Famous

I think I mentioned that Christian asked me for some photos for framing and things.  This is a tray he made including four of my pics.

Coming up next... Christmas!

Not long to go now.  I put the Christmas decorations up last Tuesday and even if I say so myself; they're looking good.

Dom and J-M will be coming for Christmas with Holly the cat.  Olivier might be coming.  He will have to spend a lot of time and money on trains so he must decide if it's worth it.  He's at work on the 26th.  Rob will be working on the 26th too.  We still find the idea strange, even after 30 years.

When I was teaching at the language school years ago.  I had a lesson at 7.30 in the morning on the 26th December.  My student didn't show.  It turned out she was very ill on Christmas day and tried to contact the school, leaving a message on the answer phone in the office which was locked.  I managed to get the next bus home after waiting around for half an hour.  The sun still hadn't risen by the time I got back!

I haven't been blogging much, or visiting.  Rob is borrowing my laptop most evenings as his is very slow.  hopefully we will be reorganised in a couple of weeks - a friend is fixing his old laptop.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy thanksgiving to all those who celebrate with their family and friends today.

I’m thankful that, through the internet, I’ve made contact with all sorts of people from all over the world. I appreciate the opportunity to learn that we are not all the same and despite this we can all be friends.

 Let’s hope that in the future, the people that manipulate these same differences to create chaos and hate will be made silent by us, the peace loving majority.

The eggs were well and truly scrambled

I was very disappointed with N.C.I.S. yesterday evening. It is very popular in France. Friday evening we have episodes of N.C.I.S. and on Saturday evening episodes of N.C.I.S. Los Angeles.

 In episode 23 of season 11, Tony finds himself in Marseille. Why wasn’t the episode filmed in Marseille? The outside shots looked suspiciously like thinly disguised Washington sets. When Tony asked for breakfast in French the waitress arrived with scrambled eggs! In a café, breakfast is croissants or baguette and jam or both if you ask for ‘petit déjeuner complet’.

In my etiquette book the question is asked “What should one give American guests for breakfast?” and the answer is that American guests do not travel all the way to Europe to be served with their own food, so give them what you normally eat yourself. (The book dates from the 1930s)

I’m sure that CBS could have done better there.

Postcards, Beaujolias Nouveau and Hyacinths

I was going to update sooner but life seems to keep on getting in the way.

 The day after Dom’s big day, the alarm went off at 3.30 am as we had the 6 o’clock train to Bordeaux to catch. I wasn’t as tired as I thought I’d be and we managed to dodge any showers thrown our way. We hadn’t been back to Bordeaux for over a year. Auction time, and there were some postcards that we were interested in. We had an excellent day, despite discovering that our favourite restaurant had closed. The station at Bordeaux seems to have had a facelift too. A new bar has opened and some very interesting shops to explore, which was a good thing as we had to wait nearly two hours for our train home.

 Olivier came home for a few days mid-month. We didn’t really see that much of him. It’s so good to know that he’s enjoying what he’s doing now and seems to be appreciated by his co workers. He might be able to move to a bank closer to Rennes next year, which could save him a lot of money in rent and transport costs. Though I won’t be able to say; “my son who lives in a chateau” anymore.

I sorted out the Christmas decorations. They are ready for the beginning of December. I even found the Advent calenders!

We had a lot of rain at the beginning of November – very serious flooding in the south, but we were okay here – just a soggy garden. The last three days have been mild and sunny; I’m waiting for the bubble to burst. This afternoon I did some gardening and planted some hyacinth bulbs.

The Beaujolais Nouveau this year is very good

Thursday 6th November

This was the day that Dom presented her Thesis to the jury. We arrived just in time due to fog and road works on the motorway.

 The room was full of family and friends – I suppose there were 30 of us altogether. From beginning to end Dom’s speech just flowed. Her PowerPoint presentation was clear and worked perfectly from beginning to end. She just had 22 minutes for her presentation and then the jury asked her questions about her work. She answered it all with no problems and noted their suggestions.

 During question time there was a lot of coming and going as people were popping in to see how it was going and going off to lectures etc.; all in silence. Dom had suggested we sat at the back in case we found it boring. Definitely not at all!

Her supervisor ran through all of the other work she’s been doing during her PhD which was very impressive and made Rob and I feel very proud of her.

