A great visit!

Well my family have been and gone! It was a great visit - they really are very easy visitors - and we got lucky with the weather, which was maybe just a little overcast on one occasion but otherwise bright and sunny! I must have been more tired than I thought though because since they left I've slept around 10 hours most nights - which is pretty much unheard of for me! Oh well, I guess the body knows!

We had a bit of drama the first day though, as I'd been up to the top bedroom and decided to put the small heater on for a while as the room was quite chilly. I'd wiped the heater down and then we sat having a cup of tea when all of a sudden the electricity shorted and there was a vague smell of smoke. So I ran upstairs and (I reckon) something inside the heater (dust?) must have created a spark and the curtain in front of the bedroom door was literally on fire. I yelled but couldn't get the curtain down so I stamped on the fire in my socks (great idea) and was just managing to put it out when my BIL ran up and beat out the final flames with his shoe. I didn't think quick enough to yell that there was a fire extinguisher in the living room, but then I think by the time I'd gotten him to understand where I meant, the whole place would have gone up in flames! I did use the extinguisher as a final precaution and took a brand new smoke detector up to that room just in case, but all was well after that. Add to that my bloody socks started to melt into my foot, but I ran downstairs and got my feet in a bowl of cold water pretty quickly so all in all I only ended up with one blister! Exciting times eh - and now I need to get the electrician in in the new year and think about how I want/need to redecorate that room! There's never a dull moment is there - but then it could have been so much worse!

On our first full day I took them to the hot springs in Chamonix where we spent around four hours outside lounging in the water and staring at the Mont Blanc. It was wonderful, but to be honest, four hours is about the limit for me - I don't understand how people can spend eight to ten hours there! When we got back to the car park I fished out cake and a flask of tea and started to pour it - when I realized I'd added the hot water but forgotten to put the tea bags in the flask!! What with trying to put my "top" on through the leg holes last week and now this, I do have doubts about my sanity sometimes! Later that evening my kids came over for dinner and sis and BIL got to meet the grands. I knew my sister would be dotty over the kids (she always has been) and we got some really nice pictures of them with both kids as a souvenir!

The next day I thought they'd like the farmers' market in Bonneville - which they did, even though it wasn't nearly as big as usual as they were setting up the Christmas stalls. After that we headed up to Plaine Joux for lunch and while we couldn't get down to the Lac Vert as the road has now been turned into a ski slope, we did get to watch a few intrepid paragliders jump off into the valley!

My sister and brother-in-law
at Plaine Joux!

They posted this picture on FB, saying how
they were initially very scared to jump
but afterwards it was ok. I don't think
anyone fell for it though!

After that it was down to the lake at Passy for a leisurely stroll before heading up to Jordan and Jen's for dinner (I'd made lasagne and garlic bread and for once used a proper recipe - it turned out very well)!

The next day Charlie's school was singing in the Catholic church (he goes to a Catholic school) and the kids were very good, although it looked a bit like herding cats when they were trying to get them all ready. After that it was back to the school where they were handing out mulled wine or hot chocolate before we sat down to diots (a local sausage) slow cooked with tons of potatoes and followed by sweet crepes for dessert. It was really well done and I can only commend the teachers for their dedication (although I reckon their hearing must take a battering on a regular basis)!

On their last day we decided to try our luck by going to Annecy to see the Christmas market but, as I suspected, the place was just heaving and parking places were like gold dust. Mind you, I think the next time I might try heading in the opposite direction as there seemed to be parking places nearer the casino, even if it meant walking! Since my BIL, in particular, loves La Clusaz I decided to take a back road up there from Annecy, passing by the Château de Menthon St. Bernard on the way. This was the place we tried to go to last year to visit their Christmas market but again were stymied by everyone else (and his uncle) having the same idea!

Château de Menthon St. Bernard!

Because it had already snowed (it doesn't always) La Clusaz was opened up for the skiers, but the main parking will be free of charge until next week, so again we lucked out getting to see the mountains covered in snow in the glorious weather! La Clusaz has always been one of my favourite ski resorts because the parents of my pre-marriage boyfriend had an apartment up there, and anytime it was free at the weekend we used to head up there all winter long. It was bliss!

La Clusaz!

The next day we were up at the crack of dawn to get them back to the airport in rush hour traffic, and while there were no accidents or unforeseen events, they were both horrified at the daily commute I had when I was still working! As I was driving though, I thought I felt something "weird" with the car. For any of you that drive a stick shift, it felt like dropping down from fourth gear to third too soon, and the engine starting to drag. They didn't feel it, but I noticed it about four times and was just praying that I could get them to the airport without breaking down. I did, but I decided to head straight to Ford on my way back and one hour and €180 later they discovered that the "particle filter" was blocked, so they dismantled it and cleaned it out. It could have been worse as I understand if they had to replace the part it would have been pretty expensive, not to mention I probably couldn't have gotten it fixed the same day!

In other news, when we were heading in to our last sewing club of the year, as I was about to unlock the main door four kids, about 16 years of age, were making their way out. When Chantal asked them what they were doing in the building as it was private they said they were "looking for a toilet". Then when we got up to the club room we found three more kids all set up around the tables having a fine old time. Chantal hit the roof and asked them what the hell they thought they were doing. They said they'd been to the library (which is in the same building) but she countered that she volunteers at the library and it was closed so they'd better think of another one pretty quick before she called the police on them for trespass! They shot out of there like grease lightning but I did send a message to the Mairie to let them know that someone must have left both the main door and the club room door unlocked (maybe the cleaner?) and to ask them to remind everyone to check before leaving!

My "other neighbours" (Mrs. Gossip and her husband) came back from Mexico a few days ago and had both contracted what appeared to be a bad case of covid, so I ended up doing a bit of shopping for them while they were holed up. Thankfully they seem to have improved and I've seen them walking their dog so I guess the worst symptoms are over by now!

