Let it snow!

I see I appear to be keeping to my usual schedule of one post every couple of weeks, but then if nothing much is happening there obviously isn't much to write about is there! I mentioned previously that I really like a Youtuber called Cheere Denise and I had been in the habit of listening to her book evaluations pretty much as they came out, but somehow I got a bit behind on that so I've got some catching up to do. I'm still listening to her reading of The Other Mrs. Kennedy, which talks about Ethel Skakel who married the late Robert Kennedy, and hoh boy, this book leaves the other Kennedy book standing! Ethel's grandfather was a self-made man (so kudos to him) and seemingly her father couldn't put a foot wrong either when it came to making money, so consquently the Skakel family grew up rolling in money - and entitlement. Ethel was a real tomboy and an accomplished athlete (particularly in riding) but she does not exactly come out of this book smelling of roses. Her mother Anne spent money left, right and centre, but then thought nothing of nickel and diming businesses to give her enormous discounts, and sometimes also thought nothing of not even paying their bills. (This would seem to be a somewhat common trait amongst the ultra-rich - but maybe that's how they got to be so rich in the first place)! She describes how one of the Skakel sons was given a brand new convertible and on the first day deliberately drove it straight into the swimming pool!!!! Another time Ethel herself was running late for an equestrian event in New York and so decided to mount the pavement and drive straight through Central Park. Again huh????? The Kennedys actually had less money than the Skakels (even though they were still stinking rich) and when Ethel married Bobbie they apparently argued frequently over money, as Ethel wasn't used to being reined in. Mind you, she also said that Bobby frequently went out without any money (a severe case of short arms and low pockets apparently) so Cheere Denise remarked just what is it with these people, thinking everyone wanted to pay for them? She made me laugh though because she said her reaction would have been to drive him straight to the nearest bank! I can't wait to catch up on the latest chapters! A severe case of entitlement meets even more entitlement, so you get entitlement on steroids!

Last week I took a drive down to Annecy to have a look around for Christmas presents. I didn't see anything that caught my eye so I stopped in at the Yves Rocher (beauty products) shop, since I like their products and they are really reasonably priced. As I was sitting in my car having a drink I decided to scan all the products through the Yukka app on my phone out of curiousity, as it reads the bar code and tells you if they are decent products, if there are any dubious additives etc. and everything came out at least 80/100 so I was very pleasantly surprised and pleased, given how reasonably priced they were. I sometimes do this on food items too and occasionally get a nasty surprise, like the pâté I bought the other week which contained a red dye considered "potentially harmful for human consumption" (it showed up bright red), so I threw it straight in the bin. While I know you can't get away from the crap for the most part, I have found it very interesting to see just what is in food items by way of various chemicals and oddly enough the most expensive hasn't always proven to be the least harmful!

On Thursday I decided to walk into town for my pilates class, just to see how long it took, and while it was bitterly cold it only took me about 35 minutes so I'm thinking that will be an option when it isn't raining or snowing. As I was waiting for the bone-shaker bus to take me home afterwards, a man asked me if "this was the right bus stop". So I told him that depended on where he wanted to go. Since it was the psychiatric hospital I told him it was and that he would be there in about 10 minutes once the bus came. I realized he was a patient when he couldn't get the hang of how to pay for his ticket so I helped him with that and then he asked me if he could give me a kiss!!!! While I don't mind helping someone out, I draw the line at that and told him that that wasn't appropriate when you don't know someone. I tell ya, if you want to "travel and meet people", you could do a lot worse than catch the number 10 bus into town!

French farmers are blocking roads again (I absolutely support them) in protest at the EU's signing of an agreement with MERCOSUR, which will basically mean foreign goods coming into the EU at significantly reduced prices and not being subject to the same strict controls. Of course this will absolutely cut climate emissions because it's so much better to ship beef from Argentina to France rather than buying it from your local farmer. Their main target is Rungis, just outside of Paris, which is basically the warehouse for agricultural products going into Paris. They've also blockaded the ports of Bordeaux and Toulouse, the irony being that the entire French Senate wants to vote against this agreement but have no say in it as it's been "decided" by the unelected bureaucrats at the EU Commission in Brussels! You know, Ursula von der Leyen who will not/cannot produce the text messages between her and Albert Bourla (the veterinarian) who is head of Pfizer, allegedly agreeing to multi-billion €€€ deals between the EU and Pfizer during the pandemic (and of which millions of unused vaccines are now being destroyed). Oddly enough, it was the New York Times that petitioned to get access to those text messages but unfortunately nobody seems able to find them!

Farmers are also protesting in the UK but that is about Starmer's government's decision to impose inheritance taxes on farms. Basically it's a land grab so again I absolutely support them. As they say, no farmers, no food - unless you want to eat Bill Gates' crickets! Jeremy Clarkson was out in support of the farmers (he has his own farm - Clarkson's Farm on Amazon is fabulous) and gave the most amazing off-the-cuff speech, particularly since he is just getting over a heart attack. You can see his speech here if you're interested. Anyhoo, I was looking on FB to see where the latest blockades are going to be and spotted a post by my niece, who had been to see her favourite Welsh comedian and commented "just having a cwtch with my favourite man". I always thought cwtch (pronounced cuch) was an English word, and it was only years later that I realized it was Welsh for "cuddle". The things you learn when you get older eh! Anyway, the tradition continues because my little French grandson also now calls it a cwtch!

And finally, the other day (the first day the temperature dropped below freezing) I woke up to snow, snow everywhere (wasn't expecting that, I can tell you) and then a massive storm blew in and around 2 pm knocked the power out. Bloody hell did it get cold quickly. I was sooooo glad I bought those simple rechargeable strip lights a couple of years ago because I have six of them dotted round the house so I was at least able to get around without breaking my neck. I also bought a generator a couple of years ago but of course the time to learn how to use it would have been before I needed it, not after the power went out. We were without power for about 18 hours I guess so I decided basically to just go to bed and read for the duration! My sister and her husband are coming out in a couple of weeks to meet Charlie and Elynn and my BIL told me he will show me how to get it set up while he's here. I had read that if you don't open your freezers they'll be okay for about 24 hours so I'm presuming/hoping they're ok, but to be honest I haven't looked yet (couldn't face it). I'm having the pleasure of deciding where we'll go and what I'll cook because I do miss having someone to cook for and my BIL is an absolute treasure to feed. Then I got to thinking about what to eat on Christmas Day (everyone comes here) and wouldn't you know it, but a post popped up on my FB feed from a caterer that I was very pleased with in the past. Does it sound hugely decadent to just order Christmas dinner in so I get to sit and enjoy it with everyone? Answers on a postcard please!