Then we all had to go out while the jury made their decision. It didn’t take too long and we all went in to hear the result; her doctorate was awarded with the note “Très honorable avec félicitations du Jury”. That’s the highest you can get.

We had champagne and nibbles and met some of the people that we had only heard about over the past few years – as well as some old friends. I thanked her supervisor (who is also vice president of Poitiers University!) for all of the lovely things that he had said. He’s a very nice man – Dom has been very fortunate to have had such a supportive department.

Dom dedicated her Thesis to J-M , her husband and also to Holly the cat who gave her love and support despite not really being interested in human dialogue.

After that, we went out to lunch and back to Dom & J-M’s for a cup of tea. Holly gave us a really friendly greeting – I thought that she might have forgotten us. It’s the first time we’d visited since helping them to move in, so it was interesting to see how the rooms looked without piles of furniture and boxes.

It was getting dark when we set off home, fortunately the fog had cleared.

Gardening question and a busy week coming up

A question for gardening experts: At the beginning of October I bought some Anemone bulbs and planted half of them in the garden. The remainder went in half way through the month. This week I have observed that they are already growing. Is this normal or has the mild weather woken them up too early? I was so looking forward to seeing the flowers in the spring.

Next week is going to be a busy one. On Thursday Dom will be presenting her Thesis. We’ll be going to Poitiers to watch and also visit their house. We haven’t visited since we helped them to move in just over a year ago. Hopefully on Friday we’re off to an auction in Bordeaux. It’s been 18 months since we were there last time. Hopefully the weather will be kind to us on our travels.

Talking of weather; it is still very mild and sunny. The news reports are still full of people swimming in the sea and dining out of doors. We are threatened with huge drops in temperatures within the next few days.

Oh, and Olivier will be home for a few days next weekend

Falling back

The year is on its way out again. I hope that everyone has remembered to put their clocks back. This morning you had an extra hour in bed if you are an optimist.

Yesterday evening, on the news, we were treated to film of people sun bathing and swimming in the sea in the South of France. Then there was the report about the first skiers of the year in the mountains… Well, the journalists have to report fun things sometimes. No doubt tonight they will be talking about the rising unemployment figures. They always act surprised to discover that a lot of people don’t go on holiday at all; let alone have an October break.

It’s been sunny here today – after the fog lifted. When I took the recycling out to the garage this afternoon, the birds were in full song. Are they planning their migration or were these the ones that are brave enough to stay with us for the winter? This evening the sun will set here at 6 o’clock and a few seconds.

Next stop Christmas

Colouring

One of my earliest memories of colouring was when I’d just started school. I was busy colouring in a picture with one of those fat wax crayons we used to use, when one of the boys came up to me and with the wisdom of his 6 years, told me that I had no sense of direction.

I used to be quite good at art later on in my school career and in my 40s went to lessons every Thursday morning which I enjoyed – and my teacher never, ever mentioned sense of direction.

When the children were small I loved colouring pictures in their colouring books for them. When Olivier was three and had his operation for glue ear, I bought him a colouring book and some crayons. He sat in bed and watched while I coloured in the pictures before his op. It had a calming effect on both of us.

Going back 12 or 13 years when I was teaching problem children; I had a stock of photocopies of intricate patterns to be coloured in by those who finished their work quicker than the others. A good way to keep them quiet and occupied while the others finished their work.

 Yesterday Rob and I went to the ‘media’ centre to buy my diary for next year – which they had not got – but I was drawn to a display of intricate colouring books, Inspired by the patterns on the walls of a Hammam. Who needs meditation when you can spend hours lost in colouring in? Well not exactly. I also treated myself to 24 crayola ‘super’tips. Apparently now it’s cool to colour.

I wouldn't have used that purple if I'd have know it would spread that far...

Spiderman reviews all of Crayola’s 96 colours.

A few days in England

The middle of September found us in England for a few days. We visited Christian and J and explored their new house which is lovely. Christian looks as if he’s heading for a career in interior design. He took us to an old school which is now a huge antiques shop where he finds old furniture which he turns into other things. He has the gift of seeing what could be, rather than what is. I wish I could do it.

We had lunch at a lovely place called “The Cake Hole”*, everything is fresh and local. I chose the cheese platter. We resisted finishing off with cake as we were going out for a meal in the evening.

