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

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!

I knew that I would come in useful one day

Dom phoned me yesterday afternoon. She has a conference in Valencia this week and was packing just before leaving. She telephoned so that I could ask her all of those mummy questions just before setting off on a trip: Have you got your telephone cord?, computer cord?, passport?, ID and so on. She didn’t seem to have forgotten anything. She even had her bikini for her day off. She will be addressing her fellow scientists on Wednesday afternoon. In two weeks she will be repeating the packing to go off to a conference in Berlin (without bikini, I suppose). She did find time to tell me that they have at last arranged their honeymoon. They will be renting a cottage miles from anywhere somewhere in Scotland. They are hoping for cooler weather at least.

 J-M is now an official teacher! Hopefully he will be given a placement not too far from home. Unfortunately, young teachers in France have to go where they are sent.

Olivier is now holding down two part time jobs. He seems to have settled into the local KFC and the weather is hot so that I can wash and dry his smelly uniform without having to rush. He’s been bringing home bits and pieces for us to try, though the desserts have been banned (they are soooo good). Yes, I like the chicken, but the spicy wings are too hot for me. Love the pepper dip sauce!

 He helped a man who had just finished having an epileptic fit. The man’s wife was fetching help, so Olivier found him a bottle of water and stayed with him to make sure that he was okay.

It is so hot here at the moment. After all the months of cold and rain we seem to have swung to the other extreme. What’s the weather like with you?

Time keeps on slipping into the future...

That’s how I feel at the moment. I don’t seem to get a minute to myself.

Last Friday we went to Bordeaux to an auction which I love, but is a very long tiring day. The nice part was that Olivier met up with us for lunch. We also saw the new bridge that lifts up to let the boats through. We came home with some excellent postcards.

Olivier has also been home for a few days, so I’ve been washing and ironing and preparing meals. We don’t have a bus service to this village so I ferried him to the nearest bus stop a couple of times – as well as just passing time talking.

The weather has been sunny but cold – nothing to do with the end of March here. We’ve still got the heating on and the clocks go forward this weekend!

Dom and J-m are coming to stay next weekend as J-M is in a play this weekend by Steve Gooch; Female Transport, about 6 women convicts sent off to Australia. Dom will be giving her first lecture in an amphitheater during the month of April. She’s looking forward to it! – Brave girl. She knows her subject well so there should be no problems.

Time to buy a dress

Dom and J-M came to visit this weekend. Saturday morning we had the agreeable job of shopping for clothes for Dom and J-M’s wedding at the end of December! We went into a lot of shops, some of which were very different to others. Dom found several dresses that she liked in Burton of all places (considering the chic French shops we have here in La Rochelle). As they are having a civil marriage, she decided on a very simple purple dress, with geometric black lines, very 60s. Me? Absolutely nothing. I tried on three dresses, none of which flattered my lumpy figure.

We were exhausted after a morning’s shop and the weather was dull and damp so we just popped out for a drink late afternoon. We celebrated her birthday which was on the 15th and talked and talked.

Next time they will be here it will be Christmas.

Stress, stress

Who’d be a parent?

You’d think with the youngest at 21 years old, all of my troubles would be over. Olivier went to Bordeaux last week hoping to find an apartment to rent with a friend. Problem was half the youth of France had the same idea. He went off for the day and came back at the end of the week. As they wanted to be presentable they had to go out and buy clean clothes. The university tried to help. You’ve heard of speed dating? In Bordeaux they have Apartment dating under the hot sun, everyone and his dog turned up for that too.

After a little recuperation over the weekend they set off again on Monday. Then they decided to go it alone. They both found somewhere this afternoon. Tomorrow it’s job dating….

The stress isn’t over yet. Since the beginning of the year, young men have been disappearing in Bordeaux. All of the bodies have been found in the River Garonne….

Monday found Dom and J-M both in front of their classes for the first time. All went well for them.

