Contents of article "26. June 2007"
Monday 4th June
Monday 11th June
Saturday 16th June
Saturday 23rd June
Monday 4th June
Rosy
Dummy!
The weather can’t quite seem to get its act together. For the past few weeks, it has been moody and unpredictable, alternating between rain, wind, sunny periods..... not cold but certainly lower than normal temperatures, and always with a veil of cloud blocking the sun. Today it is warm and cloudy, pleasant but without that superb light and wholesome atmosphere that PO summers normally bring. I will no doubt soon be moaning that it is too hot!
I’ve just returned from a visit to Leeds. It was so nice to see my Dad, and my friends - Sunday lunch with Sue and Paul, Monday afternoon spent with best friend Rosy in the Queens with a crossword and a bottle or two - what could be nicer?
Sue
Paul
I inadvertently left my camera at Sue and Paul’s, so they took a few photo surprises which I found when I retrieved it. No problem guys. Mess with my camera and you suffer the consequences! No one escapes online publication - so here they are - Sue and Paul for all to ponder, along with Paul’s dummy, carefully dressed in a Newcastle supporter’s shirt. So tasteful!
I also hit Roundhay park with my Dad’s grumpy old men’s walking group - actually, they’re not the slightest little bit grumpy - quite the opposite really - but they do remind me of Last of the summer Wine and I could just imagine them getting up to all kinds of scrapes if there was no-one there to keep an eye on them!
Lucien had his German pen friend to stay last week and on the first evening we made him artichokes, a first for him, and left Lulu to explain how to eat them. A series of grunts ensued (French? German? English? who knows?) we assumed that the explanation had got through and were a little surprised five minutes later to find him masticating and swallowing his second full leaf!! Nice polite boy
The next day we took them carting in Argelès and of course Olivier had to have a go. !
Talk about little boys together! If you take a look at the little you can see of olivier’s face, you will see he is wearing that ’must-win-at-all-costs’ look. He of course turned into Mr Roadhog 2007 and, when he couldn’t pass the boys, tried nudging them off the track!
Back in the PO, I have embarked on a diet! Well, it IS Monday which is legally diet start-up day, but this time I have taken it a stage further and registered with Physiomins at Pollestres, a sort of diet clinic. They gave me loads of valuable dieting advice which I already know, and have managed to ignore for years, weighed and measured me, gave me some packs of slimmy-type-powdery-stuff, wrapped me up in cling film and steamed me for an hour!
Very interesting and I will let you know how it goes as it progresses. I don’t know how many (if any) kilos I’ve lost yet, but they certainly relieved me of a few pounds (or should I say euros!!)
Monday 11th June
Well, I HAVE actually lost some weight but I’m starving! I’ve had two more ’treatments’ since I last wrote. For one of them, I was attached to electrodes and electrocuted and for the second I was wrapped up in a type of Michelin man costume and inflated! I am absolutely desperate for a bar of Cadbury’s chocolate and clinging on to my diet sheet by my fingertips. A saving grace on this diet is that I cleverly negotiated a couple of glasses of wine per evening meal which I save up for two or three days, enabling me to drink a full bottle on the third day! The dietician says it doesn’t work like that but I like it!
I’m sitting here watching the rain! Yes. nearly mid June and it is pouring down, very warm and close, with the odd roll of thunder cracking in the distance. This morning, the sky was a clear blue with with all the potential of a superb day to come, lulling me into a false sense of security for the hanging out of the washing which is now dripping away on the line!
The boys took me out to play on the railway track yesterday! We headed up onto the TGV building site to take some photos for PO Life and the site and I had a driving lesson on Lulu’s scooter. I had a great time but have been banned for the foreseeable future for going too slowly! A gal’s got to be careful when she’s getting on a bit and anyway, my Dad wouldn’t like me to go too fast. On the way back, on the back of Olivier’s bike, I had to keep banging him on the back to register my disapproval of this leaning over to the side business to go round corners - I don’t like it and won’t do it any more unless we stay up straight! Olivier doesn’t think I’ll be buying my bike in the near future but I don’t care - didn’t want one anyway, nar nar!
Here is a photo of the TGV line taken from the Village Catalan side of the Perpignan - Le Boulou road, facing towards les Chartreuses. There is no doubt that it spoils the landscape but if it brings some prosperity to the P-O, then it has to be worth it.
