En France

Well, I don't know whether anyone still checks this out, but I thought I'd post anyway.
 We have now been living in France for just over a year and loving it. 
Firstly we were in a very run-down cottage with a huge garden and right out in the middle of nowhere, but had to leave as the owner is now trying to sell (for more than it's worth in my opinion) and we can't afford to buy it.
 We are now renting a house in a little village with everything within walking distance but unfortunately no attached garden. We have, in typical French syle, a piece of land that goes with the house but is down the lane on the other side... not so good for our poor cat, who'd got used to his freedom.
 I know my French has improved, but not as fast as I'd hoped as we had very little contact with anyone at all at the last place. Our neighbours were friendly enough, but not particularly outgoing; I guess we were very much the outsiders in a hamlet where evrybody was related and the house next door was empty   - had been for years, hence the steady influx of mice through the bathroom wall... and no, the cats were no deterrent, apart from one who adopted us and used to spend hours squatting on the bathroom carpet waiting to pounce. She used to bring us lovely presents too; a decapitated mouse with entrails laid out neatly on the doorstep, ditto a skinned baby rabbit ...
I realise this is not very well written but what the hell, if no-one reads it it doesn't matter!
I'm still struggling to use this French keyboard on my English pc; the letters and symbols are in different places.

Lowlifes!

As it was, After the respray, ... and all that's left :- (

Our beloved campervan was nicked and torched. Bastards! Just for kicks. What is wrong with these people? I would have a little bit of sympathy had a homeless person broken in because he/she had nowhere to shelter and accidentally set it alight, but destruction just for the sake of it... Of course the insurance can't replace everything; it was our little home on wheels, our escape, our freedom. I just can't believe it could be so totally destroyed - you wouldn't know there had ever been cupboards, beds and bedding, towels, clothes, crockery, cutlery, pots and pans, books,c.d.s etc.

"At all"

Just another linguistic irritation:

Why do people add "at all" to their questions? e.g. "Is Bob there at all?" ("Well, he's here a little bit...") "Do you need a bag at all?" ("Well, just a bit of a bag, thank you")? ...and another one...(on the phone) "Who is this?" (Well, if you don't know who you are I'm not going to tell you! - did you mean "Who is that?")

Sad day

Today I had to say goodbye to an old friend ... yes, my old Volvo had to go to the scrapyard. After blowing the head gasket, given all the other niggly things as well as it's age, repair was uneconomical.

I now have a "proper" car - '51 plate, shiny, lots of electronic wizardry ... but I am heartbroken.

Done it!

I've finally submitted my tax return! And waddya know - they owe me £106!

Won't buy me a new (for "new" read "another second-hand") car though! Mine's terminal :-(

Am I allowed to use the S word?

That was our picnic table...

Oh what a surprise! There's still s*** outside. We have about 18" and the world is falling apart! No buses, no trains,schools closed...

It's so quiet outside (not just at this time in the morning). I notice it because there is a bus stop and a cash machine (where cars usually park inconsiderately on the double yellows) virtually outside my house so I am particularly conscious of lack of traffic.

I'm guessing there'll be more blogging as people are stuck at home with not a lot to do. What about when we get the inevitable power cuts? What will kids who have only ever known electronic leisure do with themselves? They might find they have to actually talk to their families face to face or play Scrabble or Ludo or Trivial Pursuit!

We started to build an igloo in our front garden but it's virtually covered by fresh snow. We couldn't face getting frozen again yesterday. I'd forgotten how much my feet hurt when they are really cold! I am wearing two pairs of thermal socks inside my furry slippers, t-shirt, jumper and cardigan the central heating is on. It's this bay window that's the problem, not draughts, just cold emanating from it. Oh look, my spellchecker obviously thinks I should spell it "drafts" - I'm English for Christ's sake!

My son walked into work yesterday and waited outside for an hour and a half but no-one else turned up. No communication at all from the boss. He was frozen by the time he had walked home again (all uphill) and took a long time to thaw out. He has chilblains for the first time, poor thing! No contact at all from his boss ... he's going to go in again today and hope he can get in this time.

I suppose the good thing about this enforced incarceration is that I have no excuse not to get all my paperwork/mending etc etc done. I'm glad we got the new felt on the shed roof before D went off to the States! I'm keeping up to date with the washing, ironing and vacuuming as you never know when the electricity's going to go off! (You'll notice I don't "hoover"; that's another one of my pet hates. "Actually it's an Electrolux, not a Hoover" - I can see a spate of comments coming...)

So much for getting things done...

Hello again

Don't seem to have much to say these days. I've been feeling that I shouldn't be so negative, sarcastic and piss-taking, but then I don't seem to have anything to say...

Well, the Teenager didn't get the grades he'd been hoping for in his AS's (should that apostrophe be there?) so applied for and got (well done him) an apprenticeship in a computer shop, retail and repairs. He works 40 hours for £100 - that's £2.50 an hour! - and to be honest I can't see he's actually getting very much training. He only gets Christmas Day and Boxing Day off (which is really only one day as the shop doesn't open on Sundays anyway). I think he's being exploited. Oh, but he looks so grown up in his shirt and tie!

D's off to the States again just for a couple of weeks to wind up his business there and by the time he comes back it'll be nearly Christmas again. I'm getting more and more cynical about the whole thing. I really don't want to be involved in the crass commercialism that it has become. Family only for prezzies and cards this year, and I'll try to make the cards (I usually run out of time) and I refuse to buy anything which is labelled as a "gift". A gift is just whatever you want to give someone, not what retailers think you should buy. i.e. something that you would otherwise never dream of shelling out money for! (I know, preposition at the end of a sentence...)

Hey, I've got another moan - why can't the spellchecker on Blogger recognise English English? It has just told me I have spelt "cheque", "recognise" and "labelled" wrong. Grrr!