My walking tally looks to be pretty pathetic this year as I'll only hit around 700 miles by year end, so I think my resolution has to be "aim for 1,000 - 1,500 miles" in 2025. I've seen a few beautiful places on the FB hiking groups I follow so I might give some thought to maybe going further afield for a few weekends when the weather permits to check out other regions! Well, that's the aim anyway!

And finally, the trial of Dominque Pelicot has come to an end, with that monster and around 47 other men having been sentenced. For those that haven't heard of the case, Dominique Pelicot had been drugging his wife of 50 years for the past decade and inviting other men to come to their home and rape her????? As she was drugged she knew nothing about it, except that she frequently visited the doctor for unexplained pain and infections, although apparently, thankfully, no more serious STDS!!!! He was only caught when an alert supermarket security guard spotted him upskirting a woman (taking pictures up her skirt) and when the police were called they confiscated both his phone and his computer - and that is when they discovered the videos of so many, many men raping an obviously unconscious woman! He had also, apparently taken indecent photos of both his oblivious daughter and daughter-in-law! His wife, Gisèle, waived her right to anonymity and asked for both the press and public to be allowed into the court room to witness the trial. Pelicot wept when he got 20 years (should have been life, in my opinion), so seemingly he wasn't so brave when he found out the consequences of his actions. About 47 other men quite rightly got varying sentences too. Women's groups (which also included many men) were at the courthouse every day for three months to support her brave stand! I just hope she can find peace and happiness in whatever time she has left on this earth, and that her ex-husband gets to live the rest of his life as he deserves! Merci Gisèle (the Pelicot trial)!

Gisèle Pelicot, thanking her supporters!

This and that!

It's been relatively busy again this week, as I'm trying to get the house tidied (i.e. get rid of more junk) and sorted in time for my family's arrival next week. I'm so looking forward to seeing them and while it will be cold it should be nice weather during their stay. I'd already figured out a meal plan for most days and made a shopping list for when I went grocery shopping on Thursday. That plan was scuppered though as André came over to pick up some mail I had for him and casually mentioned that he was going to spend a long weekend in Amsterdam with a mate and "you can take me to the airport tomorrow right"? Well of course I can, but there's nothing like a bit of advanced warning either is there! So then I figured I'd go shopping on the Friday - well that was until Jen phoned me at 7.30 in the morning to ask if I could pick Charlie up from school and give him lunch as both she and the babe had doctors' appointments on the Friday. Turns out Jen had collapsed at work on Thursday and they called an ambulance as they were so worried about her. When she got to the ER a friend of hers happened to be the admitting nurse and told her there were 18 ambulances ahead of her (????) and she was looking at about five hours before she could be seen by a doctor, and that was assuming no more urgent cases showed up in the meantime! Since she was feeling slightly better by this point she jumped on the phone and was able to get an emergency appointment with her doctor for both her and Elynn (who has been coughing for a few days - thank you daycare). After doing some kind of scan (my apologies to the nurses out there, can't remember what kind it was) and blood tests, it turns out she has developed gallstones - the cause of her excruciating pain. My first thought was of Mary Moon and her kidney stones and her description of just how painful they are - Jen said she was in less pain when she gave birth!!! I'm not sure what the treatment will be but I already realize just how right I was not to sign up to volunteer at Les Restos du Coeur just yet as I just knew that things would be tricky for a little while, although I suppose nobody could have predicted Jen getting taken to hospital on her first week back at work!

The other day I got a FB friend request from Rob J. My first reaction was to just hit delete as he was doubtless a Nigerian prince who wanted to put $10 million into my bank account. But then I took another look and saw that my sister was another of his friends and realized that it was my cousin from North Wales. I haven't seen him in over 38 years (I was pregnant last time I saw him) and while it was nice to chat back and forth with him, it can be a bit difficult when you really no longer have much in common. They were a very nice family but I was much closer to my cousins on my dad's side because we lived nearer to each other. Either way, it was nice to catch up a little but when he sent me a request to follow his cat on FB (????) I realized we won't be in touch that much!

Anyhow, I finally got my shopping done after Jordan finished work on Friday and could take care of Charlie. Turns out the supermarket had a special offer that day whereby they credited 10% of your grocery bill back to your loyalty card, and as it was a a big shop, I did very well that day after all! When I got home there was a note in my mailbox to say that someone from the Mairie had stopped by to give me my Christmas gift from the Maire. They give these gifts to everyone in the village over age 65 so this is my second year to receive a small hamper from them and again, it was beautifully presented!

Note the bottle of white wine in the
top right hand corner!!! Insert
happy face emoji here!

Earlier this week I got an email from Norton (the anti-virus I use) to say that my annual subscription would be up in February and the new price would be €104 "to reflect the going rates"!!! Hang on, last year it was €64 and I was already pretty unhappy with them because every couple of weeks they discover something else dodgy on my computer but for the modest sum of €XXX I can upgrade to their premium service and fix the lastest snaffu! I looked on a couple of evaluation sites and many people said they were sick of Norton forever coming back for "just another €XXXX" so it wasn't just me. So I decided to cancel and put in the comments that their habit of forever coming back for more money was more than irritating and their new price reflecting an almost 100% increase over the previous year was hard to justify, in my opinion! And whaddaya know, the next day I got another email from them offering me a "special deal" of €49 for the year if I would come back to them. So I did! I will keep an eye on it though as there are many anti-virus systems out there, but I'm really rather pleased that I put my foot down for once!

