Time off for good behaviour?

I had arranged with my plumber for him not to come on Wednesday as I would be looking after Charlie. He is quite happy to accommodate my requests because, as he says, he has loads of smaller jobs that he can be getting on with in the meantime. On Monday and Tuesday he brought his dad along with him (a retired plumber and tiler) and between the two of them they've really ploughed ahead on getting the tiling done in order to get this bathroom finished. Unfortunately he told me he wouldn't be able to make it for the rest of the week as there had been a family death in Brittany so he had to fly up there for the funeral. I didn't mind at all because it's nice to get a few days' respite from constantly having someone in your home anyway, so we're looking at him starting back up next week and then hopefully getting it done before the end of the week - fingers crossed!

Last Friday was my day trip to the petit train de la Mûre and to be honest it was a bit of a disappointment. I'd expected a very steep train ride but I don't know if that was at another part of the mines because our train ride was almost flat! We did travel over three Roman viaducts and the scenery was very pretty and somewhat different from round here, so that was a positive. First stop was lunch at a local restaurant on the way up to the coal mine which was very efficiently done (for a coachload of almost 60 people) and the view was spectacular. There were a few much older people using walking sticks and for one lady in particular I think it was a big mistake for her to come on the trip. As we were leaving the restaurant she gestured to me that she wanted "a chair" so I ran over and got one for her, but then she yelled that she wanted a wheelchair - and of course there wasn't one! The walk back to the train was probably only about 100 metres and pretty much flat, but to be honest, even with help, I don't know how she managed it. I'm not sure if she was "all there" as some of the others were saying that she wasn't making a lot of sense when she was talking but I never spoke to her directly after that. At one point she was sitting at the other end of the carriage from me when I took out my water bottle and had a drink. That was when she started gesticulating wildly and looking at me but I had no idea what she was saying as I couldn't hear her anyway - she was too far away. Found out later she wanted a drink but how was I to know! When we got to the mine someone ran to the shop and bought her a bottle of water but honestly, as I say, I think it was a big mistake on her part to even attempt such a trip as she was obviously in way over her head!

The view from the restaurant!

The visit to the now-defunct coal mine was interesting enough - but that was about it. The mines ran for 60 km under the local area and I couldn't even begin to imagine spending my whole life underground like so many of those men did. That being said, we watched a short film where they interviewed miners who had spent their entire lives working there and all but one of them said they were very happy and would "probably do it all again if they had their time over"! I suppose, in the end, it was a source of employment for the local area and helped to create a very, very close-knit community - well that is, until the last mine was shut down in the 1990s!

As we were making our way back home through the local villages, many of them had their signposts turned upside down - a sign of support for local farmers fighting to retain their livelihoods in the face of such trade deals as the one recently signed with Mercosur! I don't hold out much hope to be honest because until we accept to pay fair prices for local goods I suspect many of them will go out of business - but in the current economic times can anyone really afford or be willing to do that?

Véronique from my yoga class told me about this group and when we got chatting on the bus trip back, she asked me if I was interested in a day trip to Grenoble in June as they were looking to make up numbers for the bus. I thought why not, so now that's a third group that I've signed up with and am actually looking forward to maybe discovering more of the local-ish areas through them!

Then on Saturday we had our old fogies lunch, which is arranged between my village and the next one over. The Maire of our village is a miserable sod, but the Maire of the other one is the total opposite and (apparently) very good at his job - plus he's a good sport. The food, yet again, was wonderful (they obviously used the same caterer as last year) and I got to meet up with my Nigerian friend, Stan, and his wife for the first time in ages. Stan has been very ill for quite some time and told me he went through a depression, hence you'd never see him out and about. I think/hope the reception he got from everyone at the lunch might be enough to help get him back to his old self. He used to deliver the local newspaper so knows pretty much everyone, and people weren't shy welcoming him back and coming over to give him a hug! His kids were friends with my kids and his wife started showing me pictures of their four grandkids. Of course being mixed race the children all had this beautiful coffee coloured skin - all, that is, except the one little girl who has blue eyes and blond hair! Seeing her sitting next to her little sister made such a lovely picture as both little girls are just stunning!

