A day at the dodgems!

I got a phone call on Friday from my roofing guys asking if they could come and start work on my roof insulation on Monday (yesterday). This work was planned for October but since I'm home anyway I said yes. So they showed up at the crack of dawn yesterday morning and started clonking about on my roof like cast members of Riverdance. They are very polite and efficient but the noise was driving me slightly nuts so I tried to spend as much time in my garden as possible to get away from it!

Riverdance

They laid out the plastic protection sheeting first, which was a bit funny actually since the world is trying to do away with single-use plastics and McDonalds are getting hammered for their straws and yet these guys (of necessity) basically gift-wrap the whole house! To be fair, my neighbour took the unspoiled sheeting off them last time but still! They hadn't long got to work removing tiles when would you believe it - the heavens opened. The forecast was a bit iffy anyway, but as soon as it started to pour the boss gave orders to get all the tiles put back and told me that sadly they were done for the day as they couldn't do any more in the rain!

I wasn't too bothered actually as they told me they would be back later in the week so around 2 o'clock I thought I it might be nice to take a siesta as I was feeling a bit tired. But wouldn't you know it, the sun came back out and just as I was thinking about crawling into bed there was a knock at my door, a mad rush to put my bra back on and they "hoped I didn't mind but could they start up again this afternoon"? Now I don't know if I was imagining it but I'm pretty sure I smelled dope on the boss guy but what could I say, so off they went and the three gofers managed to remove all my very poor insulation in about an hour and that was it. Tiles back on and they would see me again on Wednesday (and Thursday and maybe Friday) to get the insulation laid! I feel like I've had so much work done in the house this past year that I'll be glad to see the back of workmen for a while, but it's all for the greater good really isn't it, and I have to say that all the work done for me this year has been done well (somewhat to my surprise I realize)!

My sister called me earlier today for a chat and when I asked about my brother she said they had just cancelled Sky (cable TV) as it was costing him £60 a month and he was hardly watching it. I remember cancelling Sky about 10 years ago for the same reason, and of course they then bend over backwards to offer you a deal but nah, I'm just not into TV that much and my Freesat does me just fine! My friend was annoyed when he realized he couldn't watch the cricket anymore but then there's always the Mr. Pickwick pub in Geneva if he's desperate. Actually, believe it or not, my brother used to listen to cricket on the radio if he couldn't get it on the TV!!!!! I know!!!!! It's boring enough watching it but can you imagine listening to it. That being said, the late commentator, Brian Johnston, was an absolute gem in the commentary box, as well as being an inveterate giggler. His absolute classic had to be his commentary when West Indian legend, Michael Holding, was facing England batsman, Peter Willey and "Johnners" came out with "the batsman's Holding, the bowler's Willey" followed by barely stifled giggling when he realized what he'd said! Anyway my sister was telling me she had now gotten a Firestick 4 and a subscription to Vlod (sounds like a Russian weightlifter doesn't it), and with all that my brother can now get 100s of channels for about one-tenth of the price - (I guess it just depends how many channels he wants to sleep his way through really)!

Although it was hot I got quite a bit done today. I did a load of washing, including my summer duvet which I will now put away for a few months as I'll be sleeping with just a sheet while the heat ramps up. One of the joys of having my balcony is that I can put drying racks out there and hang the big stuff, like my duvet, directly over the balcony to dry and it's usually all done and dusted in a day. Okay it might look a bit like a gypsy encampment for the duration but technically nobody should be able to see it since my house backs onto the farm and the only people that might see it would be my neighbours walking through my garden to get to each other's houses. I have also learned to peg the stuff in place as it can get quite windy and I have found my knickers in the back garden on more than one occasion. So pegs it is - or at the very least buy some really kinky underwear and get the neighbours talking!

I'm also doing quite well in my "do something round the house for one hour a day" plan, which is similar to what Fly Lady advocates on her website, although she drove me batty with her emails. It's actually quite satisfying to set my phone timer to one hour and see how much gets done - quite a lot as it turns out. While I was working on my veggie plot my gardener showed up on his riding lawnmower and started work. Then the neighbour's partner started doing the same on her land, and my other neighbour pitched in with his lawnmower. Apparently they've forecast rain for tomorrow so I guess everyone was trying to get it done beforehand. At one point they were all mowing at the point where our gardens meet and it felt slightly like a stand-off at the OK Corral, although to be honest, it looked more like a day at the dodgems to me!

