Almost there!

I went to my first Italian lesson of the year last night. There were only three of us, although I think one lady from last year will be coming next week. One new guy has also signed up so we agreed to more or less go back to the basics, both for his benefit and for ours to rehash what we learned what now seems so long ago. Still it was a good start! Then this morning the sewing club teacher sent me a message to ask if a colleague of hers could join us on Monday. I wrote back that that was not a problem but as I've also had two potential newbies contact me we might need to put a hold on any new enrolments since we're obliged to follow distancing requirements now. In any case we don't have enough tables even if the room were big enough. I mentioned to her that I had bought hand sanitizer and a few masks, just in case anyone showed up without one, but she said frankly if someone who can sew shows up without a mask it doesn't bode well for them does it! Ha, I hadn't thought of that! My thought was more along the lines that if someone forgot to bring their mask at least we wouldn't have to turn them away!

Then this morning, despite being tired and still pretty stiff, I made a good faith effort to get down into town for my first pilates class of the season. And would you believe it, despite them being in the process of setting up to welcome the Tour de France, I actually got a place right in front of the building! Problem was, when I went to the front door there was a sign up saying "no classes today due to the Tour"! Bloody hell, don't you think a group email might have been in order? Oh well, it wasn't that far anyway and at least I was up and showered I suppose. So I came home to faff around for a bit before I walk back into town to have a shufty. There was no Thursday market today for obvious reasons, but they're already setting up the drinks stands, bouncy castles and so on so it looks like it could be fun. Actually I'm not really that interested in the race to be honest - although I probably shouldn't put that out there on the internet before I get my French citizenship should I, especially given that Catholicism seems to take a distant second place to cycling in France. But, as Steve told me when he retired, he decided that whenever there was the possibility of doing something that might be fun, his mantra was always to say yes. To walk to the one spot where they should be coming down from Glières is only about a 15 minute walk, and if I want to go down into town (that will depend on how crowded it looks), it will be another 15, so given the good weather I'll head out in a little while!

Up at Glières they're already setting up for their arrival, although if I had realized they would be cycling through La Clusaz this year also I would probably have driven up there earlier in the day as I love La Clusaz. At this point no cars will be allowed up anyway, and from what I can see all the shuttle buses are fully booked, so walk it will have to be. That being said, my 80+ neighbour was all kitted out in his cycling gear when I came home as he was obviously off out to greet the Tour (that man is like a human mountain goat). When I offered to come with him he just laughed! Somehow I suspect he doesn't take me seriously - you think?

Pictures taken from the TdeF official site and FB page!

Plâteau de Glières this morning!

Well that wasn't so bad!

While not everything has opened back up here (sewing club starts up again next week), most things are up and running so I'm getting into a better routine - which now I think of it, I actually quite enjoy! We had our latest board game evening at my neighbours on Saturday and it was fun, even if we were only eight this time, what with people being away on holiday and whatnot. We played a new-to-me card game that Jen brought along and I enjoyed it, even though, yet again, I came last. Still, someone's got to make everyone else feel good haven't they!

The weather is absolutely beautiful at the moment, much cooler than it was, hovering around 28°C (in the 80sF) and so much more pleasant. Long may it last as I have so much more energy in these kinds of temperatures. I finally decided it's time to empty my little swimming pool but I didn't want to just "unplug" it as I'm not totally sure where all that water will end up (it's untested territory as yet). Instead I've been carrying buckets of water out back and front and finally my garden is getting the kind of watering it probably should have been getting all summer long, and I have to say it seems to be appreciating it!

Ages ago I took up the rose bushes by my back window and planted simple winter plants for the most part, but as it's a real sun trap and up against a white wall, my tomato plants seem to do really well there. This is probably the only time I eat tomatoes, to be honest, because unless I am getting them from Italy I don't think the plastic things you find in the stores are worth wasting money on!