What a good weekend

Dom and J-M came back from Edinburgh on Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately I couldn’t go with Rob to collect them from the airport as a couple of Dom’s colleagues needed a lift to the station. Dom’s presentations went very well . J-M went along to support her. It’s so nice when they visit, there is always plenty to talk about. They found time to explore Edinburgh. Taste the food (especially fish and chips) and soak up some of the rain. They bought back short bread with (Belgian) chocolate chips – needless to say that has all disappeared.

Dom came back with a copy of The Time Traveller’s Wife and told me that I could read it first as long as I don’t talk to her about it until after she has read it too. So far it looks as if it is going to be a good read…

This term they are both teaching: Dom will be teaching statistics to 1st year psychology students and J-M is teaching economics to students at an agricultural lycée.

Olivier is going to Bordeaux tomorrow to see about an apartment; I hope he likes it. They are very hard to find in Bordeaux at this time of the year. He starts term in about 2 weeks.

This is where Dom presented her work.  The picture comes from Wikipedia (where else?)

Buzzing off

The wasps were dealt with a week ago. I did feel sorry for the poor young man having to put on protective clothing in all of the heat, but I was pleased to be rid of the them.

 Dom and J-M are now in Edinburgh. They stayed overnight here and we took them to the airport. Dom’s first presentation is tomorrow, around lunch time, so fingers crossed. They are using some of the time outside the conference to explore the city. I hope that they take a few photos.

 I took off the word verification because someone had been having problems deciphering the words. Within minutes I started to get spam comments again. Do these people spend all of their time hanging around blogs testing to see if they can get a comment through?. Word verification has been re-enabled.

If you have difficulty with the verification, you can find a link so that you can email me on all of my Blogspot blogs in the side menu.

Another weeks floats its way across the skies of life

Dom and JM came to stay for a few days last weekend as it was a holiday on the Friday too.  It was good to spend time with them and catch up with their news.  We even managed a walk in the sunshine and J-M mended a heater for us and cut most of the hedge.  Dom made her famous carrot cake.  J-M had never tasted it before, I don't understand how they managed that. While they were here, Dom received an email about a scientific paper she has submitted for publication.  It hasn't been accepted yet, but needs polishing up.  Can you imagine how pleased she was?  Can you imagine how proud I am?   Next stop Christmas!

It's still pretty mild here, we don't really need the heating on yet - despite J-M's repairs.  We've had sunshine almost all week.

This week I sent out a newsletter to ExposeYourBlog! members -  my first! I hope that if you're a member and you're reading this that you did read it.  Don has handled the newsletters up to now.  I didn't realise how difficult it is to find things to say....

Learnt a bit about how to be happy too.  Not a bad week all in all.

It’s Red Bull time again

For the third year in a row, the Red Bull cliff diving event will be held on Saturday in La Rochelle. The divers will dive from the top of the St Nicolas Tower. Both Rob and Olivier have extra hours, being around while everything is set up in the evening after the tourists have left. Rob got home at 2 the other morning. We’re still tired! No exclusive pics I’m afraid, everything is strictly controlled and copywrite.

Dom and J-M came for the weekend. Dom has had her hair cut to celebrate the end of her master’s years. She looks like Meg Ryan in ‘You’ve got mail’, especially when she runs around the house in her jim-jams. In September she starts her Doctorate, she’s managed to sort out her funding without too much trouble (but a lot of stress). We had a great time. We went to a brocante (boot sale/ garage sale) and found some interesting bargains.

Yes, I now have my very own laptop and it has a web cam (don’t they all?) so I might do a vlog one of these fine days. Just have to wait until there is no one at home…

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to Dom, 22 years old today.

Here she is when she was three being an elf at the school end of year festivities.

The chicks fly

As I’m writing this Dom is probably at the airport in Paris waiting to board her flight for Chicago. I hope that she hasn’t forgotten anything, her poster for example, which she’ll be presenting here. Dom is number 18 on Page 8. An old school friend of hers will be in Chicago too to keep her company and help her to explore in her free time. We’re wondering what ‘continental breakfast’ is like Chicago style and do they have croissants and are they anything like the real ones.

