We're green!!!!

I couldn't sleep last night. Or more correctly, I just didn't feel tired yesterday evening so ended up staying up till 2 a.m. when I thought I'd better go to bed because it was getting ridiculous. And then this morning I realized it had been a "flower moon" last night so maybe that had something to do with it. Either way I'd already made up my mind I was going to do bugger all today and very nice it was too. And then I saw in the media pictures that people had taken of the flower moon at different locations - and boy were they stunning. The one I really zoned in on was taken over the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. Oh lordy did that bring back wonderful memories of one of the most amazing experiences of my life. In 2003 a Turkish friend of my husband's organized a luxury long weekend in Istanbul for us and it was just fabulous, all the more so since Mehmet was actually from Istanbul so knew all the places to take us. His mother invited us up to her apartment for tea on the last night and as her place was high up in the hills overlooking the city we had the most glorious view of the Blue Mosque as the sun was going down and the call to prayer began. As I say, it is one of the most enduring memories of my life, it was so fabulous. Well that and I remember walking down to the beach in Bali to watch the sun set and it looked like there was this enormous golden globe hanging there over the ocean - and then someone just "cut the string" and it was gone!

The Blue Mosque, Istanbul

So today was, by choice, a quiet day where I really didn't do much except the basics and then sat outside in the garden reading for ages since the weather was so perfect. Yesterday I had gone grocery shopping and again it was pretty quiet. Even though the shelves are not as full as they should be you can pretty much get everything you need. As I was going in to the health food store to buy my kombucha I noticed the crazy guy who had hassled me outside sewing club just before Christmas. This guy had tons of hair and a full beard when he was bugging me so you can imagine what he looks like now in lock down with an even fuller head of hair and a mad man's beard! But there's something that doesn't sit right with me about him and I can't put my finger on it. I wasn't going to stick around to find out if he remembered me but I hope I don't bump into him too often - he's just too weird for my comfort. Anyway, when I went into the store I bumped into a guy who worked in our cafeteria at work. He was telling me that he was now in his third month of being furloughed and while he was receiving 60% of his salary it was tough. I actually felt he was getting a bit too close to me when he was talking so kept backing off until he got the message. But he asked me if I had heard the rumour about three deaths at work because of Covid and I said I hadn't and I didn't think it could be right because we would have been informed. Well it turns out that there are currently eight cases of infection at work but I don't know who they are nor how serious they are. I just hope they all pull through.

I was chatting to my gardener when he came the other day and I commented that he must be pretty busy right now, what with the good weather followed by bursts of rain and so on and he said not so much. People had actually been asking him not to come as they didn't want him getting too close to them! I guess people really are scared because that didn't make sense to me, what with him being out in the garden and me being on my terrace. But then I was asking the roof guys how it was going and they said that they had had people cancelling, with me thinking it was for financial reasons but they said no, again, people didn't want to be around them. And again, that didn't make sense to me because they were on my roof and nowhere near me. Still, I guess everyone has their tolerance level for what they find acceptable don't they!

Then this afternoon I wandered over to my neighbours to pick up some cut branches from their hazelnut tree to make more wigwams for my tomato plants. They probably are a bit of a joke because my wigwams are so flimsy looking that if anyone sneezes within a 10 metre radius I'm pretty sure they'll collapse, but it amuses me to keep making them. Anyway, my neighbour came over for a coffee and was in a pretty bad way, telling me she was sick to death of her patronising bastard of a husband (her words) and the way he talked to her like she was an idiot who needed to be "tolerated"! They have an issue with underground piping which channels the mountain springs away from our homes getting backed up and resulting in their basement taking in water on occasion. Now as far as we can tell the blockage is on the village road at the bottom of their garden and if that is the case it is up to the commune to get it fixed. But her husband set off to see a company to have them come out and sort it out, while she feels that the first step is to get in touch with the Mairie and have them send someone to look at it. It's not a question of who's right or who's wrong (although she's actually right) but it's the way he speaks to her. I know she's telling the truth because I've heard him and I can only say that if my ex ever tried that on I would (and did) give him such an ear bashing he wouldn't have been quick to do it again. Trouble is, I always stood up to my ex and didn't allow him to speak to me in such a disrespectful way but she never did - and it's probably too late to start now isn't it. But again, damn, I'm glad I'm single!

Then tonight I got another scam email from "Dr. Abdul Mohammed from Burkina Faso who was desirous of putting $13.5 million in my bank account dearest" and I was to write back to him ASAP so that we could get the ball rolling. They're coming thick and fast at the moment and I was probably a bit riled up from listening to my neighbour so I wrote back and said "f... off you twat" and a couple of minutes later he wrote back and said "wow, that was a bit aggressive wasn't it" and I just burst out laughing. So I said "oh I'm sorry, was I supposed to send you my bank details?" and just blocked and deleted. These idiots can barely write English and then to address someone as "my beloved" or "my dearest"??? Well really, how dumb do they think I am?

So after reading for a while I decided to plant out a few more tomato plants and then three cucumber plants with a home-made, plastic bottle irrigation system I had seen on Youtube last night. It's pretty much the same system you see everywhere - you poke a few holes in a plastic bottle, fill it with water and bury it nose-down in the ground so it self-irrigates. Well even though I only used a nail to make the holes I must have been a bit over zealous because far from the desired drip, drip, drip of water slowly feeding the cucs, I got a roaring whoosh and the bloody things were swimming for their lives in about two seconds flat. I think I'll have to take another look at my prototype!

And it looks like our lock down will be eased as from Tuesday, according to what the French Prime Minister said the other night. They are deconfining according to zones and I was a bit worried that we might be a red zone because we're only one hour from northern Italy and if you take in the région (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes), which includes the hotspot of Lyon, I reckon we would still be red. But they seem to have taken the département (Haute Savoie) and we have come up green, so as from Tuesday things should be eased for us. No more attestations necessary to go out, we can travel freely up to a distance of 100 km from home, we're free to meet up in small groups and go into the mountains, although the lakes remain out of bounds for the time being, and many businesses are being allowed to open back up. Of course it all depends on people being sensible, but I believe they will be. I for one won't be dashing out to go to any parties any time soon, but just to have that freedom to go up into the mountains again feels absolutely delicious!

And finally, I just wanted to send huge hugs through the ether to Anne in Alabama who has just lost her lovely mom. Thinking of you at this difficult time Anne!