Busy!

I see I haven't left it quite so long this time before posting so I guess it's just a question of how the mood takes me! I went back to the old fogies club again on Tuesday and am beginning to see what the other committee members mean when they complain about the lady president. I just hope I'm not in for any big surprises! For the most part it's just a card game club with a few playing scrabble so there's no real reason for me to be there as I can work from home. Initially though I need to learn the ropes, get to know everyone and am happy in any case to help out with the snack bar for a couple of hours - and I guess Tuesday is when the majority show up with their payments for whatever "next event" is coming up. Martine is the little dynamo who has been showing me the accounting (there's a lot of it) and I've asked questions like "is it really necessary to go into such detail on every line item"? I mean, do you need to distinguish "office supplies" down to the last pencil - but then I'm more than happy to listen to their reasoning rather than end up with a nasty surprise at the end of the year. What really did surprise me, however, is that Viviane, the president, is the only one who has access to the bank accounts (which have quite a lot of money in them). To my mind it should be at least the president and the treasurer but nope, when the lady doing the accounting needs something Viviane just prints out a page or so off the internet! All that changes once the new committee is in place though and so far our new president (another little dynamo called Monique) is all for transparency. I just hope we don't find any nasty surprises, although to be fair I don't think we will, even if we can already see that Viviane is having a hard time letting go. I get the feeling Viviane likes the feeling of importance and the control she has over everything - you know, a bit like someone who was once very important at work and then can't accept that they become "nobodies" when they retire! So on Tuesday I was setting up excel tables with line items based on previous accounts, only to find that my bloody computer started glitching. They have their own computer/printer and so on but as I've always used a Swiss German keyboard, I'd screw everything up if I had to use a French one (they're quite different), so I've been working on my own laptop and then transferring the files back to their computer. Anyway, I was looking through various laptop possibilities as I don't really want to spend a fortune on a new laptop, and I've found one that seems to fit the bill (fingers crossed) and should arrive on Tuesday. But wouldn't you know it, my own computer is now back up and running! Still I reckon it'll happen again so it's better to be safe than sorry!

Becoming involved with this club is pretty satisfying so far and I realize that I was probably getting a bit bored having so much free time on my hands. That being said, Viviane convened a pre-annual general meeting for next Wednesday (which wasn't on the yearly list circulated a month ago) so I told her I'll have to miss it because I have a medical appointment scheduled in Geneva that day. Normally I would make an effort to attend but in all honesty I reckon the important stuff should only take about 10 minutes and I can get caught up the next day. While I've got all the dates for the year marked in my calendar I also have fixed dates to look after the grandkids and the needs of sewing club (which aren't that many, to be honest), so I don't want them springing unnecessary additions on me at the last minute! From the few meetings I've attended so far it seems Viviane often just likes to talk!

I did get to go back to the gym earlier this week but it definitely isn't enough to make it worthwhile unless I get serious about it soon so I guess we'll see in the coming weeks. I'm also keeping up with the Italian lessons on Duolingo every day and it is starting to sink in (I think), even if I felt it suddenly got quite a bit harder very recently - or maybe we were just tackling new stuff!

I'm still not happy with my phone carrier (SFR) but recently learned that it is being broken up and bought by three other French companies, so I might take advantage of that fact and go with Musk's Starlink, although if I'm correct I would need at least an iPhone 14 to use it so that would lead to another expense. I guess I'll wait and see what the new year brings and what the new companies have to offer before I make up my mind though!

On a totally different tangent, at sewing club the other day one of the ladies bought muffins in for her birthday - not that we need an excuse for someone to bring food in. Well these muffins had such a delicate flavour I asked what it was and it turns out they were green tea muffins. I'd never heard of that before but if you feel inclined to try something maybe a bit different (or maybe not different, as the case may be) I would highly recommend them and have already bought matcha tea to give it a shot.

I saw on the news last week that it was the 59th anniversary of the Aberfan disaster, where slurry from a coal mine ran down a hillside, crushing Aberfan's primary school and killing 116 children and 28 adults. I was only eight at the time but remember it like it was yesterday. I also still remember one of the weeping mothers saying that just that morning her daughter had done something silly and her last words to her daughter were "you're a very naughty girl"! Can you imagine living with that grief and guilt for the rest of your life? No, neither can I!

Aberfan School, October 1966

Then just the other week I was doing my shopping in a place called Marignier when I heard fire engines racing by and saw huge plumes of smoke. Turns out a junkyard just behind the supermarket had gone up in flames destroying between 400 and 500 junked cars. Hats off to the firefighters for getting that under control so quickly and safely!

Marignier last week!

