Yet again it's been a while since I posted, but since the temperatures went soaring back up again (35-36°C - 95-96°F) I've been flaked out on the sofa for the most part, so much so that I'm pretty sure my Fitbit thinks I'm dead! I finally bought myself a proper pair of garden shears so that when I occasionally managed to slide my melted self off the sunbed I actually got quite a bit done in the garden, but early in the morning or late at night of course. Other than that I've been lazing around reading and pulling out a few of my favourite cookbooks (Claudia Roden's "Arabesque" is in favour at the moment) or listening to the newly-released Andrew Lownie book Entitled on Audible. I like his books so when I saw that he was bringing out this latest book on the rise and fall of Andrew and Fergie I knew I wanted to get it. When I looked for it on Amazon it hadn't yet come out in print but was available on Kindle for almost €30 - which I thought was expensive for Kindle, but since I'm pretty sure it's going to be a best-seller I'm not surprised. But then I saw that it was available on Audible for free (ie just one credit) so that's how I'm listening to it right now. It starts off pretty tame with everyone seeming to agree that Prince Andrew has always been a spoilt, entitled brat with Fergie being seen as a "breath of fresh air" (but immediately turning into the female version of Andrew upon marriage), so I sense it's going to get juicier from here on in! Cheere Denise, who is the young woman on Youtube who I have enjoyed listening to read books, has stated that she's probably no longer going to read books, but rather concentrate on celebrity gossip, so that kinda buggers it up for me listening to it through her. I'm disappointed as she introduced me to interesting books that I never would have thought about reading otherwise. Actually I'm almost finished listening to her read the Margaret Trudeau autobiography (another entitled wild child/brat) so after that there doesn't seem to be much else for me in her repertoire - shame!
I had a dental appointment in Geneva yesterday and boy am I no longer used to the noise. It's lovely to see everyone sitting out on the terraces of course, but I now wonder how I ever put up with that kind of noise level. As I got there so early I had time to sit and have a coffee and while I was sitting there four young girls came in and asked if they had any cheap candy as they'd found five cents on the floor (five cents worth of candy between four kids???) and the lady laughed and told them no. So I thought what the hell, went up to them and rather gratefully emptied my change purse for them to get what they could with that. I guess there must have been about €6 in it and they were so grateful you'd think I'd given them the earth (but in reality I'd been delighted to get rid of all that clunky change), so we were all happy in the end!
La Roche had its annual Blue Grass festival over four days last week and while I was at one of the sessions I spotted a wallet on the floor. It contained the man's driving licence, health insurance card and bank card as far as I could see, but no money, so I took it to reception and I'm pretty sure he was one very relieved gent if/when he went to reception to enquire after it!
The never-ending saga of my solar panels kept dragging on because EDF (the French electric company I'm contracted to sell my excess electricity production to) sent me an email to say it was time for me to "bill them" for the period June 24/June 25 but when I went in to do it the site indicated that I had to bill them for June 23/June 24 first. The only problem was, my energy production was zero because the bloody things hadn't been hooked up due to a screw up on the vendors part so I couldn't figure out how to bill them for zero. In frustration I managed to find a phone number and explained my predicament to a very helpful young man who was obviously used to dealing with this kind of problem (although surely he shouldn't be!!!!) and he gave me figures to input in order to invoice the zero production. So I sent off the first year and the second year's production and blow me but I got back €1,900!!! You see, while my production had been zero, there was a rebate from EDF in the amount of €1,530 for all new solar panels - the rest was made up of recent electricity output! Good job I persevered then! I reckon the vendors' screw up cost me about €1,000 because it would seem that my excess production is, at the moment, in the region of €50 per month. I am wondering though, what it might be once my new annual bill comes in after my lovely electrician had me switch all my antiquated lightbulbs to LED - I reckon I'll find out in October, but man was it like pulling teeth!
My ex-MIL sadly died two weeks ago and while it wasn't unexpected given her age and state of health, I was sad as I was pretty fond of her and used to enjoy our occasional chats. I sent flowers from this end (and apparently planted a tree in North Carolina too, although I have no recollection of clicking on that button!) as neither of the kids could go in such a short turnaround time! Ex's sister looks after her two very young grandchildren and will be helping with a third (due any day now, if it isn't already here). His brother is handicapped so I can kinda see ex having to empty that house pretty much on his own - which I reckon is his karma for buggering off and leaving me to empty his rented farmhouse in 2015 with everything left as is when he walked out the door - I mean, wet washing in the machine and stale coffee in the coffee pot! As far as I know he arrived here today and will be staying with André in any case as Jordan and Jen are away on the west coast of France. I don't understand his logic (never did, to be honest) because he's flying here for 10 days, then back to Pittsburgh for three days, and then flying back out to Genoa with the gf to spend a week in Italy. Genoa is about three hours from here by train so I asked why he didn't go direct to Genoa from here and wait for her there. But hey why not pay for two transatlantic flights three days apart - that might be why he's always broke! Either way, I know he'll be glad to see the kids (and meet Elynn) and the boys will be happy to see him - but if I were a betting person I'd put money on it that they all have a major blow up within the week. Watch this space!