In other news, when I opened my shutters this morning I saw it was snowing - and that my neighbour had left her car window open! So I went round and knocked on her door to tell her and ended up having a coffee with her. Turns out she'd stopped to chat to another neighbour yesterday and had forgotten to put her window up last night. Then she went on to tell me about another daft thing she'd done but I had her beat this time. On Wednesday I ran into town as I wanted to buy a new pair of jeans. I ended up buying a pair of jeans and a diaphanous sparkly top, thinking I would wear it for Christmas Day. As they no longer have changing rooms in the store I tried them on when I got home but the jeans were way too big (another first) and the top turned out to be waaayyyy too small. What the heck, am I turning into something that looks like a hard boiled egg on toothpicks now! So the next day I took them back and explained to the assistant that while it said on the receipt that I had bought two pairs of trousers, it was in fact one pair of jeans and a top. She looked at the receipt and said "oh that's probably a combi short" (which is where the top is attached to a pair of shorts - like dungarees with the legs cut short) and sure enough, when we looked at my "top" it was a combi short and I must have been trying to put my head through the leg hole. No wonder it was tight! My neighbour burst out laughing and every time I looked at her after that she got another fit of the giggles! Since she was still in some pain from her recent operation, I drove her about 2 km up the road to a local farm shop where she usually buys her cheese. Since I know that my family love cheese I thought I'd buy some too, but it turns out they sell their own eggs, grass fed beef, organic yogurts and so on, and while it's a bit more expensive than you'd find in the supermarkets, I think I'll try to do as much of my shopping as I can there and at the local farmers' markets from now on!

Moving on, a pub owner in Britain recently started a petition to push for a new general election, and within a couple of days it had over two million signatures. As far as I know it's over three million right now and apparently once a petition hits 10,000 signatures it is supposed to trigger a debate in Parliament. I know of course there won't be a new general election but I signed it anyway as I feel very strongly that this dreadful government campaigned on a manifesto that was immediately thrown out the window once they were elected. Anyway, one man commented that he lived in France and had signed the petition (you have to be a British citizen but it doesn't matter where you live) and then received a response saying that if he wished to keep his right to vote in the next election he had to send them proof of his identity???? Say what???? No he didn't have to do that at all - it was simply a way of trying to intimidate him. I have three email addresses and use one for official stuff (like voting and naturalisation issues, etc.), one for general chitchat, and a throwaway address for things like supermarket receipts and so on. Thankfully I used the throwaway email address to sign the petition, and while I didn't get a notification about my voting rights, I did get a snotty, badly drafted email response basically saying how wonderful the Labour Party are and how they're going to do amazing things, bring about world peace and put a man on Mars very soon! All crap, but there will be a debate in Parliament - they could hardly refuse it could they. Nothing will come of it but I hope old Two Tier is feeling the heat right now - it certainly looks like it!

And someone else who is definitely feeling the heat right now is the French President after the vote of no confidence last week. His government is effectively dismissed and he has to name a new Prime Minister who will, in turn, name a new government. He went on television the other night and what he won't do is resign because "how will we manage without his wonderfulness"? In true Macron form, nothing was his fault and he would not accept responsibility for others' failings! Whatever happened to "the buck stops with me"? Anyhoo we'll see I suppose but these are interesting times, to be sure!

Anyhoo, what with my family coming out on Tuesday I don't think I'll have much time for blog reading/commenting. I hope to be back online before Christmas though, but in the meantime, enjoy the run up to Christmas and I look forward to catching up soon!

Busy!

Last week was a really busy one, mainly as a result of running my neighbour around. I don't mind at all but at one point I commented to her that we must look like a geriatric version of Thelma and Louise when they see us on the motorway cameras. On Tuesday I took her to drop her car off for its bi-annual inspection, and then on Wednesday it was up at the crack of dawn to take her to hospital for her latest carpal tunnel operation. She's already had both hands operated on once but seemingly another operation was required on her right hand. In retrospect it was lucky that her appointment was on Wednesday because on Thursday there was (yet again) an accident near the motorway toll and the tailback was 5km long - we never would have made it in time! When I went to pick her up later she made me laugh as she recounted that they were all given gowns, hair coverings and plastic bootees while they sat in the waiting room, but one poor chap hadn't known what to do with the bootees and walked in with it on his head!!!! Mind you, it's not totally obvious what to do with these things is it! Then the next day I took her to pick up her car and have been in every day helping her light her fire, open cans etc. Her daughter would have done this for her but she was away in Chambéry on a training course so it was just Thelma and Louise for the duration. And again, I didn't mind at all but she was tying herself in knots saying she was "such a burden on everyone"! She actually caught herself at one point and said that she realized that was how her husband taught her to think about herself - he basically knocked all her self-confidence out the window, and she finally recognized that. She then told me that she had actually found notebooks where he had made lists of all the things he wanted to do before he died (he knew he was dying) and it listed things like "make sure she doesn't get to stay in the house after my death"; "ensure she doesn't get a widow's pension" (both of these things he actually went to a notary to do but as their marriage was such a long one, he wasn't able to get away with it). So while there was no love lost between them at the end, she had softened her heart towards him - but after finding those notebooks, she was done with him and his memory! So spiteful to the end!

She also mentioned to me that our neighbour (the farmer's daughter) had been burgled the other week. I guess her home is an easier target because it's out on its own and I'm thinking somebody knew that they were up at her bf's place in the mountains. I commented that I actually had the kids' baseball bat behind my bedroom door and she said she was getting her son's bat from him to do the same. Neither of us have been sleeping particularly well lately and when I mentioned that I'd only gotten to sleep at 3 a.m. she told me she'd actually gotten up at 4 a.m. as she couldn't sleep anymore, so I asked her to imagine that we each heard a noise "next door" and went crashing round, only to whack each other over the head with our respective baseball bats!!

