Monday, September 12, 2022

 Although the Queen was 96, we were still all very shocked to hear the news on Friday.  I've been listening to the English radio, watching BBC news on TV, as well as following the French news channels and CNN.  There have been so many stories of people meeting the Queen and her (sometimes wicked) sense of humour.

Here's what I wrote about the Queen and school uniforms.  The event in the blog post happened around 1967/68.

Wednesday, June 29, 2022

2022 continued

 In my last post I wrote about Olivier's birthday being on 22nd February.  I thought that it would be a special year for him.  This week he moved to Zurich. He starts a new job on Friday ist July.

I will miss visiting him in Prague.  I love Prague, hopefully we'll get back there one day.  For the present we have a new country to explore!  I love visiting my children.

Sunday, February 20, 2022

Time for twenty twenty-two

 For Christmas 2019 Olivier gave me a ‘few lines a day’ 5 year diary.  The first entry I made on 1st January was that 2020 had a good feel to it.  I was very wrong.  This year, 2022, has a good feel to it too.  I hope that I’m right this time.  Olivier’s birthday is on the 22 February, so I’m hoping that this year will be extra special for him.

In October I became officially retired in France and the UK.  I’ve been agreeably surprised by my pensions.  I worked in the UK for 12 years before coming to France.  We celebrated with a long weekend in Bordeaux.

It’s very strange learning how to use my time not governed by a work schedule.  I’ve had to learn not to feel guilty if I pick up a book in the middle of the morning and just read! I seem to be so busy doing this and that, inside and outside of the house.  I’ve also developed a taste for jigsaw puzzles. At the moment I’m doing the official jigsaw puzzle of the Queen on her 25th anniversary.  Rob brought it with him when we came to France 37 years ago.  It had never been opened.  The queen is standing in front of a red curtain background which is really difficult – makes a change from sky and sea I suppose.