Saint Angela de Merici (1474 – 1540)

Today is my ‘fête’! Celebrated in France, fêtes are a nice way of celebrating our names . Today we remember Saint Angela de Merici who founded the order of Ursulines. The order was founded primarily for the education of girls and care of the sick and needy. January 27th is the anniversary of her death . She is patron Saint of sickness, handicapped people and the loss of parents.

Birds

Recently I’ve noticed the starlings on the move in the mornings. I was opening the shutters one morning and thought that the wind had picked up. The trees weren’t moving so I looked up to see thousands (?)of birds flying over. The next time they were flying pretty low between the houses. The weather was milder so I wonder if they were flying low enough to spot insects. There were certainly a few feeding off the lawn later in the day.

This evening we went for a walk in the pouring rain and an owl swooped silently by.

The post about the new Doctor

Friday; I needed to renew my prescriptions so I went to see the new Doctor in the morning. The morning was different for a start, the old Doctor had his surgery in the evenings. I took my blood test results for the last year,test results from the Swedish Chef, the scan of my thyroid from two years ago, my prescriptions and notes about anything else I could think of.

Our Doctor (I still think or him as ours) was a smart man who liked interesting shoes and different shirts. The new Doctor was very casual indeed. I know I shouldn’t say it - rough and ready – sorry. I started to explain to her about being pre-diabetic. There are two schools of thought on diabetes; she’s in the one that says you are either diabetic or not. I’m not. I can have a test every six months. I can have a test for cholesterol once a year. Fortunately I’ve learnt how to eat to keep the numbers down over the past few years. She also tut-tutted because I’d had the urine tests where you collect urine for 24 hours – I don’t need them as I’m not diabetic. As if it was all my fault. At least I got my thyroid tablets.

We can change our Doctor here very easily, I’ll see how it goes

Extra terrestrial

More exams this week. I think we’ve finished for the season. On Monday morning the bus I was on stopped by the station and an extra terrestrial got on. he put a smile on my face for the rest of the morning. There was an awful lot of giggling in the back of the bus later too.

The lost man and me

I was preparing lunch around midday and looked out of the kitchen window onto the street. There was an elderly man looking very confused and lost so opened the kitchen window to ask him if I could help. He had a lot of difficulty speaking and could only answer ‘yes’. I popped outside to talk to him properly and asked him where he had come from and his name. He couldn’t remember and could only say ‘yes’. I tried to think of questions that might help him to remember, but he couldn’t. Locking up the house we set off down the road and round the corner. I rang the doorbell at a house where someone was home and the person there didn’t recognize him. She phoned the retirement home the other end of the village, but everyone was present for lunch. We set off in the other direction to see a neighbour who is on the local council and is married to a villager born and bred.

My neighbour didn’t know him either, so we all set off trying to jog his memory walking though the local streets while my neighbor telephoned the gendarmes who said that they were on their way. The post office closes at one In the village so I spoke to the post office lady who was just arriving home for lunch. She didn’t know him either. She fetched a chair and a drink of water for the old man who seemed grateful. The gendarmes seemed to take ages to arrive, their base is only 10 minutes away. We left him in their care.

My neighbour’s wife has just phoned. The gendarmes eventually took the old man to the emergency department at the hospital where he was known. The line was bad so I’m not sure whether he’s been reunited with his family or taken back to the home that he ‘escaped’ from. At least he’s safe and sound now.

Olivier was very worried, he’s home for the weekend and heard me lock the front door. He went into the kitchen to find a half prepared meal...

WD40

WD40 has been around since 1953 It got its name from the inverter Norm Larsen’s attempts to make water-displacing spray. The product we use was his 40th attempt to get it right!

I used it to spray on the damp car engine the other day and we use it to lubricate stuck screws, I have used it for stain removal (though rather smelly) and to clean the fiddly bits around taps. Here are 2000 other ideas you might be interested in.

How about this one? "Removes a Boa Constrictor stuck in engine compartment of cars"

The spray can is the same in France, except for the language. You can spot WD40 anywhere.

Empty house

Things seem to be returning to normal at last. Dom went back to Poitiers just before the New Year and Olivier went back this morning, we took him to the station just before 7. He was supposed to go back yesterday, but discovered his exam was this afternoon; Unfortunately Rob had trouble starting the car this morning after the cold, humidity was very high as the temperature went up. He started it in the end. We sprayed WD40 around. Neither of us could remember where to put it.

I’ve had a slightly upset stomach for a couple of days, this morning was Olivier’s turn. He didn’t take his exam, he was too ill. He went to see a doctor this afternoon and phoned to let me know that he would live. He hasn’t got any food in. Fortunately Dom lives close. Last I heard she was taking him something round to eat. She’s into making soup at the moment so he’ll be okay.

Now I have all of the washing to do and what seems like a very empty house.