Rock on my son!

I had lunch with my son today and it felt so good. He moved in with his brother and his wife on Saturday. I'm not sure how long he will stay there but I think it's good for him to be able to talk with people who understand but he can always move in with me any time he wants anyway. But it really was lovely. We walked down to a local restaurant where apparently he has been going every lunchtime and buying his lunch "to go" for €10 a pop. I think he's already seeing the difference between France and Switzerland as at a minimum he would be spending SF 17 per day just for lunch. Anyway, it was nice. I have always been very open about my finances, how much I make, what my bills are and so on, so we were going through him buying something in France and how much it would cost him. While he says he loves living in Geneva the prices are ridiculous and he knows he would be better off in France. The only thing I told him is he has to get a handle on his finances. It's more than doable - hell he makes so much more than I do and I'm still saving money. I find it hard to believe also that he has never gotten round to internet banking - damn, they say we're old foggies! So I told him I can help him set all that up but that I think it would do him good to live on his own for a while, pay his own bills and then take it from there. He told me he doesn't think he will ever get married again, doesn't know if he wants kids - and that makes me sad. The good part is that he has his brother and his wife bolstering him up and Max and his other mates really revving the engine! I told him that his mates are really in France so if he bought in France he can still do the drive if he wants to stay in the city after work.

He sent Lily an email saying that he wanted to go directly for a divorce, that he was not prepared to remain her husband while she was messing around so let's go for it. And bingo, he got an email back saying that he had shaken her up, she wasn't prepared for that and so on. She's a good kid and I think they are well suited but in the end, if she wants to start messing around, good on him for saying "nope, I ain't going for that"¨

Anyway, I went through all my finances and what he could expect to pay in bills and it is more than doable. While we were chatting away the lady owner of the restaurant just looked at him and said "I thought you were French". And he laughed and said "nope, I'm anglo-american" and she just looked at him with a stunned look and said she couldn't believe how perfect his French was. Well yeah, he's grown up here! So there you have it. I told him to move in with me if and when, save money and we'd get it all started for him to have his own place. I left feeling that he was quite motivated. As we were walking out of Jordan's place Jordan showed up as he had finished work for the day, so it was lovely to have both my kids there at once. Just wish it could have been under better circumstances!

What can you say about Uncle Johnny?

That he was kind, thoughtful, funny and would give you the shirt off his back? Nah, I can't say any of that because in actual fact I never met Uncle Johnny. You see, "Uncle Johnny" was Johnny (Goldfinger) Palmer, once described as Britain's richest criminal and thought to be worth £300 million. He was acquitted of handling stolen gold bullion from the Brinks-Mat raid in 1983 but it was on this day five years ago that he was shot and killed in the garden of his home in what looked like a very professional killing. And yep, he really was an uncle on my dad's side, although I never met him!

Johnny (Goldfinger) Palmer

My dad, Uncle A and John Palmer were sons of three sisters (there were loads of other kids too of course). As I say, I was just a little kid and never met him, although I believe my older brother did meet him a few times. In any case, he and my Uncle A are dead ringers for each other. I never knew an awful lot about the Brinks-Mat robbery but I was told that Uncle Johnny subsequently moved into the time-share business in Spain, where people were often strong-armed into buying time-shares that I'm not sure even existed. Mom told me that "all of a sudden" Uncle A started taking short trips to Spain and seemed to have an awful lot of money to throw around when he came back. Now this was in the 1970s and no-one went to Spain for a long weekend - well no-one, that is, except for Uncle A. Dad reckoned he was carrying cash over to John Palmer, although he never had any proof of that. It just didn't make sense to him, since Uncle A had a fish stall in Birmingham's Bull Ring market and even if they made good money there was no way he was all of a sudden making the kind of money he was throwing around. Dad reckoned the stress of whatever shinanigans he got up to eventually killed him because one day, at the age of just 54, Uncle A left his stall to go get a newspaper, had a massive heart attack and died on the spot! Whenever I would give my older brother some lip he would say "watch out, or I'll tell Uncle Johnny!" and that was enough to make me shut up. Yeah, as if! My dad barely knew him, he just knew they were distant relatives on their mothers' side, so my brother was truly a rotten sod scaring a little girl half out of her wits with threats of "Uncle Johnny". So there you have it, my one and only claim to dubious fame!