Jordan and Jen and a couple of friends have just spent a week on the west coast of France and have had a wonderful time. I saw on Youtube that French resorts are really struggling this year, in part because people either don't have money to go away or if they do they're going to Spain or Portugal where it's cheaper. Can you imagine paying €10 for a coke or €5.5 for a coffee? No me neither, and then they wonder why the restaurants are half empty. On the positive side, the beach where they were was also pretty empty, the site where they were staying was great and the kiddies' club (for Charlie to have swimming lessons) was a dream. They also went to an acquarium and off for a visit to the salt flats where the kids could help rake in the salt (makes it sound like child labour at the salt mines, doesn't it).
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| See how empty the beach is! |
They stopped off at their friend's dad's place on the way back and just sent me these wonderful pictures!
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| This is apparently the entrance to the "cathedral of la Saulaie - a trogolodyte in the Loire Valley" ... |
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| ... and the restaurant where they had lunch! Wow! |
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| I'm soooo impressed! |
We sell the solar panels, too, though they're not too popular; there are so many trees locally. And while we do get sun in the summer spring and fall tend to be fairly overcast. I hope they truly enjoyed the empty beach, over here they are packed right now. This is family vacation time since schools will be starting shortly. And that cave looks amazing. I'd eat there.
ReplyDeleteI doubt I'll ever make my money back on the solar panels, but with the way the EU are pushing up electricity prices (even though France would be self-sufficient in electricity without the EU) who knows. It's still school holidays here too and yet so many resorts are really struggling. They might want to try not ripping the tourists off with their prices I guess - see how that works for them! And yes isn't that restaurant amazing. I'm thinking about a little car trip myself, though I'll wait to see what they say when they come back!
DeleteWhat a gorgeous restaurant!
ReplyDeleteI hope Cheree Denise will continue to read because I love her voice.(And her asides) I listen to her while I am doing things I don't want to be doing and it helps pass the time and makes housework bearable
Cheere Denise said that her views were much lower when she was reading the books than when she was just commenting on celebrity gossip and that's why she's going to (mainly) stop reading. I think that's sad because some of the books she's read are pretty old and hard to get hold of now, so she really did introduce me to some great books. And like you, I tend to put the longer excerpts on when I'm either working or driving. Shawn over at A Vintage Read also does this and is good, but I kinda got hooked on Cheere Denise!
DeleteI really do need to do more audible books and less streaming of TV. The vacation pictures look stunning. I know I have trips planned but still thinking of more and the French coast is on the list. I'm sorry for the loss of your exMIL, even if expected. I hope she had a good life even if her son was your ex for a reason.
DeleteTo be honest I'm not too keen on Audible as I often don't like the narrators' voices but since that is where I found Entitled for free I'll go with it. And as you know, I'm nowhere near the coast but if you want to visit this region I'll happily show you around!
DeleteA good narrator can make a book and a bad one can ruin a book.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you've got a lot of plates spinning, even if it is hot and miserable.
I love the thought of you giving the children your change.
I'm very fussy about voices so you're right, a good narrator can make a book but a bad one can ruin it. As for those kids, the one girl asked if she could give me a hug as they were so thrilled - and I got all that clunky change out of my purse. Win/win!
DeleteThat restaurant is amazing!! I'm glad they've had a nice trip. An empty beach is a true joy.
ReplyDeleteI was reading that Los Vegas here is outrageously expensive. Two women were complaining they spent $50.00 on a salad and $20.00 for a can of coke. Crazy!!
Good to hear your solar is paying back but I'm sure it ticks you off you missed a year of payment because of the company.
That was so kind of you to give the girls some money, I'm sure you made their day.
Stay cool. It's been brutal here also for the last couple of weeks, but a cool front is expected on Wednesday, and I can't wait.
There's been a lot of kick back here from people complaining how the restaurateurs "sat on their backsides during the pandemic but were paid anyway" (although I don't see how that's their fault), but also against the vaccine pass "Nazis" and many vowed to never eat in certain restaurants ever again. Also I think €10 for a can of coke is really taking the piss but $20???? No way José!
DeleteMy condolences on the loss of your ex MIL. I do like a good audiobook, there is a website I use - but it has a lot of ads so I use it on an ad blocking browser (Brave) plus I have Ublock installed. The trip for Jordan and Jenn looks lovely, I hope you decide to explore again soon if only for my ability to live vicariously, LOL!
ReplyDeleteI enjoy audiobooks when I'm walking or when I'm driving - it's a great way to get through a book, isn't it. I've always loved exploring but am of an age now where I generally prefer to let other people make all the arrangements. Jen, on the other hand, is just like my niece and will go through the entire Tourist Board's website to find where she wants to go and this time it definitely came up trumps, although with little kids I don't think you can go far wrong with a camp site anyway!
DeleteI keep having friends and family suggest trips we could go on together, and I can't rustle up any interest whatsoever, and they don't understand that, and I understand that they don't understand, but ... apparently my ramblin' and rovin' days are over, for now. Other people have so much interest in travel that I sometimes wonder if there's something wrong with me!
ReplyDeleteThere's absolutely nothing wrong with you for being a homebody. I love being at home too and then just when I think "that's it, no more", this little birdie starts whispering in my ear that maybe just one more trip would do it. I swore Thailand was the last long haul and now I'm seriously thinking about India. Trouble is, when you go on these trips, other people start telling you about all the OTHER places you should visit (I'm looking at you, Ceri from Thailand) and then the bucket list gets longer rather than shorter. If I ever want to feel "inadequate" I look up Backpacker Granny who must be in her late 70s by now and is still going at it!
Deletepractical parsimony
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post. That is a lot to pay for Coke or coffee!
Seemingly nobody's paying it - hence the empty restaurants!
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