God bless you Scratch, wherever you are!

I had my French language proficiency test today in connection with my request for French citizenship. Up until April of this year anyone over 60 didn't have to take the test, but on 1 April all that changed and now everyone requesting citizenship has to take it. I can't say I was particularly bothered but it was just one more hoop to jump through all the same. Then again, if getting citizenship gives you the right to vote I think it's only right that your French should be good enough to understand French politics don't you? Not that I do actually understand French politics but .... I certainly consider my French up to it should I ever show an interest!

I set off really early because although it was in a town not far from here I didn't know the exact location. On the way there I saw a Buffalo Grill steak house so I thought I'd stick one to the ex and have lunch there. I've written about this before but we used to go to Buffalo Grill sometimes when we were shopping in Annecy (they make a mean margarita), but my ex always used to do his nut because they put CORN in the free salad they gave you before your meal!!!! Damn, CORN??? My solution to that problem was either refuse the free salad or pick the corn out of it, but NO, his solution was that we should never set foot in that den of iniquity ever again! And he stuck to it! So, with a "devil may care" attitude I decided to eat at the Buffalo Grill before going on to my French test (although I passed on the margarita since I needed to keep my single brain cell alive for the test). And guess what, nobody died and the world didn't stop spinning because there was corn in the salad!

It's a good job I set out early though as it was a real pain to find this place. I was supposed to show up at 14h and 20 minutes beforehand I'm still driving round in circles looking for it. I finally found it though and was still in good time for the test. I'd guess there were about 20 of us in the group and it was very well organized - all covid-compliant and stuff. They walked us through the mechanics of the test and then we set to with the first part, which was the oral comprehension. I mentioned before that that was the part that most bothered me because while I understood everything that was said, as the questions became more difficult I always felt that the answers were ambiguous and several could have been right, and that was certainly true this time. That being said, the test was actually much easier than the practice tests I had been sitting, so that was a positive. Then we had the written comprehension test which, again, was pretty straightforward (although French can get pretty "flowery" - you know, why use one word when 100 will do?), followed by an exercise where we had to write three paragraphs on three different topics - which was fine, except for having to deal with a French keyboard. Still I managed. When I'd finished I turned to look out the window at the kids walking past and I realized that I could see the screen of the guy facing the window. He had his screen set up in a really huge font and that was when I realized that we didn't all have the same test. I could actually read his questions from where I sat (not that I was cheating of course) and he wasn't sitting the same test as me!

This test had never particularly worried me and for that I can only send praises up to heaven for my old French teacher, Mr. Etches - who we all referred to affectionately as Scratch! He was incredibly strict but very fair, and he used to wander up and down the classroom singing verb endings (how to conjugate French verbs) and as daft as it sounds those bloody songs stuck. Ten trillion years later, when I joined my friend Ian in Bulgaria, we got to talking about Scratch and Ian started singing Scratch's "verb conjugating songs"! When I got my job in Geneva at the age of 21 I took the time to write to Scratch and thanked him for his wonderful teaching, which "was absolutely instrumental in helping me to get my fabulous job in Geneva". He wrote back to me, addressing me as "Treaders", saying how I was a delight to teach and that he was so glad that he had made an impact on my life. I learned that he died shortly thereafter but I know that somewhere I still have that letter!

Anyway, thanks to Scratch I wasn't particularly worried about writing in French. I make mistakes, of course, but not that many, so I'm pretty confident about the written part. The good thing was that the oral and written comprehension part was easy to mark as we went along, so at the end of the test we got our results. A1 and A2 are basically "you speak basic French" and are not accepted as sufficient fluency to become French citizens. At a minimum you need B1 - and I couldn't believe it when I got C2!!! That's not the definitive score because the written and the oral interview have to be marked first but I'm pretty damn pleased with that anyway. Apparently I got 699/700, and the Algerian guy next to me asked me if I was French when he clocked my score (so why would I be applying for French citizenship?)!!!! I didn't dare look at his score because it didn't feel right, but I'm assuming it should have been ok - I mean, Algerians speak French anyway right!