I do remember being a really little girl - hadn't started school yet, so maybe three years old - and my mom left me with Aunt S, Uncle A's wife, so that she could go grocery shopping in peace. Anyway I remember asking Aunt S if I could just pop over the road to see if my mom was back and she said yes. Well mom wasn't back so I decided to walk to the shops (about two miles away I would guess) to see where she was. All I remember is balling my eyes out in the middle of the shopping precinct and my mom coming over wondering how in the hell I had got there! It didn't mean anything to me of course but I reckon there must have been a few frosty exchanges with my Aunt S when we got back!

In other news, I didn't make it out to Excenevex today because, as I thought, I was just too slow off the mark this morning, but at least it gives me an idea of somewhere to go sometime before the schools are out to enjoy the lake for a while. I did get my grocery shopping done (but boy am I spending a lot at the moment). I also went to the Chinese store as I needed some black bean/garlic sauce - and man do I love going to that store. I just love the smell of it. It's like having a souk right on my doorstep with the wonderful smells of all those spices. Now these people are very good businessmen and sell not only Asian goods but also African and Middle Eastern spices - well basically if you ask for it they'll find it and sell it to you. I also like that if you are buying heavy stuff they will always have a young man carry it out to your car for you. It's like that with the Turkish stall holders I often go to also. When we were five living at home I used to buy a lot of fresh produce and they would always have one of the young boys carry my stuff to my car for me. And for me, that kind of service goes a long way, I can tell you!

I also managed to make a dentist and gynae appointment for the month of July. When I was booking the gynae appointment the receptionist said I was to "come alone and wear a mask" - which kinda got my warped sense of humour going because surely that's not the bit he'll be sticking his nose in - but I managed to keep myself from saying that as not everyone gets my sense of humour!

Anyway it's hot here and I'm wilting. I know I'm going to be miserable for the next couple of months - in fact it's only going to get worse as summer is only just starting! I just love that point in September when you can actually feel the heat break and know that things will get cooler from here on in. I pity the poor folks that have to work outside in this weather but I guess they manage or they're used to it. I know one thing though, I'll never be a hot weather person!

The farmer turning hay in the part of his field at the back of my house!

Success!

I had so many plans for today - I was going to go on another walk (once my muscles "defrosted"), then come home and spend some time clearing more stuff out the basement (why do I sense I'm going to get my son's stuff dumped on me soon?) and then do some batch cooking to get ahead for the next couple of days. In the end what did I do? Bugger all! By the time I'd got my backside into gear it was already starting to warm up and I just couldn't face doing much more than sitting in the back garden reading. There's no law against it but I do get annoyed at myself sometimes! As I say, the temperatures are starting to pick up now and we've already hit 32°C (90°F) this week so I'm not looking forward to the start of the hot season which will soon be on us. I did get Jordan to carry my mobile AC unit up to my bedroom the other week so I'll probably be starting to use that soon, although I like to hold off as long as I can. And then of course I could always do a few "lengths" of my paddling pool (ha!) trying desperately to look like a naiad but in truth looking like Moby Dick proving Archimedes' water displacement theory. Not to worry though, that's one of the advantages of living alone isn't it!

I have the AGM of our local community association tomorrow night where I will be attending in my capacity as President of the Sewing Club (I know, the responsibilities!!!!). I've already sent in our accounts and a list of members but if I'm correct tomorrow will be when they hand out the different subsidies to each club so I need to be there for that. They're very generous actually because the commune of Amancy give us the room for free (and I don't even live in that commune) and also give us a small amount of money to spend for the benefit of the club. Last year I bought two second-hand sewing machines but we've still got plenty left in the bank. We each pay our teacher, Patricia, an annual amount of €100 for her services so I'm thinking I might use the money from the commune to subsidize that amount this year in view of having to shut up shop during lockdown. Either way, we're on to a very good thing. I got an email the other day from the association that organizes the Italian lessons too in which they sent out a form saying that they would reimburse anyone who requested it on a pro rata basis, but also giving people the option to forego reimbursement in order to help the association. Since the MJC is a community-led association I decided to just give up the money, although in reality our teacher had already been off sick a month before covid shut the lessons down entirely. Still, if it means that they were able to keep staff on their payroll it's a small price to pay and I don't actually need the money!