I've been having some pretty strange dreams lately involving my mom, who died in 2015. The dreams themselves are ok but I end up wondering what they're about as I tend to think most dreams have some kind of meaning. It would have been her 99th birthday in October but I don't think that's it. Still, I'm sure it'll come to me at some point. Or maybe she's just stopping by to say hallo, who knows. I used to have the most dreadful nightmares when I was married - and for a long time after the divorce - but I could easily figure out what they were about. But mom, I'm not sure. As the saying goes, "I'll have to sleep on it"!

I also think, like most people, I've been getting an overdose of politics on the TV lately. Actually I've had a bellyful of both Cheeto and the blond idiot in Downing Street. The accents are different but the antics seem to be pretty much the same sadly and I don't think you can trust either of them. So I've tried to stay away from the TV as much as possible because - well just because. That being said, I've been reading a few of the books that have come out about Trump, and they are fascinating. I read Mary Trump's book and found it really interesting. I've also just finished Melania and Me, and while there was way too much use of acronyms and back and forth of emails, I can see why she wrote the book. Boy was she set up (and subsequently exonerated it seems) to take the fall for the missing millions from the inauguration coffers. I don't blame her for writing her book actually because I know I would want to set the record straight, but more than once she said she was told not to have anything to do with the Trump family - and she admits she wished she had listened because they nearly destroyed her. I think I will also download the Michael Cohen book because each of these people tells their story from a different angle, and while Cohen was obviously as thick as thieves with Trump, I think his book will probably do the most damage. We'll see when I read it I guess!

After my Monday morning yoga yesterday I managed to fit in another hour's walk also. It seemed a shame not to as the weather was just perfect. Then I figured that as I was going to be pretty booked up for the rest of the week it would be a good time to run out to a local chimney installation place. I have a wood-burning open chimney in the middle of my living/dining room, and as of fairly recently they are apparently no longer legal in France. Having a fireplace that just emits wood smoke directly into the atmosphere is no longer allowed, so while I can keep the fireplace as is, it would be against the law to actually use it now (not that I have for the last 10 years anyway). So I now have an appointment set up to get a cost estimate to have what they call a closed cassette inserted into the fireplace that will burn granules instead of wood. I wanted to keep the fireplace as I think it's more attractive than having something that looks like space ship in the middle of the room, and apparently doing it this way would allow me to heat the large downstairs area very cheaply if I choose to. I don't really heat it too much anyway because I tend to live on the first floor, but I'll see what they say and how it might work out when they come next week I guess! On the way home I stopped in at a store I don't use very often and when I looked at the bill I noticed they had this printed at the bottom and thought what a great idea it was!

If you are a victim of domestic violence, call 3919

Then last night, just as I was getting ready for bed, I got a FB message apparently from an gent in New York with whom I play Words with Friends. We chat sometimes but instantly I thought this message was a bit weird. Out of the blue he's asking me if I've heard of the rgg programme? "He has used it, it's linked to the "Rotary Fund" and he was able to claim money from them without paying it back". First thought, well he's an older U.S. veteran so maybe it's linked to the situation in the U.S. and he had included me in the message by accident. But then I thought, nah, something about this sounds pretty fishy, so I sent him a message including a screenshot via another account and asked if he was indeed the author of the message and he said "never in a million years". So I told him in that case I think he'd been hacked and he might want to warn his friends and change his password. At that he told me that his credit card had once been hacked to the tune of $3,500, only $3,000 of which he was able to claim back. His bank told him that the scammers had tried putting through small amounts at first to see if they went through, so when he was reimbursed he received hundreds of individual cheques in one go! Wow, talk about having to watch your back!

My screen shot!

His reimbursements!