After that it was the one-on-one interview on three different subjects. She asked me what my hobbies were, so after "patchwork, walking in the mountains etc." I mentioned reading. So she asked what I was reading at the moment, and when I said Donald Trump's niece's book she asked me to tell her the "juicy bits". I told her that Mary Trump certainly didn't hold back and it was a good read, and she just laughed.

This lady gets to mark me on my interview with her but the recording of it is then sent off to Paris and they will have the definitive say-so for the marks. So I'll have to wait a couple of weeks for the final results (they have to mark the written test also) and then I'll know if I can proceed with my citizenship request.

The campus was in a beautiful spot alongside the Salève mountain with a view over the city of Geneva. House prices (I imagine) are higher around there because of the proximity to the Swiss border, and there are some truly stunning houses around, but I don't think I would like to be negotiating those little winding roads every day, particularly not in winter!

As I was driving back I noticed that the mountains were particularly spectacular today, with clear blue skies and a fabulous view of the Mont Blanc. I couldn't stop to get a photo though, but by golly some days are just diamonds. But you know what will probably bug me for a long time? If I got 699/700 on the test that they were already able to mark, what was the question I got wrong?

I swear I've got "frickin' idiot" stamped on my forehead!

As I had a hair appointment this afternoon I decided to go into town early to stop at the bank beforehand to get some cash. Since I was really early I figured I had enough time to have a drink before walking over to the hairdresser's. When I got to the café I spotted a guy called Stephan who I used to see quite a bit when Stan had his little bar in the village. Now Stephan has the most piercing blue eyes I have ever seen and was probably a pretty handsome guy in his time, but the Stephan I got to know was just plain weird. He was obviously pretty intelligent and spoke several languages, but for some reason he got it into his head that as I was English it was ok to speak to me in German. I know some German but in the end I had to tell him "hey, I'm English ok. If you want to speak English to me fine, but please quit with the German"! It didn't work though - I reckon it was just his way of showing off. I came to find out later from Stan that Stephan - who is about my age - had worked as a language teacher but had been placed on a disability pension some years ago (due to schizophrenia I think). While that was sad he had a more than decent pension and in any case he lived with his wealthy parents in town and wanted for nothing. He was also, sad to say, an alcoholic and alcohol had obviously ravaged his looks over time. Still, I got on ok with Stephan - or at least that is until my husband moved out. At that point he must have seen me as a good target and I remember being shocked one time when he asked if he could borrow €100. I decided to give it to him, writing it off to myself as a bad loan, but to be fair he paid me back about a month later. Stan told me I was a fool as Stephan probably had more money than I did but at least I learned from the experience. Shortly thereafter Stephan again asked me for €100 but this time I just said no, that I was not a bank, and that if he needed money I suggest he speak to his parents! Then, I found out that his parents took his car off him because of his drink-driving, so while it is more than feasible to walk up from town to my little village, after that I didn't see him very often unless he came to Stan's with his dad.

A few months later I saw him again and he had the nerve to ask if he could rent a room from me "because you've got this big house with so many bedrooms", saying that he was tired of living with his parents. Thank God I learned long ago that "no" is a complete sentence, rather than faff around trying to find excuses. So I simply told him that it had taken me a long time to gain my independence and that I treasured my privacy so sorry, but the answer was no - regardless of how many bedrooms I might have! Actually, another guy contacted me about the same time asking if he could rent my camper and live in my driveway when my ex moved out. This guy lived about 200 metres from me with his stepfather in an identical house to mine but yet he wanted to live in my camper? So I wrote back saying that I had bought my camper for my personal use so the answer was no! I already had him figured, I reckon, because when I would want to be out in my camper he would be thinking he could move into my house - and then presumably never move out again! Not long after that Stephan phoned me, but since I had an idea as to why he was phoning I never answered and that seemed to be the end of it. That is, until today!