I probably won't get to go out walking tomorrow since I plan to go grocery shopping instead to get that out of the way. I looked on the web and saw that on Wednesdays they have an open-air market in a lovely little town called Excenevex, which is right on Lake Geneva, so I might try to shoot out there tomorrow and have a wander. It will probably take me about 40 minutes to get there, but it is a lovely spot with a nice little beach right on the lake so will make nice ride out - if I can get myself moving! 

Excenevex beach

As I was pottering in my garden my neighbour wandered over and I was asking her how she enjoyed Father's Day and seeing her grandchildren that live in Switzerland. She said they'd had a lovely day together and was over the moon to see her grandsons, although she still worried about the older grandson as he has Downs Syndrome and is more fragile health-wise. She also said that they are saying in the French news to expect a new covid spike in September and that people should prepare accordingly. I figured it would happen anyway as the country, of necessity, has to open back up, but here's hoping it's not as bad as this first round!

Anyway while we were chatting I starting digging around in my potato patch. Remember, the potatoes that I planted on top of the sheet of cardboard? No digging, no lugging soil around, just plonk down the cardboard, throw on some sprouted potatoes from the garage and dump grass clippings on top. Well guess what, it looks like it has worked! Talk about the lazy woman's guide to potato growing. I only poked around at the one plant as I didn't want to disturb it too much but I picked six decent sized potatoes and just covered the diddy ones back up. Honestly, I had no idea what I was doing, how often I should mound up the clippings or anything, but they are definitely growing! Yay me! They've worked out better than the cucumber plants (they were savaged by slugs). The curly kale has done well. The tomato plants are coming along fine and also the courgette (zucchini) so I'm quite pleased considering the amount of studied neglect I have subjected my garden to for the most part!

I've got tomato plants by my living room window,
but the rest of the stuff I just plonked at the top of the garden!

In reference to my son's situation somebody commented yesterday that I did well not to wrap my kids up in cotton wool. I was thinking about that and realized that I probably would have done if I could have, but either way I guess I was more relaxed than some. I've always been pretty easy-going and thankfully my kids seem to have taken after me and are not highly-strung like their dad. While I was talking to André up in the mountains yesterday I commented something about Lily not having had the easiest of childhoods - but then neither did he, what with the screaming, shouting and physical violence (directed at me, not them). And he said something that really touched my heart. He said that he actually had a great childhood and sure we had our issues but then what family doesn't - and I wanted to cry as I've long felt so guilty for "failing them" when they were little. I guess it's just as well my phone battery conked out when it did!

But it got me to thinking about "coddling" your kids and brought to mind a woman I worked with when I was just 16. From age 16 onwards I had a Saturday/holiday job working at WH Smith (the big bookshop/record store/stationers). Initially I worked on the shop floor/cash registers and hated it. I remember when the kids were buying their back-to-school supplies we had to ring up all the different pencils according to their individual codes and it was really tedious. I also remember the actor, Robert Morely, coming in one time and walking straight to the front of the queue, so I asked him to go to the back of the queue as people had been waiting. He looked at me and said "do you know who I am?" and I said that no I didn't but these people had been waiting and I felt it was right that they got served first! (Mouthy little sod wasn't I). Well my heart was thumping but I thought I'll be buggered if I'll let that sod jump the queue. As he was paying, another customer leaned over and congratulated me for speaking up - and I went bright red in the face as a result. I never liked Robert Morely anyway. As far as I was concerned he was another Hugh Grant - an actor with just one act, although at least Hugh Grant was better looking!

Robert Morely

Anyway, someone in the queue must have spotted my name badge on my lapel and a bit later in the afternoon the switchboard paged me to answer the phone. My heart was pounding because my dad had had several heart attacks already and I just assumed it was bad news. But no, I picked up the phone and some twisted bastard called me by name and told me exactly what he would like to do to me!!! He also told me that he would be waiting for me outside the shop when we closed!!! I just burst into tears, walked off the shop floor and explained to the manager what had happened. I was only 16 and terrified that this jerk would indeed wait for me when we closed so the manager walked me to a back door and off the premises that evening! Perverted bastard!

