The view from my window

The view from my window
The view from my window

Sunday 6 June 2021

Having a rethink!

As from this Wednesday France will be opening up a little more, with our curfew being pushed back from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m., and all restrictions being scheduled to cease by end-June. Covid numbers are up slightly with the opening up a few weeks ago, but not dramatically so. There was one death in Haute Savoie in the past 24 hours and the R number is 0.83, so things are still going in the right direction thankfully. To be honest, unless that changes dramatically for the worse I don't see them being able to impose more lockdowns/restrictions because people's livelihoods are being destroyed - but that's just my opinion and what would I know! That being said, my Italian evening class has started back up (there are only four of us in the class anyway) and yoga will restart and my gym will open as from 9th June. Pilates also starts up again on Thursday but I've been thinking about it and I think I'm going to drop out. My life has been pretty "programmed" since I retired and what with starting to look after the Munchkin once a week I don't want to have a commitment every day and not have free time to plan hikes or meet up with friends. The pilates teacher was good and I felt great afterwards but I never actually enjoyed it so I think I'll give it a miss from now on. I mean, if I want more exercise I can go walking, down to the gym or take another yoga class, so decision made then! The only exercise I've been getting these past couple of weeks is my twice-daily slug-flinging and I can already feel the muscles in my right arm starting to develop! If they introduce slug-flinging as an Olympic event, you've got Team GB right here. We've had so much rain that the buggers are everywhere! They've ruined my courgette and chili pepper plants and are desperately trying to get at my lettuce plants - hence the daily arm exercises. I'm going to run round to my neighbour and beg some coffee grounds off her (I only drink capsule coffee but apparently slugs don't like the smell of coffee grounds), and I'm also going to save eggshells and crush those up to put around my plants to see if it helps as I don't want to use chemicals. I pulled up a lettuce to have with our dinner tonight and you have to be very careful how you clean them. I left all the outer leaves in the compost and then basically pressure sprayed what was left. Can't have too much protein in your diet can you!

I also want more free time available because, as I mentioned some time ago, this year I joined Pays Rochois en Transition, which is a local group dedicated to zero waste, recycling, community gardens, etc. They also run a Repair Café twice a month and have just set up a seed exchange for anyone interested in gardening. I'm thinking I would like to get involved with them, but don't know how much time I will be able to offer. They do a lot more than that, of course, but this is what interests me the most and you can't be everywhere can you. Heck if I could be everywhere I'd get around to cleaning my windows as they are embarrassing they're so dirty. Another disadvantage of the sunshine - you can see all the muck! I also learned from the local Magazine de Saint Sixt that a project is underway to build what I hope is a small kinda grocery store/café behind the Mairie, which pleases me no end because goodness knows we need something to replace Stan's café!

André went into Geneva Friday afternoon to go swimming in the lake with some friends, then they had band practice and he called me to say that Max had invited him to stay over (curfew, you see). I said it must feel weird to be 33 and letting your mom know you'd been invited for a sleepover so he asked if he could have 10 euros "to buy some sweeties"! Then today Max suggested they drive up to Chamonix for lunch and André said it was glorious. I'm glad to see he's finally getting to have a social life again after all this time (I guess there's still hope for me then)! I've talked about Max before. He's a friend of both my kids (and is also Jordan's boss) and André was telling me that he's in the process of putting in a €20,000 stair lift for his girlfriend, Elise, since she is wheelchair-bound following a car accident with a wild boar a few years ago (which brings home to me how lightly I escaped after my own encounter with a wild boar that time)! When I asked how they met André told me that Max had been out to dinner with his parents when he spotted Elise having dinner with her friends and chatted with her briefly. He was apparently so smitten with her that he raced back into the restaurant and asked if they would give him the contact phone number for the person that had made their reservation - which, of course, they wouldn't! So knowing roughly the area she had said she lived, he went door to door asking if anyone knew a beautiful young girl in a wheelchair. Someone did, and the rest, as they say, is history! Damn, I didn't know Max was such a romantic! I've always liked him but heaven knows there were times I would have liked to strangle him too, not least of all about 15 years ago when he must have been out partying on New Year's Eve, had too much to drink, and called me around four in the morning asking me to pick him up - but he didn't know where he was! Luckily for him I hadn't had a single drink that evening (I don't like NYE and I was on my own anyway), so I set off looking for him in town at 4 a.m. and brought him back here to sleep it off! Who would have thought that little divil would turn into the rather nice young man he is now!

Yesterday we were invited over to Jordan and Jen's to belatedly celebrate Jordan's birthday and give him the symbols for his drum set (he was dead pleased). Babe was a bit cranky as he'd had his first vaccinations so I got to hold him and walk with him and tell him silly stories - and then he was all smiles afterwards, probably wondering what all that gobblydigook was about. André was imploring him to say tonton (uncle) and he just smiled so André asked me what I thought his first words would be. I told him my feelings are "would ya get your ugly mush out of my face for once" because, seriously, every time he opens his eyes he's got André's mush right there two inches from his face. I tittered, but André didn't think that was funny for some reason!