The appéritif!

The Maire of the next village
being "stitched up" by a local magician!

Somebody at the lunch mentioned that Gérard C had died suddenly the other week. I knew him, even if only superficially, but after his death it came out that he'd spent years working quietly on behalf of Human Rights Watch and had done a lot for people in precarious situations! So for some reason that sent me down a rabbit hole, thinking about how all the wonderful deeds George Michael had done came out after his death. He had his demons and his foibles but behind the scenes he was very generous indeed. One couple had had several attempts at IVF but couldn't afford any more treatments until George stepped in and funded it anonymously. It was only when they actually got pregnant that they found out who their benefactor was and this only came out publicly after his death!

While the plumber has been here I've been trying to keep out of his way by sorting stuff and taking it to the tip. I've been lugging boxes of old tiles up from the basement and taking boxes of my new, spare tiles back down there to store, since there will probably be enough left over for someone to do a complete bathroom if they want them. I also pulled out a load of cleaning products from under the stairs and have so far found four vacuum cleaner extension pipes that I must have kept from previous vacuums. You know, the extension pipes you attach to the vacuum if you can't quite reach somewhere - well I reckon I could probably vacuum one of my neighbour's houses with all those bloody extensions, so off to the tip they will be going too!

As I said above, I can't wait for all this to be over because I'm tired of being "on" all the time. Just how tired I really am was brought home to me the other night as I was getting ready for sewing club. I jumped out of the shower and went to brush my teeth - and then realized I'd squirted foundation onto my toothbrush!!! I suppose on a positive note, I hadn't smeared toothpaste all over my face though, right? Anyhoo, I'd better get off here now because - get this - I'm actually going to hit the gym I just signed up to. It'll be the first time since covid so if you don't hear from me for a while, I'll probably be trying to get my seized up legs back down the stairs and out of the gym! Not a pretty sight, I imagine, but we'll see how it goes!

Nailed it!

I think I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel with all the work being done around the house - or at least I hope it's a light and not a train coming the other way! After about a week of fairly consistent rain it's finally brightened up so maybe that's helping to cheer me up too. Anyway, I'll take it. I love May (and September) as to my mind they are the nicest months round here - sunny and warm, but not too warm and it's when I feel at my best!

On the "bad news" side, my favourite neighbour has put her house up for sale. I honestly didn't think she'd do it but I know she has always said she wants to move back to the west coast where she is from. Given that both her kids and all her grandkids are here I was still somewhat surprised that she's going ahead with it though. On the down side, while houses round here usually sell pretty quickly, she still has the problem of the flooding in the basement, which my previous tiler said meant he wouldn't touch it with a barge pole for that reason. Then, if/when she sells, her parents' house on the west coast needs a lot of remodelling work since it has been uninhabited for about two years now. I asked why she didn't just sell it "as is" and buy herself a small place in the same area, but she told me that if I saw the location I would realize why she wants to hang on to it - perfect for public transport, shops etc. and it's proximity to the ocean! I guess I'll find out for myself if/when she actually moves as I'm invited, but I know for sure I wouldn't want all that hassle at this stage in my life (she's 73)! But, if that's what she wants, then good luck to her, even though I'll miss her!

In more bad news I was chatting to my other neighbour in the garden yesterday and she told me that her husband had found their cat dead in the middle of the road - obviously hit by a car - and they were devastated! I'm not a cat person but this formerly feral cat was so beautiful and adorable, so yeah, maybe I am a cat person after all, even if I don't want one. Added to that, their little dog is on her way out also, and while she has always been a scared little thing, I think after goodness knows how many years she was finally getting to trust me! I know pets bring great joy and I really wanted a dog when I retired, but I'm past that now - too many constraints for my way of life and I don't need the heartache either!