As I mentioned above, I was early for my hair appointment and I went off to have a drink, and that was when I spotted Stephan, who said hallo to me. I figured after all this time it would be ignorant not speak to him so I sat and ordered a drink for him and me and we chatted for a while. He told me that one of the guys I used to see at Stan's was a relative of his and had died about 18 months ago of a heart attack at the young age of 52. I was shocked as he and his partner were pretty nice people - but 52!!! He'd been walking in the mountains when he had the heart attack, but even the air ambulance was unable to save him. What a shock! Anyway, as I went to pay I saw Stephan look at my wallet - and that's when he asked if he could "borrow" €10 to "buy some smokes"! Damn, any time I ever saw him in town he would be at the bar, and he must have smoked five cigarettes while I was with him! He told me he would stop by on Saturday to give me the money back but as I don't want him coming to my house I told him I would be out and that he was welcome to keep it. But there you go, never again. He's a user and I just can't be bothered with this shit any more!

So then, as I was walking back to my car, guess who came running up behind me - if you guessed "white van man" you'd be right. If you remember, he was asking for "a few coins in order to get out of here" when I was doing my shopping last Thursday. It's not as though he needed money for the parking because parking was free - and then I saw him in the shop with a €50 note. Nope, this time he was "€2.30 short and needed to buy his train ticket". I was a bit more with it for once so I asked him where his van was .... and at that he just ran off. Next I saw him at the Post Office pulling the same stunt. Damn I get so fed up of these people!

Anyway, after that I seemingly had no choice but to head off down to the gym to sign up for the year. It's a bit weird at the moment because if you want a shower you have to "book it" in advance as only so many people are allowed in the locker rooms at once. I also have to let them know via their app that I'm intending to go the gym (because of contact tracing), but I guess these measures won't last for ever. So there will be nowhere to leave your valuables because the lockers are out of bounds, no showers and the need to use a contact tracing app to boot. Still, I signed up anyway and have my appointment with a coach on 15 September (I think). But get this, as I was walking out I heard a voice behind me asking if I had a spare mask. Oh damn, here we go again. But when I turned round it was a young girl who I reckon had forgotten her mask and couldn't get in to the gym without one. As luck would have it I had put a spare mask in my bag so just this once I didn't mind handing it over!

When I got back home my neighbour (the wife) was out front of her house so I stood and chatted to her for a while. So then, as I'm sick and tired of her husband's "aw shucks did I park in your driveway again" routine, I thought "in for a penny" and said "would you mind asking Jan not to park in my driveway when he comes next time only it's getting to be pretty annoying having to ask him or your husband to move when I come home". She was surprised and said she hadn't realized they were doing that because "oh you know men, they don't think". So I just said "well thankfully we're here to think for them, but just so you know, I'm getting fed up of having to ask them to move off my driveway when I come home with my groceries". Not that I should have to have an excuse like groceries for wanting to be able to park in my own driveway of course - but at least it's a start don't you think!

You win some, you lose some!

Today I decided to head off down to the large mall near Annecy to buy a new phone, even though I still hadn't decided exactly what I wanted. All I knew was that I didn't want to spend a lot of money. There have been (and still are) loads of roadworks going on in that area and now I can no longer get to my usual mall entrance so I have to go a different way. This takes me to a much more practical entrance and that's where I spotted "him"! It was a small stand advertising quick repairs to phones and so on so I went over and showed him my phone, which was down to about 30% charged in just a matter of hours. He said it was most likely the battery but beyond a certain point there was just no saving a phone in some cases. However if I wanted to leave it with him for about an hour he would take a look at it. So I took myself off for an unplanned lunch out and a little wander, and wadda ya know - it was indeed just the battery and he was able to replace it and recharge my phone, all for the princely sum of €40 - as opposed to €400-€500 for a new phone! As you can imagine, I'm well pleased because I knew if I went into the SFR shop (my mobile carrier) they'd try to get me to change my contract (the one I just recently negotiated down), or try to sell me a much more expensive phone. I really didn't want to spend that kind of money because planned obsolescence annoys the hell out of me! I also spotted an Yves Rocher shop - a new one to me - and was able to pick up some of my favourite products there too. I like Yves Rocher's products and they're not at all expensive, so it was a double win!

When I got back to la Roche I stopped in at the gym and wadda ya know - it wasn't open! I had a walk around because I wondered if maybe they had gone out of business since my last visit, but when I looked them up on my now fully-charged phone it seems they actually close from noon to 4 p.m! Obviously there isn't much demand for lunch time fitness sessions by the looks of it, and 24/7 access? Ha, as if! This is France after all! I did wonder if this was maybe God's way of telling me "oh you look just fine, you don't need the gym", but then I reckoned even God wasn't that blind!

