Holiday time!!!!!!
I'm off now to Engalnd to see all my family and old friends. See you around the 15th July. If you're off too have a good holiday!!

I am so tired today
It's hot again and I'm still recovering from the weekend. I've got to start packing too. Now I suddenly feel exhausted!

AOL 8
Dom installed it last night. It hasn't made much difference to me and seems to be slower. Rob says he's going to do a defragmentation (!) tonight to see if that helps. He's very good at these things, especially updating Norton when someone else has something important to do.

Now we've had a little rain
we have a few mosquitoes! When I first lived here I couldn't understand why people didn't have water butts in their gardens. Now I'm out with the best of them checking that water hasn't collected anywhere to provide a nursery for the little dears.

Rain... at last
This morning it rained. I just stood on the porch and watched it and smelt the garden smells. I think there is magic in the first rain after a period of hot dry weather. It's so much cooler too.

I took Olivier to buy a tennis racket and balls with the money he made yesterday. He sold his remote controle car straight off! He cannot play this morning because he doesn't want to get his new tennis balls wet. "What can I do now" is going to be all I hear for the next ten weeks. We're going to England next week to see all the family, fortunately he'll be watching Wimbledon when he gets the chance (I hope).

Second day same as the first
A little bit hotter and a little bit worse!
I'm sure that people were too hot to stay at the brocante and spend money. Anyway, we all enjoyed ourselves and even had time to sit down and eat together. In the evening I went back to help clear the park. There wasn't too much litter. My friend Françoise and I used her car to move sacks of rubbish to a collecting point. It's a little bit sad when everything is cleared away and cleaned up.

Hot Weekend
It's even hotter today. There are lots of people at the Brocante. When I arrived at seven this morning a lot of people had all ready set up. We aren't selling like we usually do. It's too hot to hang around drinking cold beer even. Repeat performance tomorrow. Predictions are it will be even hotter. I'm off for a siesta!

The Green Mile
I finally saw the film last night. I stayed awake till midnight watching it. Great! Can anyone confirm that it was written by Stephen King?

Hot again!
It's early afternoon and the temperature is 30°C. The sun hasn't got round to that wall yet. Tomorrow is the Brocante and I am helping out. I like to do the early bit so I shall go round to serve coffee from 7 o'clock in the morning. If you're near to L'Houmeau this weekend, pop by. We have dealers from Germany and England too and the 'Buvette' is run by a wonderful gang of 'girls'. It's very hard work but we really enjoy ourselves!! If it could just be a little bit cooler....

Reunion
We had a really good reunion at college yesterday evening. We met to discuss a certain class's reports. They were very positive, especially as this time last year the same class was awful. In our department behavior counts a lot as well as attitude towards other pupils, it's nice to see them 'growing up' and learning to control themselves. I was also pleased to see that some of the things I have been doing from instinct are acceptable for the over-all good of the class. I was rather lucky to work with groups of 8 or 9 this year! As there was a football tournament on at college today I only had three of four in each group. We played 'poker'! I couldn't really remember how to play but the game they showed me was more like 'Old Maid'. See what happens when you trust your insticts!

You must visit Quickos. Quick is the european equivalent of MacDonalds!

Perhaps next year.....
We didn't do anything special to celebrate yesterday. Rob is union secretary in the local monuments so he had a late meeting, phone calls and e-mails to do before he finally came to bed at 2 a.m. I'm very proud of him, he helps a lot of people and is always very diplomatic!

Yesterday afternoon
when I could have been doing 'useful house work', I came upon this game. Of course, it's obvious when they show you the answers.

I forgot to mention:
It is our wedding anniversary today. 18 years!! It's gone by so quickly We havn't planned anything to celebrate yet. Does any one know what 18 is? String or cotton wool or something? Rob thought it was only seventeen, he must have slept through one.

Everyone is out today
so I have the computer all to myself. The problem is I should be doing lots of interesting things like cleaning the bathroom. Please note I did clean the kitchen floor yesterday. I'm sorry but I do not like housework. I am not interested in having spotless skirting boards. I know someone whose house is spotless and I commented on this. She ran her finger along the top of a door to show me a tiny amont of dust! We do not have the same values. She also has bedding which matches the wall paper, which matches the curtains, which matches the towels, which matches the toilet paper and so on....... If I could afford it I wouldn't mind, but someone else would have to do the cleaning and the ironing and.......

It's nearly lunch time and only 21°C !
It's so nice not to be clammy and hot. Started off with a supermarket shop this morning. Went at half eight and avoided the crowds. Still managed to get a wonkey trolley. Had an argument with a revolving door (I hate those things especially with a wonkey trolley). Because of this a conversation with a nice little old man who hates them too. Anyway I was home for ten.

I've added
a few more of my favourite sites to my blogroll. I hope you like them. I've picked up a few from Blogshares. I'm now a half $millionaire!!