Spot the deer

We walked off our lunch in the grounds of a local stately home. As always plenty of pictures of trees. I love trees. Trees don't grow as big as this where we live.

Christian and J took us to Ikea. Our first visit; a bit over whelming, but it was fascinating. Fortunately, we had to think of getting things home on the plane, so we didn’t buy anything.

We then went and stayed with Rob’s mother for a couple of days. She was happy to be driven around or taken out in her wheelchair. Christian joined us for a day too. We also saw my mum but didn’t really have time for much else.

 We popped in to the Colwall Coffee Lounge and had an English breakfast on the last day. I chose the vegetarian version.

I only put on 300g after all of the food we ate!

 *Christian took a lovely picture of Rob and I at The Cake Hole which I’ve used part of for my new profile picture.

Me, old?

I’m now sort of semi retired.

At the beginning of 1973 I started work in Barclays Bank. The following year saw the start of equality at work and it certainly applied to banking, though there were one or two little details that were overlooked.

Equality meant that our jobs were now pensionable and most of us didn’t see the need.  Up until then, women depended on their husbands to provide pensions and so on. (1974 remember). Today I’m very pleased to have taken up the pension. Even though I left the bank at the end of 1984 that nest egg was patiently waiting for me.

A couple of days ago I celebrated my 59th birthday and decided to take a lump sum and reduced pension from Barclays Bank.

In reality I will probably continue to run my own business here until I’m 70.

My son has two very different homes

Olivier is studying finance alternating with working in a bank. He has to run two homes now as they are 250 kilometres (about 155 miles) apart.

Last week we took him to his university town; Rennes. His apartment is close to the metro/subway/underground and two or three stops away from where he will be studying. He’s sharing with 3 others and we were impressed with the apartment. A big living room and a good sized kitchen which is well equipped and two bathrooms! He lives on the 6th floor.

The historic centre of Rennes

After we dropped him and half of his things off we headed for the town where he is working in a bank. A beautiful little town called Château-du-Loir; we had to deliver his belongings to his apartment there which happens to be in a Château! I didn’t get the chance to go with Rob and Olivier to view the apartment, but they were full of it when they came home and the caretaker had given them a tour of the rooms which weren’t lived in by other tenants.

We were really tired when we arrived there in the evening and took his things to his room. The caretaker was really welcoming and offered to show us the Chambre Royale, which is a suite of rooms. It was beautiful and spacious with lovely furnishings – ideal for a romantic couple of nights… if only…

Rob asked me if I’d like to stay for a couple of nights – it was all arranged beforehand in secret!

We had a lovely stay there and enjoyed just being quiet and exploring the town for a couple of days. It also meant that I had time to make up Olivier’s bed and hang up his clothes etc. I think that he was glad that I had because he arrived pretty late a couple of days later.

An imposing entrance

Stairway to our suite of rooms

We ate outside

I can't resist a tree

Le Salon

Stained Glass doors

(I took lots of pictures of these)

Our bedroom

The Chambre Royale is self catering and there is a small kitchen with an oven and microwave and basic utensils. I recommend Château des Remparts if you are in the Pays de la Loire region of France and looking for somewhere different to stay. Mickael the caretaker speaks a little English and some Portuguese too.

50 years on: Growing up the hard way

50 years ago this week, my best friend at school was killed in a car accident. She was 8 years old. It was the summer holidays and I was staying with my town Granny at the time. She saw something about the accident in the local papers but didn’t mention it to me as she wasn’t sure that I would know who was killed.

I remember it was the evening of the Sunday when I got home that my mother finally told me about the accident. I was sat on the toilet and she stood the other side of the door and said to me that I wouldn’t be seeing my friend anymore. I asked her if my friend had moved house (friends often moved without notice as far as I was concerned). When she said that my friend hadn’t moved, there was a pause while she waited for me to realize what had happened. I think you can imagine how upset I was.

 As it happens my country Granny was there (probably having brought my two sisters home from her house the same day). My granddad had been run over and killed by a car a few years before, it can’t have been easy for her. She simply told me not to cry as my friend was up with Jesus. That’s all that I needed to comfort me and I still have the picture in my mind of a boat sailing through the stars with my friend sitting in it and Jesus standing at the head of the boat.