In other news, there was a report of a major incident in Annecy last week and when I heard it was a bomb scare I thought "oh oh, here we go". Turns out a construction company had unearthed a 250kg unexploded WWII bomb near the train station and everyone had to be evacuated!! Thankfully they managed to disable it and everyone was allowed to return home, but can you imagine the shock those builders must have felt when they dug that baby up!

My Christmas shopping is more or less done, which is great as I hate crowds. I finally finshed scanning all the old photos that were just laying about the place and decided to make each of my boys their own albums with all the photos from their younger years. The photos aren't great as they are photos of photos but I'm so pleased with the albums and it allowed me to throw all the loose photos away. I also made an album of the two grandchildren for Jordan and Jen and think I've figured out the perfect system to keep this up every year. I mean, does anyone actually look at photos on their phone/computer? This way at least, I know the kids will pull the albums out occasionally and look at them!

This is the cover of André's.
I cropped the photo because it has his
full name and date of birth, but I'm 
delighted with the album!

The cover of Jordan's album!

Charlie and Elynn's cover!

On Saturday afternoon Jen invited me to join them and her mom for a visit to a dinosaur exhibition in La Roche. It wasn't exactly Disney, but then again nor was it Disney prices. It was very good all the same and Charlie loved it, but oh my poor ears - all those excited kids and roaring dinosaurs!

After that we all went out for Chinese food, which was really good. That place is a little gold mine but good luck to them as they work really hard. Then in the evening I went into town to hear my friend's gospel group singing. It was bitterly cold (it dropped to freezing) and they sang for 90 minutes so I'm sooooo glad I bought that new jacket recently! Mind you, the bloody mulled wine ran out after about 15 minutes so methinks some things could have been better thought out. Still, they were really good and I was very impressed with how a group of French people - most of whom don't speak English - were able to belt out some really good gospel!

As the next day was sunny (if cold) I decided to take another walk at the Lake in Passy, just to get some fresh air. As I was walking up to towards the beach area I noticed a group of women actually swimming! I started chatting to an older lady along the lines of "sooner them than me", but in fact wild swimming is apparently very exhilerating, although I'm not sure I'll ever be brave enough to find out. I've read the book Wintering twice now and one chapter is given over to how she tried wild (ocean) swimming. I think the book is really about how she tries to cope with her husband's illness and her own depression but I enjoyed it very much - and will probably get round to reading it again sometime this winter!

Insanity? And yes that is snow
on the mountains!

And finally, I stopped in at the Food Bank tonight to drop off some items. I buy for them every week and when I have a crateful I drop it off to them. I also had a cash donation for them, as a charity I had previously donated to every month has now closed so I just switched my donation to the Food Bank. One of the ladies there knows me quite well by now so I asked her if they wanted coats (brand new, never worn), blankets and sleeping bags and she told me that they no longer accepted that stuff (not enough space) but her sister volunteered at the Restos du Coeur (Restaurants of the Heart) and if we set up a time to meet she would drop them off for her sister. That got me to thinking what a lovely family they must be, with her volunteering at the Food Bank and her sister volunteering at the Restos du Coeur! So then my mind starts whirring and should I/could I/when would I, but I know I have to hold off for the moment as now that Jen has started back to work (she started on Monday) the other grandma and I will be called upon to take care of one of the grandkids at least one afternoon a week, although we're not sure when. So for now, I won't be volunteering but I am giving it some serious thought!

As a side note, the Restos du Coeur are a fantastic organization which was started by French comedian Coluche in 1985. As well as serving hot meals, they have volunteers ferrying food out to people who are housebound, picking up donations from supermarkets and so on. Looking at their website they also give assistance in learning French for foreigners, trying to help people find housing, develop viable skills and so on. It's a fantastic organization! There has long been a theory in some parts that Coluche was murdered (motorbike accident) because of his fierce criticism of the then French President, Valérie Giscard d'Estaing. In 1980 he announced that he was going to run for president and while people initially laughed it off, opinion polls showed that he was indeed very popular - hence the assertion in some parts that he was bumped off! I don't know enough about it to have an opinion one way or another, but I do know that whether or not he was a good comedian, he was indeed a wonderful man who founded an extraordinary organization that is going from strength to strength - but isn't it such a shame that we need it!

Coluche!

Let it snow!

I see I appear to be keeping to my usual schedule of one post every couple of weeks, but then if nothing much is happening there obviously isn't much to write about is there! I mentioned previously that I really like a Youtuber called Cheere Denise and I had been in the habit of listening to her book evaluations pretty much as they came out, but somehow I got a bit behind on that so I've got some catching up to do. I'm still listening to her reading of The Other Mrs. Kennedy, which talks about Ethel Skakel who married the late Robert Kennedy, and hoh boy, this book leaves the other Kennedy book standing! Ethel's grandfather was a self-made man (so kudos to him) and seemingly her father couldn't put a foot wrong either when it came to making money, so consquently the Skakel family grew up rolling in money - and entitlement. Ethel was a real tomboy and an accomplished athlete (particularly in riding) but she does not exactly come out of this book smelling of roses. Her mother Anne spent money left, right and centre, but then thought nothing of nickel and diming businesses to give her enormous discounts, and sometimes also thought nothing of not even paying their bills. (This would seem to be a somewhat common trait amongst the ultra-rich - but maybe that's how they got to be so rich in the first place)! She describes how one of the Skakel sons was given a brand new convertible and on the first day deliberately drove it straight into the swimming pool!!!! Another time Ethel herself was running late for an equestrian event in New York and so decided to mount the pavement and drive straight through Central Park. Again huh????? The Kennedys actually had less money than the Skakels (even though they were still stinking rich) and when Ethel married Bobbie they apparently argued frequently over money, as Ethel wasn't used to being reined in. Mind you, she also said that Bobby frequently went out without any money (a severe case of short arms and low pockets apparently) so Cheere Denise remarked just what is it with these people, thinking everyone wanted to pay for them? She made me laugh though because she said her reaction would have been to drive him straight to the nearest bank! I can't wait to catch up on the latest chapters! A severe case of entitlement meets even more entitlement, so you get entitlement on steroids!