And finally, tonight I had my one hour session with a coach at the gym where I recently signed up for him to set me up with a work-out programme. To be honest, it was much better than I expected. I guess I'd been put off by seeing this one trainer in particular at our work's gym. To my mind she was alienating some people by being so dogmatic in what she insisted they do. I mean, it's not because she found it easy that others would also and I know more than a few people who dumped her. Anyway, Ben was just lovely. He sat with me and asked me what I wanted to achieve (lose the bingo wings for one) and what I wasn't interested in. I told him my only no-no would be running on a treadmill (a) because I hate running and always have, and (b) because I think I should take care of my knees which sometimes give me a bit of gyp, but other than that I was open to trying anything. So he walked me through maybe six machines and four floor exercises that would form my programme for the next few months - or until Christmas at least - when he would expect me to be able to move it up a notch. He explained what the objective was for each machine (and how to use it correctly) and told me that the one machine I particularly like (to build the inner thigh) wasn't of much use to me as I didn't need it if I used the other machines. I had to bite my tongue not to make some crack about the last time I'd used my inner thigh muscles but you'll be glad to know I managed to show some restraint! So all in all it was a much better experience than I was expecting. On my way home tonight I tried to take a picture of the setting sun as it was going behind a cloud. Not sure if it came out that well as I had to grab it really quickly, but I thought it looked a bit like a space ship at one point!

When I got in I turned on the computer to catch up with my blog reading, and saw that our "die boomer die" troll is wanking online again from mommy's basement. I had to laugh though because had this guy watched me tonight trying to hold a plank at the gym for one minute he'd have seen that he almost got his wish!

Ouch!

Or, how to make every bone in your body ache in three easy lessons! I mentioned in my last post that most (though not all) of my activities started up again last Monday, so I had Monday morning yoga followed by Tuesday afternoon yoga (with my neighbour - who was delighted to be starting back up again) and that was when Sylvie, who takes both classes with me, asked if I wanted to go walking with her on Thursday, as she had a free day in her schedule. She looks after children after school, helps with homework, gives extra tuition (she used to be a teacher) and does drop off and pick up on school days - so as you can see she's an absolute treasure for working parents! Things being as they are at the moment, her schedule is all over the place so I knew if I wanted to go walking with her it would have to align with her schedule rather than mine. So I said let's go for it!

As I drove through the village of Saint Laurent to meet her this morning, I saw that in the small, newly-built apartment building opposite the Mairie there is now an artisan baker's also. I think that's a masterpiece of a business plan because it's also directly opposite the village school so I imagine they will do a roaring trade. It's kinda sad, in a way, for the little baker's that has been in the village for many, many years. It's a stunning place - exactly how you would picture it - set up off the road in a quaint little building at the foot of the mountains. I've known the owners for over 30 years so I sincerely hope there is room in the village for two bakers!

Sylvie was born and raised in this area and offered to take me on a relatively easy hike (a word to the wise, never take the word of a local when they say "relatively easy") up to a place called Plaine Joux, about 30 minutes from here (and just 20 minutes from Jordan and Jen's place). Obviously anywhere round here you've got to climb a little so in reality it probably wasn't that bad, but I still had a hard time of it for the first 30 minutes or so - although the heat and trying to talk and walk at the same time probably didn't help either. We made our way round a circuit which took two-and-a-half hours and oh were there some lovely chalets up there. Really old and weather-beaten, but they all had the most beautiful displays of flowers - they were just stunning. I tell ya, if you wanted to cut yourself off from most of civilization, that's the place to be (in the summer at least - in winter they have cross-country and downhill skiing up there). But it really was just lovely!

Pointe des Brasses

Looking toward the Môle, where Jordan and Jen live!

Wild horses!

Not so wild cows!

On the way back down!

By the time I got home I realized I'd put in 20,000 steps today and boy do I know it! I've also just washed my face and pulled my hair back and see that I've got a rather fetching bright red face to boot!

I read in the British press yesterday about an 80-year old hiker who had been out walking on the Yorkshire moors with friends when he got separated from them during a hail storm (yep, that's England in summer for you). He was apparently stuck on the moors for three nights, while search and rescue teams were out looking for him! But, he has just made his way back to civilization, unharmed apart from a bump on his head and a desire for a pint and something to eat! As he explained on the news, he was well-equipped and well trained so he knew exactly what he had to do. He found shelter, pitched his tent and stuck it out until the weather cleared enough for him to make his way down. Compare that to me hiking half the time in flip-flops and ending up with a burnt face, I think I've got a lot to learn don't you!