Over the years I’ve often wondered what my friend would have been like – would we still have been friends?  When my youngest sister married in our village church, I was one of her bridesmaids and I took one of the flowers I was carrying and left it on her grave. Not long after that I saw her surviving twin brother and told him that I’d left a flower for her; he was so pleased that I still thought of her.

I used to think that my mother was a coward for the way she gave me the news. Now that I have three children of my own, I realize how difficult it must have been for her. I’ve always been grateful to my country Granny for knowing exactly the right words to comfort me.

The first morning back at school made me realize that the news wasn’t just mine. When the teacher walked into the classroom, one of the boys put up his hand and proclaimed “Sir D…… is dead!”

Flies and not nice

Flies 

A couple of weeks ago we had quite a few flies buzzing around the house. There is a farmyard across the road so it’s no surprise in hot weather. Olivier suggested I buy fly spray or sticky strips. I think sticky strips are disgusting to look at and spray means humans get dosed with chemicals too.

 I researched online and tried out three homemade traps: I cut three plastic water bottles in half and put sugar syrup in one, cider vinegar with water in another and the third was a fruity smelling washing up liquid, in my case grapefruit, with water. The tops of the bottles were turned upside down and placed to make a funnel down to the trap. The idea is that flies are not clever enough to find the way out again.

 Results: Not one fly got caught in a trap and I have the feeling that not one fly was tempted. I managed to swat one or two in the early in the morning when they were still sleepy. I got double scores a couple of times when I managed to swat mating couples (you can really creep up on them when they are at it). The flies have disappeared now as the weather is a lot cooler. Perhaps they took the hint?

Not nice 

Rob and I are trying very hard not to use the word nice. I didn’t realize how much I used the word. The challenge is to find another adjective to use. The synonym finder has been very helpful, but is a little heavy to lug around in my handbag .

 One afternoon while out on a walk, we went through the alphabet trying to find alternative words to use. We haven’t found a nice beginning with X yet.

 Do you know what or who a “nice-nelly” is?

Hot weather

Rob was on holiday last week so it was a busy one. On Wednesday we went with Olivier to Saumur to help him clean up his apartment and bring the rest of his belongings home. Not an easy task as it was very hot and humid. He bought us lunch at Mcdonald’s and I tried a chicken burger with avocado sauce – delicious, needless to say I ate a salad with it. We finished the cleaning in time to go for a drink before the inventory.

Rob and I spent a very pleasant hour waiting for him to finish in the park at the top of his road. We found a shady spot to sit and listen to water running – bliss on a hot day.

I love trees

I had a walk around the park and discovered a charming alley. Eventually the arches will be covered in roses.

On Friday we went to visit one of Rob’s colleagues who is working at Georges Clemenceau’s holiday home in Saint-Vincent-sur-Jard, Vendée. There is an excellent gift shop, I bought a rose scented drawer sachet and some rose scented sweets in a pretty tin. We also bought presents for up and coming family birthdays. Again, it was a very hot day, the sea looked very tempting.

On the way home we drove through storms, the temperature dropped by 15°C within an hour. There was a lot of rain once we arrived home. It disappeared very quickly and by Saturday you wouldn’t guess it had rained at all.

Thanks to LinkedIn

I found a missing blogger.

Green stuff...

A couple of weeks ago one of my students asked me to help her write a letter to a company in the UK. She wanted to buy a specially adapted mouse for her husband’s computer as he has Parkinson’s disease.

A week later the letter had come back as the company was not at the address. I tried phoning the number which appeared on the website and a nurse on a stroke ward somewhere in the UK answered. She was very nice but couldn’t help our quest.

The following Saturday I decided to see what I could find out and came across the French website of a company that sells the same adapted mouse . I contacted my student who emailed back a few minutes later to say that a mouse was on its way! When she came for her lesson last Thursday she came bearing a plant as way of thanking me for my help. Her husband is very happy now that he can use his computer with ease.

This is an excellent year for hollyhocks. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them grow so tall. One in our garden is more than twice my height! I dragged Rob out to take a photo so that you could see it. I’m 1 meter 67 (around 5’ 6”)

To finish off; I received a message from Dom at the weekend. They live in the Boivre valley which is a protected site of natural interest. They discovered a deer at the fence at the back of the garden, eating their plants.