Last week I took a drive down to Annecy to have a look around for Christmas presents. I didn't see anything that caught my eye so I stopped in at the Yves Rocher (beauty products) shop, since I like their products and they are really reasonably priced. As I was sitting in my car having a drink I decided to scan all the products through the Yukka app on my phone out of curiousity, as it reads the bar code and tells you if they are decent products, if there are any dubious additives etc. and everything came out at least 80/100 so I was very pleasantly surprised and pleased, given how reasonably priced they were. I sometimes do this on food items too and occasionally get a nasty surprise, like the pâté I bought the other week which contained a red dye considered "potentially harmful for human consumption" (it showed up bright red), so I threw it straight in the bin. While I know you can't get away from the crap for the most part, I have found it very interesting to see just what is in food items by way of various chemicals and oddly enough the most expensive hasn't always proven to be the least harmful!

On Thursday I decided to walk into town for my pilates class, just to see how long it took, and while it was bitterly cold it only took me about 35 minutes so I'm thinking that will be an option when it isn't raining or snowing. As I was waiting for the bone-shaker bus to take me home afterwards, a man asked me if "this was the right bus stop". So I told him that depended on where he wanted to go. Since it was the psychiatric hospital I told him it was and that he would be there in about 10 minutes once the bus came. I realized he was a patient when he couldn't get the hang of how to pay for his ticket so I helped him with that and then he asked me if he could give me a kiss!!!! While I don't mind helping someone out, I draw the line at that and told him that that wasn't appropriate when you don't know someone. I tell ya, if you want to "travel and meet people", you could do a lot worse than catch the number 10 bus into town!

French farmers are blocking roads again (I absolutely support them) in protest at the EU's signing of an agreement with MERCOSUR, which will basically mean foreign goods coming into the EU at significantly reduced prices and not being subject to the same strict controls. Of course this will absolutely cut climate emissions because it's so much better to ship beef from Argentina to France rather than buying it from your local farmer. Their main target is Rungis, just outside of Paris, which is basically the warehouse for agricultural products going into Paris. They've also blockaded the ports of Bordeaux and Toulouse, the irony being that the entire French Senate wants to vote against this agreement but have no say in it as it's been "decided" by the unelected bureaucrats at the EU Commission in Brussels! You know, Ursula von der Leyen who will not/cannot produce the text messages between her and Albert Bourla (the veterinarian) who is head of Pfizer, allegedly agreeing to multi-billion €€€ deals between the EU and Pfizer during the pandemic (and of which millions of unused vaccines are now being destroyed). Oddly enough, it was the New York Times that petitioned to get access to those text messages but unfortunately nobody seems able to find them!

Farmers are also protesting in the UK but that is about Starmer's government's decision to impose inheritance taxes on farms. Basically it's a land grab so again I absolutely support them. As they say, no farmers, no food - unless you want to eat Bill Gates' crickets! Jeremy Clarkson was out in support of the farmers (he has his own farm - Clarkson's Farm on Amazon is fabulous) and gave the most amazing off-the-cuff speech, particularly since he is just getting over a heart attack. You can see his speech here if you're interested. Anyhoo, I was looking on FB to see where the latest blockades are going to be and spotted a post by my niece, who had been to see her favourite Welsh comedian and commented "just having a cwtch with my favourite man". I always thought cwtch (pronounced cuch) was an English word, and it was only years later that I realized it was Welsh for "cuddle". The things you learn when you get older eh! Anyway, the tradition continues because my little French grandson also now calls it a cwtch!

And finally, the other day (the first day the temperature dropped below freezing) I woke up to snow, snow everywhere (wasn't expecting that, I can tell you) and then a massive storm blew in and around 2 pm knocked the power out. Bloody hell did it get cold quickly. I was sooooo glad I bought those simple rechargeable strip lights a couple of years ago because I have six of them dotted round the house so I was at least able to get around without breaking my neck. I also bought a generator a couple of years ago but of course the time to learn how to use it would have been before I needed it, not after the power went out. We were without power for about 18 hours I guess so I decided basically to just go to bed and read for the duration! My sister and her husband are coming out in a couple of weeks to meet Charlie and Elynn and my BIL told me he will show me how to get it set up while he's here. I had read that if you don't open your freezers they'll be okay for about 24 hours so I'm presuming/hoping they're ok, but to be honest I haven't looked yet (couldn't face it). I'm having the pleasure of deciding where we'll go and what I'll cook because I do miss having someone to cook for and my BIL is an absolute treasure to feed. Then I got to thinking about what to eat on Christmas Day (everyone comes here) and wouldn't you know it, but a post popped up on my FB feed from a caterer that I was very pleased with in the past. Does it sound hugely decadent to just order Christmas dinner in so I get to sit and enjoy it with everyone? Answers on a postcard please!

This and that!

It's been a much slower few days lately, and what with the weather being glorious I don't have a lot to complain about (although I'm sure I'll find something). I made a deliberate point of not tuning in to the US elections until the day the results were in. Not much I can do about it either way so no point getting worked up about one candidate or the other, especially when we have our own cr@p going on both in the UK and France - and believe me, we do!

We had our latest board game evening at my place on Saturday and since it was so close to Halloween we all dressed up and I left my decorations out especially (I usually take them down the day after). Halloween itself was fairly quiet with the littles starting to knock around 5 pm (when it's already pretty dark) and the last group knocking at around 8.30 - which was fine by me. Having disconnected my doorbell a couple of months ago I no longer get startled every time someone shows up and I have to admit it's one of the best decisions I've made. In retrospect I should have done it years ago but I guess, like many people, I always felt like you should answer the door, just like you should answer the phone, but while I still keep an eye out for someone at the door, I unplugged the house phone about a year ago and have no regrets about that either (fewer marketing calls)!