Birthday boy

This is it! As of 45 minutes ago I am now the mother of an ADULT!

Where did those 18 years go?!

WWW.Blah blah blah

I'm pissed off with phoning companies/government departments etc because I want to speak to a REAL PERSON or ask a question to which I can't get an answer on their website to be told "You can find information on our website at www.whatever."... OBVIOUSLY if I could have got the information from the website I wouldn't be ringing you now, would I?!

(Steam coming out of ears...)

And now another month is slipping by ...

AS results tomorrow, and my son will find out whether he is going back to college for the second year ... if not he will have to get a job!

Let me see, what shall I moan about today ... oh yeah, greedy Freecyclers! for example:

"Wanted: TV. Must be at least 26" and flat screen ... Wanted: Tent, sleeping bags, camping stove, etc for our forthcoming camping trip..."

Excuse me, but why would you plan a camping trip if you hadn't got these things???

Tempus fugit!

Oh my God! I can't believe it's nearly the end of July already! Any time now the shops will be starting their "back to school" promotions, then as soon as they are back at school it'll be Hallowe'en ... Christmas... mind you the Christmas cards are usually in the shops by mid-August....

I've given up buying Christmas stuff early as I've usually forgotten where I put it, or even that I ever bought it at all by the time Christmas comes!

Busy busy busy

Why is it you can be scratching around for work for weeks then it all comes at once?!

I'm booked up with hosting and teaching students for the next two months with only two single week breaks in between, and the first one of those will be consumed by a decorating job.

I can't complain though, I certainly need to be earning! It's just frustrating when your "free" time (i.e. unemployment) is at the time of year when it costs you to be at home, i.e. heating etc,, not when you could be outside doing useful jobs in the garden or even on the beach!

I know, some people are never satisfied!

"Little ships"

I've found myself very moved by the stories of Operation Dynamo. The thought of so many amateur sailors out in boats never intended to go that far, and the realisation that without them another 338,000 men might never have got home, in addition to those already slaughtered.

On a totally different tack ('scuse the nautical reference - ha ha) does anyone know where we might be able to get second-hand, i.e. cheap or even FREE, those weeny curtain track fittings that you use in campers and caravans?

Murphy's Law

Why is it as soon as you actually start the washing machine all that lovely sunshine you were going to dry your laundry in disappears?

And someone brings dirty plates into the kitchen just as you've tipped the washing up water away?

Speelin/punchuashn

I know it's wrong to snigger at dodgy spellings Freecycle posts but I just can't help myself... :

"still have big tv (tosh) have got down my stairs with all fingers in tack lol, pink head board singel, 2x blue black out blind they where ere when moved in and left them up in boys room they will not fit any of windows in new house there for summer my kids never want to go bed as still light 2ft 9"

"a set of 6 glass bowels I think the have roses on them but not sure"

Ooh, I hope you're not eating out of bowels ...

Doncha love this typical Bank Holiday weather? It's just how I remember it from my childhood: walking along some windy prom, head down, huddled in an anorak (yes!) in the driving rain, looking over a grey sea and sky, then back to the car to eat sandwiches and chicken legs wrapped in foil while watching the rain streaming down the windows and drawing pictures in the condensation ...

I just found another one:

" wanted badly washing machine"

... and people ask why punctuation is necessary...!

... and another:

"hi have ,all singles and pillow cases sherek brats grovey chick scatboard plannets teddt bear hot water bottle cover purple flease blanket [well used] giant winnie poo tiny hole in the foot but repairable"

Southern Railways

Time for another moan - well, it's what I'm here for, isn't it?!

I've been extolling the virtues of Southern's cheapie-cheapie rail fares but I do have a problem with their dissemination of information!

Have been trying for the last few days to book an "advance" (i.e. "cheap") ticket for Saturday but whatever times I put in it just tells me there are "no fares available for your selected journey". I eventually managed to speak to a "real" person (after going through God knows how many recorded messages) who tells me it is because there are engineering works so you need to change at Lewes, get a bus etc.O.K., why couldn't they make that obvious on their website?

Now, another moan: When I telephone a company, isn't it obvious it's because a) I want to have a conversation with a real person, b) I couldn't find the information I required on their website, or c) I don't have access to the internet, so it really pisses me off to get the recorded message telling me I can go their website at www. whatever!

O.k., that's it for now...

New Time

I always think I'm not affected by the clocks going forward or back, but today I didn't wake up till 7.45! I guess the dark, miserable weather didn't help. Good job I wasn't working today! I can't believe I slept for seven and a half hours!

By the way has anyone on here signed the petition to keep the bank open (there's a sheet in the newsagent's next door) and do you think it's likely to do any good?

There goes another one!

I've just been to Nat West in the village and they tell me that the branch is closing at the end of May.

I remember when we had a Barclays and a Lloyds up here too. I thought that at least Nat West was keeping its promise not to close any more branches, if we were to believe the telly ads. Some hope!

I hate this dehumanising of everything. I know they want us to do everything on line and do away with human contact altogether and it makes me mad!

No wonder we have so many social problems. If people feel so disconnected from each other they can't develop empathy and understanding and cases like Jamie Bulger, people torturing animals for fun and having no qualms about destroying other people's property are only going to increase.

Rant over.

My poor French student - she was only here for a week and the weather's been crap for most of it! We got soaked in London, frozen at Windsor Castle (bright sunshine but biting wind) but all in all she has enjoyed herself. Pity the sharks weren't at the Aquarium; that was a bit disappointing. I'm getting to know the Battle Abbey commentary off by heart, I've taken so many students there now!

I guess the only advantage is that everywhere is not too crowded in this weather.

Is it worth putting anything up here? I hardly ever get any feedback!