Weird and Wonderful

Exceptional sites this weekend:

We live next to the ‘Mairie’, town hall and if there is a wedding on a Saturday afternoon we usually hear and see some of it.

This Saturday was different. I heard the sound of bagpipes coming up the road. Fortunately I was in my office which is upstairs and when I looked out of the window I saw this little band coming towards the house.

They are a traditional Breton band of musicians so the bagpipes are in fact cornemuses. Isn’t it interesting that one of the men is wearing what looks very like a kilt? Must be the Celtic blood.

Afterwards they went into the town hall garden and played to the newlyweds and guests.

Last night I was closing the shutters upstairs before going to bed just before 11.30 and saw a row of lights. At first I thought that they were cinders from a fire floating through the sky. I ran downstairs to get my phone and was lucky enough to take some pictures. My phone is just a humble Samsung with no smart bits.

I was facing the East and the lights were moving from North to South. They were a reddish colour and seemed to flicker like flames. Very beautiful and I didn’t feel threatened of frightened by them. In the picture they are just above the streetlight. I didn’t count them, but there must have been around ten of them. I’ve always wanted to see a UFO so I feel very privileged.

The sun sets at around 10 o’clock here so I wondered if perhaps it could be the reflection of the sunset on a flock of swans flying over. A bit late for that perhaps. Do swans fly at night?

Pretty Purple Poppies

Last night I managed to get some pictures I wanted before it was too late.

These poppies are grown to provide morphine and other pain killers. They are also very beautiful, but only last a short while, the petals fall very quickly.

As we finished our walk at the end of a hot day, it started to rain. No surprise as the sky had begun to look very moody.

Then there was a rainbow – as always they look better in real life

Introducing Holly the Cat

... and that's all you get

Already a week has gone by since Dom, J-M and their cat Holly came to stay. Needless to say the weather was bad, but we still managed to enjoy ourselves. Dom brought a bottle of champagne with her. She’s had another paper accepted. She’s hoping to become Doctor before her 26th birthday in November. She’s also got a job next year at the university in Poitiers for a year. After that they will travel and work abroad.

J-M’s pupils are preparing for the baccalaureate in June so he’s almost at his first year’s end as a philosophy teacher. He doesn't know just yet where he will be sent next year – hopefully not too far from Poitiers.

Holly the cat? She’s gorgeous and very well behaved. Didn’t jump up anywhere she wasn’t supposed to. When we went into town for a look around the shops we left her with Rob. She spent quite a lot of time sat on the windowsill by my desk studying the hens in the farmyard below. Rob and I missed the patter of tiny paws on the stairs after they’d gone home.

On the Sunday morning we went to 4 Brocantes (sort of boot sales)in the villages around here. None of us found anything interesting enough to buy. Unfortunately, there are so many during the spring and early summer months now that real treasures are hard to find. Dom made Aubergine (eggplant) Korma when we arrived home for lunch. It was wonderful. There was enough for me to have the next day for lunch so I was very happy.

Just over a week ago Olivier had an interview with a bank and then dashed to the University in Rennes to attend some speed interviews with even more banks. He needs to find work for his month on month off university course. At the moment he’s waiting to hear so everything is crossed for him.

Stop Press One of the banks have contacted him today for an interview!
Stop stop Press He has a skype interview next week!

A little bit of family history.

For my last birthday my mum gave me a copy of a local history book of the village where I grew up. It was in the main fascinating and also sad when I learnt that some people I grew up with are no longer alive.

We were talking about the book when I phoned to wish mum a happy Easter and she told me the following story:

The maternal side of my family comes from Great Barr in Birmingham (UK), or thereabouts. The village I grew up in is about 40 miles away which was a long journey in the past. My parents arrived there in the mid-fifties and as far as I know settled in well considering they were outsiders. At first we lived in the village and then moved to farm cottages outside the village.

We have a tradition of finding graveyards fascinating in our family and of course mum did a tour of the church-yard to see if there were any interesting grave stones to read. She came across one that bore the name of her Grandmother’s family – Foden. Yes, this man turned out to have been a distant cousin who had also worked in the village on a farm. When my great-granny (née Foden) visited the cottage after we moved there, she remembered it. Not only had the distant cousin worked on the same farm, he had lived in the same cottage!

What are the chances of that happening?

A lot can happen in a month

Still battling away with the postcards. We’re using changing the images to review our descriptions and information which has changed a lot in the last 8 years. Every cloud has a silver lining.

