Monday, October 12, 2009

The joys of being a mother

I try really hard not to be a neurotic mother, but sometimes fate just overwhelms me. On Sunday lunch time Rob told me that a report was coming up on TV about riots in the centre Poitiers! I sat and watched the pictures of the devastation with my stomach churning. Such a quiet, peaceful town, holding a festival. I knew that Dom and J-M would attend something like that on their doorstep. Dom and I managed to converse with each other via our message services. They were fine, but disappointed that the event they were going to attend on Saturday evening had been cancelled.

A gang of around 250 hooded and masked men had passed through the town centre on Saturday afternoon smashing shop windows, letting off smoke bombs and causing damage. Fortunately only one person was injured. From the far left, they were protesting about the building of a new prison. What is shocking, besides the violence of the attack, was the way that the protest had been highly organised.

Olivier had come home for the weekend so I knew that he was safe and sound. Or was he? On Saturday evening he went into town with some friends on their bikes, which they normally do if they know that they will be drinking. I know, bikes can be lethal too when mixed with alcohol. They park them just outside the police station, so that they are well guarded. Somehow he managed to loose his phone. We tried phoning him to see if we could locate it, but the battery was flat. He spent Sunday afternoon organising a new one. Fortunately he was almost at the end of his contract. Thanks to the internet he can pick the new phone up from a shop in Poitiers during the week.

He remembered to take his alarm clock back with him. If he misses lectures he will lose his ‘grant’.

7 comments:

Dru Marland said...

Katie keeps losing stuff; she picked up the worn blazer last week, and handed it in to lost property, but hers had disappeared... and she wants to go 'trick or treating'. Which I dislike the idea of. Worry worry.

What were the hooded lefties proposing as an alternative to the prison? Are they simply opposed to prisons in general?

cassie-b said...

Being a Mom seems to be a lifetime job - worrying being a part of it. I still worry about my kids.

Anji said...

Dru: There is a prison in Poitiers and they were moving some of the inmates to a newer prison. I don't understand why there is a problem with that - perhaps just an excuse to smash up a few shops.

Cas: So it never goes away ?

Zed said...

Anji, being a mother never goes away, obviously, and the worrying gets worse, if you ask me.

Anji said...

Zed: Indeed,it does get worse. It was much better when I coud kiss them better and tuck them up in bed.

Caroline said...

What is it with kids and phones? They want them like crazy but loose them on a regular basis. If I had a hundred pounds for each time my French nephew lost his I would be rich. A few weeks ago he came home in a panic, driven by a friend, he had lost the car keys again. I said that they would be with his phone, no he said showing me the phone. The next day, well afternoon when he woke he still had the spare keys because they had been needed to drive the car but the phone, money and other bits had gone! He got angry about the design of his pockets!!!

There was a reason I never wanted kids of my own, what was it now?

Caroline xxx

Anji said...

Caroline: I do sometimes dream about how it would have been without the children. I would certainly have spent less time looking for lost property. Did I tell you about the time he lost his bike....?