The view from my window

The view from my window
The view from my window

Friday 20 January 2023

Crikey!

It's all go again here and boy has it been a weird few days. I went to sewing on Monday evening and we were all chatting (some of us do more chatting than sewing - that would be me) and I commented to Patricia that she didn't look too well (she's the lady whose son is now disabled after falling downstairs and landing on his head)! She's been off work quite some time with an arm/shoulder injury and as she works in a factory and does sewing on the side, I imagine there might be a few financial worries there too! Well she sat down and kinda burst out that she was going to ask her doctor to test her for Alzheimer's! Yikes, I wasn't expecting that! She's 58 and told me that not only is she becoming extremely forgetful but that sometimes she can be driving and have to stop because she doesn't know where she is - and that's on familiar roads! Wow, what can you say to that? I think we've all gone upstairs and then couldn't remember why we'd gone there, but to be driving on familiar roads and suddenly not know where you are would be more frightening! I hope for her sake it's the stress of her current situation rather than anything more serious. Heck I remember once mentioning to my doctor at work that I was starting to worry about that too, but since she knew my home situation she told me that stress and lack of sleep are extremely toxic to your mental health. Turns out she was right!

I mentioned in my last post the very heavy snow fall we've had here the past few days and "how much fun it is" digging out. Well I can see my friend's driveway from my front door and I noticed on Monday that she hadn't dug out. Nothing wrong with that if she wasn't intending to go anywhere. Then on Tuesday the same thing - again, no problem - but I did notice that there was a very large dump of snow directly in front of her car, as though it had melted off the hood and was starting to build up. Then the following day the same thing, so when I got home that evening I sent her a FB message calling her a lazy bugger! No response. I sent her a text message. Again, no response, so I called but ended up getting her voice mail! As it was nearly 11 pm already I sent a message to her sister in Spain and asked her if she had spoken to her lately. About an hour later she replied that she'd spoken to her the day before so she was probably all right. My friend didn't respond until the next morning when she told me she'd turned her phone off so I told her next time to at least check it before she went to bed because she'd almost had a couple of French gendarmes rappelling in through her bedroom window that night!

My brother-in-law was in hospital on Monday for a hip replacement and I could hardly believe it when he was up and walking in the afternoon and home the next day! He's still in quite a bit of pain, which was to be expected, but crikey, isn't it amazing what they can do today!

Then on Thursday there was a general strike in France with about two million people protesting (mainly in Paris) against Macron's reform of the pension system and anti-Macron generally. This strike was planned ages ago but Macron, the Interior Minister, the Minister for the Economy and the Transport Minister went to Spain for the ever-so-important "Friendship Treaty" between the two countries! Given that the biggest sector affected by the strikes was the transport sector, makes you wonder if the choice of the French delegation to Spain wasn't just a little bit suspect! Anyway, some schools were closed and since Charlie's daycare was closed Jen asked me if I'd have him for the day!

It was -9°C (15°F) when I scraped god knows how many inches of ice off my car at 8 a.m. and gingerly drove through the village to get to our local town. Once I hit town though it really wasn't bad going. In town I stopped to let a young lad on a driving lesson pull out. It must have been one of his first lessons because he took the traffic island almost as wide as I was taking bends when I had shrunk five inches last week! But poor bugger, first lesson and you're driving in town in 10 inches of snow! Which reminds me of André's first lesson when the young instructor took him into the mountains in the snow! André was a cocky bugger (aren't they all at that age) and he said it was great, so no harm done!

So I had the babe all day and we had an absolute blast. After his nap "we" decided to play hide-and-seek and then we had to jump out and scare each other. Well of course he always hid in the same place - behind his bedroom door - but he must have been having a "bit of a wind problem" because he kept farting up a storm and saying "oh pardon" ("oh excuse me") every time. Needless to say he found me more often than I found him but at one point we were laughing so hard we were crying! God love him!

On the good news side, I mentioned before that Jordan had been working with a group of Romanian plumbers who went home for three weeks over Christmas. Turns out the company has a contract with a Romanian company to bring these guys over and find and pay for their accommodation to do plumbing work. Well I guess the ski resort where they were working (and staying) needs the accommodation during the ski season, so the Romanians are now staying further down the mountain in a place called Cluses. So Jordan's boss asked him if he would volunteer to be a driver, and when he said yes (it's only five minutes out of his way), the boss rented a 9-seater bus and Jordan is now getting an extra €400 a month for picking them up and getting them up to the ski resort!

I drove home (gingerly) after looking after the babe, but the roads weren't too bad considering it never made it above freezing all day. So feeling proud of myself I parked the car, got out - and went "arse over tit" on the ice! I wasn't hurt (except for my pride, I guess) but even I thought it must have looked pretty funny (if anyone had been around) as I kinda did a "running on the spot" thing before my pratfall!

And finally, around 8 a.m. this morning I heard the most humongous bang and instantly thought my solar panels had come off the roof. When I went outside to check I found half the neighbourhood doing the same thing but nobody knew what it was. I kinda thought it might have been an earth tremor but turns out a tanker carrying propane had caught fire and exploded just 10 km from here! It was lifted into the air and debris crushed a car one kilometre away! Thankfully the driver was able to get out and there was just one person injured (although seriously, I believe). The explosion happened in the village where Jordan and Jen lived before they moved to St. Jeoire, but still only about five km from both their and André's places. Considering this is on a major access road for those travelling into Geneva and it was rush hour, it's a miracle there weren't more injuries - or even deaths!