All that was by the way, of course, because I always seem to go off on a tangent don't I. Eventually after a few years at WH Smith I graduated to working in the cash office, tallying up the cash registers (which were rarely accurate) and working with the ladies who suspected some light-fingered work going on, in particular in the record shop. Anyway, two sisters worked in the cash office - Kath and Mary. Both were very nice and Kath had a son my age - Howard - and I couldn't believe some of the stories she told me about "Howie"! Howie had various Saturday jobs but mommy always told him "don't you let them put upon you Howie, you just walk out if they do", so Howie was always walking out of jobs where, apparently, they didn't appreciate mommy's little treasure! Mary, the older sister, used to look at me and roll her eyes. Daddy used to drive in to whichever job Howie had walked out of that week and pick him up to drive him home. Now this is in city centre Birmingham, the UK's second city after London, with excellent public transport, but nope, daddy always had to drive in and pick precious up! Even I was stunned. When I handed in my notice because I had got my job in Geneva Mary pulled me aside and said she couldn't believe I was starting work in Switzerland and Howie had just walked off his umpteenth job because yet again they didn't appreciate him! So yesterday's comment made me think - I wonder whatever became of Howie? Not much I expect!

Ouch!

While I was over at Jordan's yesterday I told him that I was going to start looking at bathroom fixtures as my plan is to get started on refurbishing both bathrooms as they desperately need redoing. I had asked Jordan if he was interested in doing the fitting in his spare time and he said yes. I was fine if he didn't want to but would obviously prefer to give him the money than pay someone else. So we got to talking about what kinds of fixtures I should be looking at and I was saying I wanted "suspended" toilets with eco water consumption possibilities since my current toilets are very old and very heavy on water usage. I'll always remember my friend, Ian, who moved to Bulgaria in 2010. He was sick to death of England and chasing after the almighty £££ in order to consume more and more, thereby trapping yourself on the eternal money-chasing treadmill. Anyway one thing Ian said that stuck with me was that it just appalled him that we in affluent western countries actually use clean water to flush our toilets - simply because we can afford to do so. Ian was in construction in England so I guess he knew a thing or two about "wastage", but it's odd that that sentiment always stuck with me. So why am I talking about toilets? Well at this point Jordan piped up and said that his boss, Max, (who is also the bass guitarist in their band and a friend of both my sons) had actually installed a urinal in his home!!! And that urinal used only one litre per flush, as compared to 5-6 litres for modern toilets, and between nine and eleven litres for my old bog! Fascinating stuff isn't it, although I don't see much of a future for a urinal in my home, to be honest. Max bought a run down old farm on a fair bit of land and started doing it up over the last few years. Jordan helped him at weekends and learned a lot in the mix. Another thing Max did is have his home set up so that the ground floor could be used as a completely independent living area if the time ever came that he couldn't get up the stairs. Now he's only 31 so hopefully that's not even a consideration but he was also smart enough to install doors that were wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair, as he wants this home to be his forever home. Now the point of all this is that Max has recently become rather smitten with a young woman who is tetraplegic as a result of a car crash involving a wild boar (!!!!) and things look like they might be getting more serious! He said she is gorgeous, very funny and fiercely independent and while it's early days yet who knows where that relationship might end up. But isn't it amazing what a forward-thinking young man he turned out to be!

So jumping from the rooster to the donkey again, today I had my Monday morning yoga class but was a bit apprehensive because I didn't fancy doing it outside in the scorching heat. While I was in the shower getting ready I heard a clunking sound and thought "oh my god, someone's on the roof" (my shower is under the roof and I'd been tootling back and forward naked while getting my clothes together to go to yoga)! Turns out the chimney sweep had come to work on my neighbour's chimney. Hopefully he shouldn't have been able to see into my house, but I guess it wouldn't be the first time they've got an eyeful would it. A bit like the window cleaners when I lived in England. They just showed up, climbed up their ladders and off they went, so you'd better hope you weren't stark naked when they started on your bedroom window! Yoga turned out just perfect though. It was already pretty hot but we were able to practice in her garden in the shade of a massive cedar tree and apart from one lady getting shat upon by a bird in said tree, it was actually lovely!

After yoga I thought it would be nice to go out walking but didn't want to go on my usual walk down to Thyez as I wanted something a bit more challenging (but not that challenging)! So I set off in the direction of the Lac de Roy, which is a small lake in the mountains up above a ski resort called Praz de Lys. I'd heard it was only about an hour's walk and not very difficult so I thought I'd have time to fit it in after lunch. Only problem was I'd forgotten to pack anything to eat so I decided to treat myself to lunch in a small town about half way there - which was a real treat as I don't do it very often nowadays! 