Harry Harvey - made it back safe and sound after spending
three nights on the Yorkshire moors!

And yesterday I felt I had to put my money where my mouth was and go to my first try-out at the gym I've just signed up for. I ended up being one of just two people using the machines on the first floor, which is good as it gave me time to walk through each machine and try them all out. I have my session with the coach next week, but even so it was good to have some time to get my bearings. I'm also going to try to go tomorrow as I want to have a full week of it to see how it feels, but right now I think a hot shower and an early night is probably as much as I can manage at the moment!

But what happened to the fly?

So I finally made it out to a vide-grenier on Sunday - my first of the year probably - but it was disappointing, to say the least. They were selling the usual tat, except for a few nice glasses I would have been happy to buy if I needed more desert glasses. But, nope, probably not. I wasn't sure if masks were mandatory -  as I understand it, outside they're not. That being said, I would say 90% of the people were wearing masks so in the end I decided to put mine on and go with the flow. I didn't buy anything but I did have a glass of wine on the way out. While I sat on the side drinking it, two little boys were trying to beat the hell out of any grasshoppers they found. They were catching them and then burying them in sand, only to smash them with stones later. I didn't want to get into it with them but eventually I said that if that grasshopper had made it through all that alive maybe they should just let her go and live in peace! I don't know, I was never that cruel as a kid but who knows!

And the other night I watched the first episode of a new series of All Creatures Great and Small that is now playing in the UK and I'm thinking I will probably enjoy it. This series was around in the 1970s and I really loved it. It portrays the life and times of Yorkshire vet, James Herriot, and while those times were physically much more difficult, I do wonder if they weren't happier times emotionally, although believe it or not, I have yet to read the book!

In other news, I see that Kaing Guek Eav (also known as Comrade Duch) died in his prison cell last week. He was one of the principle protagonists responsible for one of the worst prisons in Cambodia during the reign of Pol Pot. Comrade Duch had apparently been a maths teacher, but for whatever reason, got sucked into the evil that was the Khmer Rouge at the time!

Comrade Duch

Some of the young people killed by the Khmer Rouge!

I mention this because when I first went to Geneva I ended up working with the sweetest, kindest, most gentle man I will ever meet, and he was Cambodian. He was one of seven children (I think, maybe eight) and all of those children - except for him and his sister - were massacred by the Khmer Rouge - along with his parents. T had managed to make it out of Cambodia, but told me that any people with even slight "indentations" in their noses - which would indicate that they wore glasses and that they could read - were massacred in order to "level down" the intelligence of the population. What struck me most was that the Khmer Rouge also killed their children, because they didn't want the children coming after them years later to exact revenge! This is oddly reminiscent of the initial film of The Godfather, in which Vito Corleone's father had been shot, and when his mother went to plead with them to spare her son's life, the Godfather's response was to kill the mother, and try to kill Vito, "so that the son does not exact revenge later"!

So when I first arrived in Geneva I ended up working with sweet T. At that time, he had made it out of Cambodia but his sister and her husband were still in concentration camps back in their homeland. So a Vietnamese colleague was doing the rounds collecting money trying to raise enough money in order to bribe prison guards to let them out. Apparently it worked - although my memory of this is not clear -  because his sister and her husband made it out and ended up as refugees in Zurich. But, for some reason his brother-in-law went back to Cambodia to try to get more family members out - and that was the last anyone ever heard of  him! So whatever Comrade Duch's justifications were for running a concentration camp that killed 14,000 people, I'm glad he never saw the light of day again - and that my lovely T did and lived to tell his story and find any happiness he could with his lovely Italian wife!

