Getting my mojo back!

I've been feeling a bit blah this past week, but then it's been raining pretty much non-stop and the temperature has dropped way back down to around 15°C (59°F) - but I'll be damned if I'm going to put the bloody heating back on in June! So "winter drawers back on then" and/or keep moving it is. It really has bloody piddled down and "something" has gotten to my cucumber plants and savaged them - not saying what but the bloody slugs are now about the size of feral cats!

I've been having a hard time getting off my backside too in the morning and have often ended up just sitting reading for hours on end. I even seem to have lost my oomph for cooking, but I know I'm not alone there. So I guess now's the time to change all that. Last night I went to bed at 1.30 a.m. and while I'm still getting up around 8.30 I think it's the wrong way to go. Or maybe it's just age, I mean, you know you're getting old when you have lunch at 10 am., dinner at 5 p.m. and breakfast the night before don't you (just like you remember your mom and dad doing??)! So I'm going to try for lights out by midnight at the latest, getting up earlier and other than the news, no computer until the evening. We'll see how that works. I also think I should be spending at least an hour a day getting something done, so apart from shopping and cleaning today I spent an hour in my front garden lopping back the huge (dead) roses and peonies. On 15th June France is planning to fully open up it's borders (as far as the EU/Schengen is concerned), so I'm hoping not only to be able to go into Switzerland and see my son/friends/my friend, but also to have free access to the local tip (as opposed to by appointment only, as it is at the moment). Then hopefully I can get more stuff taken to the charity shop also as I'm really getting sick of "stuff".

As I mention, Switzerland isn't in the EU but is part of the Schengen zone (no passport controls). It's been both good and bad for Geneva (but sad to say we didn't really have beggars or the bigger drug problems until then either). But the other day I was reading the local Swiss newspaper and can you believe, only one of two Kosovans who had been hired by a banker to murder his wife (they failed thankfully) is being sent back to Kosovo. The request to send the other one back was initially approved and then repealed because of a technicality in Swiss law!!! So you see, the "bloody immigrant problem" exists everywhere (says she speaking as a "bloody immigrant" herself). It's not just in your country that the bad 'uns are taking advantage of their immigrant status (and getting away with it) but they're giving all immigrants a bad name at the same time!

While I was outside working the donkeys were making a helluva racket and when I turned round to see what was up the male was obviously having a very "hot-blooded" moment and the female was having none of it, hence all the bloody noise. But that made me remember an incident many years ago when my niece was little. My mom and dad had a couple of donkeys in the field at the back of their house and my niece saw them having an amorous moment and said "oh look nanny, Mary's giving Bailey a piggy-back"! My dad - who embarrassed easily - didn't know where to put himself!

Then I decided to take a bag of rubbish up to our local bins and bumped into Stan's oldest son, Sam. He's the one the most affected by being bi-racial but when I look at him all I see is a lovely young man with killer looks! Strange how most of us only see our negatives isn't it. I remember a couple of years ago on one of my Solos holidays to Greece an older Welsh widow commented to me how lucky I was to be able to wear shorts in this heat as I had "good legs". I was stunned because when I looked at her - yep maybe she was a bit heavier, but she had the most beautiful coffee-coloured skin because she tanned easily - and I told her so! And guess what, next day she was wearing shorts! Anyway, back to Sam, I asked how his dad was doing in Nigeria and he said that while he was happy to be there things had changed so much since he left that he was thinking of coming back to France. He has started a small business growing herbs and some crops and at first when he paid his employees their salaries everything worked out fine. But, after a couple of months, as soon as he paid them they buggered off and never came back to see out the month! He said another shock for his dad was that they no longer have coins in circulation among the population. Sure, the national bank had coins but they were "hoarding" them and everything now had to be paid for in notes - with no change being given. You can imagine the effect that has had on prices I'm sure! So maybe we'll see Stan back here shortly, but sad to say his café is already long gone (and sorely missed)!

And finally, with my new satellite dish up and running, I managed to stream The Good Liar the other night and quite enjoyed it. The acting was superb with Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen portraying the perfect conman/scammer (McKellen) setting out to divest a rich widow (Mirren) of her fortune. I have to say McKellen in particular was excellent and really showed how good these con artists can be. That being said, there was a final sting in the tail which was somewhat unbelievable but I enjoyed it anyway.

And then I stumbled on a new-to-me cookery programme called The Good Cook. Now Simon Hopkinson has obviously been around a long time as he is now mid-60s and opened his first restaurant at the age of 20, but I'd never heard of him. And I like his style. Very understated and calm. My sister loves The Hairy Bikers but I find their constant "good ole lads" banter irritating, and got fed up of Nigella's simpering, tight blouses and batting eyelashes. So if you want some simple, well explained cookery ideas you might try looking up The Good Cook!