Lunch at the Col de Chatillon

I guess I set off up to the lake at around 1.30 p.m. and it wasn't too bad a walk, although every damn time I end up feeling like my lungs are on fire within about 10 minutes! Once I get into my stride it's fine, but those first 10 minutes are pretty miserable. Before I left I fished out an old sun hat that had a flap to protect my neck so I reckon I must have looked a bit like Beau Geste by the time I finally made it to the top!

Gary Cooper in Beau Geste

Lac de Roy

The air up here was cooler with that still quality you get in the mountains and the dunk dunk of the cowbells. I had just gotten to the end of the lake and the cows were coming over to pose for a photo when all of a sudden I got a video call from André who wanted to run something by me. Last night he received another email from Lily. It was a bit "rambling" to my mind, but then I guess they have different styles of expressing themselves. French is a bit "flowery" and they can go round and round before they actually say what they mean, whereas English is direct and to the point - which is why it's the world's number one language for business. Anyway Lily's email just served to confirm to me that there really are no "issues" as such in the marriage, more a feeling of restlessness on her part, as she was talking about "being tired of thinking about everyone else and wanting to put herself first for a change". What can I say, I guess we all get restless too sometimes, but as André said, he just wished he didn't have to pay the price for her restlessness. There was one passive-aggressive dig at him so he wanted to run his reply by me before sending it as he knows I will always tone it down. Actually, what he replied was excellent. He's naturally very diplomatic anyway but direct and to the point. His intention would never be to hurt her but like me he's straight-talking. So the long and short of it is that he wrote back saying that he was hurt by the fact that she encouraged Pete, the photographer, after he told her he had feelings for her at the end of May (yes, it's that recent). Pete will never be a friend of his again and he was not prepared to give her the summer to "figure out her true feelings", but wanted to just go ahead and file for divorce since he didn't know if he could ever trust her again! So there you have it. He's going to move his stuff out of their place during his July vacation and push forward with the divorce. I admire him actually and told him that if he sat around moping like a sad-eyed puppy she would have no respect for him, but pushing ahead and kinda saying "don't let the door hit ya in the ass on the way out" might be the wake-up call she needs. Maybe she will realize what she has to lose - or maybe she won't! Sometimes that's when they come running back but he isn't counting on it and I think now genuinely not looking for that either. Still, it's sad, but what can I say. So as I was saying, I was just about to take the perfect picture all up close and personal with the cows and the bloody battery on my phone died as a result of talking to André. I must have looked like one of those yuppies - you know, the kind who can't even put their phones away at the top of a mountain pass, but just this once I'll take the hit. Either way I'm going to drive over and take André to lunch on Friday but I'm already reassured that he's coming out fighting and looking better than I expected. Add to that that I got in over 13,000 steps today and feel like I could crack walnuts with my bum cheeks, all in all I would say it was a day well spent!

Mad dogs and English (wo)men ...

… go out in the mid-day sun! But at least this time I remembered to put more sunscreen on. I went over to my youngest son's place today as my oldest moved in with him and his wife last night. I hadn't wanted to write about it before, and to be honest I'm not going to go into too much detail here, but my oldest was blind-sided by his wife about five weeks ago when she said she was thinking about asking for a divorce! They've been together almost 15 years and married for three, and as far as he knew were very happy together, so to say it hit him like a 2 x 4 round the head is probably an understatement. She has her "issues" or "complaints" which she spelt out to him in a letter, but to be honest they seem to me to be "issues" that can be dealt with by talking - not by separating!!! I just listened as he told me everything that she said and tried to be as supportive as possible. His wife then left for the week to move in with her friend and at the end of that week my son moved into an airbnb and has been there for the last five weeks. He has many places he could have stayed here in France of course but the bloody borders have been closed and when he went to ask at the border they told him he wouldn't be allowed to cross into France (he lives in Switzerland) because his life was not in danger! So he's been in what turned out to be a very nice airbnb until yesterday. His friend offered him a place to stay, as did Jordan and Jen (and of course he can stay here as long as he wants), so he took Jordan and Jen up on their offer and moved in last night since the borders opened up on Monday. 