When I got home my neighbour's friend was now parked across my driveway, so as I must have been in a somewhat more tetchy mood than usual I just sat on my horn till he came out, apologized profusely and moved his truck. What is it with these people? I mean, if it's a question of just running in to the neighbours to, say, drop off a parcel I have no problem with that, but I will never get why you park in someone else's driveway, especially when there are plenty of parking spaces around! Once I had calmed down I saw that my roofing people had been back to finish up the sealant on the remaining 15 square metres that they had missed first time round (an easy mistake to make as that part of my roof actually looks like it belongs to my neighbour) - so that put me in a slightly better mood. I have to admit I'm pathetically grateful when I receive good service/follow-up, but in reality isn't that the way it should be everywhere? And then my gardener showed up with his son to get my lawn sorted. With it having rained for the last four days he has been hard pushed to catch up while the weather is holding. I do wonder what he does in the winter though - snow clearance maybe? Who knows! I asked him to give me a quote to cut my hedges and he's given me a decent price so I'm happy to let him do that too. I have to say though that I do wonder about his health. He has an enormous belly on him - the kind that hangs way down over his trousers in a kind of fat flap - and with the kind of hard physical work that he does, particularly in the heat, I'd be concerned for his health somewhat. He's a decent enough guy so I hope he proves me wrong but having all that fat, especially around his middle, would be worrying to me. So yeah, I think I've just talked myself into going back to sign up at the gym tomorrow - maybe I'd just had a vision of the ghost of Christmas yet to come!

I'm so glad we didn't make it!

I think my bloody phone is on the blink and while I'm not exactly a phone fanatic, it does feel a bit like my life support is slowly being turned off, so it looks like I'm going to have to buy a new one. I reckon I've had this one for three years and it galls me to think I've got to replace it already. Somewhere I have a spare battery for it but when I looked up how to change it on Youtube I'm pretty sure I'd mess up the phone anyway.  So I'll be heading out tomorrow to get a new one. I really couldn't give too much of a toss about phones as long as I can call with them, send messages and take a few photos. I don't need to be able to programme my central heating with it so I've been looking at what's available in the cheaper versions. I'm also not sure I want another iPhone to be honest, as I've heard good things about Samsung and they're quite a bit cheaper. I guess I'll see what they suggest at the shop tomorrow!

Also tomorrow I'm planning on heading down to the gym in town to sign up - and you know what, I'm dreading it!  I'm happy to go to the gym as I like the weight machines and going to the work's gym obviously hasn't worked out since covid hit. Actually, it was touch and go before that because I was very aware of the traffic and the weather conditions so hopefully a gym in town will be better for me. My friend signed up there a couple of years ago and she said they were really nice. I get a free one-hour consultation with a fitness professional to walk me through it, but the big thing I don't want to be doing is running on any treadmill. I hate it, so that'll definitely be one thing I'm going to work up to - if at all. Wish me luck! Yoga and pilates then start up again next week so I'm glad the weather is starting to cool off a bit, even though I expect there'll be a few creaky bones to begin with!

I also just realized that today would have been my 35th wedding anniversary. I'd totally missed it until I linked it to André's birthday yesterday. Actually my ex's birthday was 29th, André's is the 30th and our wedding anniversary was 31st August. Being married 26 years at time of the divorce was more than enough and life has been so much better since, so yeah, cheers - here's to our 35th unwedding anniversary. I'm so glad we didn't make it!

White van man!

Damn, I just wrote a whole blog post and new blogger seems to have shot it off into cyberspace somewhere! Oh well, here we go again then! So as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, sometimes I'm really glad we're six hours ahead of eastern U.S. time so that I had no inclination whatsoever to watch any of the RNC. I did manage five minutes of Trump's excruciating monotone monologue before the temptation to throw myself under a bus kicked in, but politics aside, given that there were several hundred unmasked, untested and non-socially distanced spectators I'll be curious to see if "this whole pandemic is a hoax" still holds water in about a week's time! I suspect not!