I've been getting a bit fed up of going down Youtube rabbit holes lately so with a few exceptions I've been logging off (which is great - more time for me). One of those exceptions, though, is the latest series of interviews by Youtuber Andrew Gold with police whistleblower Jon Wedger. Wedger is a former detective who worked tracking paedophile rings in and around the London area. He appears to have been very good at his job but when he tried to report his findings he was told in no uncertain terms to "drop it" as in many cases famous names were involved. He was also threatened with losing his career and his children if he took it further but brave man that he is, he came forward and spoke out in a great Youtube series, if anyone is interested! Brave man indeed (Andrew Gold interviewing Jon Wedger)!

Since I've lost interest in Youtube for the time being, I've resubscribed to Netflix as I'd given up sometime ago since there was nothing that interested me. Between that and Amazon Prime I've taken to watching or re-watching old movies and am thoroughly enjoying these dark nights catching up on a few oldies but goodies. I'm currently watching Casino, with Robert de Niro and Sharon Stone, although I can only sit still for about 45 minutes so it's taking me a while to get through it. But my god was Sharon Stone gorgeous - well she still is in my opinion and while yes she's obviously had work done, to my mind it has been pretty well done and she's still a very beautiful woman!

Add to that the farmer has put the cows back in the field behind my house and I can now fall asleep listening to the gentle dunk-dunk of the cowbells so life is busy and happy at the moment. What more can I ask for?

I see it's been a while!

Looking back through my blog I see that it's been a while since I last posted, but to be honest there's nothing much going on so I haven't been very inspired! I suppose the most "exciting" thing that happened was that there was a water leak in my basement for about three weeks from what turned out to be a broken tap. It was a slow, steady drip but as it was filling up at least a bin the size of a clothes hamper every day I was lugging buckets of water upstairs on a pretty regular basis, and buggering up my right elbow in the process. In order to slow the drip as much as possible I'd turn the water off overnight and then on again in the morning, but it was still touch and go trying to keep the floor dry down there. One morning I got up and threw a load of washing in and the bloody machine seemed to have conked out. Then, as I was making a cup of tea, I started the dishwasher and lo and behold that had conked out too! Damn, talk about bad luck - and that was when I realized I still hadn't turned the water back on!!! I suppose in the end it's better to be a bit slow on occasion than to have to keep shelling out money on electrical goods but to say I was relieved was an understatement. I was even more relieved when Jordan received the spare part and was able to come over and change it for me - no more lugging buckets of water upstairs for me, thank goodness!

I was talking to my sister and BIL the other week and my brother has sold his house and bought the apartment in town that my sister and BIL owned and they have finally gotten him moved in. It's extremely convenient for a large supermarket, a few minutes walk into the small local town and about a 30 minute walk to the beach should he feel so inclined (but I doubt that'll ever happen). They were saying that they've tried to encourage him to walk more now that he's moved as he's pretty overweight, but that he walks at a sloth's pace and it drives them mad! I had to laugh though as that's me too - in fact I've always been a slow walker (more of a dawdler, to be honest) so I sympathise with him to a certain extent. They were also saying how he barely talks anymore (he's the one with the bad stutter) and again I can understand somewhat because when you live on your own and don't necessarily see people very often, well you just get out of the habit of talking, I guess. Not that that's a problem for me, but I sometimes struggle more now that I'm retired to find a word in French (and even in English sometimes), even if I understand everything. Use it or lose it I guess. And talking of losing it, I can't remember what the pretext was but they convinced my brother to get rid of his car while they "looked for another one for him" (not gonna happen) and that can only be a good thing because his eyesight and reflexes are now terrible and I feel they've probably taken a somewhat dangerous driver off the road. Not that he needs a car anyway (he was only doing about 300 miles a year as it was) as everything is in easy walking distance and he has a free bus pass anyway, so well done to them!

Talking of walking, I was chatting to one of the retired ladies at sewing club and she was telling me that she and her sister have joined a local walking group which has introduced them to some of the most beautiful local walks imaginable. She said she walks with the Wednesday group and they aim to do 8-10 km circuits at the beginner level. I'm a bit dubious as I know I'm a very slow walker, even if I get there in the end, but I've gone ahead and booked a doctor's appointment to get a medical certificate to certify my aptitude to join the group (you always have to do this the first time you join any kind of sports group over here). She knows I'm nervous about being Tail End Charlie but showed me a photo of the Wednesday group and pointed out a husband and wife pair who really just dawdle along at their own pace so I should fit right in (all prayers are, however, welcome). Mind you, she also pointed out an 87 year old lady and her 74 year old friend at the top of one of the mountains, so yep they have some real mountain goats in the group also. Yikes, what have I gone and done now???