For some reason the other day my internet went down for a few hours so I ended up picking up another book in the series Down to Earth and thoroughly enjoyed it. I believe it was made into a television series some time ago which didn't do very well, but I actually like her books and the no-nonsense way she wrote. The series is about a couple who gave up their florist shop in London for a series of entrepreneurial ventures, mainly in Devon, with this one being about how they set up a kids's holiday retreat in the '70s. I think this was set in 1976 because it was during the scorching summer where water restrictions were imposed. I actually remember a tap being set up in the street when I was young as it hadn't rained for ages! Yeah, that actually happened in England! Seems like here in France if it hasn't rained for three days they start talking about water restrictions! Anyhoo, it made me laugh at the lack of "health and safety" concerns  because while the kids were well supervised it was in the days of "just stick your kid on the train to London and trust them to get off at the right station". The kids were also washing in the river because of the water shortages but I remember doing that on our school's very basic camping trip to Cornwall when I was 10 or 11 and nobody died, even if most of us went back home with our still untouched clean clothes in our bags! So if you like simple and old fashioned, I would recommend her books!

Queuing for water, 1976!

Talking of books, I finally finished the other book I mentioned in my last post - you know, the one written by the poet about her marriage break-up and while she did indeed write beautifully, I couldn't wait for her to get out of first gear so I won't be picking up any more of her books. Seems she had written another book about her divorce but, err, no thanks!

I had a funny incident the other Thursday when I walked down to my pilates class and decided to catch the old bone-shaker bus back home. I bought a ticket on my phone app but when I went to scan it on the QR code on the side of bus there wasn't one. The driver told me that it was a new fleet of bone-shakers and they hadn't gotten round to installing the QR codes so my trip would be free (it only cost €1.50 so it wasn't exactly going to ruin the company but I appreciated the relaxed attitude)! We got chatting about his holiday on the way back up to the village and when we got to my stop at the one and only restaurant he asked me where I lived, so I told him - and he drove me all the way home! When I hopped out right outside my front door my neighbour just looked at me in amazement saying "first the mean old farmer brings you home in his big ol' jeep (this was years ago) and now the bus driver changes his route to drop you off too"! What can I say, I like to chat!

Talking of my neighbour, last Thursday I drove her to the hospital for an appointment with her anaesthesiologist (again, sp?) and sat outside the reception to read my book while she went in. You know, now I can understand why hospitals have those painted lines on the floor ("follow the yellow line for obstetrics, the red line for radiology" etc.) because everyone that came by asked me what they should do. I mean, it said on the door "wait until 10 minutes before your appointment and then enter without knocking". Thankfully it was fairly quiet but having to answer people all day long would definitely make me murderous! Mind you, one guy that asked me had the most horrendous set of stitches running all the way down his nose and one eye twice the size of the other (so I was polite to him, imagining his injuries stemmed from a nasty street fight - but who knows)! After that I dragged her to the fabric store as I needed something for sewing club, and since it was still early we stopped off in town at the weekly market where we bumped into two other sets of neighbours and then went for a coffee. I reckon that was the longest she'd been outside the house in years! I was a bit surprised, though, when she asked if I'd mind going to her favourite butcher's shop and when I went to start walking she nearly fainted, saying there was no way she could walk that far uphill. In all honesty it would probably only have been a 15 minute walk but uphill, and I hadn't realized that she could no longer do that! Kinda shocked me, to be honest, but I drove her up there anyway and all in all we had a pretty nice morning (except for Scar)!

Other than that, there's not much been going on. One of the FB hiking groups made me laugh because someone posted that he'd hiked up to the Lac de Tardevant and had forgotten his trousers up there (his waterproofs, I doubt he came down in his underpants) and if anyone was going that way could they look out for them on the off chance. Well blow me but one guy said he was going up there that very morning and actually found them! Lucky man, because those kinds of trousers are not cheap!

The farmer put the cows in the field behind my house yesterday and it was so lovely to hear the cowbells close up again. Oh I can usually hear them in the field further up, but this time they were right there and so lovely!

If I figure out how to upload
the video I will!

Since I've been so lazy lately I decided to take myself off to the lake at Passy (a lazy walk but beautiful) as it is still gorgeous out. The place was pretty busy with loads of families having the same idea, but it did me the world of good to get outside in the fresh air, although methinks it's time for something a bit more difficult before the weather turns!

The Mont Blanc in all it's glory!

And finally, today is Remembrance Sunday in the UK (always the closest Sunday to 11 November), so I have been proudly wearing my poppy all week and watched the service at the Royal Albert Hall where, as always, they did everyone proud!

My niece took these pictures
in the village where my
mom used to live!

Lest we forget!

Dad!

Grandad!

A whirlwind week!

I knew last week was going to be a busy one and ho boy, was it ever. I don't usually mind as long as I can keep on top of where I've got to be and when, but sometimes it felt like I never got out of sixth gear! At least all the dashing around allowed me time to listen to my latest book on Audible - even if I'm not sure that I'm particularly enjoying it. I don't know what it is about this book - maybe it's the author's voice that grates on me, I'm not sure - but even while I think, on balance, it's a good book I'm struggling. I won't mention the name of it because I'll just sound like a peasant since she is both a successful poet and writer, but I obviously (obviously!) don't have the soul of poet and am struggling. She has a good story to tell but I feel like all I'm hearing is "so I Google earthed my home last year, and my son's bike was in the front yard" (followed by a 20 minute soliloquy), and "then I Googled it the year before and my daughter's stroller was in the yard" (followed by another soliloquy) and I'm thinking "lady, just get on with the bloody book, would ya"! So anyhoo the jury's still out on this one!

