This and that!

The other Saturday my new-ish next door neighbours invited me and their neighbours on the other side over to their place for a BBQ to get to know each other better. It was a very pleasant evening and I think we're going to be very happy with them, even if I still miss my favourite neighbour. While we were chatting the wife mentioned how she'd had the "blank sheet of paper in the mailbox" scam again. I hadn't seen this but I knew what she was talking about. Apparently ne'er-do-wells put sheets of blank paper into mailboxes, but with just a small part sticking out. If that paper is still there, say, in a week, they know that the homeowner is most likely away and, I'm guessing, the home is ripe for the pickin'. My other neighbour was shocked when she heard this but I've heard of this scam doing the rounds for quite some time. I tell ya, what some people will do rather than get a job!

Bastille Day (14th July) came and went pretty much in a wet squib - not that it was wet but because our "fearless leader" had instigated a system of pre-registration and QR codes for anyone who wanted to be on the Champs Elysées to watch the annual parade. This restriction has never been applied before and was taken to the supreme court - who promptly shot it down on 13th July! There was much celebration until they found out on the morning of 14th July that a few phone calls were made and the QR code was reinstated! People were pissed and mostly chose to stay away and have their own Bastille Day celebrations away from Paris. To say the President is unpopular is probably an understatement but at least with the QR code there was no danger of anyone whistling and booing him! Earlier that week he had made a visit to a bunch of school kids wearing a gabardine coat (in 40°C weather!!!!) so people were surmising he was wearing heavy body armour underneath. I don't know if this is true or not but given that two bombs exploded near the hotel where he was staying in Syria recently, I'd guess he was somewhat nervous either way!

Last week I had a dentist's appointment in Geneva so drove to the Park n' Ride at the border to catch the bus into town. I'd already paid for my all day bus pass when I saw that the parking lot was closed with fire engines present, so I ended up driving into central Geneva to look for a parking place. I found one but man oh man was it noisy. My dentist is in central Geneva anyway but given that there were major roadworks going on (when aren't there?), the noise level was hell. It made me realize how glad I am to live in the countryside, even if it is often more than inconvenient! I was a bit surprised though to see three or four mattresses placed in the entrance way to the theatre opposite my dentist's, so I guess homelessness is not sparing Switzerland either!

I hadn't realized that my dentist now does teeth whitening and while she was poking around in my mouth she was chatting across me to her assistant (as they do) and mentioned that Mr. X (who was apparently next in line after me) should only have one more whitening appointment because "we don't want to be going for the Joe Biden look"! I started to laugh as I realized exactly what she meant so she had to pull her torture instruments out of my mouth before I choked!

While I was at the dentist's office I received a message from the UK passport office asking me to call them. Turns out it was nothing major but when he asked me for my address and I spelled it out for him in franglais he started telling me how he was going to France for his holidays in August and was hoping it wasn't going to be hotter than 25°C. I laughed and put him straight on that but we ended up spending about five minutes on my passport business and the next 15 talking about his upcoming holiday. That's fine with me because I'm happy to chat with anyone, but I have to say I've always found the passport people, just like the tax people, to be very pleasant and helpful!

I had Charlie overnight again on Wednesday and because storms were forecast I didn't take him up the mountains but rather to a water park near the border. He loved it and when the storm finally hit, we got to sit and watch it from the safety of the dome where the interior pools were located. It was quite something since the park is surrounded by mountains, it hadn't rained for about a month and the temperatures had been in the high 90s for a good few weeks. For about 30 minutes we had thunderbolts, lightening and hail but when it eventually passed the staff allowed everyone to go back outside. Charlie made friends with three youngsters of about 13 years of age who were really sweet with him, playing and encouraging him to jump in the pool - I was dead impressed with how kind they were. We got a bit wet on the way to the car, although nothing dramatic, but it made me recall the time, many years ago when I was a teenager, I was working my Saturday job in Birmingham city centre and waiting at the bus stop to go home. An older lady had obviously just been to the hairdressers and when it started to rain she pulled a shopping bag out of her purse and put it on her head! In retrospect I can't say I blame her (I mean, you wouldn't want your blue rinse getting spoiled would you) but she did look really funny all the same!

A google image from inside the dome - 
you're not allowed to take pictures, obviously!

When we got home we had dinner and then watched Toy Story, which Charlie loved, and then he passed out with me following on not long after. Next day we went grocery shopping and then to the pool at Bonneville. One of the lifeguards was really nice with the little kids and asked Charlie if he'd ever seen a fish swimming with his head sticking out of the water. When he said no, he told him then he needed to put his head in the water too! When he came up spluttering he pointed out that it might be a good idea to close his mouth at the same time as he "didn't want him emptying his swimming pool" all in one go! After that we stopped off at McDonalds (and now I know why I haven't been there since André moved out five-ish years ago - yuck) and on the way back to his house Jen called and asked if I could go pick Elynn up from daycare as she was running a fever! So I had to wake Charlie up, grab the stroller and walk back to daycare to get Elynn (who, it turns out has hand, foot and mouth disease and not scarlet fever like André's gf's little one). On the way back, Charlie was walking along a small wall when he fell off and banged his knee up! And again, I know why biology insists you have kids when you're young - I was knackered by the time we all got back home!

Anyway, all's back to relative normality now so I'm able to regroup a little. The Tour de France came through here on Sunday and I missed it, but as I was chatting with my neighbour he excused himself and said he was going in to watch it on TV - and that was when the power went out!!!! What with the World Cup being over (well done Spain) and the Tour de France getting hit by a power cut, I'm guessing there were a few unhappy French people in the village this weekend!

