The view from my window

The view from my window
The view from my window

Monday 14 March 2022

Curating stuff!

I took a short break from the news/social media this week and I have to admit it did me the world of good. I can never stay away too long but a fews days' break seems to do me so much good. Not that the horrid stuff goes away, of course, but it gives my mind a rest to turn it all off, however briefly!

The French elections are getting ever closer and I just saw tonight that two of the more prominent candidates have announced an agreement between their parties to try to oust Napoleon. The French have this weird (to my mind) election process where in order to even stand for election you have to have confirmed support from X number of French mayors. Florian Philippot has been out campaigning solidly for about a year now and I like him very much, but he didn't get enough mayoral support and cannot stand. So he has gotten together with Nicolas Dupont-Aignan (who will be running) to forge an alliance based on five campaign promises and they announced it in a large press conference tonight. Of course the other candidates don't get anywhere near the air time that Macron gets, so while I'm afraid it is almost a done deal that Macron will get back in (he has backers with deep pockets), I would love to see Dupont-Aignan make it through to the second round and maybe people would see that there is an alternative to Macron and vote him in! I don't go in for political debates much but those two working together would be my idea of a pretty darn good team!

On Thursday I drove André back down to Valence to pick up his new car and he is thrilled with it. It's definitely very nippy and everyone is suitably impressed, but when I filled my car back up with petrol when I got back - ouch! It's now at almost $10/gallon so I would think anyone that doesn't have to do the km will definitely avoid it. I just pity those that can't avoid it, although there is (and has been for some time) a big push to get people car-pooling so maybe some good will come out of this price hike!

I finished watching the Netflix series Inventing Anna last week and yet again it kinda blows my mind how seemingly easily some people can fool others! It's the true story (although embellished I would guess) of Anna Sorokin who claimed she was a German heiress and convinced not only friends and acquaintances to fund her lavish lifestyle but also big-name banks. She was 26 when she started her antics in the US and to be honest I didn't feel that the actress pulled it off as she just came across as a rather silly young girl who thought prancing around in a short skirt would make people fall for her lies. Well more fool me, I guess, because that seems to be exactly what happened. Then the other day I watched an interview with the real Anna Sorokin and boy did she come over as an extremely arrogant, smug young woman - you know, with a face you'd just like to punch. More surprising to me is that she was no great looker either. I mean, if she had been some stunning beauty I could maybe have understood the appeal but I guess it just goes to show that if you have the self-confidence or chutzpah to try it, you might just pull it off!

Anna Sorokin

Spring is definitely in the air now and with that come all my grandiose plans for a massive veggie garden - which of course probably won't pan out because I go off the boil too easily. That being said, I'm already watching gardening videos on my computer and just discovered a young English woman called Emma Bailey and am really enjoying her channel. She comes over as a bit dippy and a real giggler but it's such fun to watch her as opposed to the obnoxious Ms Sorokin!

Oh and I almost forgot to mention, Jen asked me the other day if she could throw a surprise 30th birthday party for Jordan at my place on 4 June. Of course I said yes, only to find out afterwards that I'll be hosting about 50 people if they all come!!!! Yikes, pray for good weather won't you! She and her friends will organize it all but will need my house and garden to host everyone. So the first thing I did was get myself a child gate to put across the back garage door - which is right next to the rather nasty cellar steps! There will potentially be five or six very young children at the party and those cellar steps have always given me nightmares whenever young children are around. That being said, Jordan and Jen came over on Saturday for Jordan to install my new bathroom sinks. In the meantime I spent my time on my hands and knees chasing Charlie (he's still not walking) and both grandma and Munchkin were exhausted at the end of the day. On the plus side, Jen had Charlie climb down my internal stairs for the first time very slowly on his belly, to a great round of applause when he finally got to the bottom. Judging by the smile on his face you'd think he'd just carried out a moon landing!

Having that party lined up means I really want to start getting rid of stuff - I just have way too much of it and the other night I was thinking "do you really want to spend the rest of your life curating stuff which, for the most part, has no real value to you"? So you store, dust and curate this stuff and then hopefully one day you will consider it "done". But what if that's the day you keel over dead having spent your lifetime curating crap and for what? I don't know, I think it's probably true that as we get older we start to realize we don't need all this stuff and it's really just another millstone around our necks - or am I wrong?

I think this hit home even more today as a friend from work sent me a message to ask if I'd heard that H had died in Australia? I hadn't, as it turned out, but H and I were friends, went out walking together occasionally or to the theatre and she and I shared an office for a couple of years in HR. She used to handle the job vacancies and very often people would try to get information out of her about what was going on with a particular vacancy. She was very professional and never discussed it with anyone, certainly never said anything to me about it, but in any case I was never interested anyway. But, I do remember her bursting out laughing one time and she just went "oh the poor sod". When I asked her what was so funny she mentioned that an external candidate had applied both for the position of Chief Economist and also for the vacancy for a delivery driver! Not the same skill set I would think but ....!

My kids adored H because when they were pretty young they would catch the train from school and meet me in the office to go home and she was always messing around with them. She would rib on them and they would make fun of her appalling French accent because despite many years living in Geneva she never mastered French or the accent for the limited French she did have. She didn't have children of her own (I don't think she wanted them), but was always great fun with the kids. While I wasn't her closest friend we were still good friends and at only a few years older than me it came as something of a shock this morning to hear about her relatively sudden death. As she always said "it's hard to fly like an eagle when you're surrounded by a bunch of turkeys"! RIP Chookie, my old mate!


