Life is still fairly busy here in that I'm tending to have commitments/appointments nearly every day of the week, but for the moment I'm fine with that. Actually I'm quite enjoying it as I think it was becoming a bit too easy to sit and read or go down Youtube rabbit holes for hours on end. We'll see how it pans out I guess. Yoga started back up after autumn break and man did I know about it. I'm pretty sure she had us doing exercises we've done before - but not recently - and I ached all over coming out of there. I also went to the gym yesterday because I reason that if I don't go at least once a week it just isn't worth the money. It seems to me that getting there around 2 pm is the best time because most lunchtime gym enthusiasts are back at work and I did indeed end up having the place to myself for most of the time. That way it was easier not to feel quite such a wally when I tried a few namby pamby weight lifting exercises. I don't know if I'm doing them correctly so I'll have to ask next time I catch one of the staff!
I've also started getting a mani-pedi and a massage once a month at a Thai lady's place in town. I don't know how long that will last (it often doesn't) but so far I'm enjoying it. I was telling her that I didn't know what to buy for Christmas this year since we've decided we want to give "experiences" rather than gifts for the adults. She gave me quite a few suggestions so it's looking more promising, which is a relief. We also got chatting about what I call "Chinese medicine" but is probably better called "alternative medicine", and I was saying how I'm always willing to give that a go before traditional medicine. She asked me if I'd ever had acupuncture and I told her I had and so had my then husband, but she roared laughing when I told her he'd actually showed up at work with a needle still in his neck which the doctor missed. I said it was a good job there hadn't been thunder and lightening that day - but then again I guess my divorce might have been a helluva lot cheaper!
We're supposed to get our winter tyres on by 1 November over here but I couldn't get an appointment in time so got that done on Thurdsday. I dropped my car off and then caught the old bone-shaker bus back home. When it came time to go pick it up I showed up at the nearest bus stop (after pre-registering for pick-up) along with another young woman and bugger me if the bloody bus skipped our stop completely. So we ended up walking into town together, something which normally takes me about an hour but this time I did it in 45 minutes, so either my fitness level is improving or I didn't want to look like an old granny walking with this young girl. My money is on the latter!
The kids played a Halloween concert down in Annecy last week and while it's definitely not my kind of music apparently it went off very well! Good for them, as they put a lot of time and effort into their music!
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| Jordan's drum set! |
Halloween was fairly quiet, but then that's usually the case as I'm in a smallish village and there aren't too many kids out roaming at night. My Nigerian friend Stan's son stopped by with his son and my goodness he's just as handsome (and sweet) as ever. He's the young man who acquired Nigerian citizenship and represented Nigeria at the last winter Olympics and he'll be representing them again this winter, although I don't know where the event is going to be held. Wouldn't it be great if he won a medal this time. Fingers crossed!
My new computer arrived last week and I was trying to set it up at the old fogies club on Tuesday. It's pretty easy but I can't quite seem to get it linked to my current computer so I'll have to mess around with it some more. At club Martine asked me to update the committee list as there was a correction but when I mentioned to her that I couldn't edit the document she ushered me into a corner and told me that she had had to put a password on all her documents because the president (Viviane) kept trying to mess around with them and they were forever ending up having to sort out her messes. At least now I have the passwords and in any case Viviane will shortly no longer have access. We're going to the bank on Tuesday to get the signatories' list updated and after that the new committee takes over. Takes over running by the looks of it because there's a helluva lot to do between now and Christmas!
I was flicking through Netflix the other night because I'd added a few films to my watchlist and was wondering what to watch when I noticed that most of the films I'd added recently were now either for rent or sale only. The first time this happened I just thought I'd made a mistake but this is now the third time that I've seen this happen so it might be time to cancel again as I hate being taken for an idiot!
I'm off to a birthday party next Saturday for Julien (the intrepid dog-sledder that I drove up to Avoriaz last winter) and his twin brother Nicholas. They are turning 40 in November and have asked everyone to dress up in 1980s fashion. Well, I'm not sure I'll be taking any selfies but picture a cross between John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever and Jane Fonda's workout and you might get the picture. I've already contributed to the collection for both of them (Julien wants a telescope and Nicholas wants to go to Peru) but I picked up two birthday cards when I went grocery shopping on Wednesday - and promptly left the cash register without paying for them as I had stuffed them behind my handbag! I was mortified at the thought of potentially being stopped as I left, but thankfully saw what I'd done and went back and paid for them. I don't know about you but for the sake of $10 it just wouldn't have been worth it to do a runner!
I mentioned recently that I'm still plodding on with my Italian lessons and quite enjoying it, but then the other day I noticed they also had Arabic lessons available - so I've signed up! It's starting with the alphabet right off the bat and to be honest it isn't totally alien to me because I took Arabic lessons for one semester up at the UN many moons ago. I didn't get very far because my then boss wouldn't let me change my work hours (by 30 minutes) in order to accommodate my lessons so I dropped out. I don't know how far I'll get as it's probably just another one of my madcap ideas but I guess only time will tell!
I see COP 30 has just taken place in Brazil, you know where the elites fly in on their private jets to tell us that we can no longer spend a week in Benidorm because of climate change! Seeing those that went just from Britain makes me shake my head. I mean why did the Mayor of London need a 16 person entourage and more to the point, some female MP from Yorkshire also went. I wonder how much that little lot cost and what was the point other than a few free jollies!
Anyhoo, I've been inspired by Anne in Alabam and her "oh no, just X weeks to Christmas" series so the other day I looked it up and there were just 56 days left until Christmas. So I got to wondering if I "spring cleaned" (seasonal dyslexia, as I explained to Ms Moon) for just one hour a day for the next 56 days, how good would my house look. Daft I know, but so far I'm sticking to it and to say I'm pretty horrified by the dust being sucked up as I'm moving furniture and cleaning carpets would be an understatement! Nobody would recoil in horror at my place as I keep it pretty picked up, but when you start moving furniture and washing walls - yikes, just yikes!