And today I had my first yoga lesson in probably six months, but you know what, it only took one lesson for me to feel totally relaxed again! Okay, maybe I was a bit squeaky, but by golly it felt good. After that I drove out to Sallanches as I wanted to visit le Vieux Pont and cross that off my "to visit" list. I managed to get a good walk in there before I got a call from Max saying he had the spare part to repair the leak in my heating system and could he stop by? I told him I would arrive as soon as I could but as the garage door was open anyway he could just show up whenever. On my way back home I got stuck behind a van with a sign which read "Gérard Bastard - mechanic". Oh, I remember those days, thinking I could never marry that guy, what with having him introduce me and my kids as "this is my wife and these are the little Bastards"! Still, it's better than living in Wankdorf in the Swiss German part of Switzerland, where all the Brits have to stop and get a picture, isn't it! All the same, I was glad when I got home to see that Max had parked properly on my driveway, given the recent tensions with my neighbour about his blocking my driveway/parking in front of my garage! 

Le Vieux Pont

The Mont Blanc!

Since I knew I would be having to get up early for my yoga class, last night I decided I wouldn't stay up late reading the news and surfing Youtube - that only ends up with me having nightmares about Donald Trump. So I ended up watching a video of Gina, the Italian nonna, and spent half the night dreaming I was stuffing mushrooms instead!

And finally, I saw a rather sad article in the French news this morning. Apparently an older gent had been having problems with a fly that was driving him nuts. So he went into his house and came out with an electric fly swatter and tried swatting the living daylights out of that bugger. Trouble was, unbeknownst to him, there was a gas leak in his home and the electrical spark from the fly-swatter ignited the leaking gas and blew half his house away. He emerged from it pretty much unscathed - but apparently no-one knows what happened to the fly!

God bless you Scratch, wherever you are!

I had my French language proficiency test today in connection with my request for French citizenship. Up until April of this year anyone over 60 didn't have to take the test, but on 1 April all that changed and now everyone requesting citizenship has to take it. I can't say I was particularly bothered but it was just one more hoop to jump through all the same. Then again, if getting citizenship gives you the right to vote I think it's only right that your French should be good enough to understand French politics don't you? Not that I do actually understand French politics but .... I certainly consider my French up to it should I ever show an interest!

I set off really early because although it was in a town not far from here I didn't know the exact location. On the way there I saw a Buffalo Grill steak house so I thought I'd stick one to the ex and have lunch there. I've written about this before but we used to go to Buffalo Grill sometimes when we were shopping in Annecy (they make a mean margarita), but my ex always used to do his nut because they put CORN in the free salad they gave you before your meal!!!! Damn, CORN??? My solution to that problem was either refuse the free salad or pick the corn out of it, but NO, his solution was that we should never set foot in that den of iniquity ever again! And he stuck to it! So, with a "devil may care" attitude I decided to eat at the Buffalo Grill before going on to my French test (although I passed on the margarita since I needed to keep my single brain cell alive for the test). And guess what, nobody died and the world didn't stop spinning because there was corn in the salad!

It's a good job I set out early though as it was a real pain to find this place. I was supposed to show up at 14h and 20 minutes beforehand I'm still driving round in circles looking for it. I finally found it though and was still in good time for the test. I'd guess there were about 20 of us in the group and it was very well organized - all covid-compliant and stuff. They walked us through the mechanics of the test and then we set to with the first part, which was the oral comprehension. I mentioned before that that was the part that most bothered me because while I understood everything that was said, as the questions became more difficult I always felt that the answers were ambiguous and several could have been right, and that was certainly true this time. That being said, the test was actually much easier than the practice tests I had been sitting, so that was a positive. Then we had the written comprehension test which, again, was pretty straightforward (although French can get pretty "flowery" - you know, why use one word when 100 will do?), followed by an exercise where we had to write three paragraphs on three different topics - which was fine, except for having to deal with a French keyboard. Still I managed. When I'd finished I turned to look out the window at the kids walking past and I realized that I could see the screen of the guy facing the window. He had his screen set up in a really huge font and that was when I realized that we didn't all have the same test. I could actually read his questions from where I sat (not that I was cheating of course) and he wasn't sitting the same test as me!