20 comments:

  1. I saw a 20/20 report on Anna Sorokin last year and she is quite the delusional scammer; smart, but very delusional. I mean, she still thinks she did nothing wrong.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We may have seen the same report because you're right, she really did seem to think she was a genius and had done nothing wrong didn't she!

      Delete
  2. 50 people? Wow! Watch out, even though they say they're going to run it, you might get suckered in since it is your house.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jen's very good at organizing things and we started list-making already. I tend to get pretty stressed about these things but this is something I want to do for Jordan. Fingers crossed for me!

      Delete
  3. I think a part is a brilliant excuse to purge. Yikes, cellar steps do sound tricky. I too want a news break but it screams at me all day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think both the party and the death of my friend have made me realize that I HAVE to get on with this and in any case I want to as it feels so good to get rid of stuff, right? And yes my cellar steps are a nightmare until you get used to them, but I was always very, very careful about them when my kids were little!

      Delete
  4. a small gathering of 50! it will be smashing, you guys have got this one in the bag. my condolences on the loss of your friend ♥️

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. To be honest most planned events (as opposed to spontaneous events) have me stressing out so this might be a good way to "desensitize" my aversion to them. Either that or I'll just sit back on my sun bed with a huge glass of white wine and leave them to get on with it!

      Delete
  5. So sorry about your loss of a friend.
    Oh my getting the house ready for a party of 50!!! I am not that brave or organized. No matter how much lead time I had, I would find myself putting everything off until the last few days and then be in a panic about getting it done.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh damn, and here was me thinking "don't fret it, Anne will chime in about how she would do this and that and you'll see how easy it will be"! So now I have two months of sheer panic ahead of me!

      Delete
  6. I try to avoid the news but somehow it seems to catch me! It's so depressing. My hubby thinks bojo started this war lol. He says what an excellent way to divert our attention from partygate!!
    Sorry to hear of your friend. It makes you think about your mortality when friends die doesn't it. Talking of which I've been feeling like you in that I'm getting rid of stuff too. We finally finished our decorating and I really don't want to put all the stuff back in the room that was there before. I don't want it quite as empty as it is just now but I'm going to think long and hard about what goes back and if it doesn't go back it's going out! x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can only stay away from the news for so long but I have to admit just a couple of days of getting out in the fresh air and not thinking about it does the world of good. And damn I envy you (although I know it was an awful lot of hard work) the fact that you've got empty rooms and can decide what goes back in there!

      Delete
  7. So sorry for the loss of your friend. Growing up, it was natural for "old" people to die like someone's grands and I never realized how young were some of those old people. Then I lost my dad when he he was just 54 and that was quiet a shock. Yes, do not curate things that you don't care for. Just a waste of space and waste of your precious time to keep their area clean and tidy. My birthday is June 6th and since I lost mom on that very day, can I come over and share Jordan's Bday? I kinda don't like mine anymore. Promise to wash your windows after the party. Lol!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Of course when you're a kid 50 sounds ancient doesn't it, but this friend was really energetic (at least when she was in Geneva), forever taking herself off to the mountains to walk, or flying all over the world to watch the tennis, so I have to admit her death has come as a bit of a shock. And ha, but I haven't cleaned my windows in yonks so you'd be very welcome to come and celebrate with us - you might have to bring your own chair though!!!!

      Delete
  8. Just saw a little news thing about Anna Sorokin and thought, "Who the hell is she?" I guess she would gladly have told me. All lies but interesting.
    Fifty people? That's a lot of people. And yes, you and I are on the same page about getting rid of THINGS! It is definitely time for me.
    Isn't it odd and sad when we hear of someone we used to be close to who has died? We just go on thinking of them out there in the world, somewhere, until we hear that no, they are not. I'm sorry your friend is gone. Cherish your memories!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Anna Sorokin series was good but the real Anna came over as totally unbearable in that interview. It still beats me how they get away with it but then I suppose in theory we can all be taken in, can't we. As for my friend, we kept in touch on occasion but of course it trails off when you don't live on the same continent. And I think most of us will have fond memories of her as she was well liked!

      Delete
  9. A big party sounds like an excellent motivation to purge :)
    I had not heard of this Anna Sorokin either. Interesting and I supposed you'd have to be a bit mad in the head so you could tell yourself what you are doing is ok.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh I'm sure she is absolutely convinced she's a genius and also that she did nothing wrong! I think she only did three years in prison in the US because they got her off the biggest charges, but after she was released she was rearrested for overstaying her visa so as far as I know she's still incarcerated!

      Delete
  10. Yes, having a party is a great excuse for having a good old sort out and purge. As I get older I need less, I want less. I don't have time for unnecessary stuff. I'm sorry to hear of the passing of a friend of yours. I find as I get older this news comes too often. I have added the series to my Netflix list.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This particular friend's death was a bit of a shock because I don't care what anyone says, losing someone in their 50s and 60s just isn't on, is it! Trouble is, it seems to be happening more and more. As for the Netflix series, my guess is you will find her accent extremely irritating but then the real Anna's accent is irritating also. I guess it was like watching a train wreck!

      Delete