And what the hell happened in Kenosha? The idea that a 17 year old (or anyone outside the military frankly) can get their hands on a semi-automatic, walk casually down the street and kill someone with it just blows my mind. The sad thing - apart from the deaths and injuries he caused - is I wonder if he has spent half his life playing video games and thinks he finally "got to star in his own video" - you know, the kind where you can just buy a new life and start over if you get killed! Talk about not only destroying several other people's lives but also your own. I just wonder if he sleep-walked through the whole shit show in some kind of make-believe zombie mode! But to the people calling him a "hero", in what kind of alternate perverted universe does killing two people and blowing someone else's arm off make him a "hero"? Sadly, whoever wins in November, I think this kind of rioting and violence is far from over!

In more uplifting news, today was André's birthday and while the weather didn't hold for them to go go-karting, I at least got to eat out with the three of them at a lovely restaurant next to the Lac de la Tour. And the restaurant was heaving, which on the face of it isn't good, but the place was so big that we were, indeed, able to keep our distance from other diners. Not great maybe but I actually feel that as much as possible France needs to start returning to some kind of normality. That being said, Germany and France have again warned today that due to a spike in infections it might be necessary to envisage new lock downs in the future. I guess only time will tell!

Talking of France, I have my rescheduled French test in respect of my citizenship request on Thursday. I haven't been particularly worried about it but did think maybe I should do a couple of trial runs these last few days and I'm glad I did. Oddly enough the questions I'm most likely to fail are the aural comprehension ones - which is stupid because I can understand everything they say. The problem is that as you get further along in the test and on to the more difficult "accents", many of the answers, to my mind, are ambiguous. So "is this conversation discussing women setting up a business in Morocco or does it highlight the difficulties women face in a patriarchal society such as Morocco?" That kind of thing. So today, when I came back from lunch, I did another trial test. When I got to the end and looked at my score I had only got 32 out of 40 - which struck me as very odd because I've never scored that low. But that was when I realized that I had lost my internet connection on question nine and apparently the computer then decided to mark the first eight questions as "unanswered" and therefore wrong! Phew! Still, even with that score it was sufficient to pass the test. I'll be glad when it's over though as I need to get back to learning "all about France" just on the off chance I ever get an interview. Add to that the selfish bastards have changed half their government ministers since the Prime Minister's resignation so I've got to go through and learn the names of the most relevant ministers yet again. Nah, not really. I think from the naturalization point of view there are only three or four "important" ministers, such as who is the Minister for Europe? (Jean-Yves Le Drian, if you're interested)!

I'm also making headway through the pile of books I've had sitting on my coffee table for the last however many decades. The other day I picked up one by Stephen Fry and was only "cautiously optimistic" about it. I eventually gave up on the last book of his I tried reading because while I think Fry is hilarious the book was just way too pompous. This one is called Mrs. Fry's Diaries, supposedly written by the entirely fictitious Mrs. Stephen Fry (given that he's gay and is married to a much younger man) and their supposed family life with six kids on a council estate. And it's actually pretty good, I have to say. There are such gems as how Mrs. Winton "told me all about this new Reiki fortune teller she's just started seeing. First she gives you an intense scalp massage, then she reads your dandruff"! Another one has Mrs. Fry talking about a day out at Aintree (the biggest horse race in the country) where Stephen was pointing out the winners' enclosure "right next to the royal box", and the losers' enclosure "right next to the glue factory"! Fry is very drôle and I can just hear him in my head coming out with this lunacy in his posh, Cambridge-educated voice. Either way, it's easy reading and I'm quite enjoying it!