For the time being the snow has stopped and the sun is shining and everything is absolutely beautiful! So I thought I'd share a couple of photos published on FB by the Département de la Haute Savoie (the State of Haute Savoie) yesterday, although the first two photos are mine (spot the difference between an iPhone and a real photographer!

The view from my place!

The view from Jordan's balcony!

The rest are from the Département de la Haute Savoie!







22 comments:

  1. Lovely photos; I do love the snow, you know, from inside the nice warm house.

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    1. I'd have to agree with you there - plus the glass of wine, of course!

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    2. How could I forget the wine!!!! 🍷🍷🍷

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  2. Stress causes SO many different health issues and from what you mentioned she has a lot of stress so hopefully it can get worked out easily. The photos are lovely. You live in a beautiful area!!

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    1. I remember mentioning to my doctor years ago that did she think it might be possible for me to have Alzheimer's since my dad had it and she reassured me that stress and, in my case in particular, lack of sleep, were usually the culprits. I'm sure it's that but if getting the test can reassure Patricia then the sooner she gets it the better. I'm not sure what the solution to her problems might be though, although she was thinking of asking to go part-time for a while, and I'm guessing that would help tremendously!

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  3. Just got a flash on my watch from Le Monde about your explosion and fire, and it was a truck from Lubrizol. I ;try to avoid falling, though usually once a day I'll get down on the floor to play with the dogs. Getting up is always fun.

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    1. I've just watched the news and they are saying that the driver had already seen the flames and deliberately drove on in order to get away from homes. He did a wonderful job and they are already talking about a Légion d'Honneur. They have also said there are three injured in hospital but that none are life-threatening. A few years ago a similar accident happened in Spain next to a camp site and many people were carbonised so it puts his bravery into context. As for me falling, even I thought I looked funny, desperately trying to hang onto my car as my legs were going 100 miles an hour. Time to get the yack trax out I think!

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  4. This IS a lot! I so hope that Patricia is okay. Fifty-eight is very young to be experiencing those symptoms. How frightening! Stress and lack of sleep can truly affect our minds.
    Glad you had such a good time with your little man. Children are so funny, aren't they?
    Be careful out there in that beautiful snow.

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    1. I've felt for a while now that Patricia isn't well, what with the guilt about putting her son into an institution and possibly financial worries, so I'm hoping for her sake it's stress rather than the big A! And Charlie was such a hoot. We were both lying on the sofa pretending to sleep and then we had to snore at each other. I don't think I've ever seen him laugh so hard - we'll have to do it again!

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  5. There's an "over 55" neighborhood that I deliver Meals on Wheels to - they have a system where they raise/lower a shade every day to let people know they're alive! Maybe you and your neighbor could figure out a system (although it would be much easier to send a "proof of life" text every night). Love your Charlie stories!

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    1. While we both live alone, I have kids and am close to my neighbours but she doesn't. Normally it's not a problem as I notice her car or very often spot her on FB anyway, it's just that extra pile of earth in front of the car that bothered me for some reason but I'm glad she was ok anyway.

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  6. Oh I love those pics from here! LOL. And I am glad your neighbour was ok, love how you all look out for each other!

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    1. I think we've kinda lost the habit of looking out for each other today - well at least not like people used to do. Certainly where I live people are pretty good, but I suspect if you live in towns and cities it might not be the same!

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  7. You have no idea what pictures of snow do to my Southern snow obsessed heart.
    So glad you had some wonderful play time with the babe. I envy you!

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    1. I've been in this region over 40 years and most of us say it never gets old - well maybe until we have to start snow-shovelling. That's why I bore everyone with so many pictures! And boy do I know how lucky I am to have Charlie so close AND that his parents are so easy going and let me get on with it (I was showing him how to blow a ping pong ball out your mouth too, but keep that quiet)!

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  8. I love your pictures. Hopefully your sewing friend doesn't have Alzhiemers, but also hope that her doctor really checks her out and just doesn't blow it off as "you're stressed".

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    1. I hope it's "just" stress too, but what worries me somewhat is not knowing where she is when she's driving. Problem is, even if it's stress there aren't always 10,000 options for relieving it are there!

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  9. Your pictures are all so pretty! I cannot imagine living in a place like that. Quite frankly, I love the South and don't want snow, but it is so pretty from afar.

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    1. To be honest I prefer winter to summer and I like having four seasons. Digging out and driving on the snow? Nah, not so much!

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  10. You had me shivering before I got to the end but what beautiful photos. We always feel so nostalgic for skiing and the Alps at this time of year but I'm not sure the knees are up to it anymore so your pictures are a good substitute. Oh and that explosion - how frightening.

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    1. I've thought about going skiing too but I think it's just too much like hard work at this point in my life. Still, it was fun while it lasted. And as for the explosion, the driver was VERY brave and continued on out of the village with flames already starting to engulf his truck! I reckon he saved quite a few lives!

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