Tomorrow I have to leave home at 6 am to join up with the group for our outing on le petit train de la Mûre and I'm quite looking forward to it as I hear it's lovely. My plumber was telling me that the train ride is steep and wouldn't be for him, but I guess we'll see what happens when we get there! Today when I came back from the recycling centre I clicked on my car's key fob to lock the doors and nothing happened. So I tried the spare key and got the same result, even though I could start the car with both keys and knew the batteries were good as I had changed both of them recently. Damn, I didn't feel like leaving my car unlocked in a public parking place all day tomorrow when I'm on my trip, and then what would happen if it wouldn't start again when I get back? We'll be parked on the market square but as market day is Saturday in St. Pierre it normally shouldn't be a problem - that is unless it gets stranded there overnight - then they'll tow it! So starting to panic a bit I had a lightbulb moment and armed with a can of WD40 and a couple of screwdrivers I attacked the locking mechanism - and whaddayaknow, it worked. I can now unlock and lock my car door, but I'm taking the aforementioned WD40 and screwdrivers with me "just in case"! Then on the Saturday we have our "old fogies" lunch at the village hall in St. Laurent. Initially I thought I wouldn't go but decided not to be a stick-in-the mud and am going to tag along with Mr. and Mrs. Gossip for a few hours to show willing!

My plumber came on Monday and Tuesday but couldn't make it on Wednesday as he had an emergency. Not a problem for me as it was nice to take a break so I drove off down to a place called Cluses as there were a couple of things I wanted to buy for my garden and new bathroom, and then on the way back I missed my exit on the motorway so decided to take myself off for lunch at Bonneville. I don't very often go out for lunch but I have to say occasionally it is a nice treat to sit in the sunshine having a glass of wine with someone else doing the cooking and washing up!

On Tuesday I asked my plumber to take a look at a dripping pipe in my basement which, in my opinion, was becoming more than the occasional drip. As I knew he would be reinstalling my bathroom radiator and would have the right equipment to fix the pipe I asked to add that to his "list of jobs". It took all of five minutes and now I don't have to lug buckets of water up from the basement every couple of days! When we went down there to take a look I told him that it seemed to have eased up all of a sudden, and he laughed and said that was because he'd turned the water off to reinstall my toilet. I guess we all have our skills then and plumbing is obviously not one of mine! Mind you, I remember how we all laughed at mom after my sister's wedding in 1979 because she told sis to "buy a TV here in England (they were moving to Denmark) so you can still get English television"! So I guess my mom's having a good laugh at me now from somewhere up in heaven!

When the plumber showed up this morning he told me I was lucky to see him today as yesterday night their little boy had gone into a form of anaphalactic shock after eating a peanut!!! Their oldest (four) is allergic to nuts but they had him on a controlled desensitization treatment whereby he was given one peanut a day - basically in order for him to be able to live a more normal childhood. I get that, because what little boy wants to have his mom make him special lunches every day and probably never be able to go to birthday parties "just in case"? It turns out that it was their two year old that had had the reaction, though, after getting hold of one peanut - and they hadn't even known he was also allergic. When they called the emergency services they told him that as they already had cortisone at home (for the oldest) to administer that and stay on the phone with them. Luckily he very quickly recovered but bloody hell - what a fright! I remember when André was about 18 months old and I was on my own with him when his eyes rolled back in his head and he seemed to be having trouble breathing. I don't know why I did it but I turned the shower on full throttle and stood in the steam with him for about 15 minutes and by the end of that time he was already better - but again, how scary it can be!