This test had never particularly worried me and for that I can only send praises up to heaven for my old French teacher, Mr. Etches - who we all referred to affectionately as Scratch! He was incredibly strict but very fair, and he used to wander up and down the classroom singing verb endings (how to conjugate French verbs) and as daft as it sounds those bloody songs stuck. Ten trillion years later, when I joined my friend Ian in Bulgaria, we got to talking about Scratch and Ian started singing Scratch's "verb conjugating songs"! When I got my job in Geneva at the age of 21 I took the time to write to Scratch and thanked him for his wonderful teaching, which "was absolutely instrumental in helping me to get my fabulous job in Geneva". He wrote back to me, addressing me as "Treaders", saying how I was a delight to teach and that he was so glad that he had made an impact on my life. I learned that he died shortly thereafter but I know that somewhere I still have that letter!

Anyway, thanks to Scratch I wasn't particularly worried about writing in French. I make mistakes, of course, but not that many, so I'm pretty confident about the written part. The good thing was that the oral and written comprehension part was easy to mark as we went along, so at the end of the test we got our results. A1 and A2 are basically "you speak basic French" and are not accepted as sufficient fluency to become French citizens. At a minimum you need B1 - and I couldn't believe it when I got C2!!! That's not the definitive score because the written and the oral interview have to be marked first but I'm pretty damn pleased with that anyway. Apparently I got 699/700, and the Algerian guy next to me asked me if I was French when he clocked my score (so why would I be applying for French citizenship?)!!!! I didn't dare look at his score because it didn't feel right, but I'm assuming it should have been ok - I mean, Algerians speak French anyway right!

After that it was the one-on-one interview on three different subjects. She asked me what my hobbies were, so after "patchwork, walking in the mountains etc." I mentioned reading. So she asked what I was reading at the moment, and when I said Donald Trump's niece's book she asked me to tell her the "juicy bits". I told her that Mary Trump certainly didn't hold back and it was a good read, and she just laughed.

This lady gets to mark me on my interview with her but the recording of it is then sent off to Paris and they will have the definitive say-so for the marks. So I'll have to wait a couple of weeks for the final results (they have to mark the written test also) and then I'll know if I can proceed with my citizenship request.

The campus was in a beautiful spot alongside the Salève mountain with a view over the city of Geneva. House prices (I imagine) are higher around there because of the proximity to the Swiss border, and there are some truly stunning houses around, but I don't think I would like to be negotiating those little winding roads every day, particularly not in winter!

As I was driving back I noticed that the mountains were particularly spectacular today, with clear blue skies and a fabulous view of the Mont Blanc. I couldn't stop to get a photo though, but by golly some days are just diamonds. But you know what will probably bug me for a long time? If I got 699/700 on the test that they were already able to mark, what was the question I got wrong?

I swear I've got "frickin' idiot" stamped on my forehead!

As I had a hair appointment this afternoon I decided to go into town early to stop at the bank beforehand to get some cash. Since I was really early I figured I had enough time to have a drink before walking over to the hairdresser's. When I got to the café I spotted a guy called Stephan who I used to see quite a bit when Stan had his little bar in the village. Now Stephan has the most piercing blue eyes I have ever seen and was probably a pretty handsome guy in his time, but the Stephan I got to know was just plain weird. He was obviously pretty intelligent and spoke several languages, but for some reason he got it into his head that as I was English it was ok to speak to me in German. I know some German but in the end I had to tell him "hey, I'm English ok. If you want to speak English to me fine, but please quit with the German"! It didn't work though - I reckon it was just his way of showing off. I came to find out later from Stan that Stephan - who is about my age - had worked as a language teacher but had been placed on a disability pension some years ago (due to schizophrenia I think). While that was sad he had a more than decent pension and in any case he lived with his wealthy parents in town and wanted for nothing. He was also, sad to say, an alcoholic and alcohol had obviously ravaged his looks over time. Still, I got on ok with Stephan - or at least that is until my husband moved out. At that point he must have seen me as a good target and I remember being shocked one time when he asked if he could borrow €100. I decided to give it to him, writing it off to myself as a bad loan, but to be fair he paid me back about a month later. Stan told me I was a fool as Stephan probably had more money than I did but at least I learned from the experience. Shortly thereafter Stephan again asked me for €100 but this time I just said no, that I was not a bank, and that if he needed money I suggest he speak to his parents! Then, I found out that his parents took his car off him because of his drink-driving, so while it is more than feasible to walk up from town to my little village, after that I didn't see him very often unless he came to Stan's with his dad.