I went over there today to see him (first time since Christmas) and I have to admit he looked better than I thought he would (although a shower and a shave wouldn't have hurt at that point). They stayed up 'til 3 a.m. chatting so he had a bit of a hangover too, but I reckon he got a lot out of his system just by being there and talking with them. The good thing, as far as I'm concerned, is that he's now getting angry and ready to stand up for himself. Lily wants a trial three-month separation before they make a decision, during which "we can consider ourselves to be exes". He's now made up his mind that the wedding photographer (Pete) is a definite no-no from now on as Lily made the mistake of admitting she had feelings for him (although he's in the UK and I don't think anything has happened between them). He also told her that as long as they are still married there is no question of "considering themselves exes" so if she wants the freedom to mess around they'd better go for the divorce up front! They spoke last night and she still wants to go with the separation until September, but now he's more of the mind that even if she decides she wants to continue with the marriage he's not sure he can trust her again and is not willing to go through this a second time! So there you have it - the drama that smacked my family upside the head so unexpectedly!

He seems good though and although initially he was saying he doesn't want to move back into France, when I mentioned to him how lovely Jordan's balcony was he said "yeah, I'd forgotten just how beautiful it is round here". So if they do end up splitting, moving back to France might be more appealing to him now than it was, all the more so since he could afford to buy something in France rather than rent. Then of course we've got bloody Brexit to contend with but as long as he moves before 31 December he's guaranteed the right to stay (and to be honest, it shouldn't be a problem anyway). I told him wherever he stays, to put my address as his home for the time being as they already know him at the Mairie here since he lived the first 21 years of his life in this village, and I can give him an attestation to say that he's living with me for free. Anyway, we're not there yet but there's an awful lot for him to think about, both on an emotional and a practical level!

Leni the horrible cat on Jordan's balcony today

On Thursday I went into Geneva to have dinner with my friend, my first time crossing the border and my first time in a restaurant since God knows when. The weather has been crap for about 10 days now and around 3 p.m. we had the most almighty hail storm I thought the windows might crack. So knowing that the road conditions would probably be horrendous I set off nearly three hours early to get to Geneva and decided to just spend the time waiting sitting on the lake front reading … and it was just lovely! The rain had stopped by that time and there were a couple of families just sitting on the lake front with the kids splashing around - and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it! One thing I did notice though is that Versoix (where the restaurant was) is a pretty nice little town in Geneva's suburbs, except for the fact that it is right under the flight path for the airport and is therefore really noisy. Except for Thursday that is, because with air traffic hardly showing an uptick as yet, in the 90 minutes I sat there reading I only counted four planes going over. What a respite that must be to the locals!

My home is in the mountains off to the right

Looking towards the Jura mountains on 

the north side of the lake

I had a lovely evening with my friend, who caught me up on all that was going on at work and while he has a big meeting coming up in July and is very stressed (oh I remember those meetings), I invited him to come over to my place once things calm down so we can spend more time together and he said he would like that. 

In other news, I was watching another episode of The Sopranos the other night and it centred around a "war" being waged between the Italian mafia (The Sopranos) and native Americans who wanted the statue of Christopher Columbus removed because of what it represented. So 20 years later things haven't changed that much have they - or maybe The Sopranos writers were more attuned to human behaviour than we care to think.

I've also been attempting to cook more vegetarian meals lately as I'm still leaning more and more towards heading that way. Well vegan is also a possibility actually since I've found for a long time that dairy irritates me and I end up coughing and trying to clear my throat if I have too much of it. Vegan might be a bridge too far at the moment though but I don't think I would have much difficulty going vegetarian. I'm finding more and more that meat just doesn't do it for me and I love vegetarian food anyway. What's more I started watching the vegan-produced documentary Dominion the other night and I could only stomach the first 20 minutes of it (so far). I've watched these kinds of programmes before and managed to get through them but this is the first one that has turned my stomach to this extent. Narrated by Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix (amongst others) it is very well done, and I have to say pretty upsetting. So with that in mind I made what turned out to be a rather good chili tofu noodle dish the other night, and vegetarian or not, I'll definitely make that again!

I guess it's no surprise to anyone except Trump that the Tulsa rally turned out to be not quite the roaring success that he bragged it up to be. I for one am at least glad that many people seem to have done the sensible thing and stayed away, so maybe the message that "there's a pandemic going on" did get through to some! I'm just curious to see how Trump will exact his "revenge" on whoever for the latest narcissistic injury, since narcs can never let any perceived slight go unpunished!