She came to stay for two weeks at the beginning of August, it was good to see her, especially as she is a good cook too! J-M came for a few days too and mended the gate!! Remember the episode of Sliders when they thought they were in then wrong universe because the gate didn’t squeak anymore?

At the end of August they will be driving to England so that J-M can meet the family.

Olivier will be moving into his own apartment in September. I’ve seen the pictures and it looks quite spacious. It’s very light as there are two windows plus a skylight. We’ll be taking him to Poitiers on the 2nd September. I’m looking forward to seeing where he will be living for the next year or so. It’s next to the park, I’ve seen the park on lots of old Postcards of Poitiers but never managed to see it for real.

Rob and I will be real ‘empty nesters’ next year. Once Olivier is settled I expect he won’t be home at weekends.

On Thursday Rob and I will be off to an auction viewing; This time we’re giving ourselves more time to visit the town of Tours. I always enjoy seeing our ‘expert’ he’s a human Google and Wikipedia rolled into one. Of course we’ll be seeing some beautiful postcards too…

Happy Birthday Dom!

Dom was seven and a half years old when this photo was taken. Today she’s 21. I just can’t believe how the time has passed. Happy Birthday Dom! Hopefully she’s been able to take some time off from studying to celebrate in style. I wonder what time I should phone her up?

This is the second weekend that Olivier hasn’t been home. I’m really pleased that he’s bonding with his fellow students, as it were, but it’s very strange, especially today as Rob is working and I’m all on my own. Oh well, I can dream about all of the washing that’s sure to come my way…

Last night was a first for us. We’d decided to fetch a pizza from the pizza place in the village. It’s only open on Friday and Saturday nights. We discovered it’s not open at all in the winter months. So we decided to phone and have one delivered. Olivier and his friends have done it lots of times so we chose one of the companies he uses. The service was excellent, they delivered before the time they told us and the young girl (was she really old enough to drive?) that came to the door was really polite and chatty. Our call went though the Yellow Pages so she was in a bit of a panic when she saw the Parisian number (five hours drive!), she told me. Oh yes, the pizza was very good too.

The results are in...

The results are in; Olivier was expecting to scrape a pass and managed to get a “quite good” pass (the levels are; pass – quite good – good - very good). He was pleased and had made a lot of progress in maths by doing some work – surprise, surprise. Dom got “very good” and will continue on the “master’s” course next year. We are very proud of both of them.

Olivier and I went to Poitiers by train to enrol him at the university. It was a long day as the early afternoon trains were full and we had to wait until four to come home. We looked around the shops and explored and found where Dom’s new flat is. We stood and wondered which was her window.

The nicest part was that Olivier treated me to lunch. The train cost an arm and a leg and I offered to make a picnic, but Olivier had already planned to take me out to lunch. We found a restaurant by the “Notre Dame la Grande” church and sat outside to eat. It was lovely, as well as helping to pass the time. In fact the service was very slow, even for a French restaurant and I swear that the waiter didn’t have a beard at the beginning of the meal.

Other than that it’s work, work, work, I’m just about on top of sorting out the cards we bought two weeks ago. Tuesday is a holiday and Dom has gone off to Paris for a long romantic weekend. Rob and Olivier will be working. I would like to catch up with my blogging friends. Perhaps I’ll see you then.

A quick copy and paste...

When we picked Dom up from the station two weeks ago she was worried sick about not having a summer job; by the following Wednesday she had two interviews which led to work in July and September. She’s home for July, working in the tax office inputting data which is not interesting and they’ve already told her not to work so fast. She’s passed her exams which means she has a ‘licence’ and can now continue for her ‘masters’ exam in 2 or 3 years. We also met her boyfriend. He came to stay for a few days and is really, really nice. His parents are meeting Dom this weekend. My motherly advice was ‘parents get nervous too’.
Dom told me that she has kidney stones. She’s always drunk plenty of water and eats a healthy diet with lots of vegetables and fruit. What else can she do – any ideas?