A few months later I saw him again and he had the nerve to ask if he could rent a room from me "because you've got this big house with so many bedrooms", saying that he was tired of living with his parents. Thank God I learned long ago that "no" is a complete sentence, rather than faff around trying to find excuses. So I simply told him that it had taken me a long time to gain my independence and that I treasured my privacy so sorry, but the answer was no - regardless of how many bedrooms I might have! Actually, another guy contacted me about the same time asking if he could rent my camper and live in my driveway when my ex moved out. This guy lived about 200 metres from me with his stepfather in an identical house to mine but yet he wanted to live in my camper? So I wrote back saying that I had bought my camper for my personal use so the answer was no! I already had him figured, I reckon, because when I would want to be out in my camper he would be thinking he could move into my house - and then presumably never move out again! Not long after that Stephan phoned me, but since I had an idea as to why he was phoning I never answered and that seemed to be the end of it. That is, until today!

As I mentioned above, I was early for my hair appointment and I went off to have a drink, and that was when I spotted Stephan, who said hallo to me. I figured after all this time it would be ignorant not speak to him so I sat and ordered a drink for him and me and we chatted for a while. He told me that one of the guys I used to see at Stan's was a relative of his and had died about 18 months ago of a heart attack at the young age of 52. I was shocked as he and his partner were pretty nice people - but 52!!! He'd been walking in the mountains when he had the heart attack, but even the air ambulance was unable to save him. What a shock! Anyway, as I went to pay I saw Stephan look at my wallet - and that's when he asked if he could "borrow" €10 to "buy some smokes"! Damn, any time I ever saw him in town he would be at the bar, and he must have smoked five cigarettes while I was with him! He told me he would stop by on Saturday to give me the money back but as I don't want him coming to my house I told him I would be out and that he was welcome to keep it. But there you go, never again. He's a user and I just can't be bothered with this shit any more!

So then, as I was walking back to my car, guess who came running up behind me - if you guessed "white van man" you'd be right. If you remember, he was asking for "a few coins in order to get out of here" when I was doing my shopping last Thursday. It's not as though he needed money for the parking because parking was free - and then I saw him in the shop with a €50 note. Nope, this time he was "€2.30 short and needed to buy his train ticket". I was a bit more with it for once so I asked him where his van was .... and at that he just ran off. Next I saw him at the Post Office pulling the same stunt. Damn I get so fed up of these people!

Anyway, after that I seemingly had no choice but to head off down to the gym to sign up for the year. It's a bit weird at the moment because if you want a shower you have to "book it" in advance as only so many people are allowed in the locker rooms at once. I also have to let them know via their app that I'm intending to go the gym (because of contact tracing), but I guess these measures won't last for ever. So there will be nowhere to leave your valuables because the lockers are out of bounds, no showers and the need to use a contact tracing app to boot. Still, I signed up anyway and have my appointment with a coach on 15 September (I think). But get this, as I was walking out I heard a voice behind me asking if I had a spare mask. Oh damn, here we go again. But when I turned round it was a young girl who I reckon had forgotten her mask and couldn't get in to the gym without one. As luck would have it I had put a spare mask in my bag so just this once I didn't mind handing it over!