I've also been to my second Tuesday afternoon meeting of the old fogies club in St. Pierre where I am now offcially the treasurer. Man oh man is there a lot to learn but I am so very impressed by the little dynamo of a lady who is showing me the ropes and I'm making an effort to get to know a few names even if it's a cardgame group and I have no intention of playing cards. So for a few hours on a Tuesday I'm trying to learn how it all works (apparently there's quite a lot of money in the bank account as it's a fairly big club) and I don't mind helping out serving drinks for an hour or so to show willing. One of the ladies who helps with the administration was sitting at a table making baubles covered in Christmas fabric for the upcoming festive season, so I went through my stash last week and came up with quite a lot of holiday fabric she is welcome to have. When we got talking she told me that she had worked in Geneva at the La Prairie stand in one of the big department stores. Now I remember reading about La Prairie cosmetics in my youth where celebrities and film stars seemingly spent a trillion dollars for a small tube of their face cream and she said yep, that was them. And then she said that their products were manufactured by the same people who make Nivea, if you can believe that - and I most certainly can because these expensive creams and potions are, to my mind, just a rip-off for the gullible! And remember Philippe, the gent who died on our trip, well they were saying that none of his three kids attended his funeral the other week even though they all knew about it, although that makes me wonder who organized it then (maybe a brother and cousin who did attend)! I barely knew the man but to have none of your kids show up at your funeral seems to scream that something was off doesn't it!

The town of St. Pierre is small, but still a lot bigger than the village where I live, so there always seems to be loads going on. Last Saturday they had their annual "everything free" market at the sports stadium where people could come by earlier in the week to drop stuff off and then show up on Saturday to see what was available, the only requirement being that everything was free. Apparently they got rid of over 4,000 kg of "stuff" in one day, with the rest being given to charity for them to do with as they wished (charities can simply make up bags of unwanted fabric and sell it by the kilo). Well done to the organizers!

Then the other day I decided it was about time I made an effort and got in touch with a few people and get off my backside and take the initiative So I sent a message to my former colleague to ask how he was doing - to which he replied "terrible, and can I come out and visit you soon"? He recently lost his father after a long battle with cancer, but the "terrible" I think refers more to a situation at work so either I'll go into Geneva to meet up with him or he'll come out here to visit me one weekend, so I'm glad I made the effort! Then on 10th October I realized it was the birthday of my best childhood friend. For some reason I never forgot her birthday even though we haven't seen each other in about 50 years. So I decided to try my luck on FB, although I didn't hold out much hope as she has a very common name. But I found a lady who might just be her, although a photo taken 50 years later can be quite difficult to pin down, can't it. So I sent her a message asking her if she'd grown up on CW estate, did she go to C Grammar School and was today her birthday? If not, I apologized for bothering her, but if so, hey mate, it's been 50 years! Sadly I see she hasn't posted for a couple of years but who knows, maybe she might click on FB and see my message at some point!

I also sent a message to my favourite neighbour asking if she was on her way to Charentes but she said not yet as she was still at her son's in Switzerland as there was more work to be done at the Charentes house and she would stop by and see me before she left. I was talking about her move with Jordan and Jen and was quite surprised at Jen's reaction to her move, almost saying she considered her "selfish" (although not in so many words) to be moving so far away from her kids and grandkids. I was shocked, but said while I didn't actually think it was the best move for her, she'd spent the last 50 years taking care of a (spiteful) husband and both of her kids were almost 50 so if she didn't follow her heart now, then when? As I say, I'm not sure it's the best move for her but she sure as hell has the right to put herself top of her priority list for once in her life!

The other Saturday we got to attend Charlie's second "sports day" (i.e. a short cross-country race) and although it was forecast wet the rain held off until later in the evening. As parking would be limited I walked up the hill with Jordan and Jen's mom's partner while Jen took the car with the kids and her mom, and it was ok in the end (even if I was Tail End Charlie again). Charlie didn't win his race this time but that was ok as he had a blast, and chose to walk back down to the apartment with us after the event, passing by the local château and through the grounds of a small farm where he was fascinated watching the farmer moving the hay into the barn for the cows!

Charlie and Jen on the starting line!

I looked after him on the Wednesday afternoon again, and then on Sunday we all had lunch at their place to celebrate Jen's, Jen's mom and my birthday. After lunch we sat down to play games and Charlie said he wanted to sit with me - then he saw tonton (uncle) and said no, he wanted to sit with tonton, so of course I started to "cry", so he agreed he'd sit with me, upon which tonton started to cry - tee hee, we had that kid's head doing a 180° swivel until we decided he would sit between us to keep the peace. I took the whoopie cushions and false noses etc. so we had a blast with those until Jen told us off for laughing too loud as Elynn was asleep (but how, pray, do you laugh quietly while sitting on a whoopie cushion)????

Tonton André's got the
Groucho Marx vibe going!

Too many candies, methinks!

And finally, do you remember the case of the brave French lady, Gisèle Pelicot, whose husband was drugging her and inviting "men" (and I use the term lightly) into their home to rape her? She was brave enough to give up her right to anonymity as, quite rightly, she felt the shame needed to be placed squarely where it belonged - and that wasn't on her! Well one of the more than 50 "men" who raped her appealed his sentence on the grounds that "he thought it was ok because the husband said so" (???) and he was rightfully handed his arse back on a platter and had his sentence increased - but only by one year (should have been life in my opinion). But again, what a brave lady she is - and again, merci Gisèle!