On Monday I was determined to go to yoga, despite the fact that just a couple of hours later I had my naturalisation ceremony, so it was a bit of a dash to get home and changed before showing up for that! While I was sitting listening to the speech welcoming new citizens I couldn't help thinking about how lovely I find France to be and yet how f....d up this government is trying to destroy it - oh and how they "forgot to mention the €50 billion more in debt the country is than was announced prior to the legislative elections in the summer"! There were about 20 of us receiving our déclaration de naturalisation that day and in most cases the Maires of the respective villages were there to present the papers to their new "citizens". Not in my case though but that was ok with me. When I mentioned this to my neighbour she said she had seen him the previous week at the lunch for Octobre Rose (the breast cancer support movement) and he had actually looked away from her when he walked past!!!! This man knew her husband as he had been on the local council for years and had been invited to their home on many an occasion, and knew that her husband had recently died, but didn't even acknowledge her presence, let alone extend his condolences! So nah, I didn't need that jerk handing me my paperwork, thank you very much.  After that I had to dash off to sewing club as I have the keys to open up, so all in all Monday was a very long day!

Then on Tuesday I had to drop my car off to get winter tyres put on, so thought I'd be good and walk back into town in the evening to pick it up (about 45 minutes). Wednesday I was up and out at seven to take my neighbour to drop her car off at the garage and then dash back into town for 11.30 to pick up my new French ID and passport. The ironic thing is that according to all my paperwork I have been French since last November (so two months after I applied) so it intrigues me somewhat that I had to go to Grenoble in March for my citizenshp interview. I mean, why bother if I was already French?

Since my neighbour's car wasn't ready that evening I suggested to her that the next day we both walk into the village to catch the little ol' bone-breaker of a bus into town so that she will be confident enough to know that she can find her way round the bus system (spartan as it is) if ever she's stuck. I told her it'd be like going on a girls day out and she laughed, but in the end it turns out that the young heating engineer who had been called out to service her heating system said that he was going past the garage and dropped her off on his way to Annecy! Now I'm sure this is totally against company rules (I mean, would she be covered by his insurance if he had an accident), but it did go to show that there are some nice people out there too doesn't it!

The parking situation in town is now absolutely hell, even though the Thursday market has now been moved from the town square to the side streets. The problem is that when the commuter train (the Léman Express) was inaugurated people were (rightly) encouraged to use that to travel into Geneva for work. Trouble is, while "park 'n ride" is a great idea, there's not much point "riding" if they hadn't given any thought to the "park" side of the equation. This Maire is the guy who decided it wasn't necessary to have any kind of ramp or elevator at the train station to allow people to get across the train tracks, and now it would seem that encouraging people to catch the train all while not making sufficient parking spaces available to them - well you just end up with people parked all the way into town and a lot of pisssed off local shopkeepers whose customers just give up! So on Thursday, knowing I wouldn't be able to park because of (a) the market and (b) the commuters, I again got up at the crack of dawn and caught the bone-shaker bus into town for my pilates lesson, and while that was fine I subsequently learned that the jacket I routinely wear in this weather - well it's not totally waterproof! Damn! Since I got there so early I was chatting to our teacher and nearly fainted when she told me that she teaches 28 classes a week! She's in her early 60s and has thighs that could probably crack walnuts, so talk about feeling deflated after feeling so proud of myself for walking into town on Tuesday!

Anyhoo, on Friday I decided that I was going to go out and treat myself to a totally waterproof jacket - (which would obviously be necessary if I was going to keep up with all this walking)! So I drove down to the Mountain Store in Passy, found exactly what I wanted, along with a more appropriate (read "waterproof") backpack and then headed out for a walk around the lake - one of my favourite places round here. When I picked up my passport on Thursday I asked about how to go about getting on the electoral register and she told me to take x,y,z paperwork to my local Mairie on Monday. Well I looked it up online instead when I got back from the lake and within about five minutes it was done! And the next day I got a phone call from the secretary to say that I was registered! Talk about efficient!

Then on Saturday a group of us from sewing club agreed to meet up in Scientrier to drop off the beanies we had made for the cancer survivors' association and would you believe we had actually made 85 all told for the association to hand out to any of the ladies who wanted them. Then we went off to enrol in the 8km walk that was also being held to raise funds for the Association, and given the size of the crowd (maybe a couple of hundred) I'm pretty sure they easily raised over €1,000 just from the walk participants alone. When we got back there was a zumba class for anyone who wanted to join in (no thanks), but I thoroughly enjoyed myself that day and when you're yacking non-stop, 8km goes by very quickly!

Anyone for zumba!

And finally today I made it down to the château for the exhibition of work by local artists. I've mentioned before that "art" usually doesn't do much for me - well too much of it, at least - but by golly there was some talented artists' work on display!

The château in La Roche!

Then I met up with Jordan and Jen in the château's grounds as we knew that La Roche was having its annual Venetian-style carnaval parade. We didn't know where or when, but as luck would have it, we were seated exactly where the parade started and got to see everyone up close and personal. The weather was lovely and having a bird's eye view of the parade was the icing on top of a very lovely cake!

It's been a couple of weeks (again)!

Looking at my posting history I see that I'm only posting approximately every two weeks (unless I've just come back from holiday I guess), so you can probably tell life is just wending along in its usual very routine way! There's nothing wrong with that of course as long as (in my opinion) I'm not wasting too much time on the computer going down rabbit holes. First thing I usually do when I get up is read a few blogs and then see what's happening in the news, although I sometimes wonder about doing that too as there might be a good case to be made for "if you can't do anything about it, why not leave it where it is"! When I was still working I would put Sky News UK on while I was getting breakfast but I just heard tonight that (allegedly) they are shutting down!!! If that's true I'm afraid I can easily see why. They went from being a pretty decent news outlet (in my opinion) to absolutely biased one-sided crap so I was happy to drop them when I disconnected my TV three years ago now. That being said Sky News Australia are great and can also be very funny, so I have to wonder how two news outlets seem to have fared so differently!

