Tis the season ...

... to start shovelling snow (although I can think of worse things to be shovelling in all honesty)! We had our first "scrape the frost off the windscreens" moment a couple of days ago, and then yesterday it started to snow. It didn't look like it would last but by morning about six inches had settled, so around 10 am I decided to go out there and do our driveways. One time I remember thinking that as I didn't have to go out I'd just leave it until it eventually melted - big mistake. The snow underneath gets compacted and it becomes more of a death trap so it's just not worth taking the risk! I thought about putting thermals under my jeans but then thought better of it because I generally don't feel the cold and in any case, you work up a sweat clearing snow don't you. Mind you, that thought put me in mind of years ago, in the '70s I'm guessing, when Jane Fonda's Workout was all the rage and everyone seemingly just had to have a pair of legwarmers. Well I was about 16 and obviously bought myself a pair because ... well who knows really. Anyway, one day my 80+ year old grandma was complaining that her legs were cold so I went and got my legwarmers for her - and that was the last I ever saw of them because I'm sure they'd taken root in her skin by the time spring came around. I never bought another pair because there really wasn't much point was there, but I'm guessing I was the only teenager on the block with a grandma who looked like this ... well if you squinted a bit!

Jane Fonda!

The other week we had our AGM at the old fogies' club (where the new committee was scheduled to be elected) followed by lunch for anyone who wanted to join us. So on the Thursday about 20 of us ended up setting the table for 142 lunches (provided by a caterer, so no spud peeling for us thankfully) and then clearing it away afterwards. Damn, I didn't know being a committee member involved so much washing up (but luckily there were quite a few people willing to pitch in and lend a hand)! Martine (the previous treasurer and someone who I would describe as the mainstay of the committee) had decided to give the dishwasher a good rinse beforehand but put too much washing agent in it, with the result that when we walked into the kitchen the floor was covered in suds! It took us about 20 minutes to get the machine shut down and the floor mopped but I'm guessing it's been a long time since that floor looked so clean!

The following Tuesday three of us had a meeting at the bank to get the new bank account signatories recorded and the old signatories removed. The young bank manager was extremely helpful and went through everything he thought we might need to think about (including relooking at our current civil responsibility policy as it was so old) so all in all it took about two hours to get that sorted. When we came out I bumped into a former colleague, Chantal. You may remember that I mentioned her a few years ago as being the one who skated into the store on a snowy day in high heeled boots and a full length fur coat when everyone else was in ski jackets and snow boots, who never talks to you but at you and who never ever shuts up! Well I thought I would be charitable and waved to her as she hadn't seen me - big mistake - she had me pinned there for the next 30 minutes! When I told her I was heading back to the club she proclaimed loud and clear for everyone to hear that she could never join a club like that, full of old people. I didn't go as far as to tell her that we both qualified to join but she went on and on about her mother (who was a miserable old bat who never stopped complaining apparently and sooooo ungrateful)! While she was talking at me my mind kinda wandered off and I began picturing her mom's head morphing onto her shoulders as she is so obviously her mother's daughter. I eventually made my excuses saying I had to get back (true) but whew, I think I've done my charitable deed for the year!

At the following regular card game club it was time for the new committee to take over but to say it was a rather chaotic would be a bit of an understatement. Our new lady president hasn't got a clue about computers but, in her defence, she's a little dynamo and had already been to a couple of travel agents and come up with some very good ideas for potential trips and Christmas festivities. Our new secretary can no longer remember how to use Word (but I'm sure she'll pick it back up quickly) so I volunteered to edit a few Word documents but was forever fishing around the French keyboard (as I've always been used to a Swiss German one). Seemingly ç à è à had been swallowed up somewhere in keyboard heaven. Next we couldn't get the bloody printer to work (but we learned it's temperamental so it wasn't really our fault) and the only man on the committee who showed up - well he just sits there, mutters a few things but seemingly only comes for an apéritif (which we all declined). I've been sticking my nose into the way the accounts have been set up and I have to say the previous ladies did an excellent job. I've retyped (on my Swiss German computer!) a few shell documents so that I can hit the floor running but to say that the first regular meeting of the club with us as the committee was chaotic - well it really was a bit like this ...

Anyone else remember Corporal Jones
from Dad's Army!

Last Saturday I finally got my doctor's appointment in order to get a certificate that I was fit enough to join the hiking group that my friend belongs to. I didn't think they actually did that anymore but I suppose it's a way for the group to cover themselves if anyone has a mishap. The lady doctor was very nice and very thorough, even doing en ECG and giving me a prescription for blood tests!! Then I had to weigh myself (fully clothed and in snow boots) so I think that's enough humiliation for me for the next year or so!

Somewhat to my own surprise I've continued on with the Arabic lessons with Duolingo (as well as keeping up with the Italian). The first unit is all about introducing you to the alphabet and its sounds, which reminds me that many years ago someone told me that Sir Isaac Pitman invented Pitman shorthand based on the Arabic alphabet. I've no idea how true that is but looking at the alphabet and comparing it to shorthand that would certainly make sense. I know nobody uses it anymore but shorthand truly was a wonderful skill to have and even now I will often write part of my shopping list, for instance, in shorthand. I do remember though that my paranoid ex thought I was "obviously keeping something a secret from him because I wrote some things in shorthand". Yeah adding the word "bread" to my list in shorthand was obviously part of some secret code! I've actually finished Unit 1 now and while I'm not exactly "fluent" (ha ha), I've surprised myself by just how much I've enjoyed it!

Pitman shorthand - I'd struggle to read that now
but I can still pick out the odd word!

And finally, I was grocery shopping the other day when an old lady moved out of my way in the tinned goods section. She asked if I was going to buy "any of that rubbish" and pointed to the canned potatoes. I said no as I didn't like them, but she told me that "she'd never seen them before" and went off muttering to herself that "how can people be so bloody lazy that they can't peel a few potatoes". It made me laugh - but then maybe, just maybe, she might have been Chantal's mom!