In the last month I've had a new crown on a tooth which has been uncomfortable for years. I learnt that gold and metal crowns aren't supposed to go together but as I've been coping with gold and steel crowns side by side for nearly 30 years it was worth the risk of putting another steel crown in. no problems. There can be a risk of ‘electric’ shocks and discomfort as well as a metallic taste.

We voted for a new mayor. Went to the meetings and made some new friends. Our old mayor has retired – he has a farm to run.

Dom stayed for a couple of nights as she had a course to attend in La Rochelle. We hadn't seen her or J-M for quite a while. We exchanged Christmas presents on 25th March!

The Doctor that looks after the veins on my legs retired on April 1st (no joke!). I would never have believed she was old enough to retire. I saw the new Doctor a couple of days ago. She’s very nice – her technique is different so it will be interesting to see the results after a few sessions.

Our Doctor will be retiring in July, not sure that a village as small as ours will find a replacement. Again, I didn't think that he was old enough to retire…

By the end of this year Dom will be Doctor Dom!

We've had the most gorgeous weather over the past few days. Lots of daisies popping up and flowers and blossom… blue skies.

Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible

This post will appear on more than one of my blogs.

For quite a long time now we framed the scans of our postcards sold on ebay.  It made them stand out and we thought, looked more professional.  We were told that we would have to stop doing this about a year ago; so we stopped.  Now we have to take the remaining frame from cards online.  Several thousand need to be changed before ‘the spring’.  I’m going as fast as I can (re-scanning about 30 a day) but I won’t get them all.  I know that ebay can ‘disappear’ announcements. 

There is a service provided that can make the changes for you, but we can’t afford it. 

So for a while I won’t be blogging or visiting or surfing much.

From this:

To this:

Which do you prefer?

2004 revisited

Looking back on my blog 10 years ago (I do it because I can), I came across a post referring to a blogger who had written  about a letter written by the Smithsonian institute to someone who had discovered a Barbie skull in their backyard.  

I looked the letter up again using Google and discovered that there are now a couple of footnotes to the story….  If you never got round to reading the letter it is a must!

The Bob Dylan dream

A few nights ago I dreamt about Bob Dylan.  We were both young and I had a French accent (!).  He was very thin and we were cuddling which was nice.  I was caressing his hands, they were very bony and the skin was soft and smooth.  I was feeling for the calluses on the tips of his fingers.  There weren’t any.

Yet another birthday

Olivier came home this weekend to celebrate his 23^rd birthday.  Christian was 4 years and two weeks old when Olivier was born.  Struggling every winter with two indoor boy’s birthday parties sometimes had me asking “Why me?”  Fortunately, today they are both grown up enough to sort out their own celebrations.

I can’t believe that February is on its way out already.  Like almost everywhere else we’ve had non-stop rain.  Though we did have a couple of days of sunshine, but usually with a cold wind. There are one or two violets in the garden and around the village quite a few daffodils in flower.

Just before Valentine’s Day I had my monthly Glossybox with a rather interesting make-up pencil that I never thought would have such an interesting effect.  Those who have followed my blog for a while will know that my eyebrows dropped out about 7 years ago.  I learnt how to draw them in, but they do tend to look as if they’ve been drawn with a crayon.  I had a clear wax crayon which normally you use to slick down your natural eyebrows.  I was a little disappointed that it wouldn’t be much use to me… or so I thought.  A little bit of wax picks up and emphasizes the one or two hairs that I have and makes the overall effect more natural.  So now you know.

A bit older than 6, but still a birthday

Happy Birthday to Christian who is 21 years older than this picture of him on a birthday long, long ago...

My new toy

Our beloved HP PSC 2350 died on Wednesday.  It was with us for over eight years and only started causing problems since the New year.  

I installed a brand new HP deskjet 1510 yesterday evening, all by myself, except I couldn’t work out where the downloads were disappearing to.  Rob showed me, I must look and see how many other lost downloads are lurking there since I had this computer in 2011.

The new machine scans really quickly which is just what I need for eBay.  I’ve also written to my Mum and Olivier to check how it prints and that is fine too.  I’m so glad I haven’t had to learn how to do things differently, it’s the same and in the places where it is different, it’s easier.

Image taken from the HP site