used to just keep his finger on the doorbell (in addition to parking in front of my garage)! Now when their wives come round they call out or tap on the window but the men??? Oh how about we superglue our fingers to that there doorbell and make her jump out of her skin! On a side note, I think having such a violent startle reflex might mean that I'm not a sociopath (I know, thank goodness)! I have read a couple of times that one of the potential signs of a sociopathic personality is that they don't have much - if any - startle reflex (well that and the fact that they have little fear - see rage driving as an example)! So that's good to know! And then I spotted "the guy" (who I think is one of the travelling community given that he only seems to come around in summer) who goes door to door saying "did you know there's a problem with your roof/chimney/do you need your home pressure sprayed? Don't get me wrong, he does good work but I'm getting the impression that I'm going to find out I need around €1,000 of work done every time he stops by. Well this year I'm just not up for it so I got stuck in to the fuse box, disconnected the fuse for the front doorbell - and it's been absolute bliss ever since (and I can now slither happily back into my shell like the proverbial hermit crab)!

Me - in a couple of months!