Getting back to normal!

After a week of drizzle the weather has finally picked up again and become more autumnal - cooler temperatures but sunshine nevertheless. I'm hoping to get a lot done in the garden next week and since it looks like there won't be any rain for a while, I guess it'll only be my own fault if I don't get the garden put to bed!

Wednesday was my day to look after Charlie and since it was also my birthday he was busy colouring some pictures for me when I arrived. Unfortunately he hadn't gotten them finished so I ended up colouring my own birthday pictures, but hey ho, beggars can't be choosers and they're now taking pride of place on my living room wall! Elynn is now also walking, so that's a nice birthday present too, although to be honest it's more of a six step dash and then flinging herself at whoever or whatever is in front of her! She'll get the hang of it soon though I expect!

Now that the searing heat is over I'm trying to become more disciplined in getting stuff done around the house (i.e. not wasting so much time on the computer) and getting back to exercising more regularly (although I know that always goes by the board in summer, so I've come to expect it). On Thursday I went back to the La Roche market to see if "Marcel's" produce (the North African stallholder) was just as good value as the previous week and to be honest I think it was even better. I tend not to get my act into gear much before 11 am so getting there at noon must be when they start thinking about packing up for the day and want to get rid of their stock! I knew I didn't want great trays of stuff, however good their prices were, but as I was handing my selection to his assistant he kept adding more stuff to it, just to get rid of it. When I did my initial shop he told me it came to €16 - and then added two more mangoes, two more avocados, another melon, another bag of chicory and so on - and yet still it came to just €16! I don't know about where you live, but this haul was amazing for that price - and Jen was pretty happy with what I gave them too! She asked me if I'd been flirting with the guy, but while that might have worked 40 years ago I doubt it would make any difference now so maybe his prices are really just that good!

€16 for:
two packets of chicory (I only wanted one)
two punnets of mushrooms (again I only wanted one)
four fennel bulbs (I only wanted two)
two aubergines (I only wanted one)
three melons (two already dispatched)
three mangoes (I only wanted one)
two peppers
and the bunch of red onions thrown in for free!
In my book that's pretty good going!

Since I'd made up my mind I was going to get back to the gym afterwards I'd dressed in sports clothes and ended up having the weight room almost to myself (there was just one other person) since it was lunchtime. Good timing on my part! I spent about 45 minutes on a very namby-pamby bike ride while listening to a book but I'm hoping if I keep at it, the intensity will pick up (to be honest, it would be hard to get any "less intense")! I've also done two one-hour walks this week-end, but now really is the time to be heading more out to the mountains to get some easy-ish hikes in before the snow comes!

My neighbour and her buyer sign off tomorrow and I've already met the husband, who seems pretty nice. He told me that having lived in an apartment until this point they were used to not making too much noise but I just laughed and told him how we'd been "those neighbours" when my husband still lived here and not to worry! Their children are seven and four years old so they'll be helping to rejuvenate the neighbourhood - which is great by me as I love little kids!

Today I happened across a Youtube post by a lady who used to have a channel with her late husband and has decided to keep it going in his memory. He only died very recently (within the last month I think) and very unexpectedly but she was saying how happy she was to have videos of all their travels together to rewatch as and when. One thing she mentioned in this video was that her husband had been in the habit of using AI to plan their various trips and how wonderful they both found it. Now I have my reservations about AI and its potential for nefarious use, but I have to admit I'd never given much - or any - thought to using it as it was probably intended to be used. For instance she typed "find me a reasonable hotel near the Acropolis and interesting day trips in that area" and within seconds she'd got several hotels to chose from and an entire holiday mapped out. Then she typed in "I don't drink wine so please remove the vineyard visit" and it came up with other more suitable outings. Next she asked it to provide a packing list for a cruise to Alaska and a couple of seconds later up it popped. Same with creating a weekly menu using ...... and so on! I have to admit I'm dead impressed! I most likely won't be using it to set up any of my trips as I have my go-to travel companies anyway, but I don't think I'd realized just how powerful a tool it can be!

And finally, I think I mentioned in one of my comments on my previous post that when I take up my post as Treasurer of the old fogies' club I will ask to have emergency contacts listed for everyone in the group so that if (God forbid) there is another emergency like the one with Philippe, we will have a contact for family members. I know you can actually get into someone's iPhone without knowing their password in order to access their emergency contacts but that's always assuming the person has it set up already (and I'm assuming with a group of much older people that could well be unlikely), but at least if we have it on paper it would be a start. Next task, trying to get some of them to use email! I feel it may be an uphill struggle though!

When my sister called me for my birthday I was telling her about what had happened on our trip and the emergency contact shenanigans and she was telling me that in the UK you can have it set up as an "ICE" number, whereby a stranger can just type "ICE" into your contacts list and up pop your emergency contacts! Given what is going on in the US right now, I'm not sure I'd be yelling at anyone to call "ICE" anytime soon, though!