Happy Easter!

" May this egg know how to tell you of
All of my love in a smile"

I'm only the translator...

You have to go a long way to serve your country

This week, Olivier received his call up papers. Fortunately he only has to go for one day. They have to listen to a talk, look around various equipment, eat steak and chips (fries) for lunch and have a brief first aid course. Dom said it was the most boring day or her life ( the intellectual pitch isn’t very high apparently).

Olivier also received his train ticket at the bottom of the form. The course is at the base in La Rochelle, he’s got a train ticket to nowhere.

Aaaaaagh!

Reading a magazine I came upon a tip which I thought to be rather disgusting. Some woman suggested that if you have egg yolks left after following a recipe you scramble them and throw them out for the birds to eat.

I don’t find that idea to be very considerate at all.

About Payday loans

payday loans are fast becoming a popular way to borrow money in the short term. A payday loan is ideal for covering an emergency towards the end of the month, such as a car breakdown, plumbing emergency, or perhaps for taking advantage of that weekend break which is too good to miss. The loan is then paid back the following month, although sometimes extra time may be needed and that can be arranged too. It must be remembered that this is a short term loan and should be paid back as quickly as possible in order to avoid extra charges.

All you need to qualify for a payday loan is to be over 18 years of age in full time employment with a take home pay of more than £750 a month. You also need to have a bank account and a debit card.

You can borrow from £80 to £750 at a time and it’s easy to see how much each loan costs. The application form is there for you to fill in online, within a few minutes you will know if you’ve been approved for a loan. It is at this moment that you need to enter details of your bank account and debit card, the agreement is displayed online for signature. The money can be in your account the same day, though some banks need up to 48 hours for clearance of funds. The payment is taken from you debit card on your next payday. Hence the name Payday loan!

Stormy weather

The weekly shop wasn’t too routine this week either. I should have turned back as it was very stormy and the rain was horizontal. There weren’t too many cars on the road which was a good job because of fallen branches. Back home I unloaded the car in the worst of it. It calmed down about half an hour after I got home. The North of France and the UK had much worse weather than here.

Election time

Olivier arrived home this morning 15 minutes before he was due to set off for lycée. He’d stayed up most of the night watching the votes being counted and when the mayor was voted back in attended the party afterwards. Counting votes here is pretty complicated. Each party presents a list which the voters can change around if they wish. Don’t ask me how they organise themselves to untangle that. It took till four in the morning here.

Before Olivier arrived home I’d made up my mind that I’d phone the lycée to tell them he wouldn’t be there today. He came back full of stories of past campaigns and anecdotes from the mayor and the councillors he talked to at the party. I wonder if he’s managed to sleep.

I remember coming home with my head buzzing with ideas when I was his age, so I think I understand his enthusiasm. I’m pleased that he’s found something to be interested in for a change. I’m also pleased that the mayor and his team have been re elected.

Crime Time

As usual the week started off with the grocery shopping for the next seven days. I knocked a jar of strawberry jam off the shelf and I was sure everyone was looking at me; “There goes that woman who broke a jar of strawberry jam”.

When I was going through the till, the cashier suddenly started to chase after a women who I thought was the woman in front of me who had forgotten something. I offered to help but the cashier told me to stay where I was. Strange, I thought, I was only trying to help. I also thought it odd that the cashier had trouble catching up with the woman. As it turns out I was at the furthest till that was open and the cashier had spotted a woman coming from the other end with a full trolley. She’d sneaked round by the frozen desserts and tried to make a run for it. In France you have to be stopped before you leave the shop. They brought the woman back in but I didn’t see any sign of the police before I left.

Olivier has a friend who is an apprentice chef, he works for three weeks of the month and goes to school for one. One of the other boys in the friend’s class has left. The reason why he’s left is because he and some friends attacked a man outside a night club a few years ago and killed him. He’s now in prison for eight years. He’s only 19 so you can imagine how old 27 must seem. Olivier was quite shocked by this. It usually happens in other towns to other people…

Mad March Hare

My retired teacher student came for her lesson last Tuesday with an article she had translated from a magazine about Queen Boudica (or Boudicca). Boudica led an uprising against the Romans. The little piece of interest for both of us was that she used to carry a hare around with her and if she needed to decide something would throw the hare down and watch how it ran away. I suppose it was better than splitting open a goat or a chicken and studying it’s entrails and quicker too.

This all leads neatly into 'As Mad as a March Hare' as it is now the month of March – already! I grew up on a farm and remember some years seeing hares dancing around, but I can’t remember whether it was in the month of March or not.

If you say ‘Rabbit’ three times at the beginning of the month it brings good luck, but now I’ve read that you should say ‘Rabbit’ three times before going to sleep on the last day of the month and ‘Hare’ three times on waking on the first. In our family we took care of the whole lot of superstitions by repeating ‘Rabbit’ and ‘Hare’ three times each in the morning of the first.

Have a nice March.