When I got back home my neighbour (the wife) was out front of her house so I stood and chatted to her for a while. So then, as I'm sick and tired of her husband's "aw shucks did I park in your driveway again" routine, I thought "in for a penny" and said "would you mind asking Jan not to park in my driveway when he comes next time only it's getting to be pretty annoying having to ask him or your husband to move when I come home". She was surprised and said she hadn't realized they were doing that because "oh you know men, they don't think". So I just said "well thankfully we're here to think for them, but just so you know, I'm getting fed up of having to ask them to move off my driveway when I come home with my groceries". Not that I should have to have an excuse like groceries for wanting to be able to park in my own driveway of course - but at least it's a start don't you think!

You win some, you lose some!

Today I decided to head off down to the large mall near Annecy to buy a new phone, even though I still hadn't decided exactly what I wanted. All I knew was that I didn't want to spend a lot of money. There have been (and still are) loads of roadworks going on in that area and now I can no longer get to my usual mall entrance so I have to go a different way. This takes me to a much more practical entrance and that's where I spotted "him"! It was a small stand advertising quick repairs to phones and so on so I went over and showed him my phone, which was down to about 30% charged in just a matter of hours. He said it was most likely the battery but beyond a certain point there was just no saving a phone in some cases. However if I wanted to leave it with him for about an hour he would take a look at it. So I took myself off for an unplanned lunch out and a little wander, and wadda ya know - it was indeed just the battery and he was able to replace it and recharge my phone, all for the princely sum of €40 - as opposed to €400-€500 for a new phone! As you can imagine, I'm well pleased because I knew if I went into the SFR shop (my mobile carrier) they'd try to get me to change my contract (the one I just recently negotiated down), or try to sell me a much more expensive phone. I really didn't want to spend that kind of money because planned obsolescence annoys the hell out of me! I also spotted an Yves Rocher shop - a new one to me - and was able to pick up some of my favourite products there too. I like Yves Rocher's products and they're not at all expensive, so it was a double win!

When I got back to la Roche I stopped in at the gym and wadda ya know - it wasn't open! I had a walk around because I wondered if maybe they had gone out of business since my last visit, but when I looked them up on my now fully-charged phone it seems they actually close from noon to 4 p.m! Obviously there isn't much demand for lunch time fitness sessions by the looks of it, and 24/7 access? Ha, as if! This is France after all! I did wonder if this was maybe God's way of telling me "oh you look just fine, you don't need the gym", but then I reckoned even God wasn't that blind!

When I got home my neighbour's friend was now parked across my driveway, so as I must have been in a somewhat more tetchy mood than usual I just sat on my horn till he came out, apologized profusely and moved his truck. What is it with these people? I mean, if it's a question of just running in to the neighbours to, say, drop off a parcel I have no problem with that, but I will never get why you park in someone else's driveway, especially when there are plenty of parking spaces around! Once I had calmed down I saw that my roofing people had been back to finish up the sealant on the remaining 15 square metres that they had missed first time round (an easy mistake to make as that part of my roof actually looks like it belongs to my neighbour) - so that put me in a slightly better mood. I have to admit I'm pathetically grateful when I receive good service/follow-up, but in reality isn't that the way it should be everywhere? And then my gardener showed up with his son to get my lawn sorted. With it having rained for the last four days he has been hard pushed to catch up while the weather is holding. I do wonder what he does in the winter though - snow clearance maybe? Who knows! I asked him to give me a quote to cut my hedges and he's given me a decent price so I'm happy to let him do that too. I have to say though that I do wonder about his health. He has an enormous belly on him - the kind that hangs way down over his trousers in a kind of fat flap - and with the kind of hard physical work that he does, particularly in the heat, I'd be concerned for his health somewhat. He's a decent enough guy so I hope he proves me wrong but having all that fat, especially around his middle, would be worrying to me. So yeah, I think I've just talked myself into going back to sign up at the gym tomorrow - maybe I'd just had a vision of the ghost of Christmas yet to come!