And finally, white van man. I had an encounter with white van man at the supermarket on Thursday. As I was getting out of my car, white van man came running over to me and asked if I "had any spare coins so that they could get out of here". I'm always a bit surprised by this kind of thing so I just said no. Then when I was leaving the supermarket I saw him leaving the cash register with the lady just having given him change for what looked like a €50 note (or at least he had two twenties in his hand). So I loaded up my car and just as I was about to leave another white van man pulled up diagonally behind me, thus effectively blocking me in as there was a car in front of me and one to my right. He wound the window down and asked if my car was for sale, which is odd as there's nothing special about it - it's just a well-maintained nine year old Ford Mondeo. When I told him no, he nevertheless continued to sit there for a couple of minutes, effectively preventing me from leaving! What the flip??? Eventually he moved off but as I was driving out of the parking lot I noticed the original white van pulled over on the side of the road and when I passed him he also went to pull out and swore rather loudly. Now I've no idea what was going on there. I reckon they were gypsies actually, but a few years ago my friend received 21 speeding tickets in the space of about three months, and this after having lived in France for over 25 years and never having got a ticket. So I'm leery, as you can imagine. In her case she's pretty sure someone with the same make of car had duplicate plates made (although sadly she couldn't prove it). She could prove one time when she was supposed to have been speeding near the border that she was actually on the other side of Geneva at a doctor's appointment, but to be honest the French courts didn't want to know. It was a very stressful time for her so I'm very aware of my gut feeling that these guys were up to no good. I hope I'm wrong but .... One thing's for sure, if I do start getting speeding tickets I will contest every one as and when. My friend didn't do this immediately because she genuinely thought she'd made an honest mistake the first couple of times, but by the time she'd hit 21 tickets it was already too late to contest them. I rather hope I'm wrong and that white van man number one was just a gypo trying to scam money out of me, and white van man number two was maybe looking for spare parts! Actually, that's one of the reasons I wanted to write this post - so I have the "white van man" incident documented on 27 August. I hope it doesn't come to anything other than my perhaps overly fertile imagination though!

Well that was rather good!

There's not been an awful lot going on here again at the moment. The weather dropped to 28°C today so it was again bearable. I think they're predicting rain later in the week, I guess as a follow-on from the storm currently hammering Britain and Ireland. I can't say it bothers me one way or the other because I can always find things to do, whether it be in the garden or inside. I've worked a few hours in the garden these last few days putting stuff "to bed" so to speak. The veggie plot wasn't that great, although the tomatoes are looking good, and the peach tree is heaving with peaches. I just need them to ripen before the wasps get them all. Once I'd finished for the day I pushed myself to take one of my local walks down to the Bénite Fontaine. It's convenient because I don't have to take the car and I realize, since there's a little bit of climbing, that I need to get back to doing something slightly more strenuous than just walking on the flat. You have to walk down into the dell where the holy water spring is and then climb back out to the church. Nothing much - I mean seriously only about 10 minutes of climbing - but I realize I need to get back to challenging myself a bit more now that it's cooler. When I stopped to fill my water bottle I noticed that a family had brought their cars down into the dell, while another lady was sitting at a picnic table in the shade on her own. I must admit I had never thought of bringing a car down there, but it allowed the family to bring grandma and any number of coolers for a picnic in what is a rather lovely spot!

When I got back I noticed that the little island in front of our houses was all dug up and pretty much shredded over. When I stopped to chat with my neighbours they reckon we've now got a badger problem. I must say he's dug it up pretty thoroughly too. I wonder if I could tempt him in to my veggie plot once I've pulled everything up!

It's André's birthday on Sunday so I had asked the kids if they would like to come over to me for lunch to celebrate. André, however, had other ideas and suggested we all go out to eat at the lac de la Tour near Jordan and Jen's place as he's heard it is pretty good, and then they would like to go off go-karting afterwards. Suits me, as there is some good walking country round there, weather-permitting!

He took the day off today as he and Lily had a meeting with an adjudicator to see if their divorce paperwork is in order - which it is - so they've been given the green light to send it off and they could be divorced sometime in September! That's pretty fast isn't it - and kinda sad! That being said, they went for a coffee together afterwards and Lily asked if Ammie (grandma in the States) would mind if she kept in touch occasionally (not at all) and she told him that her grandma and aunt would also like to keep in touch with him as they were very fond of him. So he said he would stop in and see Abuela (Lily's grandma) as she has really been nice to him, but he told Lily that she has to realize that he won't be seeing them too often all the same. I told him I keep in touch with Ammie myself, although not with any of the rest of his dad's family. I call her maybe three times a year and we chat for about an hour. In the end, it's better to end it civilly isn't it. That being said, Lily asked if they could remain friends and he said that while he wouldn't be upset if he saw her again while out with friends, he didn't want to be around her too much at the beginning as he wanted to move on. That being said, if Pete was on the scene he wouldn't be there at all as Pete has definitely been crossed off the list. Even if nothing happened between Lily and Pete (he has no idea), in his opinion Pete very definitely crossed boundaries within his and Lily's marriage!