28.5°C in the shade!
It's still hot here. Where did the storms go that we were promised? My hollihocks are opening and they look lovely. When Dom gets back from college I'll ask her to show me how to put a pic for you all to see. Very traditional, you can buy lots of postcards here of watercolours of houses with green shutters and hollihocks.

Have you noticed?
I managed to move the blogroll all by myself. Honest! I am completely on my own in the house.

More serious, I listened to a documentry on the English radio this lunch time about Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. It was very moving, especially the letters that Ethel wrote to their two sons. I don't remember which of their sons took part in the program but he sounds as if he has come out of such a terrible experience really well. There are plenty of sites about the couple and I've got the afternoon free to browse....

Tomorrow
I'll try to sort out my blogroll, it is there on the left. If you run your mouse over it it will show up. I'm still trying to work out the archives, I'll get there one day......

Dom made the lasagne this evening. It was really good, better than mine in fact. Dom you now have a new job! She has posted the recipe on her blog. I am not allowed acces to her blog so I can't pass it on, sorry. Oh yes we had a bottle of plain old rosé with it.

Exploding wine
I put a bottle of sparkling rosé into the fridge this afternoon. A couple of minutes later it exploded. This is the third time this year and always the same brand!! Rob is going to write one of his famous letters of complaint. I do not want a case of exploding wine in compensation.

This morning
I was all set to work on the computer before everyone woke up and there was a terrific thunder storm. So I closed down. A couple of years ago we lost our modem during a storm. We were lucky, as some of our friends lost their computers. Now we have an external modem and a battery which gives us enough power to close down properly if need be.

Thankyou Dom
It was Dom who sorted me out again. At one point we lost just about everything except 2 (!) buttons for site meter. I'm off to find my blogroll now....

There were buses! There were pupils! Not many pupils and plenty of buses.

Hot Hot Hot!
Today is really hot. I'm afraid that I stay inside when it's like this. This morning was my last week at a nearby village where I give private lessons. We danced and sang for the parents. Fortunately my voice didn't give out. Tomorrow will I be walking across town again? Will I have any pupils when I get there? Stay tuned......

Friday 10th June 1988
I went for a scan as I was expecting Dom at the time. Christian spent the morning at the nursery. It was a hot day, just like it is at the moment
Oh wouldn't it be nice to take a nap after lunch like I was doing back then?

Strikes!
This headline is becoming a bit stale and not only on this blog. Olivier has not gone to school this morning too many teachers are missing. I think I'd prefer him to stay at home as the monitors are on strike too and you can imagine the kind of tricks bored twelve year olds can get up to. Dom loves going to school, I remember how I loved being with my friends at her age too.

At last!
I feel as if I have contact with the outside world. Sorry we had to change the skin(?) again.

Last weekend
we went to see our friends Monique and Dominique who run the campsite in our village. Monique was really pleased as the site had had a good revue on the internet, especially about how friendly the owners were. Another good piece of news; they will be selling local cider soon, we'll be first in the queue to taste it!!

Here's the one youv'e been waiting for girls, the one and only Mr. Tweakathon!

Saturday
We sent Christian off on the plane to stay with his Grandma. It’s really strange, the big hole that’s left when one of them goes away for a while.

Strikes strike again

Part I
On Thursday I was working the other side of town. I got to the bus station and there were no buses running. I phoned my college and a monitor told me that I could walk that distance in half and hour, so I did. When I arrived I was informed that I didn’t have a lesson after all! So I walked into town again to the bus station.

Part II
By now it was getting pretty hot. The question was would the bus due in an hour arrive? As I didn’t know I decided to walk home. I arrived 10 minutes earlier than if I’d have caught the bus (Which did run). So I walked 10 kms. and spent the whole morning doing nothing. I do know that my new sandals are really comfortable……

Good news
To start the day, my friend Jody has got herself a new job. Congratulations!!

Last week Christian used Google to translate my blog into French. It was hopeless, Christian became "the Christian" and some things didn't get translated at all. The link below does work now, or it did two minutes ago.
Christian's gums are healing well and he was reassured being in pain for up to three weeks is quite normal. How comforting!

Les 4 SergentsPart 2
And this is where we went.... Les 4 Sergents

For Dom
Dom had a read of my blog this afternoon and was annoyed that I didn't mention her as much as her brothers. So here you are. When are you going to let me know the address of your blog?????

Clever me!
I'm rather proud that I have managed to sort out the mess I made of the blog last week. I don't understand why the cats are still there, but I think I'll leave them. The comments box at the bottom will have to go. My blog is inside it!!! And thank God for the 'safe mode' button. I am one of those people who like to learn something new every day, I think I'm a bit ahead of that target at the moment.

Les 4 Sergents
This is where we went yesterday evening and had a lovely meal. Fresh fish, seasonal vegetables, wonderful desserts...............
Yesterday I also swam for the second time this year. The water was warm! Mind the jellyfish; that's one of the disadvantages around here. Out of the water it has been much too hot for me. Today we could be heading for storms.