And finally, I got a notification from Netflix to say that The Grand Budapest Hotel would shortly be leaving so decided to watch it (over a couple of nights) as I had nothing better to do. And guess what, I really enjoyed it! It is incredibly silly but has a cast list to die for. I like Ralph Fiennes anyway, but to see him play the clown was really great and his new-to-me sidekick - young American actor Tony Revolori - was equally good at playing the buffoon, somewhat along the lines of the young Indian man in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel! So just for once it was nice not to be disappointed by whatever I'm watching and, as I say, I really enjoyed this movie - which came as somewhat of a surprise to me, little Miss Difficult To Please over here!

It's been another one of those weeks!

The weather here still hasn't broken despite the fact that they keep predicting rain. It's been incredibly hot, something which generally only starts around mid-July but it's been going on like this for over a month now. Tuesday is Bastille Day and I'm pretty sure many of the fireworks displays will be cancelled because everywhere is like a tinder box. They'll still go ahead in places like Annecy of course, because they have the lake, but I do hope people are sensible at private gatherings. As always I'm still on about three showers a day and feeling pretty lethargic, but in the end, as long as the essentials get done, does it really matter? I heard a strange puffing sound out back the other day and when I looked out my bedroom window they were inflating a bright red hot air balloon in the field behind me. Thinking I'd got time to have a quick shower I didn't take a photo immediately but when I got back to take a picture it'd already gone. Crikey, I didn't know they were that quick!

I had a phone call from the garage to say that my new car has already arrived and when did I want to pick it up? We've agreed on 20th July so that I can get the payment through tomorrow and have my insurance set up too. Thankfully I'm not so hot that I'm not on the ball though because when they sent me the final settlement figures I noticed that they hadn't taken into account the initial €1,000 I'd already sent them!! Anyway, I stopped in at the garage to drop off all the paperwork and decided to pop over the road to see what number the bus stop opposite was, just in case I had to drop off my car and leave it all day. While I was trying to figure out timetables with a Moroccan woman who was sitting there, it turned out that there were no buses that day (great - live in the country they said), so as it was hot I offered to drive her and her daughter home - after all, it couldn't be that far! Anyhow, we got chatting and I asked her how she'd ended up in Bonneville, and that was when she more or less gave me her life story about how she had to get her and her daughter away from her violent husband!! Crikey, I'd met this woman five minutes ago and it was only a 10 minute trip to her home, but in that short space of time we'd both agreed that she really had done the right thing to dump the guy and run!!! When I say people seem to end up telling me their life stories, as you can see, I mean it!

At the weekend the kids took the littles into Geneva for them to swim in the lake. I can't really say there is a "beach" on Lake Geneva (unlike many places in France) but everyone seemed to have had a great time all the same!

"Tonton" (uncle) André with Elynn
and his gf M with her little one!

Last Thursday I also took another day trip to the Jardins Pétrifiants in the Vercors. Because of strict distance regulations there are only so many km the drivers can cover in one day but luckily enough there seem to be quite a few interesting places in the local area anyway. The gardens were lovely but again it was very hot, so often uncomfortable. I met a couple of women who asked me if I'd been on the Lake Garda trip and as so often happens, you end up yacking away like old friends more often than not!

The above three are google
images because I just couldn't
do it justice with my iPhone!

After the gardens we stopped off at a lovely restaurant for lunch, although to be honest I wasn't keen on the food for once! Still, I didn't have to cook it and I certainly didn't have to wash up so I'm not complaining! I think the real reason we went to this restaurant though was because it was just a short walk down to the river, from where we could see the houses built into the side of the mountain and which are still inhabited!

After that we had a one-hour boat trip back to the gardens before making our way back home. Would I go there again - probably not - but was it worth the visit the first time - most definitely!

I began to notice that my computer had started playing up a little while ago, so quickly ordered a very cheap one from Amazon Germany "just in case" and man am I glad I did. I had to order from Germany because I've used a Swiss German keyboard for the last 40+ years and I couldn't find my way round a French keyboard to save my life. Anyway the other day my old computer decided it no longer wanted to hook up to the internet, so I had to quickly switch to the new one because I desperately did not want to lose all the work I'd done for the old fogies club. Problem was, my new computer didn't seem to like Excel, so I was hopping back and forth from one computer to the other and virtually pulling my hair out. After a few days of piddling around though it looks like I've got the new one up and running (and which I will back up on a regular basis) and I'm getting back to knowing where the French accents are! I suppose it's like anything new, it takes a while to get it figured out, but given that at the same time my A/C unit in the bedroom went on the blink and a few other things decided to die on me, I decided to take a couple of "sod it" days and just sit in the garden and read. Oddly enough, taking "sod it" days and/or just sleeping on it very often seems to solve the problem!

I've got Charlie overnight again on Wednesday and my lovely new neighbours (who invited both sides round for a BBQ last night) were telling me about the different kids' activities they'd been to today up at La Clusaz - my favourite ski resort. If everything works out I'll take him up on the cable car to the Plâteau de Beauregard but if it rains I guess it'll have to be the indoor swimming pool rather than the lake after that. All depends on the weather of course and if Charlie's up for the cable car (I don't think he's been in one before)!

Plâteau de Beauregard!

Oh, and just to make Dave jealous, the Tour de France is coming through here again in a few days. Well it always does come through here anyway, it's just a question of how close. I'll have to look it up and see if I can get up there to get some pictures!

And finally (and I have no idea why this popped up on my Youtube stream), there was a short video of a French committee meeting where a lady representing the Ecology Party was tabling an amendment to something or other. When the Chair tried to give her the floor he got a fit of the giggles and very soon the entire committee was in stitches. At first I couldn't see why it was so funny (although watching someone giggling helplessly is funny anyway), but it turns out Mrs. Ecology Party's name was Ms Woodburn (or Bruhlbois in French) - and everyone just collapsed laughing! Just for once it was worth watching a French committee meeting in action!