Anyway I told my plumber today that I was going to go out shopping but that if he had an emergency to just run and leave the door open (turns out the little boy was well enough to go back to daycare though, so disaster avoided). I only intended to go the farmer's market for fruit and veggies as I didn't really need anything else but, of course, I decided to stop in at the grocery store as I wanted to buy a nice bottle of wine for Jordan's birthday. While I was in there I went through the toy section and of course there, in full view, were the Paw Patrol figures so I thought "to hell with it" and bought two stuffed Paw Patrol characters as PP is all the rage over here at the moment. I ended up spending a bloody fortune on things I didn't really need right now, but in the end who cares! When I handed them to the plumber he looked stunned and asked how I knew that was what his kids raved about. I just laughed and told him I have a four year old grandson and that I hoped his boys enjoyed them! So yeah, I think we can say I nailed it on that one!

This and that!

As always (or so it seems to me) it's been a while between posts yet again but as there's nothing particularly scintilating going on and the plumber has now started work I'm just so tired. I realized how difficult it was having the electrician in my house for almost six weeks and now there'll be another two or so with the plumber. He's very nice and seems to be doing a good job, but man will I be glad when it's all done. Of course there are a million other things round here that could do with being updated/replaced but (a) I don't think my bank account can take it for the time being and (b) I know my nerves certainly can't!

He found a large nest of "mason
ants" when he ripped out the cladding!!!!

The old shower - can't wait for the new units
to be put in and retiled!

I can't believe we're almost half way through May already - I mean, where has the year gone??? May 1st and May 8th are generally public holidays in France and I remember when I was still working (in Switzerland, so no holiday) my then boss used to bring all the ladies in our unit lily of the valley, which is traditional here. He was a "bit of a lothario" to say the least but he was nice to me, and when he died the death announcement was posted from "A - his partner and M his wife"! Still, I suppose they had their reasons, the main one, I would imagine being that M would remain his beneficiary after his death and A had her own pension!

The other day there was a knock at my door and two young men asking for donations to "Action Against Hunger". I told them I already donated to the local food bank so sorry, but then a couple of days later on a local FB page I saw that they had also been knocking on doors in the local town so someone had called up Action Against Hunger and they were told that they were not collecting in our area! Damn they'll try anything to find out if homes are occupied won't they!

The other week we had our latest board game evening over at Jordan and Jen's and it was so lovely to see Valérie (my previous neighbour) and her daughter there for once. They have a lovely relationship and Mary-Anne is such a hoot - a real tearaway. She and André were great friends growing up and are still very close so when he was asking her about all her tattoos, she told him she'd had six sessions of four hours over an 18 month period at a cost of €3,000! Now that's not how I'd want to be spending my money but they do look very nice and each to his (her?) own, as they say!

After being thwarted the other day, I trudged back down to the local gym to enrol and bugger me if they weren't closed again. Well actually they were open but the office staff were on a lunch break so no QR code, no entry! I finally made it on the third attempt and rightly or wrongly (probably wrongly) I've signed up for a year's contract. And now of course the plumber is here so I won't be going for the next couple of weeks at least! So to make up for it, I started following a few yoga lessons on the "Yoga with Adrienne" Youtube channel and I discovered I had muscles in places I never even knew I had places!!!

I finally got an official contract from EDF for my solar panels asking me to compete the online set up for my contract. When I got on the site my email and my telephone number were still wrong so it would seem that the left hand still doesn't know what the right hand is doing! I got that corrected and hopefully I can now start generating electricity to sell back to them but man what a palaver it's all been. Then, as luck would have it, I got an email from my telephone carrier asking for my opinion on their new fibre service - so I told them. Ha, that was fun for once!

At the end of April they held the London marathon and while I obviously didn't watch all of it, I got a real kick out of seeing the great sportsmanship and good nature of the competitors. To be honest I couldn't tell you who won (but well done to them in any case of course) but the ones that got me were the people helping those who couldn't take any more over the finishing line, or the little boy running in calipers, or the person running in a rhino suit in aid of the Save the Rhino Fund! Brilliant!

And then of course there were the VE Day celebrations to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe - those celebrations always get me too, particularly as so many of the veterans probably won't be around much longer to be celebrated!

And finally, I see that Clarkson's Farm's next series should be out soon and I can't wait! I don't know, maybe May wasn't so bad after all!