And finally, I read in the news that Bojo is having a plane repainted to look more "official" at a cost of £900,000 and many people are outraged as that money could be much better spent. So the following meme tickled me -  made me laugh out loud actually - although I'm thinking maybe only the Brits and the Aussies might get it!

Think I'm in the doghouse!

So the Swiss/French border (and as far as I know the French/Italian border) opened up yesterday and it feels like such a relief. Not that I crossed the border first day or anything but just knowing that I can is a great feeling. I have a few doctors' checkups that are now overdue so it will give me a chance to catch up on them. I lived in Switzerland for a total of six years so I've tended to keep my specialist doctors in Geneva, even though it's more expensive than in France. Trouble with France though is you can wait six months for an appointment, hence the decision to just stay with Switzerland. On Thursday night I'm going into Geneva for dinner with an old colleague, so now I'm all excited to be (a) crossing the border, (b) going out to dinner like a real grown-up, and (c) with a man!!! I know. It'll feel like Christmas and my birthday all rolled into one. Well actually just being able to speak face-to-face with another adult will already feel pretty good, to be honest!

I was reading the local Swiss news this morning and see that there are already articles in the paper about Geneva residents crossing into France to do their grocery shopping. Of course there are always the snide comments about "they come over here and take our jobs" and the reverse comments about "so you don't want us coming over there 'taking your jobs' but it didn't take you too long to come over here and do your grocery shopping did it!", but for the most part I understand it. The Swiss franc and the euro are not quite at parity (but for the sake of argument let's say they are, and the Swiss franc is pretty much 1:1 with the dollar), but one guy was saying that even shopping at ALDI or LIDL in Geneva he would spend SF 250 for a shopping cart full and here in France he would get a fuller cart for €150! So you can see why they would do it can't you! The bigger shock for me, though, was when one lady said that rump steak in France is €25/kilo and in Switzerland SF 72/kilo!!!! Wow! I've always known Switzerland was expensive and indeed spent a fortune grocery shopping for the three of us when we lived there, but I guess I'd forgotten quite how expensive it is!

In other news, I've been following the story about 22 year old Marcus Rashford, the Manchester United and England football player, who wrote a very eloquent letter to Members of Parliament imploring them not to stop the free school meals programme for poorer children when the official school summer holidays begin. Apparently he has been working behind the scenes for quite some time helping to raise £20 million to support food banks and help fight child poverty. The government had been continuing free school meals to eligible children during lockdown but had announced the end of the scheme for the summer holidays. Marcus took it upon himself to write an open letter to MPs imploring them to maintain this programme. As the child of a single mother who worked full-time but only earned minimum wage he stated that the free school meal was sometimes the only meal he had some days growing up as a poor kid in Manchester. And guess what, the government have backed down and will be continuing the free meals programme throughout the summer. Well done Marcus!

Marcus Rashford

On Saturday we had our latest board game evening at my place. We discussed beforehand whether we wanted to meet in person or via Zoom again and we voted unanimously for "in person" as there are no longer any restrictions in private homes. There was no "social distancing" as such because you just can't do it when you're all seated around three tables but we were all comfortable with the set up. Initially we were supposed to be 10 but then Adeline asked if she could bring her boyfriend so we ended up being eleven but that was fine. Yet again the food was lovely and I was really pleased with the way my spinach and ricotta-stuffed cannelloni came out. My photos aren't very good (I really should use my camera instead of my phone) but we had a lovely time with everyone leaving around 2 a.m.! I then stayed up till about 3 a.m. just tidying up and running a second dishwasher load, but yet again we had a great evening and the fact that the younger ones are asking to bring their friends means we must be doing something right!

Isabelle is a real giggler - and her husband, Philippe, just lost it!

Then tonight my friend called and we had a bit of a chat. I told him that we had been 11 at my place on Saturday night so he pretended to be all outraged and said "but what about me, why wasn't I invited?" I just told him I knew damn well he wouldn't come because he's an anti-social bugger, and that even if he had been here when everyone arrived he would probably have just gone upstairs to watch TV! To which he replied that that was nonsense (it isn't) but it was good to know he was one of my 11th-20th best friends and therefore outside my social circle of "10 best friends"! So yeah, somehow I think I might be in the doghouse again!