This and that!

I see it's been a while since I last posted but then again nothing much of interest has actually been happening either. Oh, tell a lie, we got snow one day and as I had to dash out that day I didn't get to shovel it, but within about 48 hours it had all gone again, so that was obviously enough excitement for two days, I guess!

Things at the old fogies club are heating up a bit now that I've gotten to know a few of the characters better. Some people had complained that those playing cards needed to move around and not stick to the same old groups and since the majority voted for this Martine (the little dynamo) set up a "pick a number out of a hat" system which was meant to switch people around. Problem is, when people found they'd gotten landed with Carmen or Lily they were in uproar and refused to move!!!! I don't know Lily at all (though she's obviously disliked) but Carmen is the older lady who talked all the way through the young man's spiel when we were at the forestry museum last year so people couldn't hear him!!! Then they found out that people had been hanging on to their numbers every week so that they could more or less pick who they wanted to play the following week. I tell ya, it's like taking 50 five year olds on a picnic in the woods - you'd actually hope for the big bad wolf to come and pick a few off!!!

Then today I walked over the bank to drop off a bunch of cheques for our next outing (a trip to Lyon to see something akin to Cirque du Soleil with dinner included). On the way back I bumped into one of the unpleasant Chantals on the way out - she who lives with one of the nice Portuguese brothers - so just said goodbye to her - and then walked into an absolute wall of outrage when I got back in the hall! I don't quite know what happened but Chantal would seem to be someone who always has to "mouth off" (pretty sure she'd be called a Karen in the US - with apologies to any Karens out there) and the old guy from my village apparently asked loudly if someone wanted to go out and buy the old donkey some carrots to sweeten her up "so she'd be less of an ass"!!!! The general consensus is that nobody can understand why the bf doesn't kick her out (it's his house) as she treats him so badly and even his brother and son want nothing to do with her. It sure as hell ain't love so maybe they're just stuck in some kind of limbo. That being said, I don't take any of it to heart and it kind of amuses me to hear them bickering but I guess on occasion that big bad wolf might be welcome in some quarters again. In all honesty though, it really is just one or two who are the problem - but then it's not my problem to solve either, is it!

Earlier in the week I was heading into town when I found the road blocked off. Apparently one of the buildings a little further down the road had gone up in flames during the night and the fire brigade had spent over 12 hours bringing it under control. Hats off to them because while the fire was devastating, no-one was hurt! Jen's mom used to be a theatre sister in A&E and she said she could never do what the first responders did because they got to clean the victims up before they even arrived at the hospital and that some of them were in such a state it was hard to stomach even for an experienced nurse!

This picture makes it look rather "tame"
but it most definitely wasn't!

Then last week I decided I needed to up my walking so did a walk at Passy (for a change) and then the next day I walked into Cluses to visit the Yves Rocher shop. That at least got me a 90 minute walk each way and I'm pretty sure I saw someone being life-lifted off the mountains right above Cluses. Again the emergency services can only be commended for their skill and dedication!

Not a great picture but they kept going in to the
mountain and pulling back out for about 20 minutes!

 

On the third day I thought I'd visit a place called the three lakes, but when I got there there was so much dredging going on that only one of the lakes was accessible. Still I got a walk in and got to revisit a small town and le vieux pont (the old bridge) that I like very much so it wasn't a complete waste of time!

The view from the third lake!

I think the bridge dates from the 1500s
but I can't be certain!

Near the school in Cluses!

We had a second round of voting for the legislative elections and the young mayor of Jordan and Jen's town was elected to parliament in a landslide victory. Mind you I was horrified when Jen told me that he and his family (including his four month old baby!!!!) had received death threats! I told her I would not let that go and she said he wasn't so I hope he brings the hammer down hard on these idiots and makes them pay for what is hopefully just a bunch of keyboard warriors waging war from their mommy's basement!

And finally, my Nigerian friend's (Stan) son, Samuel, is once again competing in the winter olympics. I can't believe it's already been four years to be honest but Sam is again representing Nigeria in the 10 km cross country skiing! In fact, as you can tell from this picture, he is the entire Nigerian team and while I would love for him to make it to the podium, I just think he's up against so much talent (who also have tremendous financial backing) from the Scandinavian countries and France itself. Still, he can be very very proud of himself as he's done it all pretty much on his own!

Not too sure about the trousers, but well done Sam!

I would seem to be down about six pounds from the other week when I got annoyed at myself and swore to do something about my weight and while I'm very pleased with this, I guess most of us ladies can go up and down (like a bride's nightie?) over the space of just a few days, so it's important to be realistic too! I guess I've still got a way to go before I can start competing with Sam then!