Moving on to other things, he then told me that he is loving the "envelope" budgeting system that we set up together as it gives him a tangible insight into what he has available to him to spend and how he is planning his different expenses. Apparently Lily was so impressed that she is now going to do the same - which is ironic because she's Swiss and works in a bank! But still, if it works, it works - I told him Nanny and Ted (my mom and dad) would be so proud if they could see him using "their old fashioned ways" to get a handle on his budget!

And finally, I was pulling stuff out the fridge tonight to see what needed using up because I'm tired of wasting food. I had two red and two yellow peppers so figured I'd find something to stuff them with. Then I pulled out a pre-made quinoa salad with pistachios, a packet of bacon lardons I had forgotten to use, half a bag of grated cheese and half a jar of spaghetti sauce. So I par-cooked the peppers and then stuffed them with a mixture of everything else all mixed together and by golly they were good. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to replicate it but I'll sure give it a try as they were a definite hit!

Busy doing nothing!

As I'm trying to keep up the walking momentum in order to get to my 1,000 miles in 2020 (I passed 700 miles walked this week), I talked myself into going for a walk down to the lake at Thyez yesterday - my go-to walk when I can't be bothered to drive too far. And again it was beautiful. The temperature dropped down to about 27°C (around 80°F), with a lovely breeze blowing so it turned out to be the perfect day to walk. Again I think they had forecast possible thunderstorms but we got nothing in the end. Even so, it was strange to see how few people were at the lake considering it was such a beautiful day and a Sunday to boot. There was just one man on the beach and six people playing volleyball. A few fisherman and kids playing in the park. Further back at the picnic tables there were quite a few families out BBQing but if you wanted a table in the shade you would have got one. One lady was struggling to carry stuff towards a group of people setting up their picnics and shouted out "whatever you do don't come and help will you", so I just laughed and took some of her stuff for her. When I dropped it off they offered for me to have a drink with them, but as I wanted to get on with my walking I just thanked them and said I'd be on my way. I'd guess they were either Turkish or North African and probably about 20 of them all told, and it hit me then how I actually miss being part of a large family. We were a family of seven kids (I was number seven) so there was always someone around and we often went fishing/camping with uncles and aunts and cousins. Of course things change as you get older, my brother in Wales is dead, my sister is in Denmark and the others are in England. I'm divorced and while I have no desire to live with anyone ever again it did hit me a little yesterday that I missed "all that". Of course I have my kids but they have their own lives to live. Truth is, I know I like being in the hustle and bustle of lots of people and making plans for picnics and so on, especially now that I have the time. I guess it's just a weird time we're all going through, what with Covid and people having to quarantine if they've been abroad, but yesterday it hit me a little! Never mind, a good walk will soon sort that out!

People out BBQing!

Another thing that struck me was that the picnickers were mostly (but not all) either Turks or North Africans, as I mentioned above. When we came back to Switzerland from the States in 1989 we had a beautiful 3-bedroomed apartment in the vineyards just over the road from Lake Geneva. As André was only two we would take him down to the lake to play and you would likewise always find the Spaniards and Portuguese down there picnicking too. Then someone pointed out that the Swiss would most likely own their own homes (and therefore have gardens), and many of these Spaniards/Portuguese would be migrant workers so they would be in apartments. Never thought of it like that. Either way, they always seemed to be having a lot of fun!

The château in Rolle (Switzerland) - the little town we where we used to live.
(picture by 123RF)

I remember being down on the lake one time and two Spanish families had loaded up a huge table with all their food and drinks when the table started to keel over. It kinda happened in slow motion and my husband burst out laughing (it was funny) but I yelled "run" so we dashed over there and managed to help them hold the table up while the women rescued the food and booze. So they invited us to have a drink with them too! They were happy days!