Mind you, the other day the death of a Youtube "personality" during a muckbang came across my news feed. I mean, have you any idea what a muckbang is? For those of you with dirty minds ha ha, because it is apparently an "event" where the person buys a ton of food and then films themselves gorging on it! Seriously? Are people that desperate for fame that they would stoop this low? I understand that some people have an eating disorder but I think in so many of these cases they have a "fame hunger" disorder instead. This young woman was either from Japan or Korea (I can't remember now) and gorged herself to such an extent that her stomach burst and she died! How sad is that, and what a waste of young life!

In other news, last Saturday 12 of us went out to lunch to celebrate the three Libran birthdays in the family (me, Jen's mom and Jen). It was a really nice (if loud) time, and as I was walking back to Jordan and Jen's place with André for birthday cake, he was telling me that his mates were pushing him to ask the Israeli girl he knows out. It's quite obvious that they both like each other very much, religion would never be a problem (I lived with a Muslim for five years and our different religions were never an issue), but he was also quite enjoying his single guy life too. I haven't heard from him since but we'll see how that plays out, I guess!

When we got back to their place, Jordan discovered that their cat (Lenni the Horrible Cat) had caught a small lizard on the balcony and bitten its tail off, so we were faced with the bizarre task of trying to catch a wriggling tail-less lizard and another wriggling body-less tail. My suggestion to put the tail into the double cream to whip it up to go with dessert didn't go down too well, unfortunately!

I had to drive into Geneva the other week for my bi-annual mammogram (always fun) at the very modern hospital with about five parking places the size of a Mini Cooper. Of course if you were lucky enough to find a parking place you'd still probably have to climb out through the trunk of your car but even so, it would probably be a good enough omen to go buy a lottery ticket! I finally figured out the best way to get there on public transport was to catch a bus from the border into central Geneva and then a tram back out towards the border which stopped at the hospital. Much more efficient, but afterwards I just decided to walk back to the border to the parking garage as it was only about a 45 minute walk if you're not in a hurry. Years ago, when I was working in D.C., I remember reading about an older lady in the poorer part of D.C. who got so tired of waiting for public transport that she just started walking everywhere instead and never stopped. I'm not so sure how advisable that would be nowadays but she certainly looked as slim and graceful as some of those African tribespeople you see pictured in glossy magazines, so maybe there's something to be said for this walking business!

With that in mind, a couple of ladies at sewing club mentioned that there was going to be an event in the local village to raise money for October Rose (do they call it Pink October in English?), the charity movement that supports breast cancer sufferers. Two of our ladies have had cancer and indeed one is still wearing what I would call a "skull cap" or beanie to cover her hair loss, so she asked if we would be up for making a few beanies to donate to the local hospital. They have to be very soft because apparently it is difficult to wear anything on your head if you've just lost your hair, so the club bought several metres of soft fabric and for two weeks we have kinda set up a production line and had made around 50 at last count. I was shocked when they told me that these things go for between €40 and €60 so I was really glad she asked us to do that. Moreover on the day we hand them over there will be an 8 km walk (not sponsored - they make their money from the food and drinks set up) so a few of us will be doing that also!

The production line!

Then the other day my favourite neighbour came round and asked if I would mind terribly taking her to a hospital appointment near the Swiss border to see the anaesthesiologist (sp?) for an upcoming operation as she's too afraid to drive on the motorway. So I'll be taking her (quite happily) to that appointment, plus her operation and to drop her car off in town at the garage. When I mentioned this to my other friend she told me to give her a call if ever she was stuck as she would be happy to help out too! My life doesn't have the fullest schedule as you can see so between us I'm sure we can sort it out! This is the lady who lost her husband in March of this year and can you believe she has only just received her first widow's pension - after six months!!! I think that's scandalous as she is in her 70s and not working, but she has always been very good with money and was always able to squirrel money away "just in case". Given how bad her late husband (the bank manager?) was with money I'm actually not surprised she always handled the money and was able to make it, even despite my other neighbour and I both offering to help out!

And finally today was the day Charlie's school had organized the "cross country run" to raise money for student activites. As I said above, they don't make money from these events by having you get people to sponsor you (which I always hated), but on the food and drinks. The younger children were asked to go in costume, so Charlie went as the fastest creature known to man - the panda!!

The younger children had just one circuit of a flat route to run and surprise of surprises, Charlie actually won it - not that he was that bothered as he was more excited by the packet of mini Smarties they all got when they crossed the finish line!

The little girl in second place is
his best friend - and just as 
loud as him!

There were about 10 races in all, getting progressively more difficult with the age of the children. Everyone cheered everyone on, but I think the loudest cheers were for the kids who came in last, and quite rightly so. I had thought about volunteering to run with them but since the later races involved running downhill to the parking lot and then back up again, I'm so glad I didn't offer! At the end they sprung a surprise on the four teachers and the school's director and asked the five older ladies to run with the last kids. I'm not so sure how much of it they ran, but they were good sports and all five crossed the finish line holding hands - and in last place! It was a lovely morning and I offered to walk back down to Jordan and Jen's apartment rather than trying to squeeze into a space between two car seats. It wasn't a long or difficult walk and since I'm going to walk into town (and maybe back up) tomorrow to see an art exhibitioin at the château, and maybe do the same later in the week to pick up my new French passport, who knows, keep this up and I too may soon start looking like an African tribeswoman!

The château in St. Jeoire