Aaarrgghh!

Bugger, bugger, bugger! Well now I've got that out of my system ... what a crappy couple of days I've had! And breath! I didn't end up going snow-shoeing with my neighbour the other day as she called to say she wasn't well (she suffers from migraines) so I ended up sitting on my backside doing bugger all! Shame on me though because getting out there shouldn't depend on having someone else to go with!

My electrician came again the other day (day 18 at this point) and I just left him to it as I had things to do. But bugger it wouldn't you know it when I came back he told me he had miscalculated one of my plug sockets and had not only gotten an electric shock when he plugged in my vacuum cleaner but had buggered up the vacuum also! At this point I just shook my head because heck, if I can't leave him alone for 15 minutes....!!! Actually he was okay but realized afterwards that that particular plug socket hadn't been secured yet! So now I've gotten an almost frazzled electrician and a definitely buggered up vacuum cleaner! (I have one on every floor so as not to have to lug the bloody things up and down stairs)! Anyway, he was profusely apologetic but as it was a cheapo I told him to forget it. So then I get on to looking for a replacement and found one at a local French store but he told me to wait a few minutes and check out the same vacuum cleaner on Amazon and lo and behold, the price dropped from €138 to €75 - the result of cookies, apparently! I was told to expect a delivery shortly but at the same time I was expecting a new French cheque book so I was a bit confused when the mail lady delivered a humongous parcel when I was only expecting my cheque book! Anyway, the electrical work is still ongoing but dare I hope that I can see a light at the end of the tunnel and it isn't a train coming the other way!

Then on Tuesday I ran down to drop stuff off at the recycling centre and when I went to drive off my bloody car wouldn't start! Zip, nada, zilch! One of the men working there very kindly came over and said he thought it might be my key fob and since the battery I had in my glove compartment wasn't the right size, he took the battery out of his own key fob to see if that worked. And that was when I realized I'd handed him the key fob that opens the door to the sewing clubroom!!! Oh man, did I ever feel stupid - but he was very patient with me and switched the battery into the car fob - but still it wouldn't work, so I had no choice but to call Thiery at the Ford garage! I'm guessing it wasn't a good time for him as they were flat out, but he came out and tried to work his magic on my car but still couldn't get it going. In the end he gave me their loaner car for me to drive back home to get my spare key but still we couldn't get the car going - even after jumping it! At this point I'm thinking "oh sod it" because my window was down and the car was seemingly going nowhere - well that was until Thiery tried one more thing - tightening up the bolts on the battery and bingo, it bloomin' well started. I could have (and did) kissed him I was so relieved but when I got outside the recycling centre I couldn't find my phone, so dashed back off to Ford to see if I had left it in the loaner car. Except said loaner car had just disappeared, having been lent to another client. Again, bugger it! I ended up being without my phone for 48 hours (until the client came back with the loaner car) and boy did it bring home to me just how dependent I (we?) am on the bloody thing. The biggest worry for me was that without the app on my phone I had no access to my Swiss salary account, and indeed my bank account in the UK, although that was less serious! In France I was still good, but not being able to access my pension in my Swiss account could have been really problematic. Then I realized I couldn't access my security cameras, and of course all my appointments were in my phone calendar - although here I was relieved because I also write everything in my paper calendar too. I mean the list just goes on and on of what could have been lost with that phone, although again, I do keep a separate paper list of all my important passwords! As I said to my neighbour, imagine breaking down somewhere and having no phone to call someone. Then imagine someone lends you a phone but can you remember any of your contacts' phone numbers anyway? The only number I could remember was my friend's landline because it's very similar to my own, but seriously, what a nightmare. I was so, so glad to eventually get it back that I dropped off a good bottle of red wine to the guy at the recycling centre and two for Thiery at Ford!!! And then when I got home, I tried to shut the door to the spare bedroom, and the bloody door handle came off in my hand!!!! Sod's law of course, but at that point I just thought "oh to hell with it, I'll sort that tomorrow"! And I did!

I'm still limping along listening to Traitor King but it's not doing it for me so much as I find Edward to be so self-centred and spoilt - but then to be fair, if you've been fawned over your entire life and told how wonderful you are simply because of the accident of your birth, well I suppose it's understandable really that he should have been such a navel-gazer! I want to finish it though because I'm really interested in what the historical consequences could have been if things had turned out differently! I remember reading one time that the powers that be thought they could have accommodated his marriage to Wallis Simpson despite her being a twice-divorced woman, but they were extremely worried about both their sympathies for Nazi Germany, and that apparently is where they had to put their foot down! Seemingly Edward believed that when Hitler won the war, he would be re-installed as the King, with Wallis by his side as Queen. Thankfully fate had other ideas!

Wallis and Edward meeting Hitler!

Yesterday I looked after Charlie as he doesn't have school on Wednesdays. He was as good as gold so after his nap we went to the park where he met three little girls and chased them around pretending to be a lion!!!! Thing is, I reckon he's having a growth spurt so he's growing taller but getting skinnier and the poor devil had to run around being a scary lion while holding his trousers up as they kept falling off his backside! After that we went for a walk and when I saw a bridge over a little stream I showed him how to play Pooh sticks - where you throw a stick over one side of the bridge and then dash over to the other side to see whose stick comes out first! He loved it - such a silly game but we ended up staying there for about 30 minutes. Mind you, I'm sure a couple of engineers further downstream were probably cussing out "those damn beavers" for blocking the stream again. Never mind - but thank you Winnie the Pooh all the same!

Playing Pooh sticks!

And finally last night Jen called to ask if I was doing anything tomorrow (well we're having our board game evening, that's all). She told me that Julien (her friend that comes to our board game evenings) had been given a birthday gift certificate for a sleigh ride up at Avoriaz tomorrow but his car was playing up and everyone else was either busy or not around to take him up there and what did I think? Now I hate driving on the snow but in the end thought "what the hell", so tomorrow I'm driving him up to Avoriaz for his birthday present and I'll get to wander around for a couple of hours while he's gone. Let's hope the good weather holds. Fingers crossed!