While our apartment was beautiful and in a lovely spot, at the time, in 1989, we were paying SF 2,300 per month in rent ($2,300) and I knew that was ridiculous. So I pushed and pushed for us to move into France where that kind of money would easily cover a mortgage. I didn't really want to move into France as I loved where I lived but I knew moving was a no-brainer. That being said, I wouldn't move back to Switzerland now so we made the right decision in the end. And it seems André is coming to the same conclusion also, from what I was told today. He keeps saying to his friends "I can't believe it only costs ...... in France whereas in Switzerland it costs ....."! Finally, he's realizing that while Geneva is lovely, the prices? Nah, not so much!

Since I was only 15 minutes from Jordan and Jen's place I stopped by to see them. André had gone into Geneva to see friends so they were having a lazy afternoon to themselves. I mentioned to Jordan again that my heating system was still leaking and he'd better remind Max that I'm still waiting for him to fix it before I post something on Facebook (I wouldn't of course but I did tell him to tell Max that I would soon be French and then the real yelling would start). I mentioned to Jen that I had been cutting back branches on my damson bush and she said she could murder a damson tart right now, so I think I'll make one for her and take it over during the week. It'll be nice to do some baking again!

Then last evening I was invited over to my friend's for an apéro since her cousin was over. We had a great laugh telling stories of our various escapades, the cousin having lived in Colombia for a while, her sister having lived in Spain (and the US for the most part) and my friend and I telling our stories about living in France and Switzerland - you know all the stories of how you can screw up when it isn't your language. I may have had just a little too much to drink but ha, what the heck, the stories get better after a few glasses don't they!

I went to bed "early" by my standards last night but as I was reading around 11 p.m. I heard a "bang, bang, bang" that seemed to go on for ages. I thought it was weird to be lighting fireworks at that time, but then I realized it was probably down in the woods behind the church and they were most likely hunters (better that than serial killers, I guess). That would be where I saw my one-and-only deer one time and where the wild boar were coming from when they hit my car last year. Still, I wouldn't like to be out in the woods at night knowing they're down there hunting!

Anyway, this morning Jordan sent me a message to say that Max would stop over sometime today to take a look at my heating system, so I decided it would be better not to go out walking today. I did pop down to the recycling centre/tip though as I had quite a bit of stuff to get rid of - apparently so did half the town, it turns out. People were lined up waiting to get in and when I finally pulled in I noticed a woman had parked her car across two spots right in front of the "green" bins for the grass/hedge cuttings. Another ignorant driver. By doing that she was taking up two spots and yet people were lining up to get in! So I pulled up on one side of her and another woman pulled up on the other and I thought "I wonder if she'll get it when she has to wait to get out?" but she was still there after I left. Again, another ignorant, entitled sod!

She was in the dark car at the centre, although by this time we had "liberated"
more space around her!

I had to laugh though when I was pulling in - apparently someone was throwing away a horse!

Anyway, Max called me and said he'd come by at 3 o'clock and did indeed show up bang on time. As he walked in he said "see, I'm right on time", so I just said "no, you're three months late" and he laughed. Jordan had been able to tighten one part of the leaking mechanism up but Max confirmed that he would need to order a new part but it was okay as "it was still under the one year guarantee". You're damn right it is buddy! We sat and chatted afterwards and I have to say he's been a great friend to my kids over the years. It was him that offered André a place to stay for as long as he wanted when he and Lily split up. They're all in the same band (he's the bass player, as well as being Jordan's boss) and have been mates for nearly 20 years, so I suspect I'll be seeing a lot more of him in the years to come.

And finally, someone posted the other day (sorry, can't remember who) about making "pot holders" for a family member. And of course that triggered a memory of when I was living in the States. Aunt Kris used to crochet beautiful blankets for all the new babies and one time crocheted me some "pot holders" for Christmas. I was a bit stumped as they looked pretty weird to me, but I didn't want to offend her so I went over to a small plant and put it inside the pot holder. Everyone burst out laughing and she said "you don't know what pot holders are do you"? and I said "I guess not". Turns out they were for getting hot pans out of the oven. Now if she'd have just said "oven gloves" we'd have been on the same wavelength! Divided by a common language, more like!