Saturday 16th June
It’s funny old weather at the moment - close, cloudy with a tendency to rain at the drop of a hat. These sudden downpours disappear as quickly as they happen but it feels quite unnatural and very unsettling - normally by this time, the weather has settled into a pattern of cornflower blue skies and dry feel-good air!
I’ve spent the afternoon at Céret hospital after Lulu fell off his scooter on the way into Céret. He’s actually been really lucky as he was covered in blood from head to foot but in fact has got away with deep grazes everywhere but nothing more serious.
He also has a bruised bottom which was tended to by a very pretty nurse! Every cloud has a silver lining! It’s a funny system here in France. We were given a prescription for shedloads of gauze and dressing (he’s being treated as if for burns so needs special pre-soaked bandages) which we collect from the chemist. We then have to ring around to book a private nurse to come and change the dressings daily and whom we pay per visit, receiving most of it back from the secu. Why can’t the secu just pay the nurse and cut out the middle man? Céret clinque is very nice - clean, hygenic, uncrowded - excellent for minor illnesses. I believe it is not recommended for serious conditions as they don’t have the expertise but it was very nice to be greeted with a smile and treated by staff who were not rushing around and stressed out.
We had some friends round on Wednesday and of course it rained. But take a look! Were we bovvered? We made up for the rain by singing our way loudly and tunelessly (so the boys said) through all the old Beatles songs until the early hours, at which point everybody got up and stared at the pool for twenty minutes! Why? Dunno. Anyway, a great evening - warm despite the rain which conveniently stopped in time for us to go and stare at the pool!
Staring at the pool - and why not?
And talking of pool,Olivier has been draining a large pool for two weeks, in order to clean, treat and fill it up again. Everytime he pumps out the water at the bottom, it fills up again when the heavens open. He’s not a happy bunny! (He is actually, I just like that expression. Why bunny?)
PO Life is now available in Leroy Merlin which means my face nearly greets you as you walk in the door! I’m really coming up in the world! Last time I went there, somebdy tapped me on the shoulder and said "Excusez-moi Madame" I whirled round wearing my best ’for-the-fans’ smile (and with a delicate hand in front of my face to hide my double chin) waiting for "Aren’t you Kate from PO Life?" or "May we have your autograph?" but no! "Je pense que vous avez pris mon chariot" said the nasty man - nasty because I had EXPECTATIONS which he dashed by that one thoughtless phrase!
Saturday 23rd June
Well bless my soul and slap my thigh! The porch swallows have started dropping poo into our pool DELIBERATELY! Not from their bottoms, I might add. That would be nearly acceptable as we’ve all had emergencies in our time haven’t we? But no! They are carrying it in their beaks, flying over the pool, and dropping it!! Why?
On the Lulu/scooter front, believe it or not, he has just taken his scooter out for its maiden run after his accident and been rammed into by a drunk driver! Absolutely incredible! His helmet is smashed up, the back of his scooter a mess - but fortunately he is fine. The drunk also gave him and his friends a mouthful before staggering back into his car and weaving off on the wrong side of the road. There were a whole group of them - both kids and some adult witnesses - but not one of them thought to get the number plate!!
It is food for thought for those of us who live in France and have teenagers. There is a lot of peer pressure to have a scooter when you reach 14 here - similar to owning a mobile in England. Although this accident wasn’t Lulu’s fault, is 14 too young to handle emergency situations that can arise on the road? I think so - but gave into Lulu because I preferred him to be in control of his own scooter rather than travelling on the back of someone else. There is also the point that public transport in areas like this can be a problem and it is good for him to be able to get around independently - but at what price.
I am plant sitting at the moment for the same friend whose plants I killed off last year and I must say that they are hanging on by their fingertips again!! I just don’t seem to have the knack!
Finally, although my diary must sometime read like a Just William book, I have just got into another scrape! I went to the opticians yesterday to have my eyes tested, as my prescription glasses just didn’t seem to be doing the job any more. He tested my eyes, told me there was no change, looked carefully at my glasses, WIPED THEM with an alcohol solution and hey presto! I can see! I just never thought of cleaning them - what a pratt! We have a policy with the Roussillonnaise insurance group, which means that eye tests are free, so at least it wasn’t a costly trip but the egg on my face was priceless!
The weather is lovely - warm days and evenings, nights cool enough to sleep comfortably and life is good (apart from the bird poo in the pool but hey - at least I’ve got a pool so I’m not complaining. I’m very, very lucky!