Olivier finished his exams and, on the whole, he seems pretty satisfied with himself. Remembering he’s hardly worked for 3 years we must wait until Tuesday to see if he’s passed. He’s working in the towers during the summer and then he’s off to Poitiers to study ‘economics’– we hope.

Rob and I want off to an auction last weekend which involved leaving the house at quarter to 5 in the morning and getting home at 10 in the evening. Like the last time we went , two years ago, it was very hot. We came home exhausted with lots of interesting postcards.

I phoned my mum recently. She made Rob a lovely card for his birthday. In her village they have ‘dabble days’ where they can have a go at different crafts. She usually makes lovely birthday cards for everyone. I forgot to ask her how the court case went.

I’m writing this on word but don’t know when I’ll be able to post it. AOL is amusing itself by letting us online for two or three minutes at a time and not very often. Rob spoke to his mother today for a very short while as AOL has control over the telephone too.

That's my girl!

Recently a local butter company ran a competition and the prize was to eat a meal in an unusual place. The unusual place was the Saint Nicolas Tower and Dom happened to be the guide who got to work overtime. She gave a much appreciated guided tour and she and her colleague were invited to join in on the meal. She knew that the local press were there to record the event, but didn’t realise they had taken a photo – until this morning. So here is Dom strutting her stuff in costume.

Friday

Don’t ask where the in-between bit went.

I slept very badly last night and this morning had a slightly upset tummy. Yes, it’s Olivier’s exam day today. Taking an exam not having read two of the set books must be a recipe for disaster. This afternoon is biology. I made sure he had two pencils and a rubber (eraser) in his bag, he’s bound to have to draw something.

Dom phoned, she retook her driving test on Tuesday (our 23rd wedding anniversary) and has passed. Well done Dom!

I watched Love Story yesterday evening. Rob was working late and Olivier was out. It was lovely to see it again – ‘sigh’.

I'm glad that one's over.

This week has been yet another busy one, exams to supervise, postcards to prepare and administration to sort out. As I was looking for work when I set up my business I’m entitled to some allowances. In theory my social security charges etc should be smaller for two years. This year something went wrong and I’ve been charged at the highest level. Last month we were advised to bounce the payment by one department and then received a letter from another department to say I would be charged twice next month. Fortunately the problem has been sorted and I should get a refund. Then Rob took the tax forms in. These are more simple than in the past and now arrive printed with the declaration of how much you earned in the past year from any employers you might have. This is a very new idea. Imagine how much extra money they are raking in!

Dom phoned, she will be taking her driving test on Tuesday so please keep your fingers crossed. What she really wanted to know was what was the question which gives you the answer 42. You see I’m a mother who knows everything. I advised her not to search for the question as if she finds it the universe will probably come to an end. Then I had another phone call a couple of days later. She has had a ‘mention très bien’ for her exams and came first in her year; I am a very proud mummy indeed, as you can imagine. Well done Dom!

Olivier had a letter from the ministry of Defence. The second, so I was just hoping he hadn’t signed up yet. Do you remember that I wrote that he had a train ticket to nowhere when he was called up for the day? Well, they handed their unused tickets in and got a cheque for 8€ travelling expenses (that was the letter). As he only went two stops after his lycée anyway to get there he used his school journeys which we paid for at the beginning of the year. Rob and Olivier couldn’t help wondering how much all that cost the government.

On the edge of a cliff

The new school term has started and Olivier appears to have turned over a new leaf. He’s been getting up in plenty of time to get ready for lycée. He hasn’t missed the bus once this week. I saw him revising for a maths exam, he had a reasonable mark in his Economic science exam. We talked (calmly) about his future and he has been researching his ideas. I had a note that he had skipped school for a day when in fact he was on a school trip.

Now I’m waiting for something horrible to happen….