But tonight André was obviously finding something funny because I'm sitting downstairs and I can hear him roaring laughing up in his bedroom. So I asked him what he was watching and he said Impractical Jokers. In this sketch they have one of the guys pretending to be in space and giving a talk to a bunch of young school kids about what it's like to be in space (the teacher's in on it, of course). The "non-astronauts" are feeding lines to the "astronaut" about what he should do and say. Have to say I had a bit of a giggle too!

22 comments:

  1. The non-astronaut was funny! And I had to laugh at the slug-flinging. You must be living near a breed ground.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I liked the way the "astronaut" giggled too, it must be so much fun doing that stuff. As for the slugs, I can only think it's supposed to be hot and dry right now and instead it's just hot and soggy - so plenty of exercise for me for the time being!

      Delete
  2. Happy birthday Jordon. I've always wanted to do pilates, but there are no instructors close. I live in a village 5 miles outside of Clacton. A bypass was built keeping the traffic away from us. But I understand the traffic bank holiday weekend was horrendous Apparently thousands came to the seaside. I'm keeping to my safe practices despite having had both vaccinations.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've tried pilates twice and I've never really liked it, even though I admit it made me feel good. As for the exercise classes, the rooms are huge and can easily accommodate everyone with plenty of distance so I'm going to go back. Then again, I suspect a few will stay away, maybe until the autumn! I also don't go into crowds, mask or no mask, vaccine or no vaccine right now, crowds have never been my thing!

      Delete
  3. We have an infestation of little caterpillars that turn into gypsy moths... Yuck!! Lots of removal to be done. I love that things are picking up socially for you, that is great. Funny story, sometimes when I go away, my mom gives me "ice cream money" Like 20-40? Just as an extra treat, haha!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I suspect nature would deal with these infestation problems if we allowed it to work it's wonders. Mind you, have you seen the mice infestations in Queensland???? Those poor farmers. It's funny but when my dad had alzheimer's, when my brother would go and visit him he would always ask if he "had enough money for his bus fare", like he was a little kid still (whereas he was in his 60s). But that's sweet of your mom to give you "ice cream" money. I should try that on my kids!

      Delete
  4. So glad things are opening up, & life is slowly returning back to (the new) normal again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. One way or another life has to open back up at some point doesn't it. What "worries" me slightly is with the July and August holidays approaching I hope everyone doesn't go crazy and dash off to the south of France in their millions like they usually do. My friend is there now and said it's blissfully quiet, but I suspect that won't be for long. Still, people have had enough and I'm not really sure what more the government can do. As for me, my life won't change much since I intend to "potter" around here at least until next spring!

      Delete
  5. Even though TheHub and I are way out of the demo for Impractical Jokers, we found it several years ago then introduced it to our sons. Son1 had never seen it before the last trip they took to Birmingham. He downloaded a bunch for his return flight to Portland, but DIL1 had to make him quit watching them because he was wearing his headphones, cracking up with loud laughter in the plane.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha ha, that loud laughter is what made me go up and ask André what he was watching as it was so loud. I can see it's something teenage boys would love (it's so juvenile) but it's also harmless and good fun, isn't it!

      Delete
  6. I've heard that spraying garlic water will deter slugs from the garden and also non toxic for other animals. Might be worth a try.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well I'll be .... I just looked that up and I'm off to make some garlic water (as soon as this rain stops). Which might also be why the lettuces I planted in amongst the garlic plants don't seem to have been targeted. Thanks for that Toula!

      Delete
  7. I wonder if there are any places that serve coffee that could give you some of their grounds? Just a thought. Slugs are one thing we don't have too much of a problem here. Of course we have everything else.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I never thought of that. I'm sure there are places that would happily give me their grounds. And of course you guys don't get slugs - too many alligators!

      Delete
  8. Max probably turned out such a nice young man because he knew he had people to support him when he was being young and dumb, LOL.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well I've saved his bacon more than once to be honest. That particular new year's eve, when I eventually found him, he was just 10 minutes down the road from me, as opposed to 30 minutes from his parents' home - who would probably have killed him that night to get called out!

      Delete
  9. You can try diatomaceous earth as well to keep the slugs at bay. Last year they had a field day in my garden because it was so wet, although I never saw them. Sneaky buggers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for that. I'm planning on taking a trip out to the garden centre (to buy more courgette plants) and I will ask there. Wish I could sell the bloody things by the kilo!

      Delete
  10. Crushed seashells or copper tape are the favourites in my anti-slug arsenal

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Copper tape I'd never heard of. Seashells - works on the same principle as eggshells I guess. Better get my bucket and spade out!

      Delete
  11. We seem to get more snails than slugs these days. I thought they were eating my peas but I was sitting reading in the conservatory the other night and out of the corner of my eye I noticed something move and my peas seemed to be moving a lot with no wind, turns out it was a mouse having a feast! He ran for the hills when I got out that door!! It throw snails towards the pond in the hope the frogs will eat them!
    Sounds like Max turned out to be one of the good guys. He probably appreciates the help you gave him towards that!
    It's nice to hear that Andre is enjoying life again and getting back to having a social life. You'll miss him when he moves out. x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh I find the snails in my gardening shoes - beats a pedicure!!! But the slugs are very definitely the result of all the rain. As soon as it dries up/warms up it's more or less ok again. Still, that's nature isn't it! And I guess I will miss André when he moves out as it's been nice, but I'm ok on my own too, thankfully!

      Delete